The hot weather, beautiful beaches and delicious food continued in Fortaleza as I continued to make my around Brazil’s northern coastline.

Whilst a big city, I only spent 4 nights here as I’m eager to get started on the trail towards Manaus - i.e. Jericoaoara, Barreirinhas, Lençóis National Park, São Luis and Belém. I’m trying to strike a balance between being able to spend as much time in each place as I like, and making sure I’m at a suitable city to see the Federal Police and extend my tourist visa, which runs out on June 2.

On Thursday I took another tour of some beautiful beaches on the back of a buggy - Morro Branco and Canoa Quebrada. This type of tour seems to be the norm in most cities I visit in the north. Whilst on the tour, we had to form smaller groups and yet again NO ONE spoke English! But lucky enough I was offered by a nice Brazilian guy to join him and his family. We only spoke in very broken Portuguese over the course of the day but it was nice to have a group of people to enjoy the experience with.

Finding good food and coffee being one of my favourite hobbies on this trip, I decided to take a walk around the Varjota district, which is supposed to be famous for its abundance of cafes and restaurants. It didn’t disappoint and I found myself returning the next day to visit Amika Coffee House, and then Recanto da Varjota for their superb meats and salad. To top it off, I treated myself to an ice cream from San Paolo. Brazilian’s seem to have a bit of a fetish with Nutella, so I opted for the Nutella Ice cream with Kit Kat, Brownie, and M&M filling - and it’s safe to say I’ve rarely had so much enjoyment from food in that small space of time (Mum: besides your cooking of course!).

On Friday night I went out with some new friends (friends of Sálua whom I met in Salvador), but the shots of Cachaça left me with a rotten hangover on Saturday morning. So off to the beach again it was to try and shake it off. Simone and Alfredo (both who work at the hostel) took me to Praia do Futuro - a beautiful surfing beach lined with restaurants and beach clubs. We spent the afternoon looking out across the water, sipping on coconut water and listening to music - a superb way to cure my hangover and end my time in Fortaleza.