wednesday, we toured fortaleza with world-renown photographer José Albano. we visited a cemetery, a cultural center, a beach where fishermen began and continue to maintain their livelihood despite the tourism that's built up around them, the only vista that over looks the city (fortaleza is very flat), and a few other random spots... afterward we joined Zé at his communal house for a late lunch, a walk through some of the enormous sand dunes that line the coast here, and a slide show of some interesting spots in Ceará (the state of fortaleza)... i must mention that Zé quite a character and a very unique brazilian. he's a vegetarian; he frequents Rainbow Gatherings (annual US and Internat'l hippy gatherings); he serves on the Associação Brasileira de Comunidades Alternativas; and he built his home from mud and used glass bottles (of every shape and color) as conduits for natural light... we were really fortunate to have the opportunity to know him and spend the entire day with him.
thursday, we met our families! everyone was very anxious to meet their families, but my anxiety didn't surmount to much because my familiy didn't come to meet me... actually, they were misinformed and didn't realize that they were supposed to come... truthfully, better me than anyone else, because at least i know the language, i understand the culture, and i've been in situations far worse...
about them and my living situation: i have 2 sisters (ages 23 and 24) and 1 brother (29)--of portuguese descent--who are living in fortaleza just for school. their other sister and brother are married, have kids (2 each), and live elsewhere. their parents live 2 hours outside the city. (the mother is visiting right now, and we'll go visit them next weekend.)... our apartment is VERY simple and lower middle-class, and it's about a half hour from downtown and from the institute where we have classes. (i've noticed that the northeast is SIGNIFICANTLY poorer than the south of brazil.) overall, i've enjoyed getting to know them, but i'm a little upset that we're going to be so busy (with homework and with other programs) that i won't get to spend a lot of time with them... at least, with my advanced portuguese, i can already get to know them pretty well...
tonight, we (as a group) head up to Pacotí, which is in the mountains southwest of fortaleza... i'll let you know how it goes. it should be interesting because we're all going to stay in one house together--everyone sleeping in hammocks... até logo.
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