Sometimes it's nice to just be a tourist...

...and relax. 100% relaxation is impossible here; my mind is always turned on and I'm hyperaware of everything, I've noticed. But this weekend came close!


Fortaleza is known for its sand dunes, and I spent part of Saturday climbing them and sliding down on a sandboard! It was so much fun; there was a lake at the bottom and a couple times I made it all the way to the lake. I went with my family and two of Fátima's friends, one of whom was visiting from the Canary Islands. Climbing the dunes was really difficult, but there were small shade huts at the top and people selling coconuts and refreshments, so that was a nice reward.

There was a beautiful view of the surrounding area—hills and a lake on one side, the ocean on the other, and it was pleasantly cool and refreshing, because we'd had a rainshower just a few minutes before.

After we'd tired ourselves out sliding down the dunes and swimming in the lake, we meandered on over to yet another gorgeous beach and spent the whole afternoon there. We took a ride out into the ocean on a little sailboat and just enjoyed the sun. Also, I got more queijo asado (fried/roasted cheese)! I love that stuff, so much! It's a great beach snack.

Saturday night we went out to a really fancy Italian restaurant and ordered pizza. Do you know they have sweet pizzas here? We got a half chocolate/M&M/half banana pizza for dessert. Banana pizza, you say? I know, it sounds weird, but it was beyond delicious. I'm going to bring that stuff back to the United States for sure.

And today was a national holiday (no, not Columbus day), the day of the children (dia das crianças)! I still don't understand why we don't have one of those in the US— after all, we have Mothers' day and Fathers' day, why not Childrens' day?

We spent all day today at the beach, again, which was absolutely lovely. But tomorrow, alas, it's back to the grindstone!

This week we're doing our community projects, and I'm spending the week at CUCA, Centro Urbana de Cultura, Arte, Ciencia, e Esporte(I love how Latin Americans abuse acronyms? In what world does that equal CUCA?). It's the largest center of it's kind in Latin America, devoted to youth activities outside of school, and it's funded by the government. It just opened and everyone is really excited about it. Updates forthcoming!