I had a chance to talk to Katie today, but...

Today Mariana and I also went to the beach. We meant to go so we could sit, enjoy the sun, swim a little, and other typical winter time activities, but the supermarket check out line took so long that we didn't have time for all those shenanigans. So we dropped off our soap and papayas, picked up Toby, and went for a quick walk (minus the diaper) to a bank kiosk so Mariana could do some quick banking.

However... (doesn't every story start with this word?) the kiosk was out of order. So Mariana asked someone passing by if there was another Bank of Brasil close by, and luckily enough there was! Only 4 or 5 blocks away! More or less.... (do you see a yellow bank?)

Turns out it was mostly more. We walked, and walked and walked and walked, and stopped so Toby could pee on a wall, and walked and walked and walked. Turns out the bank was some 45 minutes down the beach. Finally the yellow awning came into view so once we got there Mariana did her banking. Once she finished we both were sweaty and Toby's little poodle legs were tired, so we headed for the water for a quick break before our return trip. Mariana charmed us some chairs and ordered 2 coconuts while I made for the water. It was a little bit cold, but I was hot so I didn't mind. When I was cooled off and starting to feel the chill I headed back for Mariana and Toby. And then the wind started to blow, making the water evaporate off my skin and leaving the little blond hairs on my arm standing up. And then the wind turned cold, and it started to blow harder. And then the rain came.

So here we are, a 45 minute walk from the house, I'm wet, we're cold, it's raining, and our coconuts were chilled (literally, they keep them on ice. I don't know what you were thinking...) I was hoping it would just blow by, but it started to rain harder so Mariana, of course, makes friends with a guy with an umbrella and we huddle under that while the two chat it up. We had the coconuts split so I tried to concentrate on scraping the coconut out instead of on the rain (and it was a good one, Murilo - not dried out at all!) The rain started to lighten a little, so Mariana decides it's better just to start the walk even if we get drenched, so off we go: brush the sand off our feet, thank Mariana's new friend #354, coerce Toby to start walking again, climb up the wall, climb back down the wall, go get my sandals, climb back up the wall, put the sunglasses/rain shield on, and we started walking.

Turns out there is a happy ending to this story: the rain let up 5 minutes into our walk back, the sun came back out and the water started sparkling, and the walk back seemed a little bit faster... possibly because Toby had already peed on all the trees, but none the less...