We couldn’t get the apartment again at Ipanema, so we are staying the final leg at Cocapabana, a couple of blocks from The Copa. This time we have real sea and beach views.
”Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl
With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there….At the copa (CO!) Copacabana
Music and passion were always the fashion
At the copa.... they fell in love” @BarryManilow
Copacabana has the nicer beach but is way busier. Apparently Ipanema is more up market and expensive, which may explain the fewer people. The beach is very wide and flat. Perfect for beach volleyball, beach soccer, beach tennis and what appears to be the most popular futevolei (footvolley). A hybrid of volleyball, soccer and hacky sack.
No one seems to go in the water here. They either:
- hire a deck chair and beach umbrella from the many venders, drink cocktails or beer all day, then leave all the rubbish behind them for the beach sweeper to pick up with shovel and broom in the morning
- or play one of the beach sports
- or flex their muscles on the beach gym equipment
- or sunbath
Our apartment at Copacabana has an extra bedroom, so some cousins are staying with us. But it has one less toilet. The Ipanema apartment had 2 bedrooms and 4 toilets. One toilet was in the kitchen, wasn’t game to use that one. Think it was for the service staff to use. The other one was next to the front door, not sure of the purpose of having one so close to the entrance. But the natives do eat lots of beans
We went to the local budget supermarket last night to stock up on supplies. My job was to drive the shopping trolley. The supermarket was really crowded, getting down the aisles was daunting at first, then realised it operated on the same rules that applied when driving in the Rio traffic.
- Rule #1 “don’t give an inch or some one will take your inch”
- Rule #2 “find the lady with the biggest arse and just follow her around” similar to tailgating a road train in the outback at night, they clear the way for you of any kangaroos or stray cattle
Some more cousins have turned up. So does not look like they are going to get to the beach any time soon. Going to beach at Copacabana involves the ladies putting on their painted faces and best accessories first.
Wife and son in-law already made their exit. Gone shopping for something, they going to be gone for awhile. Nothing happens fast in Brasil, except the driving, every one thinks they are Formula One drivers.
The Grandson and I are going to disappear (once every one else has departed) and find an Açaí shop. Acai is like a fruit snow freeze, Açai berries flavoured with various fruits like passionfruit or mango.
Part Two
This was easier than I thought it would be. Just had to wait for the big red hand to turn into a small green man, so we could safely cross 6 lanes all going the same direction.
Then there is the electric scooter, runners, bike lane to traverse, pedestrians are expected to give way or you die. No small green man to help there.
Voila, the first beach club we encounter has a sign showing a plastic cup full of Acai. Just had to point, hold 2 fingers up and the waiter delivered 2 Acai cups to our table.
Paying was easy, went to the waiter, he took me to the till operator, an invoice was handed to the waiter who handed it to me. $R54.75. Handed $R100 to the waiter who handed it to the till operator. The till operator did the calculations for the change on the invoice, which he then handed directly to me. ❤️❤️❤️ Rio de Janeiro has a population of 14 million to support, what may appear as inefficiencies to western eyes, gives every one a job. No self checkouts at the Rio de Janeiro supermarkets.
How to spot the Estrangeiro at Copacabana
- wears a Hawaiian shirt
- uses a beach towel instead of the surong
- wears sneakers with socks instead of Havaianas
Be prepared to pay the Estrangeiro tax where ever you go in Rio.
Finally the “butter”
DIsclaimer: Where I was born, butter had only one ingredient, two if you used the salted variety. And was not this colour.
PURANATA Monteiga de Primeira Qualidade Com Sal
translated PURANATA Top quality butter with salt
Ingredients
- Creme de Leite Pasteurizado - Pasteurised Sour Cream
- Cloreto se Sodio (Sal) - Sodium Chloride
- Fermento Lactico and Coronte - lactic yeast and colouring
- Natural Extracto de Urucum - Anatto extract (colouring)
- Base Notbixina - Norbixin (colouring)
The photo shoot
Went down to the beach to take some pics for the post. Standing on waters edge and heard a piercing whistle behind me. It was some lifeguards shepherding the crowd of onlookers back from an Elephant Seal trying to breach the beach.
DISCLAIMER: the sign off image is for all the Looney Tunes fans and @CondiviSulWeb who could be a closet Daffy Duck fan
Support Your Local Bloggers Grandson Stacking Sats
Solpick.io offers their faucet, surveys and gaming. You can level up by earning from surveys or wagering. Been using for over a year and had no problem withdrawing to exchanges or the Ledger Nano. Allows 5 free withdrawals per day, minimum of 0.00250000 SOL per withdrawal.
https://solpick.io/?ref=VEH2024
The other Solana faucet we use daily is
https://solfaucet.togatech.org/
This the “first-ever Solana mainnet faucet”. 0.00001 SOL paid each day to your wallet, no strings attached. Only pays to wallets that have the minimum rent-exempt balance of 0.00089088 SOL (does that count as an attached string?)
