Soccer Game in Fortaleza
Wayne Update
Wayne was bleeding after his surgery so he underwent another surgery. Man oh man what we go through to look good. I saw him after the facelift and his eyelids looked gross. I don’t think I’ll be able to stomach seeing him again until he looks better than that. Besides, I hate hospitals, nurses, and doctors. The whole thing. Although I do admit when you need ’em, it’s good to have ’em. I was at their tender mercy once for a long time. By the way, months after we got home and I had a good look at him, there was no difference. Wayne looked the same.
After visiting him, I went to a soccer game. Roberto apologized later for such a boring game because there was only one goal. I am not a sports fan. What I am a fan of is watching people, and there were tons of them.
The Moroccan Claw
I sat beside Junior, our security guy. Roberto wanted me to sit with him and his Dutch/Canadian friend but I chose Junior because Junior doesn’t talk. When he realized I was going to sit beside him he grabbed and hugged me. Maybe I had made a mistake…Also sitting in our group was a black lawyer/journalist from Cape Verde who got really drunk, but Roberto and I agreed that he was very nice anyway. Some Finns looked so pale and dissolute, trudging up the stairs to their seats. Finns always look debauched especially when they are not in Finland. Small, dark Brazilian beauties accompanied these big white Finns.
The Casablancan was nice looking and accompanied by two buxom, black wenches. His English was fine and he said his French was even better. He casually clawed the back of my head when they left. This is how they say goodbye in Morroco. It’s called the Moroccan Claw. If they don’t like you, they claw the other side of your head – your face. Even though Roberto promised I would be let off first, I was the last and I didn’t mind. Roberto suggested that we go to a club called “Mucuripe”. I declined his offer. My footwear was inadequate.
I had dinner on the patio. Ricardo served.
Don’t Go to Fortaleza
But, if you do go be forewarned! Having written this entire post, I am now telling you not to go to Fortaleza. Historically, Fortaleza has had much less gang activity than any other Brazilian city. Not so anymore. Brazil’s most infamous gangs decided to expand northward from places like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Fortaleza happens to be located nearer to Europe and Africa than any other large, coastal Brazilian city. As a result, the gangs are fighting to control huge amounts of cocaine that are being sent to the lucrative European market. Mexican cartels have cornered the market on drugs coming into the US, so Brazil is focused on Europe. And, it’s not only Brazil. Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Colombia all have a hand in production and trafficking. Brazil has become a major cocaine exporter in the last 5 years.
Retaliation
As of 2020, Fortaleza is almost tied for the fifth-most violent city in the world. Interpol even has a program named “Project Fortaleza”. Sex trafficking in Brazil has centered around Fortaleza. The gangs are firmly in control and have connections to the police and military. These gangs are even bombing public infrastructure like bridges, cell towers, buses, banks, and police stations in retaliation for President Bolsonaro putting his foot down. For example, he took their wifi away. Gang members in prison are no longer able to do business with their phones. Also, he doesn’t allow prisoners to be segregated according to gang affiliation. They are all going into the same prisons together. So they will have to play nice and learn how to get along well with others.
I made it to Fortaleza just before the gangs did. Corruption is always looking for fertile soil. You never know when it will invade, take over, and control a beautiful stretch of exotic country where normal people go about their business enjoying life, tourism, surgical tourism, and just plain old everyday living. Yes, you never know when all that will turn into murder, mayhem, drug addiction, prostitution, and colossal misery. You never know, and there is nothing you can do about it.
0 Comments