A perfect day at the beach…

[Getting caught up on posts so this one is a bit out of order] On Thursday, we had breakfast, herded our passel of kittens and headed to Camboinhas beach, about 20 minutes from B’s mom’s house. This beach is surrounded by really nice houses and condos. You park up top and walk down a long flight of stairs to the beach itself. The weather couldn’t have been any better, particularly after several days of atypically cool weather (it was getting down to 10 degrees or so at night). It was sunny as all get out (as we say in Oklahoma) and in the mid twenties, with very little  wind. The air was fairly clear, so the view back toward Rio was spectacular. Camboinhas is quite different from the beaches we usually go to in Rio’s Zona Sul. It is more isolated, probably safer and offers fine dining (by beach standards) at tables located on the beach (with beachside waiters!). We decided to eat at home as we’d had a fairly late breakfast.The kids love the millions of shells on the beach. Judging from the shells, the numerous fishing boats that crowd the water there and by the fish you can actually watch leap out of the water, the ocean seems to be teaming with life. Since it’s winter and we went on a weekday, the beach was all but deserted. We lounged around for a few hours and then headed home to get ready for the trek up to Teresópoli, an hour and a half from Niterói, high in the mountains.