Fortaleza, Brazil – June 25, 2006
From Devil’s Island, we traveled a leg of over 1000 miles, all at sea, bypassing the Amazon River delta, and for good reason. Especially at its seaward reaches, the river has become a noted haven for pirates. Its enormous length and width is daunting as well. Its European discoverer sailed up the river some 1000 miles before he realized it was not an arm of the ocean. Even 2000 miles upriver it’s seven miles wide.
After five days at sea, we reach the city of Fortaleza, Brazil, the country’s fifth largest. From seaward, the place could be Chicago from Lake Michigan, with a solid wall of high-rise condos, hotels and office buildings extending for many miles across the horizon. We arrive on a Sunday afternoon and anchor off the city’s main resort beach.
From our anchorage, we can hear giant speakers blasting Brazilian music to a gathering throng, a lure I am unable to pass up. One of the crew drops me ashore for a walk about, and it is during this that I learn the cause of the festivities. I have happened upon the annual Gay Pride Parade!! And what an event it turns out to be. Thousands of party goers line the streets, only a few of whom are obviously gay or lesbian, kiosks selling everything imaginable crowd along sidewalks, and soon enough here comes the parade. It is a stream of ten semi trucks pulling trailers crammed with music speakers perched on top of which are local bands, politicos haranguing the crowd, and of course every manner of gay or lesbian partisan dressed for the part. My favorite was the guy (or girl?) leading the whole thing dressed as a nun. Nothing surprising there, except that she was pregnant and carried an infant!! Hello Brazil. I think I’m gonna like this country.
At Fortaleza, Kitty, Grant, and one of Grant’s longtime friends, Will Procter join Indigo. At this point, Kitty will take over writing the narrative entries for our travels. I’ll resume when they depart at Salvadore on August 12.