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It’s 8am on Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema beach, and another day in the ‘Marvellous City’ is stirring.
The Atlantic pounds in steady, hypnotic bursts as the early birds gather to strut their stuff before the tourists descend. I can see a few vendors sleepily setting up their stalls and hear the whirr of a helicopter overheard – the first of dozens that will swish above the jungle mountains and Christ the Redeemer throughout the day.
I lay down my towel and smile. At the shoreline, a small group of older swimmers gathers, chatting, stretching, laughing as they time their entry between waves.
They are not moving like people nearing the end of life. In Brazil, they might only just be getting started. Because while we tend to look to the ‘Blue Zones’ of Sardinia or Okinawa for longevity lessons, a more chaotic, unequal, exuberant country is quietly producing people who live to 110 and beyond.
