In the daily drama of the world's most fabled beach, visitors should expect the unexpected. Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana still wears a 1960s look, with its low-slung kiosks serving up nickel beers and fresh coconuts -- for now.
Surveying beach-goers on the facelift that's consigning old-fashioned concession stands to the dust-bin, it's the seamier side of Rio life that comes into focus: Cops arrest black kids for no apparent reason; small girls aggressively hawk snacks and knick-knacks; a woman rails at the high cost of morgues and burials for the poor.
Flying a black flag, a concessionaire laments the demise of his beachside bar to richer corporate concessions that cater to tourists rather than the locals.
Meanwhile, a sidewalk samba band plays on -- and plans on doing so, fancy new businesses or no.
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