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Monday, May 04, 2009

Just another day in Rio

DSC00397Life is so different here than in Nova Friburgo.  Besides the differences in temperature, the pace is faster, louder.  In Friburgo, the day has a rhythm that is gentle and after several weeks of it, I begin to feel sluggish and sleepy.  Here is Rio from about 6 am until midnight the city moves, it breaths.  Everything I do entails walking, dodging, engaging all the senses.    Today I walked to the gym, did an hours workout, stopped on my way back to get cash at the bank and had a battery put in my wrist watch, found a store that sells sewing things and bought a white ribbon, walked home changed into comfortable shoes and jeans, and went back out looking for a dress for the first communion we will attend in Bogotá next week, stopped to leave two pair of pants to be shortened (been meaning to do this for 6 months) and took two pair to the dry cleaners.  I did all of this within a one mile square around where the apartments sits.  

DSC08105 Today I saw school children playing jump rope in the park, a new restaurant in an old house that is painted bright yellow, men sweeping up the debris from the Monday street market and a large backhoe moving sand.    All of this life happens everyday, every week, all year.  As surely as the tides come and go, this city need constant attention and care; its life force fed and nurtured.

Connecting the Lagoa to the ocean are two canals.  One is at the end of Leblon and the other divides Ipanema and Leblon.  This one, between the two barrios, because of the natural movement of sand by the waves, fills with sand blocking the Lagoa from draining.  There is constant work being done, digging out the sand and spreading it across the surface of the beach – recreating the dunes that used to complete the landscape here.   

I love to sit and watch the big machinery –  the battle of nature versus man at its best.

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12 comments:

  1. Sounds like a very busy but nice day!

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  2. Fantastic!! These pictures are excellent, I will have to come back to explore further.

    :D

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  3. Walking everywhere seems nice. About the only thing close enough for me to walk to is my mailbox and it is a mile away. We do not live near anything!

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  4. "Oh, think tiwce,
    it's just another for you,
    you and me in Paradise." Jimmy said it all.

    I am getting tropical fever.

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  5. I'm enjoying your post around Rio. what a nice place :-) I wish I could visit this place in the future hahaha if I have some money to spend or maybe if I retire :-)

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  6. I love the pictures, especially the waves crashing on the rocks. I really enjoyed how you talked about Rio as living and breathing as well as your connection to its energy.

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  7. Hi darling lady!!!
    I got the autographed pic of Edgar that you sent me!!!!!
    I LOVE IT and thought you were joking, lol.
    I'm gonna post it either Thursday orFriday......until then I'm so slammed but am certainly not complaining. Means business is good. Really good :)

    Steady On
    Reggie Girl

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  8. boy it got there fast.... I never joke about Edgar - he's my darling boy. This is one sweet man - one I would adopt in a NY minute. ask Prince before you frame it and hang on the wall.... don't want to get into trouble with the husbands...

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  9. I love the beach! I love that foggy picture you posted.
    Smiles.

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  10. Girl, Prince don't care what I put on my office walls........he thinks I'm a little nutty anyway.
    Can you imagine........my propler lil Englishman and kooky me?? Sometimes I blow his mind but we have an amzing love story and life you know?
    Hey my Rio BFF, would you add soulbrush and shabby girl @ A Fish's Beach Wishes to your shoot-Out list??
    You and Gordon are so awesome for keeping this list running. (be sure to let me know when you go to houston so I can get your shirt in the mail :)
    xoxo

    Steady On
    Reggie Girl

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  11. Camillo also doesn't care EXCEPT if the picture was of a good looking 50 something - then he might get nervous... I think he is just glad that since I started blogging I don't say 'I want to go home' all the time. I have already added a couple this morning. I get a little confused when they have many blogs - I can't keep up with one - how do they find time for many.... now I know which to add for shabby girl- Gordon still has more names but whats a girl to do. The gang is getting HUGE!

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  12. As usual the photos are awesome! Everything in Rio looks bigger and better than life.

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