Rio has a city population of about 6 million and about 13 million in the metro area. They are estimating that 3 million people will show up for the New Year’s Eve party on Copacabana Beach tonight. And they have been preparing for it all day.

It is approaching 5pm and we are in the hotel lounge taking a break. We have walked over 8 miles today already. (After 8 days on a boat we are trying to catch up a bit!)

These 2 photos were taken roughly 24 hours apart, the bottom one today. You can see already the difference in the crowds.

And people are pouring in from every street the police haven’t blocked off. And when it’s open, there’s a search protocol happening.

This video was taken from the açai place we were at earlier. Gives you a good idea of what every street looks like. This was about 4:15 PM. The party doesn’t even officially start until 8 PM.

 But I am way ahead of myself. 

We were up about 5am. Had coffee in the room then went out for a walk before breakfast. We walked to the end of Copacabana then followed the beach west into Ipanema. That’s the Ipanema Beach above at about 7am.

It was a 4 mile walk by the time we got back to the hotel. 

We went to the lounge for breakfast again.

This video was taken a little after 9 AM. It shows the barges being set up from which a huge fireworks display will happen tonight, reportedly 12 minutes long.

We went back to our room for midmorning naps and left again around 11 AM when Housekeeping came. We went for a walk again and as you can see from the photos above, the main drag that runs along the beach is already closed in both directions. And the side streets are blocked off, and police are searching who’s coming in.

A little thing that has impressed me: they have gas stations in the islands that exist between the main thoroughfares. That just seems so smart to me. Regardless of the direction you are going, it’s an easy stop in and an easy way back onto the road.

All that walking had made us hungry again so we stopped for lunch at a Chinese place. Brazil has a huge Chinese population so we figured the food would be pretty good and it was.

Won ton, hot & sour soup, mush-shi pork, and a shrimp dish. Hit the spot.

Back to the room to watch some TV. A good time to say we had ditched the plans that we had today. One of the top three things to do here is to go up to the top of the Sugarloaf Mountain, which is supposed to have amazing views. We were going to take the cable car up and hike down. But we were tired, the traffic was starting to get stupid, it was hazy so the views wouldn’t be good – every excuse we could think of to just be lazy. So here we are. 

But not too lazy to go out again in the afternoon for some açaí. You could really start to see the crowds now. Above is the big stage where the performances will be held tonight. 

Mission accomplished.

It is now approaching 5:30 PM. We will have dinner in the lounge. We can’t decide if we’re just gonna stay here until midnight and watch the fireworks – above is our viewing window from where I’m sitting as I type. Do we give that up?

We may try to get a nap in, or go down and participate in some of the festivities. Or both. I will report back once we are all done.

——-

It is now after 1am. After dinner we came back to the room to rest. Ash actually slept but I wasn’t able to. We went back out a little after 11pm.

There’s a list of things that go with the rituals of New Year’s Eve in Rio:

• You wear white. See photo above. This is in honor of the sea goddess they will ask for blessings from after midnight.
• You make an offering to the sea goddess when you ask for your blessings. Flowers is the norm, but can be anything biodegradable.
• You “jump seven waves” – literally. After midnight you go to the water and as each wave comes in you jump over, more like through, make your wish, throw a flower into the water.

When in Rome and all that…

The crowds in the streets.

The people in the first part of the beach. The middle photo is looking back at the hotels.

The crowd at the water.

Mind you, the above 3 collages cover a stretch of land at least one football field and Ash thinks two, from the hotels to the water. That x a 2.5 mile beach. It’s a big party.

We got our flowers.

There were a bunch of cruise ships docked out there to watch the fireworks.

The beginning of a 12 minute show.

My favorite clip of the many I took.

The 2 minute finale.

Wave jumpers.

We jumped our waves, made our wishes, threw our flowers, and didn’t get as wet as we could have for sure.

And with that, we made our way back to our room to wash the sand off.

Happy New Year, everyone! We appreciate having you along for the ride.