Rio Beach Bares All Again

R I O   D E   J A N E I R O, Brazil, Nov. 13 -- Ironically in a country known for skimpy bikinis that reveal more than theycover, Rio de Janeiro has balked for the past nine years at allowing a nude beach, but that is now changing.

The city is "as famous for its natural beauty as it is forCarnival reveling with televised samba parades and belles intheir Olympic nakedness," said one Brazilian judge.

And with these words last month, he dismissed a 1994 ban onnudism at a beach called Abrico, ruling that arguments ofimmorality did not apply to well-behaved naked sunbathers onthe outskirts of merry Rio.

On a recent sunny weekend after the lifting of a nine-yearban, dozens of nudists filled Abrico beach, the city's onlynude beach which sits on a secluded strip of sand between themountains and next to surfers' favorite spot of Grumari.

One man stands on a rock, talking on a mobile phone thatmakes his ear the only covered part of his body. Others playvolleyball or jump in the waves.

Some swimsuit-clad bathers walk rather sheepishly along theshore, past a sign saying: "Beyond this point you may findnaked people."

Victorious organizers don't mind the onlookers.

"The curious today are followers tomorrow," said PedroRibeiro, president of the Abrico Naturist Association.

Abrico is one of very few nudist beaches in an urban areain Brazil and the only one in the international tourist meccathat is Rio.

The drive to life the ban was motivated in part by nudists'arguments that foreign tourists, especially from Europe, willflock to Rio if they have a place where they can bare all.

"We just reopened and we already have foreigners fromGermany, Spain and the United States, and people are asking forthe address," Ribeiro said.

Nudist Numbers Growing

Brazil, with its nearly 5,000 miles of mostlybeautiful sandy coast has only about 20 nudist beaches orcolonies, while in Spain alone there are 400, according tocourt documents. Compared to an estimated 5 million nudists inFrance, a much smaller nation, Brazil's 500,000 followers ofnudism pale, Brazilian nudist groups said.