Small Investments, Big Returns

In Travel writing, pictures of landscapes from aircraft windows are as perennial as the grass; bordering on clique.  Despite this, I will include snapshot of Salvador, Brazil to show the red clay roofing tile that are rare to see in North America and I imagine that in Brazils climate it outlasts most 30 year petroleum based shingles that crowd the North American market and later pollute the environment. 

Salvador, Brasil

While on the flight to Fortaleza, one of my seats was in the middle of a group of 60 students returning from touring NYC and Miami. Among the abundance of I(Heart)NYC T-shirts one trend was unmistakable, Apple's products seem to have captured this market segment, that being young, traveling, bilingual Brazilians. I-pads, phones, and pods were abundant and there was not a Blackberry to be seen. If this small sample group is any indication of Brazilian tastes and values in consumer electronics, Canada’s Blackberry will need to adapt to be able to capture any market share. I must explain that my view is coloured in part by several years of experience selling and providing technical support for cellular products prior to starting the Bachelor of Applied Business Program in International Commerce and Global Development at Niagara College in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada.

July  26^th

Small Investments, Big Returns

I’ve arrived and from where I’m sitting, here in a 12^th floor beach apartment in Fortaleza, it looks as though someone has dropped a piece of Toronto, or Manhattan onto on one of the most beautiful stretches of sandy coastline in South America. 

The city is rapidly ramping up its capacity to handle increased tourist traffic. Fortaleza will be a site of the 2014 World Cup (soccer) and is in the process of doubling the capacity of its international airport and numerous large hotels are under construction.

The volume of creative, entrepreneurial, small enterprises along the waterfront deserves note. While exploring the waterfront with Veronica and Amber we came across ventures as diverse as roller-blade rentals out of cars parked on the wide boulevards’ ($5 Reais/Hr), techno brega party advertising (Sub-compact cars with 4’x4’x2’ speaker/sub woofers boxes on top pumping bass and advertisements), to coconut water vendors ($2 Reais), to fresh fish market’s ($25 Reais/Kg of fresh shrimp). This list only scratches the surface as you could purchase nearly anything. 

Later that afternoon, the hungry entrepreneurialism of some of the beach vendors became unavoidable when Veronica, Amber and I stopped for drinks and snacks at one of the beach restaurants. The enthusiastic and verbose owner was excited to have us. I was unable to comprehend what he was saying but that did not slow him down one bit. He was an excellent host. 

Veronica and Amber on the edge of the Ocean, Beira Mar

While enjoying our meal we were approached by no less than 10 sales people carrying touristic items along the wide sandy beach. A few simple “Obrigado, no’s” was enough for even the most persistent to move on to the next table. However, it’s much harder to say no to the street kids; as we walked to an busy intersection in the Irecema Beach area we saw two kids. One kid, with the other standing their lower back in front of the cars at a stop light, was performing with Devil Sticks (aka flower sticks, rhythm sticks, or juggling sticks). I remember playing with these myself as a kid, but these kids were far more talented than most of the kids on my playground who had never needed to go pro. After their brief performance in-front of traffic, they ran to each window, collected a few coins, and then to us. I think that I now see part of the reason that Leeann Curren was inspired to start and film the kids surfing program in the Titanzinho neighborhood, near Praia de Futuro about 4 km from where we live. The Favela is located on a great surfing beach and her organization provides support for aspiring professional surfers. Her film is called “Titan Kids”, and here is a link to some previews.

This is a few images captured during this first week in Fortaleza, Brazil. 

Week One in Fortaleza! Moto-Taxi ride, Bolinhos cooking class with Mulhars Mil Projecto, brilliant street art near the Instituto Federal, what turned out to be a No Parking sign, coconut water on the beach, Portuguese class with Vitor and Erilan, Praia de Iracema (Fortaleza) and Iracema Statue on the Beach et al...