Litz had to walk fast. It was around 6 pm and the police had already taken control of the streets. Cars were slowly disappearing, as the whole neighborhood had been closed to all kinds of transportation means since 3 pm. More than four million people were expected to be at Copacabana beach for 2020 New Year’s Eve and security would be a severe issue. But Litz needed cash or she wouldn’t drink anything that night.
After withdrawing last minute from the ATM next to other people, all clearly in anxiety, Litz hold her purse tight and proceeded back home cautiously. She was coliving with other eleven cruisers who had come to Rio just for NYE. The apartment was supposed to be a top floor luxury flat for twelve people. It was instead a shitty two bedrooms flat with two sofas and eight matterasses, so basically Litz slept on the floor in a room with other three girls. A girl slept in the terrace. A guy slept in the kitchen. (Actually it was a smart move, because there was a shower in the kitchen!)
When she arrived home, she found everybody sitting on the floor of the redesigned terrace (it had to accommodate an improvised room for the girl sleeping there). Pizza was coming. Litz felt a mix of hunger and fear. Pizza was definitely not the most characteristic Brazilian food and someone had obviously ordered some extravagant taste. She swallowed “pepperoni & chicken” pizza trying to hide her disappointment with an amazing home made Caipirinha (one of her housemates was half Brazilian and had great taste with alcohol and men).
In Rio it was traditional to wear white at NYE, as a symbol of peace. Actually every color had a meaning, but Litz didn’t care too much, because white was her favourite color and peace (of mind) was all she desired for the year to come. She had an amazing white jumpsuit she had bought for her last fashion business party, but she opted for something casual and cheap not to become a target on the beach. Moreover, that party brought her back bad memories. She also wore white flat sandals she would forget somewhere on the beach right after arriving to the reserved spot. Many girls wore colorful underwear to wish themselves love or health or money. Litz wore neutral. She had had it all and lost it all. She just wished herself to be happy.
The beach was extremely crowded and soon she saw most of her cruisers’ friends she hadn’t seen since she was on the boat. She got a bit emotional when she saw for the first time John again wearing all white. He had come with a beautiful brunette Colombian girl who looked totally uninterested in him. Litz knew they were travelling together in South America and she considered them a couple. He left his lady, came to Litz to say hello and they exchanged a few respectful words of affection, which sounded like:
J: – You are the perfect woman for me.
L: – I would rather be gay. You treat women like pets.
J: – You will stay single forever.
Then she kept her distance from him and had fun with her friends.
At some point she felt she absolutely needed to pee. Litz was in the middle of the beach, she had lost her sandals in the sand, there were millions of people around and midnight was close. She took a fast decision, pointing toward the closest bar. She didn’t even take in consideration to go to the public toilets, as the queues were immense and she risked to pee on herself (not the best wish for 2020). So she ran barefoot through the beach, surfing around people, pointing toward the closest bar. It was a restaurant. Litz didn’t care. She probably looked like desperate, barefoot and jumping not to pee on herself. When she asked the body guard in the entrance to use the toilet, luckily he let her in.
She looked at her feet and thought she might die of infections after walking barefoot into a Brazilian toilet. Then she remembered the hostel in Porto de Galinhas and thought it couldn’t be that worse. In a while she was back on the beach.
Her cruise friends were all arrived: about thirty people from all over the world, most of them drunk, all of them smiling. Then, midnight. Fireworks began. Rio de Janeiro’s coastline was highlighted and it was spectacular to look at the sky and live that special moment. She did it. She was there. Litz hugged everybody and kissed her closest friends.
Life was easy. Life was beautiful.
