Happy Rio Friday! Part 1

One of the great things about Copacabana beach is that you don't have to bring much with you out to the beach. There are vendors who trudge up and down the shoreline carrying all manner of food and accessories to make your sunning time complete.

In addition to food and drink, the two most practical vending items are sunblock/suntan lotion, and sunglasses. The glasses this vendor is carrying around are relatively inexpensive, so if you forgot yours, or more likely, lost them in a wash machine of a wave that caught you unaware as you turned beachward to watch some beautiful bodies go by, one of these is just the ticket. There is a big enough variety to ensure that you find the perfect pair to suit your style.

If you look closely in the center left of this picture, under the umbrellas walking away from the photographer, is a vendor who literally drags a very heavy looking cooler, with attached rope, through the thick sand. On a crowded day, there is barely room for him to weave between the towels, chairs and umbrellas. What a tough way to go.

Here is another very useful vendor. He is carrying a full-size cooler on his back, plus a large bag of assorted drinks in his hands. He sells Skol, the beer here, and guarana (a type of caffeine) drinks, as well as Diet Coke. It is easy to get diet or low-calorie items here, because most of the locals are very "physique" conscious.

Now this is service! This guy with the clever umbrella sunshield carries around all the fixin's to mix up a few different drinks, including the ubiquitous and powerful caipirinhas. He will set up his little bar and mix one up pronto at your chairside complete with ice, which he is carrying in the cooler on his back.

Another made to order delicacy - grilled queijo! This is a long thick slab of cheese on a stick ( a lot of beach food comes "on-a-stick") . The guy sets up his little oven and grills the cheese for you right at your beach chair. You can see a stick peeking out of the grill if you look closely. Mmmm!

Camarones (large shrimp) on-a-stick, served up on a silver platter . . . in 90 degree heat. I am sure many people have eaten these and lived to tell about it, but this idea seems to me to be the most likely item on the beach to cause illness or death. Your decision.

In the non-food beach vending sector, sarongs are the most popular. There is a different sarong/pareo vendor coming by every couple minutes. Most have quite similar merchandise, but if you look carefully out of the corner of your eye (so as not to let him know you might be interested and commit yourself to 5-10 minutes of his best sales pitch) you will occasionally find an interesting one you have not yet seen. This becomes harder the more time you spend out on the beach.