Come to visit and enjoy!
By Anna Avalanche, Gisa Miles and Luiz Speedwell
Photography by Dodd Roff
Everyone knows about Ipanema the famous beach in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil, but have you heard about the Iracema beach?
The name Iracema refers to a South American Indian female and her name means honey-lips in Tupi-Guarani language. In the 19th century, José de Alencar, one of the greatest Brazilian writers, wrote a book called Iracema. The novel narrates, in a poetic way, the love of Martim Soares Moreno, a Portuguese hero in the Brazilian colonization, and the virgin Iracema. She is a gorgeous Indian with honey lips and black hair. The name Iracema doesn't appear in the History books, but Alencar said that his novel was inspired by tales he heard since childhood.
Iracema beach has a tradition of being a meeting point of intellectuals and bohemians. More recently, the area became known for its busy nightlife. Iracema used to be a harbor zone, until the late 1980s, when the Government started to incentives new businesses. Old buildings were overhauled, and many restaurants, art shops and night clubs were opened in the area.
If you want to visit Iracema beach you should go to Fortaleza the capital of Ceará state, located in Northeastern Brazil. This beautiful city is the ideal destination for sun lovers and those seeking relaxation, entertainment and fun. The city has about 300 days of sunshine per year. Here you never lose a day in your vacation because of bad weather that’s the 300 reasons for taking your holiday in Brazil. Fortaleza is a very good suggestion for a vacation. The "Land of the Sun" is a Modern metropolis located in front of the Atlantic Ocean little below the equator. Besides beautiful and paradisiacal beaches the land of Iracema offers great hospitality, luxury hotels, tasty cuisine and rich handicrafts.
Fortaleza offers a huge number of beaches, each one with its particularity like Iracema, Meireles, Mucuripe and Praia do Futuro. Meireles beach has the best hotels, bazaars and pubs with live music every night. Mucuripe is the place where Jangadas used by fishermen can be seen during the afternoon returning from the sea and, part of the catch is sold in an old style fish market there. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a strong wave’s beach with clear water then you should go to Praia do Futuro. Even the kids can have fun at Beach Park - A large water park with numerous slides, many swimming pools (including on with waves) and even an artificial river 300 meters long.
Not only the state capital is a good option for your holiday but other small cities, from Ceará state, can offer a lot of fun. The state is one of the most pleasant places to visit with almost 600 km of beautiful and endless beaches, having warm waters from the Atlantic Ocean, like: Canoa Quebrada, Jericoacoara, Morro Branco, Taíba and Flexeiras. Porto das Dunas and Cumbuco are preferred by sailors and for windsurfing and surf practice. Cumbuco, one of those small towns, has many sand dunes, where you can make a tour on a buggy and exotically surf in the sand. Actually dunes are transformed into radical "waves" and you can slide on them landing in the worm sea waters.
Relax at the beach and enjoy shrimp and lobster with a native fruit cocktails or a Caipirinha, is a good option. So, what are you waiting to visit Brazil?
Special thanks to Dodd Roff
This article has been sponsored by AA Trade Company, Cleary (128,128,0) http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cleary/128/128/0
For more pictures and information see:
English blog: http://annaavalanche.blogspot.com/
Portuguese blog: http://dejavu-intl-portuguese.blogspot.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/annaavalanche/
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