Preparations for Christmas are well underway and the city looks fantastic at the moment. Every tree has a million flashing lights, the shopping centres are decorated with monster size tress, fake snow and the busses are playing Christmas songs continuously.

We went to an open air carol concert at the cultural centre a few nights ago. Very nice it was too, Santa was there as was the massed choir of the area. But can someone please tell me how the dear sweet Brazilians can sing 'White Christmas' with a straight face?

So, without further ado, I am proud to present the last Fortaleza update for this year, and in fact for this millennium! I wish all my readers a happy and peaceful Christmas and a funky new year.

This month I have been concentrating on two of my favourite hobbies - beaches and food. Just north of here is one of my favourite beaches - one which I think you might just fall in love with. I know it's good, because it only gets one line in the Lonely Planet. Even my priceless guide to Fortaleza doesn't have that much to say on it, in Portuguese it describes the beach as 'O sublime espetaculo das dunas' and then in English 'it is not one of the most beautiful beaches in Ceara'. I guess they just don't want it spoiled by scruffy looking backpackers.

O.K. - so what is so special about this particular beach. It has all the normal requirements for a Brazilian beach, sun, clear clean azure waters, friendly bars and local fisherman trying, as they have done since time immemorial to make an honest living, but for me the real attraction are the fantastic dunes.

From the beach front you can hire buggies and drivers to whiz you around the dunes which are continually shifting due to the wind. On request they will either drive slow (moderately scary) or muito rapido (bloody scary) and dive down sheer ten meter drops at 40 miles per hour. Between these dunes are three large lagoons where the locals practise dune surfing. This popular Cearean custom is as simple as it sounds, climb a dune and surf down it on a piece of wood - preferably ending up in a lagoon at the bottom.

Perhaps the most beautiful lagoon is the Lagoa da Banana which is surrounded by summer houses and people messing around with sail boards. Close to this is a native forest, which gives the whole area a somewhat surreal feel. Bring the totally incurable romantic that I am, I think the best way to see Cumbuco is from the top of the dunes just as the sun rises. This may mean staying the night at one of the many hotels (for example Pousada do Sol - tel 318 2006) but the sublime sight of the sun rising over the deserted sands and the watching the colours change on the lagoon is something else.

Cumbuco can be easily reached for Fortaleza. Vitoria run 5 busses a day to Cumbuco, $1.75 (about an hour).

After all this feasting of the eyes, it's time to fill the stomach. Brazilian food is generally based on white rice, beans and manioc flour. The beans are typically cooked in bacon and the rice is often quite starchy. For the first few months this can be quite enjoyable. Of course, this is good healthy food, but sometime after about two months the sight of another plate of rice and beans can get too much.

One of the best options I have found to combat this is the many 'churrascarias' around town. Our current favourite Parque Recreio (see the food section for more information) is fantastic. Lunch including a beer will set you back about US$7. Waiters, who are all dressed in mock middle eastern clothes, rush around the room with metre long skewers of roasted meat, almost everything you can imagine (and some things it's best not to think about) are brought to the table.

If it looks good the waiter will slice off a huge chunk for you. The meat ranges from the excellent to the sublime and there is no limit on how long you can sit and eat. Brazilians have this terribly sensible attitude that any lunch which lasts less than two hours is not really acceptable.

In addition to the meats there is an extensive salad bar, a whole section of sushi (I haven't quite worked out the fascination Brazil has with Japan - I have counted 5 Japanese restaurants in the local area alone) and a dessert section, which in all honesty, is to die for. Brazilians go for desserts which are generally so rich that even considering them makes your teeth ache - the cakes alone make the trip worthwhile and I was recently told that the freshly prepared icecreams (I would willingly marry the person who made them) are good for your health. And I believe that when in Rome....

Surreal Tourist Activity of the Month
Regular readers will not be surprised to know that one of my favourite activities is hanging out in the local supermarket. At Iguatimi, the huge shopping complex on the outskirts of town, a new mega supermarket "Extra" has just opened. It is a 24 hours a day consumer heaven. I am sure it is actually bigger then the village my parents live in and is so big that the staff get around of roller blades - cool eh?.

It may not be at the top of my list of the world's greatest supermarkets (China and Japan both score higher for their extensive and original selection of free samples) but it is a truly amazing experience. Any store which has two aisles the length of a football pitch selling just chocolate can't be all bad.

It can be reached from the town centre on one of the nippy air-conditioned tourist busses for R$1.50. I'll see you in the bread section...

I am off to spend Christmas on the road again - I will be back in the New Millennium. Until then, happy travels and safe arrivals wherever you are in the world.

Questions?
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