Da Praia

    I have seen hundreds of pictures of Rio and the beach, but no pictures can portray the experience of a day at the beach in Rio. It is part of Brazilian culture to go to the beach, so everyday, but mostly the weekends, the beaches are packed with locals and travelers. All you need is the bare essentials, in my case: a pair of trunks, sunglasses, sandals and some pocket change. Then you find a spot and take it all in. Vendors walk up and down the beach selling food, matte, acai, beer, water, anything the heart could desire for very cheap. You can even rent a chair and umbrella for shade for the day for about 5 Real, which is like $3. Everyday so far there has been swell, so whenever I get too hot I jump in for a bodywomp session. My knee prevents me from surfing or the other beach sports I like so much, but in a couple months all be all good . . . I can´t wait.
    Sport is big in Rio. There is a slew of nets up and down the beaches with people (mostly locals) playing volleyball, foot volley and paddle ball. Obviously the volleyball is great to watch, but both the foot volley and paddle ball are unbelievable. Foot volley is played on the same court as volleyball (I think the net is a little lower) but you can only us touches legal in soccer. Otherwise said, no hands. The rallies and sheer athleticism is amazing, I sat today and watched a tournament for over an hour. The paddle ball is like tennis on the sand. The pace of the game is very fast with the serve being so fast, the opponent only has his/her reflex to get the ball back over the net.
    There is a boardwalk that is next to the beach that people skate, bike and run at any point of the day. Today I found a free gym with all the weights, machines, yoga mats and classes you can handle. It´s called Muscle Beach and it´s a perfect spot to rehab my knee! Plus you are right on the beach working out watching people play in the water and in the sand.
    The sand is thick white. Every other tropical place I have visited has no-see-ems or bugs that bite around sunset. Rio has no bugs at all, day or night. There are spotlights on the beach at night (I´m assuming for safety), but it makes the beach hospitable day or night. Rio has many mountains that protrude right out of the ocean. This makes for fantastic vistas, great sunsets and even better sunrises. I partied in Lapa last night for a samba street party and afterwards went down to the beach with some Brazilian friends from San Paulo for the sunrise . . . epic!