Today was my fourth day staying at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Copacabana Beach.
After yesterday's touring around my legs were swollen & sore today. I decided to rest them & spend the day on the beach or around the hotel pool reading my Kindle.
After having my breakfast in the hotel buffet I went up to the roof to sit around the pool to read my Kindle. Unfortunately, there was only one spare chair to sit on & it had no shelter from the sun. The hotel had started renovating the lobby area the day we arrived & today they had a couple of models posing for photos around the hotel, for the hotel brochure. They were even posing around the jacuzzi on the roof although I am sure that the photos didn't show that the jacuzzi wasn't working & hadn't worked the whole time we had been staying there.
It was too hot for me on the rooftop because the glass railings meant there was no wind to cool it down. I took my dirty washing to a launderette that Gail had found a couple of days ago & after dropping my dirty washing off at the launderette, I collected a towel from my room & took my Kindle across the road to Copacabana Beach.
I spent a few hours on the beach reading my Kindle & watching the varied wildlife on the beach before realizing that the red flags were not flying today. There were yellow flags, which were a warning against dangerous conditions & for bathers to use caution if going in the water. As a fairly strong swimmer, I did go for a swim but the undercurrents were very strong & after a while, I swam back into the beach. I had drifted a few hundred yards along the beach & I would advise anyone who isn't a strong swimmer to avoid swimming at the beach. I have swam in similar seas when I lived in Florida but these were the strongest currents I have swum in.
In the afternoon Gail joined me at the beach after she had walked along to Impanena Beach this morning. I advised her against swimming & she just posed in the shallow water as it rushed onto the sand, so that I could take a photo for her. I was getting sunburnt again & we went to a local beach bar for a drink before collecting my washing from the launderette.
This evening we went to another local restaurant for something to eat. It was no better than any of the previous meals I had at Rio de Janeiro & we left & went back to the hotel. I packed my suitcase when I got back to my room & went to bed early.