How to spot a tourist

Anna, Amy and I are tourists - and this is apparent to everyone. Maybe it is our general look, demenour, securley held bags or possibly there is a neon sign above our heads that we haven´t noticed but whatever it is, it is apparently very obvious. This has attracted a little unwanted beggar attention but mostly it just attracts helpful people telling us to be careful, or go to this great place etc. Even one of the beggars (who spoke good english, apparently he grew up in the USA) helpfully told us we looked like tourists and would get lots of attention!

Last night we picked up Amy from the airport. She had made friends with a Brazillian girl Sara on the plane. Sara had to catch a bus this morning and we had extra beds in our room so she stayed with us. She was great, telling us lots of interesting things, but the best thing to find out was that today was a public holiday - Corpus Christi. As a result lots of things were closed, however down at Copacabana beach, they had closed half of the major road to make a promenade. It was cloudy and hazy so visability wasn´t good but still warm 23 degrees or so. We wandered along the beach, watching the people.

In Brazil people have great body image. No matter how slim or big, taught or saggy, young or old, you still flaunt it all in the tightest, often shortest outfit you can find. Even the shop manikins are curvy to an extent we never see. It is rather lovely.

There are also no boardshorts here, the speedo still reigns supreme! Everyone was out in their skin tight best parading along the beach or playing beach volleyball. It is no wonder that Brazil wins the Olympics with the amount of people who play it here.

Amy found some great earings which were custom made for her so while we waited we stoped at one of the many tiny stands that line the beach and got a coconut to drink. Amy wanted to eat a bit and attacked it with her tiny pen knife causing great delight to the people watching until the stall holder took pity and brought out his huge knife to cut it up for us to scrape out. Yum - until Amy remarked on the comparison to things she sees on the gynecology ward - eww.

We picked up the earings and jumped in a cab to head to a feista that Sara had told us about for Corpus Christi. The cab ride was a wild one. This cab driver had a rather fluid notion of lanes of the road, speed limits and use of indicators. But it was kind of an amusment ride that droped us at an amazing structure we had seen on our way in from the airport in the morning. The stadium where Fevia de Sao Cristovao Fono was held looks a bit like a basket and the entire inside was filled with stalls. We were expecting lots of handicrafts, but it was more clothes and some food. The majority were traditional resturants, with hawkers out front calling for us to come and eat.

We wandered for awhile till we found a fantastic little cocktail stall. Alcohol is available at all hours of the day, everywhere. All along the street, beach etc are tiny bars and the market was filled with them. But this one had real personality. The owner made us caipirinha with great flair, the full overhead shaking, blowing a whistle as he added copious amounts of cachaca - a brazillian sugarcane alcohol. He danced, performed and sung along to his backing tape, keeping us entertained to the point that we had to have a second round.

Very merry, we headed off for food. We picked a resturant near to a stage where they had a live band and with a little hand pointing, gesturing and Anna´s tranlation skills managed to order the very traditional lunch or slices of steak cooked on a BBQ served with black beans, rice and

It was huge and fantastic, so nice but a lot so we decided to head back to Ipanema. But Amy and I conked out in the cab, so Anna stopped it at Copacabana and we went to walk back, but slightly disoriented, walked in the wrong direction! Many blocks later we turned around and had a really big walk back. We made it back over the gorgeous mosaic footpaths which are tretcheriously slippery after the rain (it did rain at points today) and collapsed into bed.

After a nap, we are refreshed but planning an early night. Tomorrow will be a tour of the city.