sunday in fortaleza.

today we attended church,

then walked around the center of town before heading back to our hotel.

We visited the cathedral again since many of the group were not able to see inside yesterday.

They were holding some sort of church services so it was interesting to see :)

We also visited this fort that was across from the cathedral. It looks like it is now a military base. It was really neat. We've been able to visit various forts since we've been here, and since we are in "fortaleza" (which means fort or fortress) we couldn't pass up going to a fort, while in fortaleza :P

We then had lunch with the fitzgibbons, tawyna, shawndeen, cristina and michelle. 

On our way back, we stopped at the pier again to see if we could see any dolphins. But we didn't have good luck today.

It was a beautiful sunday in fortaleza!

Now we have many many things to get done before traveling to MANAUS tomorrow!
(I just got the chills while typing that!)

Fortress in Natal.

Our last day in Natal,

we visited the Forte dos Reis Magos or

Fort of Three Wise Men.

This fortress was considered the first "milestone" of the city,

since Natal was founded on Christmas Day (thus, natal means Christmas) of 1599 & this fortress had begun it's construction in January of 1598.  It took several years to build (according to one site, 30). It was held by the Dutch from 1633 to 1654 when the Portuguese retook it.

Besides being a fortress, it was also used as a prison first by the Portuguese to hold those people trying to revolt against Portugal & gain independence and then later used by the "brazilians" to confine any Portuguese.

The fortress is surrounded by reef, which would make it impossible for any ship to enter without it sinking from the reef.  It is also near a river in order to watch any indians who might come by boat along the river.  You can also see the city of Natal in the distance. It was a perfect place to construct this fort. 

All the sites from this place were breathtaking. Our guide was so knowledgeable and unfortunately although this is a historical landmark, their guides are volunteers.  They make all their money off of tips from the tourists, which I bet they end up making more money in tips than any other job they could hold. So it works out, but I wish that Brazil would invest more in taking care of their historical landmarks. They used some of the ORIGINAL rooms in the fort as a lanchonete (lunch place) and as a store. Ah! I almost died. Made me think about the 12,000 year old cliff paintings we saw with no protection. 

this is where the captain would escape during battle.