Arpoador | Hello from the Five Star Vagabond

Copacabana Ipanema Bikini Babes

September 13, 2014 by David Herd

Copacabana Beach

Copacabana Ipanema Bikini Babes

Copacabana Ipanema bikini babes and much more can be seen at both these great beaches in Rio de Janeiro. No beach on Earth offers the exciting panorama of these playgrounds of the rich & poor.

It was October 2009, the weather was magnificent & I caught up with many of my old & new friends in this wonderful city.

Stick around I’m going to take you on a tour from Copacabana to Ipanema via Arpoador.

Copacabana bars & cafes

Every 50 meters along Copacabana there is a fabulous cafe bar where you can eat, drink & watch the beach volleyball, or if you are that way inclined just gaze longingly at the beautiful bikini clad Cariocas. 🙂

The cafe above is one of the newer versions replacing the older one like you see below.

A great place to sit and watch the world go by.

Here is a webcam focused on Copacabana.

Did I mention bikini clad Cariocas?

Carioca is a Brazilian adjective or demonym that is used to refer to the native inhabitants of the city of Rio de Janeiro.

This guy is punching way above his weight

One of the many fabulous brown skin bikini babes on Copacabana.

Copacabana with Sugarloaf in the background

A trip to Sugarloaf mountain is a must do.

A typical New Years Eve

In Copacabana the crowds build up from mid afternoon, at night there are around 2 million people on the beach dressed in white.

For great hotel room rates just book through THIS LINK.

David Young sadly passed away March 2 2013

He suffered for years with a very bad painful back then underwent a couple of operations where metal screws were inserted into his spine. Infection set in and they had to be replaced & finally it all became too much and this nice friend of mine passed away in the city he loved.

Happier times with David & friends

David worked with Jonathan Kendall on the left, the couple on the right are Les & Robin Scheffer who lived near me on the Gold Coast in Australia.

Sadly Les passed away in March 2020.

Bobby Frishman from “Blame it on Rio” travel

Bobby has been in Rio for many years running a well known travel agency in Copacabana.

Don Camillo Copacabana

One of the many restaurants on Avenue Atlantica in Copacabana.

Dinner with Simone

Simone & I have been great friends for a number of years, in fact in 2005 we travelled around north east Brazil from Natal to Recife via the beautiful Praia de Pipa. For the last few years Simone has been working in a bank in Sao Paulo. Simone & I in fact traveled 300 kms by taxi from Ponte Negra to Recife stopping in Pipa on the way.

Lets leave Copacabana & walk to Arpoador

If we are going to walk we may as well follow these two gorgeous girls. 🙂

For a great hotel room rate in RIO just book through THIS LINK.

Fort Copacabana

Fort Copacabana was inaugurated in 1914 with a mission to protect the coast of Rio de Janeiro and the entrance to the harbour. Today the fort provides visitors educational and cultural activities. Coordinates: 22.988117°S 43.191678°W

The Arpoador Rock

In the past, at very end of Arpoador Promontory – The Arpoador Rock– fishermen used to harpoon the whales that came to reproduce in this warm waters. The harpoon used by those fishermen gave the park its name and also has been used to identify the rock (in Portuguese Arpoador means fishermen who uses harpoon). The Arpoador Rock is preserved by the Municipal Historic Heritage. Also within the APA limits there is a public square called Girl of Ipanema Park after the world famous song composed by Vinicius de Moraes and Antônio Carlos Jobim.

Copacabana Ipanema Bikini Babes

A great view of Copacabana beach from here.

Arpoador Park

Not known worldwide as the beaches either side but a much more peaceful scene than Ipanema and Copacabana.

Arpoador, between Ipanema & Copacabana.

White sand, sunshine and a beautiful blue sky, what more could you want?

Arpoador beach

More peaceful than Copacabana.

Looking down on all this beauty from Cocovada

Corcovado, meaning “hunchback” in Portuguese, is a mountain in central Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 710-metre granite peak is located in the Tijuca Forest, a national park.

Frank Sinatra sings and Tony Motolla plays the guitar. The tune is “Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)”, written by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

frank sinatra corcovado

Watch this video on YouTube

Beautiful Ipanema

One of the most breathtaking beaches in the world.

Garota de Ipanema restaurant

You guessed it, here is where they wrote the song which was inspired by Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto (now Helô Pinheiro), a nineteen-year-old girl living on Montenegro Street in the fashionable Ipanema district in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Daily, she would stroll past the popular Veloso bar-café, not just to the beach (“each day when she walks to the sea”), but in the everyday course of her life. She would sometimes enter the bar to buy cigarettes for her mother and leave to the sound of wolf-whistles. In the winter of 1962, the composers watched the girl pass by the bar, and it is easy to imagine why they noticed her—Helô was a 173-cm (five-foot eight-inch) brunette, and she attracted the attention of many of the bar patrons. Since the song became popular, she has become a celebrity.

On the wall is the music as well

How many times have you heard this beautiful song? Each time I hear it I’m transported back to Ipanema.

Les & Robyn Shcheffer from the Gold Coast in Australia.

This couple lived quite close to me on the Gold Coast in Australia, we used to be good friends however 4 years ago in 2013 they placed me on their “black list”, I must admit I’m quite comfortable there. 🙂 Sadly Les passed away in March 2019.

As you can see from the photo the food is rather excellent.

Garota de Ipanema restaurant

I have been here many times, on of my greatest memories of Rio was here on New Years Eve 2007 with my friend Dave Wylie. We had a window seat and all around us was one of Rio’s famous blocos. Street Carnival Bands, called “Blocos de Rua”, have become an expressive feature of Rio’s Carnival. Today, they number more than 440 (considering 2012 Rio Carnival only) and the groups increase each year. Blocos can be formed by small or large groups of revelers with a distinct title with an often funny pun. (Os blocos RJ, para os solteiros, são um lugar para conhecer e até beijar pessoas, or “The blocos in Rio de Janeiro, for the singles, are places to meet and even kiss people.”) They may also note their neighborhood or social status. Before the show, they gather in a square, then parade in sections of the city, often near the beach. Some blocos never leave one street and have a particular place, such as a bar, to attract viewers. Block parades start in January, and may last until the Sunday after Carnival.

For a great hotel room rate in RIO just book through THIS LINK.

Dave Wylie & I Carnival in Ipanema in 2008.

After living in Rio for 10 years my good friend Dave spent 18 months as my neighbour in Pattaya Thailand before returning to Crescent City California.