The Other Side of the Coin

For all its lovely to sit on Copacabana beach and have everything delivered to you by multiple beach sellers, it comes at a huge cost of energy and muscle strain under an often punishing sun.   The feet here will do a near twelve hour shift every day on the infirm surface, the ankles flexing and distributing the weight of two large coolers containing a near hundredweight of liquid from water to Fanta to beer.   If you watch and  listen closely you can see the relief when they dump their loads on the sand for a five minute rest and the sharpness of their breath intakes as they trudge on, calling out their wares in high pitched voices.  All for a pittance but better than nothing.