Today was my fourth day staying at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
After yesterday's touring around, my legs were swollen and sore today. I decided to rest them and spend the day on the beach or around the hotel pool reading my Kindle.
After having my breakfast at the hotel buffet, I went up to the roof to sit around the pool and read my Kindle. Unfortunately, there was only one spare chair to sit on and it had no shelter from the sun. The hotel had started renovating the lobby area the day we arrived, and 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 and 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 and took my Kindle across the road to Copacabana Beach.
I spent a few hours on the beach reading my Kindle and 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 and for bathers to use caution if going in the water. As a reasonably strong swimmer, I did go for a swim, but the undercurrents were powerful, and after a while, I swam back onto the beach. I had drifted a few hundred yards along the beach, and I would advise anyone who isn't a strong swimmer to avoid swimming at the beach. I swam in similar seas when I lived in Florida, but these were the strongest currents I had 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, and 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, and 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 to eat something. It was no better than any of the previous meals I had at Rio de Janeiro, and we left and went back to the hotel. I packed my suitcase when I got back to my room and went to bed early.