The location: Located near the equatorial line in the northeastern coast of Brazil, Fortaleza, the capital of the state of Ceará, lies by the beach between the Ceará and the Cocó rivers, in the middle of 570km (360mi) of sandy beaches of the State's coast. The highest point in the city is only 30m (100ft) high and its beach front is formed of sand dunes up to 10m high and coconut trees. The weather is dry and sunny. A steady breeze comes from the ocean and keeps the air clean and healthy while the temperature rests on a nice level all year around. The lack of rain during most of the year, now a blessing for the visitors, prevented a permanent settlement in the area of Fortaleza until the middle of the 17th Century. At that time, needing to assure the hold of the land, the Portuguese stablished the Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora da Assunção in the same place where a hundred years before the Dutch had built the Schoonenbroch Fort. Fortaleza, named after the fortress, has been since then an important trading center and an artistic and cultural center of the country.

Sponsorship:

• LOGIA/ProTeM - CC/CNPq
• LIA/UFC

• T. Pequeno (Fortaleza)
• D. Vanderveken (Quebec)

• A. T. C. Martins (Fortaleza)
• M. Pequeno (Fortaleza)