DAY 122: Seeing the state of the dining room table the morning after a first night celebration of our new apartment, there was no explanation needed for the fact that Lara was pretty much sick and hungover all day. I was feeling fairly okay -- nothing that a little breakfast couldn't cure. Lara stayed in bed feeling rough while I went out to attend to Blog duties at an internet cafe and buy a couple of more groceries: a fresh baguette for Lara and slices of cheese for my hangover breakfast, the good ol' American grilled cheese sandwich.

After recuperating while watching episodes of Friends on our satellite TV's The Warner Channel, we decided to take advantage of the sunny day by strolling all the way through Copacabana to Ipanema Beach (picture above). On the eastern end of Ipanema Beach was the Arpoador, a small, rocky peninsula that jutted out into the Atlantic, a perfect place for surf waves and for fishermen. I explored the area with my camera while Lara sat on a bench to recuperate some more.

Lara was still feeling rough and walked back to the apartment to chill out while I went on to explore the rest of Ipanema Beach. Getz and Gilberto's classic song "The Girl From Ipanema" implied to me that I'd see many lovely Brazilian girls on the beach -- the kind that when they pass, each one they pass goes "Aaah" -- but they were few and far between. In fact, a lot of the people I noticed in and around the beachfronts were American guys who I take it were influenced on coming down to Rio for Carnivale because of Snoop Dogg & Pharrell's "Beautiful" music video, shot in Rio.

I continued my leisurely stroll along the beach, passing the impressive sand sculptures of a talented artist. I was beginning to think the supposed "girl from Ipanema" was merely a figment of his imagination until I realized the nearby rainbow-colored flag waving proudly on a pole.

I continued west until I heard the rhythm of a five-man samba band performing around a crowded, touristy (and hetero) beach. There was a group of people with mobile phones and cameras trying to look important, and soon I realized what they were all hovering around: a swimsuit model lounging out near the waves for what looked like a swimsuit calendar shoot or something. The tall and tan and young and lovely girl was moved and primpped into several sensual positions by an assitant, and glared her sexy Brazilian eyes for the nerdy-looking photographer behind the camera. Aaah. Needless to say, I wasn't the only one trying to sneek in a photo without security looking.

As dusk was approaching, I went off to find a bicycle rental place so I could ride off into the sunset. It wasn't as easy as I thought; the address of the one place in Copacabana mentioned in my tourist guide turned out to be that of a residential high-rise. I gave up on the idea anyway since I was tired from the total four-mile walk and just sat out for a bit watching the waves, sipping sweet water out of a fresh coconut.

LARA WAS FEELING MUCH BETTER when I got back to our apartment. She sorted herself out with a pack of ramen noodles while I just finished the leftovers from the night before. After, we went out for a nightly stroll to shop for Flamengo soccer jerseys to twirl around during the Caroica 2004 finals the following Saturday -- it was easy since there were many guys just walking around and selling cheap bootleg ones out of a bag or over their shoulder.

The vibe on the beach was chilled out with a slight breeze of salty sea air. A man with a guitar played for a cafe on the beach. Hippies sold homemade jewelry on towels spread across the sidewalk. Spray paint artists worked their magic on their boards on the sidewalk. People sat with drinks at sidewalk cafes and watched people go by. We saw all this as we made our way to the night markets in the middle of Avenida Atlantica along beach, which sold the regular tourist souvenirs of t-shirts, jewelry, paintings and some other cheesy things that you might by for others but not yourself. An American guy who probably knew the lyrics to the Snoop Dogg/Pharrell song more than he did any Portuguese overheard Lara speaking English and tried to get her to try on a woman's shirt so she could model it for him. She just gave him the usual "Não obrigada." ("No thanks.")

Whereas The Girl From Ipanema can make people go "Aaah," Lara the Girl From Guernsey just made the guy go "Awww..."