Ok, travelogue participants, today we leave the big city and head for the boonies. Car is packed, breakfast eaten, hotel bill paid. We leave Fortaleza on interstate BR222 heading west. As we leave the outskirts of Fortaleza we go though the town of Caucaia with the next stop being São Luis do Curu, 68 kilometers […]

Drats! All I want is one trip to Brasil that goes as smooth as glass. Just one. Do you suppose that is too much to ask? I mean, getting up at 4:00 a.m., driving 2 hours to Raleigh, sitting in the airport in Miami for 6+ hours. Isn’t that a decent sacrifice? I guess not […]

By the time you’re reading this I’ll be at 35,000 feet and moving at 600+ mph. Off we go 5,000 miles to the south with a really long day ahead of us. We’re on our way to Brasil . . . Ubaúna, Ceará, northeastern Brasil, to be more correct. Latitude 3° 43′ 60S, longitude 40° […]

Living in Brasil and trying to learn the language often put me in interesting scenarios. Once, in a restaurant and needing a napkin, I asked the waiter for a napkin . . . or so I thought. He brought me an umbrella! Another time, thinking I was paying a compliment to a banker about his […]