NOTE 1: I meant to say I have never been in FORTALEZA in January. I have been in Barranquilla in January 3-4 times, and know it well.
NOTE 2: the Smartfit location I spoke of in Fortaleza is the one in Praia Iracema. You can sign up and ask for the first payment to happen LATER, ie not on the day of sign up. It will then fail, and you will be asked to make the payment in person, manually. At that point you can use your US-based bank debit card.
If you want to save money when renting a home or apartment in Brazil you can do this: a) befriend the owner or agent handling your initial Airbnb rental, b) strike up a deal with them whereby you sign a longer-term rental contract.
I have done that on a number of occasions. That is what I did with this $700 USD apartment in Fortaleza, Brazil.
