We wandered up the promenade of Copacabana beach around 10ish. It's swirling mosaic black and white tiled pavement is amazing. We turned the corner at the end of the beach and headed for Ipanema beach, with it's interlocking chain pattern mosaic black and white tiles. Also amazing!
Both beaches offer fantastic views over the Atlantic and surrounding mountains. It's some backdrop here. We ventured up to the subway station at Ipanema central, where there is an elevator above it that takes people from glitzy Ipanema up to one of the favela neighborhoods. The elevator offers really cool views over Ipanema and Copacabana. Quite a cool piece of infrastructure too - all part of new government approach to favela communities. Connecting them to the city.
We wandered back to the beach, stopping for some frozen yoghurt along the way of course. Sim got an even bigger size container today - precious!
When we finally got to the beach, it was naturally not as busy as it had been on the weekend, but still, quite packed. We got our deck chairs and umbrellas setup for us, sunscreened up and watched the world around us go by. It's so interesting watching how people act and behave at the beach - who's buying and selling - who's after who. Very funny!
The water was a little cooler than Saturday, but still amazing. We engaged more with the hawkers today, buying a few more things on the beach. You can get cold coconut juice brought to you in the coconut.
It's quite a relaxing few hours I must say - I'm not usually one for sitting at the beach for hours on end but here I'll make an exception.
We finally got ourselves ready to leave around 2ish - was getting really hot now. Walking back to Copacabana through Ipanemas shopping street was a sweaty affair and a sore one for simi - her legs were really red after too much sun. I've been telling her to take better care with sunscreen.
Anyway, we stopped for some more ice cream - our plan is no lunch, just ice cream, then we can be more hungry for dinner.
After briefly checking in at the hotel, we ventured back out to the Botanic Gardens on the other side of the Lagoon. Was a nice stroll through the trees - very peaceful and serene, and it offered amazing views up to the Corcovado. The funniest part was the security guard who ran up to sim and asked if she was ok. Sim and I were both perplexed as to why he asked this, and we then realized he was referring to her red sunburnt legs - he couldn't believe how red they were. She made his day I think!
We caught a cab back to the hotel around the lagoon, which allowed us to see different parts of the city we hadn't yet, even if it was from the backseat of a taxi. The thing that really struck me was the ever present sight of Corcovado, everywhere you seem to go in Rio, Christ is visible. Really cool!
We got back to the hotel, and did some laundry as well as some shopping for thongs.
Havaiana madness - we went a bit nuts in the store today. I mean look at what we have bought!
That evening we caught up with a few peeps from our Intrepid group who were still in town and went for dinner in Leblon, just south of Ipanema. I had read that it apparently had a good restaurant scene here, so I was looking forward to dinner, even though it was Monday night and wouldn't be as buzzing! We walked up the street and back, looking for somewhere nice until finally settling on a place called La Mole. Dinner was ok, pasta and meats with a really good bottle of Chilean carmenere. The best part was the anti pasta platter for starters really good selection of food.
The night ended around 11 for us and we went home to bed - the sun is taking it's toll now. Were both Exhausted! Only one more day in Rio left - sad!
Sounds like more amazing experiences. Watch yourselves intge sun you are both little pinkies & need to cover up. Thongs look interesting. On a sad note have u heard about NZ Christchurch earthquake 65 dead. Could be up to 200.
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