This morning I strolled down the Copacabana boardwalk in order to get a little exercise. I reported in yesterday's post that beach is a hubbub of activity, a carnival like atmosphere, full of scantily dressed bathers. I had no intention of taking photos which might be misunderstood by unconsenting subjects, so it was hard to capture the true spirit of the beach. Fortunately I happened upon a sand castle building contest and I selected two of the most compelling entries. The first picture shows the most amazing sand castle I could ever imagine. It hurt me to think that soon such art will be washed away. I have had similar thoughts about ice or cheese sculptures. Why make something so creative and then eat it or melt it? The second sand sculpture is the best I can do to give an impression of the beach scene. For those of you who may be startled, it is worth remembering that Rio is a city of opposites. The largest cross in the world sits on a mountain overlooking this city.
Tomorrow afternoon, I leave Rio and travel all night and, after three stops reach Santarem, a small river city on the Amazon, where I'll be helping in a clinic. I expect I'll be in for some interesting surprises. According to the guidebooks, there is considerable jungle nearby, so, in my free time, I should be able to post a lot of other pictures I've taken of Rio and venture out in a new environment and take photos of traditional wildlife..
What an amazing post, there, Leemur. City wildlife, to be sure. And I've also never seen a sandcastle anything like that!!! If the rest of your Adventure is as interesting as this, we will not get bored, and neither will you!
ReplyDeleteIt is going to be an amazing adventure alright.
ReplyDeleteAlso amazing sand sculptures. I love that castle but really wonder about the bumps of rumps. LOL
Ride on, MB
Lee ... I'm curious ... what countries are you going to, and how long are you going to stay at each one?
ReplyDeleteElleda
Loved the sandcastles. Truly amazing art and I agree...what a waste....but then maybe they make them better each day like an artist with only one canvas who covers over each picture and makes a new one each time. Did you take any tour of Rio?
ReplyDeleteAmazing! Glad you are enjoying yourself.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't have imagined anything like that sand castle until I saw your picture. How do people get that kind of control over such a wayward substance as sand? It's not like it's clay and sticks together on its own--every grain wants to go its own way. I guess the secret is getting it wet enough and keeping it wet, but not so wet that you wash away your work-in-progress. I wouldn't even know where to begin with something like that. I'm so glad you captured that amazing piece of ephemeral art before it got washed away.
ReplyDeleteAs for your second photograph--does the caption "what you can do with your hands have some kind of, ummm...esoteric meaning?
Hi Lee, happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThis is so incredible, have you been doing anything with your hands here? :-)Safe next leg!
Lee, your posts are coming into my mailbox beautifully since I signed up for the subscription. I like it much better than the other feeds, because I don't have to remember to go looking for them in a reader or at the bottom of the Blogger dashboard. They come in at least a few hours after posting, though, so I like to click the shortcut on my desktop and see if there's anything new. Just letting you know it works well. I also like to click over to the blog itself and make or read comments.
ReplyDeleteFirst, these castles and sand people are crazy cool! And, it sounds like an adventure before you even arrive to your first project! Wow..I cannot wait to see images along the way;) Have fun!
ReplyDeleteAren't those amazing? The intricate carvings of the castle leave me awestruck. The beach-babes scene is funny, but I am sure true to life.
ReplyDeleteWatch out for the gators on your nature exploration - stay safe & snap a picture or 2. It'll be factinating to hear about your work at the clinic.