Olha que coisa mais linda,
Mais cheia de graça
É ela menina
Que vem que passa(The Girl From Ipanema, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Norman Gimbel, Vinicius De Moraes)
Rio de Janeiro is most famous for its picture perfect beaches, mostly Copacabana and Ipanema.
Copacabana stretches for 4.5 km along the Atlantic Ocean. Myth number one: it is not the best place to swim. The beach is quite dirty and you may find all kind of garbage floating on the water. However, Copacabana is the best place for people-watching, coconut-drinking and dulce de leche churros eating. It´s also the place where rich and poor have the same activities: volley-ball on the beach, sunbathing… favelas kids or posh teens look alike in a swimsuit, and the beach is free!
A bit further is the posh Ipanema. Located in a rich neighborhood, the beach attracts the young and beautiful, as well as a fair share of tourists.
Ipanema is also one of the only place in the world where you feel extremely overdressed wearing a skirt and a tee-shirt. Although topless sunbathing would be considered extremely indecent, girls of all shapes and all ages wear what are probably the tiniest bikinis on the planet! Go figure…
I have bought coconuts in our grocery store and tasted the watery “milk” inside but didn’t think it tasted like much. Are these more flavorful varieties? Are they riper? Is something added to the contents to make it taste better? Or am I just unenlightened?
Thanks for the beautiful photos. How will you and Feng manage to return to the real world after such an adventure?
Hey..I wanna be there soaking in this paradise and enjoy life…..OMG this is too tempting Zhu. I bet you did’t wanna go home ya 🙂
Mmmm… that first sunset picture is magical. I love how you said the rich and the poor look alike in a swimsuit. And that sandcastle is spectacular!!
throw me one of those coconuts!
I want to be on that beach now! I envy you so much!
@Bill Miller – Coconut water does ot have a strong taste. In Rio, they just chop the coconut in front of you… we drank it mostly because when it´s really hot, it is supposed to help you sweat less. It does work quite well!
@shionge – No,I don´t… yet,we have to!
@Brenda – Ipanema is quite famous for sunsets, and they do look magical.
@Madeira – Watch your head! 😆
@Bluefish – Don´t worry, we are coming back now… and I´ll miss these too!
Hey Zhu!
It is quite a paradox: they won’t do topless, but wear micro bikinis.
Here in Portugal you can go topless in the beach if you want, and no one will ask you questions (no, I don’t go topless).
Aaah, the Portuguese pavement: isn’t it gorgeous? We still have those here (thank God)! It is a beautiful inheritance.
I loved your pictures: what a gift!
Cheers