I keep on finding mysterious bumps and scratches on my body if I pause long enough to pay attention to them. Apparently, I have two mosquito bites on my right leg (jungle hike or late-night walk?), a bruise on my left elbow (when I bumped into the sliding door while hanging laundry outside or at some point when carrying my backpack?), bruises on my legs (…no explanation here!), calluses on my feet (walking around wearing Havaianas?).

Add sore arms and legs and today after a bodyboarding session with Mark.

“Well, if that’s my biggest problem right now, I think I’m doing okay…”

I spend ten hours outside pretty much every day—given the current situation worldwide, it’s a rare luxury—, half of them wearing nothing but a bikini. I use my body, that’s what it’s for.

I started the afternoon walking on Praia do Moçambique for a couple of hours. I didn’t reach its end, and I wasn’t trying considering it’s 7.5-kilometer long. If it looks like I was alone on the beach, it’s because I was.

Every day, I could post ten pictures of “packed beaches” and “people flouting COVID measures” like media love to show and ten pictures of people using common sense—all of them taken at the exact same spot but using a different angle and perspective. You can lie easily with a camera.

Yes, it’s summer here, people don’t stay home, they go to the beach. But there are plenty of beaches in Brazil. The entrance, close to parking lots, is busy—not jam-packed. Just go a bit further and there’s plenty of room.

I refuse to play the blame game. Yeah, face masks are not popular on the beach—it’s just not doable when it’s hot and humid, not to mention your mask isn’t exactly clean after a couple of hours. Yeah, you’ll see groups not socially distancing—who am I to judge, maybe they trust each other, maybe they all got COVID already. What I can tell you is that Brazilians are not stupid. You can wash your hands absolutely everywhere here and everybody wears a mask indoors. You also don’t have to be in close contact with people if you don’t want to—there’s enough room for everybody.

I’m willing to accept a certain level of risk because it’s exhausting and pointless to be scared all the time.

After the walk, Mark and I had an “epic” bodyboarding session. Everything was absolutely perfect—water temperature, waves and no jellyfishes this time.

I promised him to “put the pictures on the Internet.”

He might check—he’s reading the blog now!