We will also be lucky to share this night with my buddy Léo, his family and friends. Léo is a engineer friend with whom I spent many moments in Marseille, France, while studying. Deprived for 4 months of my close friends, it was a great pleasure meeting Léo and partying together! Half Brazilian, Léo was on holiday for two weeks staying at his mother's, who lives in Rio and nicely lent us her bedroom for NYE. We also went to Leo's aunt's, post 6 on Copacabana, for a family dinner/buffet. Very sympathetic time, even if Delphine abused of the yummy yummy pain perdu!
Martinique 2005, Paris 2006, Ho Chi Minh 2007… and Rio 2008!!
What an excitement to spend New Year's Eve in the crazy city of Rio, on the beach with 2 other millions people!
After the fireworks and a long walk inside the crowd, Léo takes us at a private party where we will spend the rest of the night with many local cariocas. We leave the party around 4/5am, when only remain the drunk/f%$£! up party goers! Which means normally me! HA. Anyway outside is still full of people. Brazilian have hot blood running in their veins and show it off to us...
The following day, with a small headache, we have breakfast with Léo, his mum Claudia, his sister Lisa and her biyfriend Antoine. We stroll on Copacabana, which already had been completely cleaned! What an effectiveness, we are definitely no more in Africa! It is also funny to walk outside on a 1st of January, under a blazing sun, along the beach. No snow, no cold, no overcoats. The men are bare chested, and the women in thong bathing suits. After the big party, all goes back to normal!!
Around us, Copacabana is crammed. On the beach and on the side walk, it is necessary to cut through to pass, between the party goers, the salesmen, empty cans and small heaps of shoes. At the image of the city, around us, we can see all sorts of people. Without complex, everyone is showing off. White, blacks, mixed race, well dressed, bare chested, the extravagant ones, tourists, drunks or f&*!£d up, there is of everything!
This night in Rio is quite special to us. We are celebrating the New year, but also our great adventure together. For a long time we had dreamed it, imagined, prepared. And here we are, now, in the middle of it, ready to celebrate in this enormous atmosphere the passage to the New Year. At this moment we realise the luck that we have to be here so far, free, living fully life and enjoying every moment.
A few minutes to go… We are standing on the beach, in a crowd of people all dresses in white. During the decounting of the seconds, we can feel the excitation going up in us and around us. Everyone is ready to leap, to shout. With Delphine we look and smile at each other. In her eyes, I can read her thoughts, which are same as mines. As if the seconds became minutes, we talk through our eyes, and we enjoy this wonderful sensatiom. We feel free, happy. After 4 months of travel already gone, we think about the next year and all the new adventures awaiting us. The seconds passe to 3,2,1… then suddenly, a large explosion. The fireworks are launched, the detonators clash, everyone jumps in the air while shouting, the champagne corks spout out in the sky. I am shivering! The atmosphere around us is fascinating, the vastness of the place and of the crowd make the moment even more imposing. The fireworks will last for a long time and will remain an unforgettable memory!
