A trip North

During the two weeks the temple was closed for cleaing

we were invited to go on a road trip 

with Pat and Layne Anderson.

NATAL

A sister from Natal had asked the Andersons 

to give a fireside on Family History 

and temple work in her ward. 

We made the six hour drive up to Natal Saturday Oct 12th.

Just below the hotel where we stayed was a lovely beach.

This is a view from the dining room where we had breakfast

Sunday and Monday morning.

You can walk for miles along the beaches in Natal.

The local people relax on Saturday at the beach.

Natal is a sea port 

This is the sister and her husband that invited us to speak.

We had lunch with them on Saturday,

then the Bishop invited everyone out for dinner.

I stayed at the hotel and watched CNN,

I was stuffed after this big lunch.

The bishop's father-in-law, first counselor

and former Stake President,

invited us to his home for lunch Sunday after church.

Over 200 people attended the fireside Sunday night

All four of us spoke (in Portuguese!) 

on to 

FORTALEZA

As you drive inland from the coast 

the landscape quickly becomes drier, almost desert-like.

Lots of cactus trees.

Vernon (grandpa) thought this looked like a volcano.

Many small towns were along the way. 

We stopped in Aracati  to take some pictures.

I  love these open air markets

We rented a two bedroom apartment on the 11th floor

for the four days we were in Fortaleza.

One of the things we wanted to do 

while we were in Fortaleza

was eat at the restaurant owned

by the 1st counselor in the Temple Presidency.

The Queiroz's have three charrascarias (Brazilian Bar-B-Q) 

they are only open for lunch

The father of a member in our Recife ward 

agreed to be our guide for a day.

He is also an officiator at the Recife temple 

when the caravans come from Fortaleza.

Fortaleza is a large sea port.

The waterfront is lined with small fishing boats

and fish markets 

(Mercado dos peixes).

I could not resist another clothes line shot.

Brother Echuchury took us to the site of the Forteleza temple.

This is looking south down the hill,

where the temple will be built.

Brother Buckner who is over temple construction in Brazil

often stays at the Recife alogamento. 

He told us the reason construction has not started is because 

the city says the temple design is too tall,

even though the apartments west of the site are the same height.

This is looking North up the hill where the temple will be built

the whole area is fenced off.

Looking East as you drive in front of the temple site 

you can see the Atlantic Ocean 

Throughout Brazil they still pave many of the roads 

the way they have done it for hundreds of years.

Each granite block (parallelapipido) is laid by hand,

then loose granite gravel is swept over them 

to hold them in place.

This is the result. The roads last for ages 

These granite block roads are a great means of speed control 

in the residential areas.

We spent a day shopping in Fortaleza.

This was like an open air market

but it was covered and had four levels.

Lots of old catholic cathedrals. 

We have heard that as long as it is under construction 

the parish does not have to return revenue to Rome.

I think this cathedral has been under construction

 for over a 100 years.

Before we left Brother Anderson wanted to have a shrimp dinner.

We opted for pizza instead and it was great.

Our next stop was a little oasis 

in the middle of the desert interior of Brazil.

Carauba

People buy memberships to it and come and use the pools

and soccer field and restaurant any time they want. 

and get a discount on the housing.

We were the first ones up so we could get an early start.

We left a Book of Mormon with two woman! 

They worked in the near by food market 

where we bought food for our drive to Joao Pessoa. 

THE END CAME . . . A DAY EARLY

When we arrived the accommodations in Joao Pessoa were not what we had anticipated. Both rooms were on the second floor and there was no elevator. The hotel could not make arrangements for us at their other locations. Everything was booked. fortunately we were able to get our money back for the reservations that we had made online. We had to cancel the second fireside, though, that we had been asked to give on Sunday.  It would have been a repeat of our presentation in Natal. We drove the two hours back to Recife that night. I must say after eight days on the road I was ready to go home and sleep in my own bed again.