After the hot, hot state of Ceará, the Brazilian coast curves directly southwards at Rio Grande do Norte, whose capital of Natal was greatly expanded during WWII to launch tens of thousands of transit flights to theaters of war in Africa and Europe.  Accordingly, the capital feels more modern than most.

My love affair with Brazil’s Northeast was an old one:

For me, it was love at first sight visiting the Northeast in the days when the only flights from Rio or São Paulo made mail-stop hops going up or down the coast, touching down at the small capital towns that multiplied as abundantly as rural families.

 

But this time, for some reason, the bloom was off the desert rose and I felt disappointed. Part of it may be that in comparison with the rest of Brazil (less the steamy fleshpot of Rio), the Northeast was now crawling with foreign tourists, most of them European.  [p.218, To Belém & Back]

My images from Natal and nearby towns tell a different story: of humor, a simplicity of life, the closeness of humble beliefs. [kindly hover over images for captions]