I used to be that Southern California girl who only went to the grocery store in my pajama pants. Let's be honest, I would wear those bad boys anywhere I could manage.
My husband informed me upon landing in the wonderful world of Rio de Janeiro, that jammie pants would have to remain inside from now on. What? I didn't sign up for that kind of craziness. That's when I realized not being able to wear my beloved snowflake pants were the least of my worries. It was hotter than hell and we were going to be spending every morning at the beach.
I was down to switch out my American style bikini and try a Brazilian one. I didn't think there would be much difference since I had bought a Brazilian style American bikini. hahah right. Anyway, I started my mission, if I would choose to accept it. And the mission was to blend in. It was a tough one seeing that I was very blond and white at the time. In addition, I'm fairly tall. I'm practically 5'10" and the Brazilians are about 4'7". Ok, that's a gross generalization. About 75% are 4'7".
Thankfully I was already a big fan of large dangle earrings and waxing. I had been frequenting a "groomer" for quite some time. That was surprisingly important. 6 years ago, they didn't have the large bottom option for bikinis. The large bottom meaning a good 3 inches of material. I was thankful that I was a young 23 and didn't have any babies. I was embarrassed and felt a little slutty wearing the suit in the dressing room at that store but, with the encouragement of the sales person, I bought it anyway.
To say encouragement would be an understatement. I barely opened the curtain for my husband . He thought it was too small for his wife! The salesgirl didn't. She whipped open the curtain and exclaimed to everyone that I HAD to have this suit and I have perfect body for it! She dragged 4 other people over to confirm and then informed my husband that he was being prude.
I was so nervous. We finally arrived at the beach and I pulled off my dress. No one stared at me! They stared when I had come in my American super suit with saggy butt large enough that it seemed to be full of something foul. In the itsy bitsy one, I blended in! Oh, and the tan lines were hot!
I've been a fan of the Brazilian bikini ever since. It's more durable than American versions and looks better. It actually fits us! I love it! I do sport a more conservative bikini these days. Thankfully they are making a fuller butt version. I tried to go back to the original after my 1st son was born but couldn't. I was losing money all over the place (butt crack exposed). The tiny bikini is not meant for Mommies that play with their kids. Don't worry, you can get a slightly larger version that's still sexy but will stay in place.
Even though we are still a few months away from moving to Rio, I've actually started thinking about how I'm going to chase my 2 year old around the beach in a Brazilian bikini. It's comforting to know that there's a slighter larger version (than dental floss!) that will help me try to blend in. So I guess I better save the one-piece suit that I just bought 2 days ago for when we visit the US!
ReplyDeleteCan you hear my laughter from where you are? Seriously, the same thing happened when I arrived. I too was accustomed to doing errands in the "loungewear" catagory in CA, sem probelmas, pretty normal where we come from. If you could have seen the look on my husband's face the first time I set out to leave to quickly pick up something from a padaria sem makeup, with my hair in a ponytail sprouting from the top of my head and dressed in a shabby t-shirt and pj bottoms (they were dkny at least!)...he was like "where do you think you're going dressed like that?"!! In fact, I soon learned that pjs were not on his list of approved sleepwear to boot...thau pjs, que saudades. And about the bikinis, I think there are beautiful bikinis to be found here, amazing! But if you have any support issues uptop...forget about it...it's a challenge to find an underwire top that fits here, GG is not a popular size in bikinis and if you find one, they are usually quite basic and the bottoms are too big. I think a GG bust size here is much different than a GG butt size here! = ) I hope your toe is feeling better! bjs
ReplyDeletehehehe i think that the two of you are beautiful how much more if you wearing brazilian bikini
ReplyDeletei think my eyes will twinkle with the nice view....
Amazing!!! all of the subtle differences when you live in a foreign land...... Hahahaha! The dressing room portion of the story is my favorite!
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it!
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