We headed south along the main shopping street which runs parallel to the beach to begin with. Because it was Sunday, most of the stores were closed but we did run in to a local market which seemed to be selling everything from roast chickens to bouquets of flowers to souvenir t-shirts. After an hour or so of browsing we turned the corner and shortly thereafter found ourselves on Ipanema beach. According to many, it is far better than its more glamorous sister, Copacabana, and obviously has The Girl to partly thank for for its fame. Certainly, it was packed with sun worshippers and the large, perfectly formed waves crashing against the soft white sand and blue sea looked very inviting indeed.
Retracing our steps, we returned back to Copacabana and stopped for a light lunch and much needed liquid refreshment. From our vantage point at the southern end of the beach it seemed that which ever half of the population of the city was not enjoying lunch at one of the many restaurants, was on the beach, sunbathing, swimming or playing football or volleyball. (Incidentally, the beaches start filling before 8am and do not start to empty until sunset).
With an apology now for rather mixing metaphors, but when in Rome and all that, we felt we had to at least step onto the famous sands of Copacabana, so walked down across the promenade and onto the beach. Avoiding the need to change into our most colourful thong and coolest pair of budgie-smugglers, we just kicked off our sandals and dipped big toes into the water, carefully avoiding the large waves which could easily knock an unsuspecting paddler flat. Walking back up the beach could have been a problem because the sand gets so incredibly hot, but thankfully there are pathways which are always kept damp with a trickle of water from a hose.
By now, unfortunately, time was getting on and we needed to make our way back to the hotel in time to change and catch our transportation to the airport, but not before stopping in another cafe for a cold beer. The local brew is named Chopp and very drinkable it is too.
It goes without saying tht the views of both Ipanema, and Copacabana with Sugar Loaf Mountain in the background were out of this world. The beaches were also spotlessly clean. We also had some crumb of comfort in noting that the top of Corcovado Mountain had remained covered with a blanket of cloud for almost all of the day.
Throughout our weekend there was a heavy police presence throughout the city. Whether or not this is commonplace we do not know, but we did not feel the slightest bit unsafe at any point.
The drive to the airport took place in light rain which in itself was unusual as the city is suffering a drought this summer. In addition, we were reliably informed that the weekend had been exceptionally hot, although with the thermometer reading 34C, we did not really need to be told!
Thus I am composing this final note at 38,000 feet somewhere over northern Brazil on our way to Madrid before connecting back to London and then back to Jersey. On the basis that the rest of the journey is uneventful I will sign off on this particular blog and as always hope that those who have been kind enough to read of our adventures in the footsteps of Magellan have enjoyed hearing about them.
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