Tall and tan and Young and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes walking, And when she passes each one she passes goes “a-a-ah!”  First time I heard the lyrics to this song, “The Girl from Ipanema”, by Astrud Gilberto, Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz, I wondered if there was any truth to this song? I took a trip to Rio de Janeiro to find out for myself.

On a spring night in Rio de Janeiro after leaving the Lapa, a neighborhood known for its restaurants, bars and nightlife. A friend and I were walking down a street headed back to our hostel after experiencing Carioca’s (Rio’s residents nickname) nightlife at its best. While walking down the street two beautiful Brazilian girls started to pass us and in mid-stride one of the girls turns and says, “Hello!” with a Portuguese accent. I return the hello and ask if she spoke English? She said yes and the conversation continued as long as I could extend it. Her broken English engulfed me, as she would say, “My name Sara”, “Me, no like” or “I tired, I go home now”. I was tickled and excited by the authenticity of the desire to communicate driven by attraction, it was a remarkable universal language. Needless to say we exchanged info and went our separate ways.

The next day my Canadian friends and I walked over to Ipanema beach to relax and I hoped to find the Girl from Ipanema! The group of us perched ourselves on the beach and the view was incredible. The mixture of condos, mountains, beach and ocean was a beautiful sight to see. While taking in my new found paradise I see a group of girls with what appears to be a white cream covering their entire bodies. I thought it was odd and kept it moving to accomplish my mission. After a 15-minute walk of scoping out eye-popping beauties I returned to my friends. Upon making it back to our spot I took a look into the ocean and I saw this shapely figure splashing in the Atlantic Ocean. Stuck like a deer in headlights she turns around, she smiles and says, “Hey, I know you!” It took me a second to snap out of it and realize that it was Sara from last night. It was like a movie, the music started playing when she started to walk towards me in slow motion with her hair blowing in the wind.

Out of all the women in Rio, I run into the same girl I meet 12 hours prior on Ipanema beach. We started talking and I started to put another two and two together and realized she was the same girl with all the white cream all over her body. She explained to me that the women do that to turn their body hair blond. It was the sexiest thing to see that tan brown skin, blond body hair and she just came out the water with the sun hitting her skin changed my life. I never seen anything like that before; it sent chills down my spine. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with her friends and talking about the United States, Brazil and having a great time. The sun was our chaperon and told us it was time to exit the beach as it went to lay its head down. It was my last day in Rio and I met the Girl from Ipanema just in time. We departed with a kiss and like Keyser Soze she was gone. I never heard from Sara again but the time I meet the Girl from Ipanama will never be forgotten.