Day 25

Woke up surprisingly comfortably for breakfast today, which we rinsed. It was the standard lot, but with cakes which no other hostel has had. We wanted to go to a beach called 'Morro Blanco' but the Sunday bus service meant it would have been a waste of time. Instead we just staying in Fortal and lay around on the beach here. This section of the coast seems a lot less sheltered and serene than Jeri was, the waves hurling themselves powerfully against the shore, I suppose its a lot more exposed to the Atlantic.

The beach side in Fortaleza s slightly charmless; rows of high-rise towers line the edge of the beach all the way along. It was also fairly busy, but this worked out well as I joined in another football match for a while. They play a weird sort of three-a-side, random subbing system here but it was a good laugh, and at least I didn't disgrace myself.

Spent a few hours in the evening typing some of these notes up, which is a pretty laborious task and I'm way behind (*edit and still am, about three weeks and a different continent away). Tucked into a couple of pastels on the way home. There things are great; huge fried pasty sort of things with different fillings in.

Walked with the girls to a nearby area which gave us a completely different view of the city: vibrant, busy and stylish. Continued our habit of bumping into people almost immediately when we spied Alex and Raphael sharing a beer. Seems Catarina fell in love with Camocim and wanted to stay there for a while. Alex and Rafa are still doing well with the project and keeping on top of all the filming. Everyone is starting to talk about leaving though; Cecilia and Leia on the 5th; Joanna on the 9th, us on the 13th; Renaud, Alex and Raf a week or so later.

Still I don't think any of us can really complain too much, especially Al and Raf who took the end off their year at Brighton Uni to come here. Had an early start so after a few beers and a chat for the lads, and a meal for the ladies, we wound our way back to the hostel for the night. Off to the beach tomorrow, then out to this club, and off on Tuesday. From what Raphael say about what Fortaleza has to offer, especially different art things, I think we may have missed out a bit. Still we've had some sun and inexpensive days, both of which we needed.