A ¨Feliz Ano Novo¨

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you enjoyed those college football games yesterday because I sure would have liked to. Alas, the only football round these parts actually involves using your feet.

As I mentioned in the last post, we decided not to go to Rio for the beginning of 2007 and instead stayed in Sao Paulo, which also boasts one of the largest New Year´s celebrations in the world. New Year´s is a big deal for Brazilians. They like to start the year with lots of singing, dancing and, of course, drinking. Fireworks, too. For nearly two days I could hear fireworks exploding somewhere nearby from my apartment.

An hour and a half before midnight on Sunday, we took the metro (subway) to Avenida Paulista, the city´s most well-known street where all the large businesses are located. By the time we arrived, the place was packed with people - most of them wearing white. (Supposedly, wearing white on New Year´s Eve brings good luck for the coming year.) A large stage was set up at one end of the street for singers and performers, but we were too far away to see much.

Street vendors were everywhere selling beer, wine, fresh corn and other goods. Making our way to the main avenue, we were searched twice by policemen looking for guns and other contraband I guess. Thankfully, they let me hold on to my little pink camera. I´m not really sure what the police force is like in Brazil (from what I hear, they aren´t the greatest), but on this night they seemed prepared - although, leaving the festivities I did see one policia finishing off a beer.

As we waited for the stroke of midnight, groups of young men would go by singing songs and dancing in the street, couples displayed affection freely (I was surprised to find the word ¨modest¨in my Portuguese Dictionary.) and the explosions of fireworks rattled between the buildings. The countdown began at ten seconds to midnight, and the place went wild as 2007 began - officially three hours before it began on the east coast of the United States.

I took a few pictures, but I´m finding that my camera isn´t the greatest at night. I hope your 2007 starts off in a traditional Brazilian way - with a bang.