South America Part 30 - NYE @ Rio and NYE Day

After going out the previous night and not getting to bed till around 3ish in the morning... I wanted to get the most out of our $200AUD per night room at have the breakfast (even though it is s$$$ as). Ant was a little hungover - but he managed to drag himself down to breakfast before the 10am close. Twas the breakfast from hell on NYE. Note to Royalty Hotel - Western Breakfast doesn't equal Chocolate Cake and Crème de Caramel!

NYE could almost be a public holiday for everyone in Rio - nothing touristy was open... No major shopping malls were open - everyone is running around getting to the supermarket before an early close.

That being the case - we decided to walk down to Ipanema from our Hotel (because it didn't look all that far away from where we were last night at the club). Unfortunately - the temperature was about 36 degrees celsius and about 80% humidity. We were very hot and sweaty and stood out like two sore thumbs amongst the locals (or two pink roasted pigs).

Copa beach was fairly packed with tourists and locals alike. It has a great atmosphere - with people playing volley ball, street peddlers selling pot and crack (yes - we graduated to getting offered crack), but Copa has nothing on Ipanema Beach - the "rich b£££h" beach - very body beautiful... and it seemed way more packed.

For lunch - we decided (mutually) to have "Bob's Burgers" - a Brazilian burger franchise chain which has McDonalds on the run for being the fattest. We always seem to have problems ordering Coke Light (or Coca Cola Light). When we ask for it - they stand and look with the Que? expression on their face... Also - we have had serious problems trying to speak Portuguese. You hear that it is very similar to Spanish - but we think it can almost be like Chinese is to English. We can't pronounce "Thank You" or "Beer" (a slight twist on the spanish word Cerveza... Cerveja - but unpronounceable)... etc etc.

After lunch - we stumbled on a bookshop which sold copies of Q Magazine (for example) for about 60 Reals (close to $35 AUD) - what a Brazilian bargain. We were thinking about picking up a Lonely Planet for Madrid - but it was going to cost us $50AUD...

I thought I might try and be culturally sensitive for NYEs so we stopped at a T-Shirt shop at Copa - I bought a white Christ The Redeemer T Shirt (after Ant said not to get the "Jesus is my Homeboy" t-shirt as it was too generic).

We were a bit worried about drinking prices for NYE (since the hotel rates are triple than normal) - so we stopped at our local Supermarket to pick up some champagne and foodbits. When we got there - it was like a Pantera Rock Show (like the one where the guitarist got shot by a deranged fan). The queue (if I can call it that as it more looked like a mosh pit at the Limp Biskit set at the BDO) took about 45 minutes. Some loser was trying to push in because "he had ice cream" - but I told Ant to "shoulder charge the f£££er" and he did so...

Back after the supermarket ordeal - we had to try and find some glasses to drink the champs with. The hotel has this list of "items" which have a set of charges if hotel guests take them (including glasses - $6 reals, hotel towels - $50 reals, beach towels $200 reals and so on). There is also another note saying that the maids check the room everyday for the inventory... So we have been "down a glass" for a couple of days now even though we have not touched anything. One day - the maid left a cryptic note in Portuguese where a glass should be which sort of said "Glass missing (blah blah blah) Thank You".

We phoned the reception and told them that we wanted another glass and the guy said "you will have to come down and speak with us". After confronting the guy at reception and showing him the note - he said everything was Ok. We asked for a glass then headed back to the room. 1 hr later - still no glass so I phone the reception again and get put onto housekeeping (who don't speak english) - 20 minutes later - the guy from the restaurant appears with two of the thinnest plastic cups in the free world. Finally - we had two glasses (well sort of) to drink our champagne.

After downing our expensive (...well it cost $10AUD...) bottle - we hit the streets in an attempt to go back to the kilo restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately - just about everything (including things like KFC) were closed tonight. We had to make do with a feral meal from McDonalds (the shame)...

We wandered down to the beach at Copa to stake out some places to see the NYE fireworks. Along the way - I picked up a beer (at non-rip off prices - amazing!) from a vendor... It seemed like we didn't need to go to the supermarket after all...

It turns out that Copa beach is a very long beach with heaps of room - so you don't have to wait around to stake out a good view (a la Sydney) - you could basically rock up 15 minutes before and get a great view.

There were a few local rituals including woman giving flowers as an offering to the God (or Goddess - I can't remember) of the sea, and there were people lighting candles and such forth. There was this American gay couple (old - fat) who did this strange tantric meditation thing on the beach where one guy was lying on the beach (with his head dangerously close to a candle) and the other guy meditating around his feet. Many locals stopped and stared, then laughed and walked away.

Ant was a bit disappointed about the "lack of white" - there were a few locals wearing red or something completely different - but over 60% were donning the white.

About 15 minutes before midnight - we got in this strange conversation with a Brazilian woman who was wanting to practice her engrish and wanted to keep getting us beer (although we didn't really want to drink much as we were leaving the next day). We sort of fobbed her off - but moments later - a man (who turned out to be her friend) - kept saying to us... "More or Less?"... then started pointing at us all. We think he was wanting a three-gie - but we also fobbed him off.

The fireworks were very (as Ant would put it) - f£££ off. There were firework barges all along the beach just setting off f£££ off sized fireworks everywhere. A couple of fireworks (really big ones) exploded on the barge (think this wasn't supposed to happen). A little Brazilian girl kept cheering when this happened but I gave her the disapproving look. To add to the craziness - locals would set off "f$$$ off" loud firecrackers amongst the crowd. Nothing like scaring a few fat amercian tourists to top off a great night?!

Overall - the firecrackers show was excellent (with some added thrills not seen in most Western firework shows) - and the atmosphere was electric. Well worth it.