Beach hawker, Copacabana beach
A beach hawker trolls the sidewalk of Copacabana Beach from first light to beyond dusk. There are many... some try the hard sell, others simply show you their goods and move on if no interest shown.
While in Rio we tried every shopping mall to get a football shirt for our nephew... he’s football mad and wanted a Flamengo home shirt and a Brazil away shirt. They are more expensive in Rio than back home... reluctantly we bought the Flamengo shirt from a mall, but Brazil away shirt ... nowhere to be found!!! .
Our last day and last walk along the beach front we passed a hawker selling football shirts... I approached him and asked “do you have a Brazil away shirt?” in a somewhat slow Englishman abroad accent ... “certainly Sir, what size would you like?” He produced every shirt, in every size, in every colour from a large backpack. We chatted about our home town Manchester, football - Utd or City? What we had seen in Rio... we made our selections and negotiated a price that pleased everyone. Needless to say, they were considerably cheaper than the mall, but the goal had been achieved... not to fund the profits of the overpriced, overpaid sporting corporate giants!
We parted company happy with the deal. I suspect these hawkers are from the Favelas... they are not trying to rip you off but simply trying to get by.
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