In the morning, we woke up bright and early to board our flight
from Pantanal to Rio de Janeiro – one of the most exciting cities in the world.
It was a hopping flight from Sao Paulo with a layover of an hour plus.
Unfortunately, our flight got delayed from Pantanal and by the time we reached
Sao Paulo it was too late… even though we ran to the gate, we saw our flight
take off right before our eyes. This was the first flight we missed in our
lives for no fault of ours. After having a difficult conversation with the
ground staff and explaining our situation, we got the boarding pass for our
next flight, only to know that the gate number of the flight had changed at the
last moment. If you were sitting at the airport, this is what you would have
seen: an Asian couple with 2 small children literally running and dragging
their kids (like you see in the movies) from one end of the airport to the
other and then back again to the other. OMG, the language barrier really gave us
a ‘run’ for our money! It was the final call for our flight when we boarded
huffing and puffing.
We were at our wits end, not only because we had missed our
original connecting flight but had almost missed the second as well! There was
more stress not only due to what we had gone through but because it was New
Year’s Eve. How does that affect us? Well, the roads get closed to Copacabana
at around 5pm to host one of the biggest parties in the world, with 3
million people from all over the world who gather around the iconic beaches of
Copacabana. To top it all, I had booked the hotel in the heart of it, where all
the action happens. So you can imagine, after this stressful journey, if we
wouldn’t have reached before the roads closed, the taxi would have left us at
the outskirts of the city, with 2 small kids and suitcases to drag to a
location that we didn’t know, and no knowledge of the local language to help us
with directions. Now you know why our anxiety level was hitting the rooftop.
Finally, to our relief, we managed to reach in time, checked into
our hotel, and went for an early dinner. Our hotel was close to the beach and
had a beautiful view of the Favelas. We returned to our room to change for the
New Year’s Eve party - it is a tradition in Brazil to wear white on New Year’s
Eve as it brings good luck for the coming year. Thankfully I was aware of this
and had made it a point to bring white clothes for all of us. Rio de Janeiro is
one of the top 10 destinations for New Year’s celebrations and Rio does
live up to its party city name. The city thrives on sports, dance, music,
beach, sun and there seems to be a lust for life that manifests itself into
this ginormous New Year’s party. This was also one of the reasons I had planned
my trip in such a way that I don’t miss out on this spectacle. By evening we
could see a sea of people flocking on the roads heading towards the beach and
all we had to do was blend in and be one with the crowd to see the world’s
biggest firework show at midnight.
When we reached the beach, it was a challenge to find a spot for
us. Finally, when we did, you should have seen the vibe of the place, people
came fully prepared with their cooler boxes loaded with booze, beach umbrellas, and chairs, I think the ones on hire were all sold out. I had these 2 plastic
raincoats that luckily I was carrying in my bag that I spread out for the kids.
Aan was too tired so he was dozing off in between and Aananya was too busy to
care about the commotion, loud music, etc. happening around her, she was way too
happy making her sandcastles; while Aakaash and I were just soaking in the
energy that was oozing out of millions. Finally, the countdown started, and we
were ready for the fireworks display. I have never ever seen such a long and
beautiful firework show, it definitely was one of the most unique experiences I
have had. For those 15 minutes, it looked like it was bright as day. When you
see the fireworks happening you feel like a kid in candy land who is awestruck
by every striking light. We also stepped into the sea at midnight and jumped 7
waves – this is a tradition that is also supposed to bring good luck. After the
fireworks finished, people started dispersing – some to continue partying in
different clubs and some, like us, to retire for the night for we had loads of
sightseeing to do the next morning.
Although, at night, we couldn’t sleep well… my great idea to stay
in the heart of the party land backfired. I forgot to think about the people
who would not retire when I chose to hit the bed, so occasionally we kept
hearing people partying all through the night. We woke up groggy in the
morning, yet all pumped to continue our tour. We finished our breakfast but,
surprisingly, our guide was late. We waited and waited and then waited some
more. Finally, we started making calls to find out what happened? To our
dismay, the travel company had goofed up and there was no arrangement done for
the day’s tour. We didn’t let that dampen our spirits, so we decided to take it
on as an adventure. With a lot of difficulties, because of the language barrier, we
were finally able to reach the most famous coastal mountain - Sugarloaf. This
mountain has wonderful views of the city, bay, skyscrapers, and the world-famous
Christ de Redeemer. Rio is one of the few cities in the world that gives you
the best of both worlds, the sea and the mountain in the same view. Aakaash is
more of a mountain person and I love the sea, so this city was a perfect haven
for us. We did have to stand in the queues, which could have been avoided had
our guide been there with us but other than that we pretty much continued our
sightseeing. We took the cable car to reach this 396-meter-high mountain; the
beautiful landscape and breathtaking views left us speechless.
The next morning, we took it easy, relaxed, and walked around to
have a feel of the city. The kids loved playing in a playground close to our
hotel. When you talk about Brazil, apart from the wildlife, sports, New Year’s
there is another thing that you can’t miss. That is the world-famous Carnival
of Rio which happens in February but we couldn’t have stayed for that long
obviously, so we decided to do the next best thing and went to see what you can
call a spectacular re-enactment of the carnival, it’s like a glimpse of the
real thing. Hence, we booked the Plataforma Show for the night. We were supposed to
see a similar show in Iguazu, which we missed (to know why, you will have to go back and read my blog on the Iguazu Falls - one of the seven wonders of Nature).
The tour bus came, picked us up, and took us for dinner which was followed by
the show that we were all excited to watch.
The Plataforma Show represents the colorful and varied mix of
rhythmic dances and dramatic drumming of Brazil and often features the previous
year’s winning Samba school dancers. You can experience the electric energy and
excitement of the carnival by being in the presence of live, upbeat samba
music, unbelievable professional dancers in brilliant and vibrant costumes.
Watching this 2-hour show makes you realize what it would be like in the real
carnival with outrageously colorful and exuberant costumes with theatrical and
thrilling Brazilian martial arts demonstrations and pulsating lights that
definitely makes it one hell of a show to watch. Sometimes it’s essential to go out with a
bang and this was the perfect way to end this beautiful trip to Brazil.
