Um Dia na Praia

The quintessential Brazilian beach experience is also the quintessential Latino beach experience, plus a few extra quirks like enormous silicon breasts, tiny swimwear and plenty of tall, blonds. Yes, the beaches here are jammed pack with an array of people, most are just sunbathing but others are playing in the sand, surfing or swimming in the water and plenty are selling.

Carts of fresh fruit and alcohol are pushed from one side of the beach to the other, and very often get stuck in the soggy, wet sand along the way. That's why there tends to be two people selling these ridiculously cheap and strong cocktails, and they are around all day. No problems getting a freshly squeezed pineapple and strawberry caipirinha at 10 o'clock in the morning, although I assure you we only did this once.

There are also people selling all types of foods, from giant, green coconuts (this we bought a few times) or toasted cheese, although I can't imagine why anyone would want to eat that while at the beach. And then there are the people who sell clothes. They carry huge racks across their shoulders, stacked full of dresses and skirts or the latest trend in bikinis. It's incredible how they can hold up all that weight. Every ten metres they settle their rack and somehow expand it until there are clothes on display everywhere. I encountered these vendors at every beach we visited, and we went to a new beach everyday.

Now at every beach people either brought their own beach towel or the more popular choice of a sarong, some would rent a deck chair, maybe even adding a sun umbrella. Then a man would come over with a special little device that stabbed deep into the ground and soaked up the sand, almost like a giant beach syringe. When they pulled it out, it would leave a long and slim hole where he then easily stuck in the beach umbrella, which never again flew away. Some smart people brought their own umbrella and their own beach syringe.

Another common beach activity is fresco ball, something that my friend and I like to practise everyday. We actually started to get quite professional by the end of it. Basically it's two people with a tennis ball and two solid wooden rackets. The idea is to hit the ball from one person to the other without it bouncing on the ground - loads of fun, loads of splashing about in the water chasing after that damn ball.