The Blonde in Leblon

That would be me. I am a white girl. With blonde hair. And I stand out. More for my skin color than anything. The hood where I've landed is called Leblon, and is just next to Ipanema and Copacabana. Unlike its more famous beachy cousins, Leblon is a residential area where tourists woudn't necessarily stay. Sure, there are hotels, but this is an area where wealthy Cariocas (the Brazilian name for Rio's citizens) raise their children and tend to their dogs and houses and hairstyles. Leblon was named after a nineteenth century fishing magnate, whose name was Charles Le Blond. Le blondes are few and far between (that's where I come in), but the francophone influence is felt in the typical answer to the question of Europe comes up and residents will tell you they looooove France! Funny that, a continent with 50-something countries and people here just want to talk to you about Paris & Provence! Something to notice here is that instead of squirrels, they have monkeys. They are very small and you wouldn't necessarily notice them as they hang out high up in the banana trees. That's right, banana trees. And noone seems to be picking the bananas. It's just excess fruit. From Leblon and beyond, the bits of Rio I have seen in these past five days at least, fruit seems to be poring out of every orifice of the city. The Tesco here is called Hortifrutti, and they will even deliver the mangoes to your door! Not to mention the sucos (fruit juices), there are about a zillion combinations to choose from. With or without sugar and granola and protein powder. I've tried watermelon, orange and acerola, peach and my personal favorite - acai. That powder mix and tea that everyone has been raving about in England as a superfood, I can report that it's purple and delicious and gives you such a caloric kick that it serves as a liquid lunch or dinner, depending on how hungry you are. My charming host Jonas has an account at the juice bar round the corner so that when he comes back from surfing he doesn't need to have money on him. Genius! Newsflash - he is not only my host ... I knew it was official when he told the guy at the juice bar that I could get juices on his account. Ah, the fringe benefits ... healthy and delicious just like I like it ;-)