LETTER FROM RIO DE JANEIRO
“Hey, girls, is anyone naked? Nobody has her small breasts in the air? ! » Amused, Elaine Figueiredo dos Santos asks us to wait a few moments before climbing onto the roof of her little house. Just to see if the places, glued to a mountain dotted with tropical bushes, are ready to receive a journalist. Ordinarily, they remain strictly forbidden to men.
It is almost 11 a.m. on this Sunday in March, and a fierce summer sun is beating Rio de Janeiro. But on the terrace of Elaine, there is a crowd: twenty women in bikinis, lying on deckchairs, offer their skin to the ardent rays. Some are on the stomach, others on the back. Young employees spray them with jets of cold water, under the watchful eye of the hostess.
In Realengo, a popular district in the west of Rio, reign the bronzeamento lajes (“slabs of tanning”): terraces fitted out to allow the Cariocas to bask in the sun. At 47, Elaine runs one of the most famous in the city, painted and decorated in green, her favorite color. In the middle, the “boss” is known by her nickname, Nani Chicleteira (in French, “Nani the chewing gum”).
A grail called “marquinha”
“I have always liked to sunbathe. My friends asked me if I could help them get a good tan. That’s how I decided to open this place five years ago”, says this joyful mixed-race woman, born and raised in Realengo. Success was quick: Nani (who charges 50 reais – 9 euros – per session) employs six assistants and refuses people on sunny days: “When there is a queue, we distribute entrance tickets in order of arrival! »
The “chewing gum” is not content to provide deckchairs. Because the objective of carioca clients is first and foremost to obtain a grail named marquinha (“small mark”), that is to say the whitish line left by the mark of the bikini on the well tanned body. A kind of natural tattoo, which is all the rage on the beaches or in the parties of Rio, and even beyond in a very large part of Brazil.
All this cannot be improvised. To get the marquinha perfect, Nani has her technique. She creates duct tape bikinis for her clients (the fitinha), glued to the skin, before coating them with a cream of his own design based on paraffin: a substance derived from petroleum that accelerates tanning. “ In just one hour, you get the result of a whole day in the sun! »proudly assures Nani.
You have 62.82% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.