Rio de Janeiro (Brasil)
30 Dec 2011 - 01 Jan 2012
30 Dec 2011 - 01 Jan 2012
It's amusing how on occassion the smallest things can get stuck in your head, sometimes it's in that kind of innocuous but still irritating manner, like an itch that you can't quite scratch and yet you still know in yourself what the antidote needs to be. For example, my visit to [Helsinki] a couple of years ago was based solely on the misconception of an ex husband of my aunts' who thought that Helsinki was a superstar Russian athlete. His line, mentioned at some point during those 1952 Olympics went something like 'Wow, that Helsinki must be a great athlete, all I'see in the paper each day is Helsinki, Helsinki, Helsinki'. This line of gross ignorance and stupidity somehow filtered down through the years as an internal family joke that in turn manifested in me wanting to actually go and visit the place. In somewhat of the same manner, our visit to Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro was based solely upon fact that I had in my head crystal clear images that were imprinted via the visual outlet of the Snoop Dogg & Pharrel Williams song, [Beautiful - (Parque Lage)]. You can check out the venue at 2:42-2:45 and then anywhere after 3:53. I mean the whole clip is like a glorious advertisement for Rio but for some reason the Parque stuck in my mind as a party venue (it's not by the way, it's located in the Botanical Gardens, but is a nice enough place).
What I also noticed prior to leaving Sydney was the proliferation of video clips that 'all of a sudden' started utilising Rio as it's backdrop, for example,[Pete Murray - Free], [David Guetta ft Usher - Without You], [Flo Rida - Turn Around (5,4,3,2,1)]. It felt to me as though they were everywhere and I don't know whether it was just the fact that I had now become consciously aware of Rio appearing everywhere and the simple fact of the matter was that the frequency was no different than that of previous times, or, whether Rio had simply gone gangbusters as a location backdrop and it was hitting everyone artists radar as an IT zone, once again?
Whatever the case was, Parque Lage was unfortunately a little bit of a let down. Of course it had stern competition from that imposing and almighty Cristo Redentor guy that we had just returned from, and in addition, perhaps it was that all three of us were by now well into the hunger zone but the botanical gardens struggled a little for our respect and appreciation, although I really do like some of the black and white shots I managed to capture.
Defeated in our quest to acquire any food of substance we made the absurd decision to walk to Lagoa de Rodrigo de Freitas, and then when nothing but coconut water and slices of pineapple eventuated, we walked to Leblon, and then for some reason down Ipanema... and then onwards, most of the way to Copacobana. It was yet another ludicrous walk, by the end of which tempers had been frayed, nerves had been trodden on and cheap shots were flying around within a thinly veiled disguise of good humour and banter. It wasn't that bad to tell you the truth. It's rare with either JJ or Frichot that the annoyance factor gets anywhere over a 2 on the Richter scale. Still, on this night we all crashed out a smidgen earlier in a kind of silent protest, and I guess as an energy saving strategy for the following evening!
31 December 2011 - 01 January 2012 (New Years Réveillon 2012)
Now this is the day that I had been anticipating for well over a year. I had intended on being at the greatest party in the world the previous year but when things came unstuck in Bolivia I set my sights on 2011-12. Admittedly the idea of returning to South America was more set in hope than anything else but I usually figure that if you put things out to the universe then the worst it can do is not give you a response, and then at other times, well it seems to be able to work a little magic for you.
The tradition in Rio is to where white for NYE, it's meant to bring the individual good luck for the new year. There are also options for wearing all green or blue, but for me, I'm a traditionalist by nature and my thinking is if I can call in an ounce of luck in advance, well then so be it, but if I get call in a whole bucket load with 2,000,000 other people on Copacabana beach then why the hell would I not want to be part of that goodwill tsunami!? It's like the 'God' argument, fair enough if you don't want to believe but if you do per chance and things work in your favour then it's a win-win, and if God doesn't exist, well then you've really lost nothing in the process, but alas, I digress.
The pacing and tempo for any NYE is generally very different from all other days of the year. Go out too hard and peak too early and all possibilities are lost to you. You have to build from early afternoon, into the evening and then last into the morning. The start of the last day of 2011 for this trio was actually late afternoon with an epic meal at a place whose name I don't recall. The food was great, relatively cheap but the portions were immense. Frichot ordered himself half a camel with a side of horse and I have no idea how they managed to fit the 57 plates onto a table made for two but it was a sight to behold. Jetson gave it a good shake also but even on this day, in the challenge of Man v.Food, food came out the victor.
Pacing ourselves into the early part of the evening, we had a few drinks to move the night along and then somewhere around 9pm hit the beach to wait out the last few hours and call in 2012. Now unfortunately at this point in time the rain also decided that it wanted to partake in the festivities and damn it, it was adamant that it wanted to hang aroud. Down it came! Constant, persistent, incessant, ludicrously frustrating and irritating. A Rio NYE with rain to me felt like a Melbourne Cup without the horses, WTF man! C'mon, a break please! We thankfully managed to hijack a few beach umbrellas and beach chairs to keep ourselves 'relatively' dry but geez, it was an uphill battle to lift our spirits for those final hours.
Perhaps I should qualify that last paragraph, JJ is always in good spirits! You could tell her that the world was going to end in 45 seconds and I think she would laugh hysterically until the very last. For both Frichot and myself, well, we quite usually need things to go our way or some sort of a trigger. It wasn't until perhaps the last 30 mins of the countdown that we really started to get swept up in the NYE fervor, rain and all.
Counting down for those final few minutes and those last few seconds of course I considered myself more than lucky be in that place, in that moment with two great friends. And then it happened! The GREATEST FREAKIN' FIREWORKS DISPLAY OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!! I've seen a few in my time but I tell you now my friends, nothing, but nothing, will ever beat the intensity, vibrancy and 'good vibrations' of a 2012 shout out on Copacabana beach.
Standing beneath that fireworks display was mind blowing. The colours were so vivid and the sheer size and breadth of the display down the beach just made you feel as though it was wrapping around your being. I could feel the shock waves from the bursts hit me squarely in the chest and make their way through me. To say that it was captivating and spellbinding would be to do it a huge disservice, so the best I can really do is to add the photos that I have and some of the YouTube videos, inclusive of Jetsons, to show you how damn intense it was. This was certainly a highlight and for anyone that ever has the means and capacity to be here for a NYE, then I would say without hesitation, do it!
I don't quite recall the duration of display, it may have been 15 mins, it may have been 30 but in the end it didn't really matter, I'll always have that experience to carry with me, so too the 2 million other people that were on the beach at that moment. As the haze of the display mystically morphed into those irritating rain clouds once again, the weather that we finished 2011 off with got pulled into 2012. Still, people seemed to be in great spirits and many were dipping their toes into the Atlantic for their first swim or 'splash' of the year.
It was at this point that Jetson departed for the night, I don't think the fireworks display was quite the inspirational drawncard and was incapable of holdimg him with us until the morning. I on the other hand wanted to stay out on the beach and watch David Guetta do his set and somehow sold JJ on the idea that hanging around until 2am to check it out was going to be well worth the trouble of braving the rain and masses of people.
Why I had it in my head that trying to make our way to the stage was going to be the golden ticket, I'm not sure, but our path to Guetta glory was blocked by parties, tents, public urination, spruikers, jokers and anything else you could imagine. Once 2am rolled around Guetta jumped on stage and yelled out in his inimitable French accent , 'Hello Rio, this is going to be the biggest party in the world tonight' ...for some reason that I still haven't worked out, somehow JJ and I bastardised that simplistic intro and our memories both acted to convince ourselves and each that his opening line was, 'Hey there Rio, this is going to be the biggest f*cking sh*t on earth EVER!!!', of course that's not what he said but we believed it for a while.
(For the sake of posterity and because I was recently able to find a clip of what he said, if you get to somewhere around 3.11 via the video link above, what Guetta actually says is...'[t]his is going to be the biggest club ever on the planet' ...Well DG, over a million people would probably have you close to the mark!)
Now I think Guetta would have gone off, I really do, but the sounds from 100mtrs off the stage was appalling and the idea of having to put up with that for 90mins was not going to sit well with either of us. It was at that point that we decided to make our way back to our Copa unit in the sky, via the other million people that were backed into that small beach front space. Man, now that was a task. There were waves of people moving every which way and what you thought was the direct route out, or what it should have been, turned into wild web of off ramps, misguided short cuts and incidental moshing. What should have been a 10min walk out took nearly an hour, perhaps longer. That's what you get for taking on an NYE in Rio though, and just for that, I have it in my head for making it back one day and doing it all again!
Parque Lage - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
Parque Lage - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
What I also noticed prior to leaving Sydney was the proliferation of video clips that 'all of a sudden' started utilising Rio as it's backdrop, for example,[Pete Murray - Free], [David Guetta ft Usher - Without You], [Flo Rida - Turn Around (5,4,3,2,1)]. It felt to me as though they were everywhere and I don't know whether it was just the fact that I had now become consciously aware of Rio appearing everywhere and the simple fact of the matter was that the frequency was no different than that of previous times, or, whether Rio had simply gone gangbusters as a location backdrop and it was hitting everyone artists radar as an IT zone, once again?
Whatever the case was, Parque Lage was unfortunately a little bit of a let down. Of course it had stern competition from that imposing and almighty Cristo Redentor guy that we had just returned from, and in addition, perhaps it was that all three of us were by now well into the hunger zone but the botanical gardens struggled a little for our respect and appreciation, although I really do like some of the black and white shots I managed to capture.
Defeated in our quest to acquire any food of substance we made the absurd decision to walk to Lagoa de Rodrigo de Freitas, and then when nothing but coconut water and slices of pineapple eventuated, we walked to Leblon, and then for some reason down Ipanema... and then onwards, most of the way to Copacobana. It was yet another ludicrous walk, by the end of which tempers had been frayed, nerves had been trodden on and cheap shots were flying around within a thinly veiled disguise of good humour and banter. It wasn't that bad to tell you the truth. It's rare with either JJ or Frichot that the annoyance factor gets anywhere over a 2 on the Richter scale. Still, on this night we all crashed out a smidgen earlier in a kind of silent protest, and I guess as an energy saving strategy for the following evening!
31 December 2011 - 01 January 2012 (New Years Réveillon 2012)
Now this is the day that I had been anticipating for well over a year. I had intended on being at the greatest party in the world the previous year but when things came unstuck in Bolivia I set my sights on 2011-12. Admittedly the idea of returning to South America was more set in hope than anything else but I usually figure that if you put things out to the universe then the worst it can do is not give you a response, and then at other times, well it seems to be able to work a little magic for you.
The tradition in Rio is to where white for NYE, it's meant to bring the individual good luck for the new year. There are also options for wearing all green or blue, but for me, I'm a traditionalist by nature and my thinking is if I can call in an ounce of luck in advance, well then so be it, but if I get call in a whole bucket load with 2,000,000 other people on Copacabana beach then why the hell would I not want to be part of that goodwill tsunami!? It's like the 'God' argument, fair enough if you don't want to believe but if you do per chance and things work in your favour then it's a win-win, and if God doesn't exist, well then you've really lost nothing in the process, but alas, I digress.
Now that's the way to 'take down' a meal!
Pacing ourselves into the early part of the evening, we had a few drinks to move the night along and then somewhere around 9pm hit the beach to wait out the last few hours and call in 2012. Now unfortunately at this point in time the rain also decided that it wanted to partake in the festivities and damn it, it was adamant that it wanted to hang aroud. Down it came! Constant, persistent, incessant, ludicrously frustrating and irritating. A Rio NYE with rain to me felt like a Melbourne Cup without the horses, WTF man! C'mon, a break please! We thankfully managed to hijack a few beach umbrellas and beach chairs to keep ourselves 'relatively' dry but geez, it was an uphill battle to lift our spirits for those final hours.
Seriously, it's NYE in RIO!
I think Jetson's face here says it all!
Umbrellas abound on Copacabana!
Perhaps I should qualify that last paragraph, JJ is always in good spirits! You could tell her that the world was going to end in 45 seconds and I think she would laugh hysterically until the very last. For both Frichot and myself, well, we quite usually need things to go our way or some sort of a trigger. It wasn't until perhaps the last 30 mins of the countdown that we really started to get swept up in the NYE fervor, rain and all.
Counting down for those final few minutes and those last few seconds of course I considered myself more than lucky be in that place, in that moment with two great friends. And then it happened! The GREATEST FREAKIN' FIREWORKS DISPLAY OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!! I've seen a few in my time but I tell you now my friends, nothing, but nothing, will ever beat the intensity, vibrancy and 'good vibrations' of a 2012 shout out on Copacabana beach.
Check out Jetson's video of the fireworks here
The videos tell a FAR better story than the photos below!
This video is also pretty good
New Years Réveillon 2011 - Copacabana beach - Rio de Janeiro -Brasil
New Years Réveillon 2011 - Copacabana beach - Rio de Janeiro -Brasil
Standing beneath that fireworks display was mind blowing. The colours were so vivid and the sheer size and breadth of the display down the beach just made you feel as though it was wrapping around your being. I could feel the shock waves from the bursts hit me squarely in the chest and make their way through me. To say that it was captivating and spellbinding would be to do it a huge disservice, so the best I can really do is to add the photos that I have and some of the YouTube videos, inclusive of Jetsons, to show you how damn intense it was. This was certainly a highlight and for anyone that ever has the means and capacity to be here for a NYE, then I would say without hesitation, do it!
New Years Réveillon 2012 - Copacabana beach - Rio de Janeiro -Brasil
New Years Réveillon 2012 - Copacabana beach - Rio de Janeiro -Brasil
New Years Réveillon 2012 - Copacabana beach - Rio de Janeiro -Brasil
I don't quite recall the duration of display, it may have been 15 mins, it may have been 30 but in the end it didn't really matter, I'll always have that experience to carry with me, so too the 2 million other people that were on the beach at that moment. As the haze of the display mystically morphed into those irritating rain clouds once again, the weather that we finished 2011 off with got pulled into 2012. Still, people seemed to be in great spirits and many were dipping their toes into the Atlantic for their first swim or 'splash' of the year.
New Years Réveillon 2012 - Copacabana beach - Rio de Janeiro -Brasil
First swim of 2012 - Copacabana beach - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
It was at this point that Jetson departed for the night, I don't think the fireworks display was quite the inspirational drawncard and was incapable of holdimg him with us until the morning. I on the other hand wanted to stay out on the beach and watch David Guetta do his set and somehow sold JJ on the idea that hanging around until 2am to check it out was going to be well worth the trouble of braving the rain and masses of people.
Why I had it in my head that trying to make our way to the stage was going to be the golden ticket, I'm not sure, but our path to Guetta glory was blocked by parties, tents, public urination, spruikers, jokers and anything else you could imagine. Once 2am rolled around Guetta jumped on stage and yelled out in his inimitable French accent , 'Hello Rio, this is going to be the biggest party in the world tonight' ...for some reason that I still haven't worked out, somehow JJ and I bastardised that simplistic intro and our memories both acted to convince ourselves and each that his opening line was, 'Hey there Rio, this is going to be the biggest f*cking sh*t on earth EVER!!!', of course that's not what he said but we believed it for a while.
(For the sake of posterity and because I was recently able to find a clip of what he said, if you get to somewhere around 3.11 via the video link above, what Guetta actually says is...'[t]his is going to be the biggest club ever on the planet' ...Well DG, over a million people would probably have you close to the mark!)
Now I think Guetta would have gone off, I really do, but the sounds from 100mtrs off the stage was appalling and the idea of having to put up with that for 90mins was not going to sit well with either of us. It was at that point that we decided to make our way back to our Copa unit in the sky, via the other million people that were backed into that small beach front space. Man, now that was a task. There were waves of people moving every which way and what you thought was the direct route out, or what it should have been, turned into wild web of off ramps, misguided short cuts and incidental moshing. What should have been a 10min walk out took nearly an hour, perhaps longer. That's what you get for taking on an NYE in Rio though, and just for that, I have it in my head for making it back one day and doing it all again!
Chaos on the streets - view from our apartment on New Years Day
