This was my second time in two years in Fortaleza. I came back for a month to train at a local gym that I really like, work and chill on the beach. Increasingly I find myself returning to locations where there is less to be explored, and more that supports a comfortable life while I am there and Fortaleza is the perfect place for that. My favorite part of Fortaleza is the upscale gym where I train. It’s located a block from the beach in Beira Mar (“seaside”), and much fancier than the gyms I typically go to. It’s expensive too, but everyone is really nice and happy to see me there, and there are yoga classes too. Even though nobody speaks English (and I don’t speak Portuguese), everyone is really kind and supportive. There’s an attached cafe at the gym that sells me post-workout tapiocas, which I just can’t get enough of. I always make performance improvements while I am training there, and each time I leave Fortaleza I am excited to come back again, for longer. I like staying in Beira Mar, a central downtownish place alongside the beach. A long esplanade runs along the beach for about […]
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I was so happy during the two weeks that I stayed in an apartment in the neighborhood of Meireles in Fortaleza, in the state of Ceara Brazil. I was a block from the beach and half a block from a beautiful, boutique gym. This is the type of gym that has personal trainers scattered everywhere waiting to intercept your last reps on the bench press (even when you’d prefer they don’t), eager to offer advice (when none is solicited), and generally hoping to be needed. That was all part of the premium price I paid for a gym so conveniently located near where I was staying (and no other options existed). I made friends with Giordano, one of these trainers, and though he doesn’t speak English we managed to communicate through grunts and gestures and smiles and laughs. I like to think that Giordano saw real potential in me compared to his other gym clients who seemed to phone it in a couple of times a week. I may have been a welcome distraction for the two weeks I was in attendance – diligently appearing each day to get the cost-per-visit I paid as low as possible. So Giordiano took […]
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