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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Most people go to the beach to relax, to play and to listen. The sound of the crashing waves can be hypnotic.
At one particular beach in Rio, people listen for something else. Ipanema Beach is so beautiful, so enchanting, it inspired a song.
"It's too hard for me to sing it," laughed Rafael, a local Brazilian
Raphael knows Ipanema Beach well.
"I'm lucky because it's here and I work here and I stay here and I can just go," he said. "It's like it's my backyard."
Raphael lives and works just around the corner. He’s a samba instructor, a bartender and lucky for us, a part-time bodyguard. He's also a hypnotist.
"Look to my eyes," he said. "Try to focus that and follow my voice and I'm very calm and I just hypnotize you."
Kind of like the waves.
You would think a character like Rafael would be pretty popular at his beach, but there’s one guy who never leaves. One guy everyone flocks to and he’s been here since 2014.
"The girl from Ipanema," Rafael said. "The song was written by Tom Jobin," he said as he motions to the statue behind him.
Jobin's words inspired what’s believed to be the second-most recorded pop song in history, falling second only to "Yesterday" by The Beatles. The spot where his statue stands is never empty.
"Oh, people will hold his hand, hug him and just pretend like they're taking the guitar and things like that," Rafael said. "When you arrive here, you just remember the song."
And it seems, when Raphael leaves the beach, he remembers the song too.
