New year frenzy

New year eve! Feliz New Year! ( I did learn " Happy New Year" in Portugeez, but forgot it. Feliz means " happy"). I was interviewed by a local TV channel on the beach a couple of days ago. I was asked about my expectation of the new year celebration. Why would I stay here if I don't expect a big celebration? The town had been in the party mood for a few days. It was getting there!
I got up for a morning beach run. It was gloomy again. I saw some locals having a beach ritual in which they walked down to the water and threw some white lilties into the ocean. While they did this, they were bibling something. My guess is either remembering their deceased family members or sort of worshiping God. I even noticed some food in bowls placed on rocks, which reminds me of Chinese way to feed their deceased families on memorial day.

The town was getting crazier and crazier toward the afternoon. It was like a big storm coming up and you were just holding your breath and counting down. Millions people were on the beach in white. The stages on sands were really cool. Did you ever dance with bare foot on the sands with the ocean howling and the DJ spinning, lights reflecting in the water, with whites, blacks, yellows, reds, mixes and all kinds of mixes of skin colors and languages. That's it! Everyone says " Feliz" (happy)! The firework lasted 20 minutes. Thus I started my fabulous year 2007 at this marvellous town with my dear Swiss friend Martin Fruel and a whole lot of fabulous strangers. What a life experience! But life doesn't stop at that mid-night point. It moves on! The huge crowds moved on to Ipanema beach for Black Eyed Pea's concert. We couldn't find a spot at all and decided to go back to apartment. On the way back, I broke my sandles ( that was the first pair I broke during the trip. I broke three pairs in a total!)