The stage on the truck is above.

Checked out Google Earth and finally got a bearing on where the school and mall are in reference to me. Probably 4 km walking.  I took a walk to see the South beach.  Walked about a km then there is a stretch where there are no hotels and the houses in the distance don’t look to good so I turned around.  Good time to take a swim and get a little sun. The water was great and the hot sun afterwards was just right. I found a sheltered spot where the waves are not too big and swam about 5-6 meters from shore.

 Was running low on water so took a walk to the Red building down the road that is the Extra Supermarket. Bought four  1.5 liters of water 3 liters of juice plus some other lighter stuff. Packed it in my backpack and set off home. I must mention the sidewalks here are similar to Cairo, everyone maintains their own, some are high, some are low and some have uneven spots.  The best way to walk on the sidewalk is head down. I was head up and went flying, bounced and landed upside down backpack down. Must be made of rubber, bruised hand, knee and elbow but no blood and no lasting effects.

After  returning to the hotel I could hear what sounded like a concert up the beach to the North. I walked up and there was a huge crowd of people dancing and listening to the music. The band was on a large flat bed truck that was moving very, very slowly down the beach road toward my hotel.  In front of it were dancing people who were being sprayed with water from a pumper truck. That was about 4:00 and now it is 9:00 and the truck and dancing people finally passed my hotel. I asked and it is the beginning of pre carnival. Those Brazilians sure know how to party, I guess this is just the beginning of Carnival festivities.