Life’s a beach

Photos can never do justice to actually being anywhere, the beauty, the noise, the smells, the weather, Rio de Janiero is no different to everywhere else except, it is blessed with fabulous beaches at Copacabana and Ipanema, Christ the Redeemer stands high above the city, Sugar Loaf Mountain just rises from the sea like dollop of chocolate ice cream and the Favela’s sit on the mountain slopes looking down on the jetset lifestyle of many a tourist in their fabulous city.

Sugar Loaf

We had the added attraction of the Olympics being in town and all the craziness that party brings with it, but let me dispell some myths about the ‘stereotypical Brazilian’.

Ipanema Beach

All the Brazilian women do not play volleyball on the beach, all day, wearing a thong and all the men do not play football with oranges, whilst honing their well-toned bodies on exercise machines in full view of their adoring fans. Sorry, if I have crushed your dreams.

The vast majority, like you and I, have odd shaped bodies, aren’t all supermodels or have adonis-like physiques with football skills reminiscent of Pele or Ronaldinho. This is not to say there aren’t gorgeous looking people around, but I am lucky that I have my own Brazilian undercover operator, namely, Sharki3, who often gets mistaken for a Carioca, the local inhabitants of Rio.

Copacabana Beach

It’s quite amusing when people come up to her and speak in Portuguese believing that she is Carioca. I have run out of countries that she has been mistaken for a local. Perhaps, being a Cape Coloured you have a special disguise or camouflage that you can blend in through Africa, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay or Brazil and James Bond or Jason Bourne need an identity change to be truly a multi-national looking citizen of our planet earth.

catch up with Ben and Krysta

My next trip to Rio will be to play a bit of football on the beach maybe even some volleyball, run along the boardwalk at the sea front in Ipanema down to Copacabana and stagger back, try and visit Sugar Loaf and Christ the Redeemer and enjoy the culinary delights that Rio boasts in all its cafe’s and restaurants. Tourist mode.

market tour with Ben and gang

Maybe I need to wait until the end of August when the true Olympians have left town and I can try and blend in with my odd-shaped body with the Carioca’s on the beach.