2012 New Year’s Resolution

January 1, 2012:  On New Year’s Eve while walking down the main street in the Barra district of Salvador, we were drawn to the magnetic pull of the large speakers and stage that some must-be-famous musician stood creating an unbelievable amount of noise pollution.  Every second that passed, the streets would become more and more congested, until the point it became impossible to go anywhere without great difficulty.  Standing there with all of the other sardines, we patiently waiting for midnight as the last minutes of the old year ticked away. 

As midnight struck, the music stopped and the controlled explosions shot up into the night.  It started slow…really slow, as if kids were shooting off some store bought fireworks from a nearby Indian Reservation in their backyard.  Once it did pick up, it eventually peaked and oddly got smaller and smaller, fizzling out with no well defined grand finale.  It was if someone was confused on what cords to pull at what times pulling the grand finale well before its time. 

Once the last series of fireworks went off, the music started back up making me feel as if we were now obligated to stay longer just because we made this big effort getting here.  The older I get the more and more I see pleasure in watching the walking corpse Dick Clark pull off another production at Time Square via the television.  

Cecile took a flight back home this morning not many hours into the New Year.  I tried to send her home with as much as I could so that my dream of having a light backpack would become a reality, but when the time came to get rid of my stuff…I could only part with a few items - not at all as much as I originally planned.

After this visit, I thought that perhaps my New Year’s resolution should be to learn how to forecast my future destinations better so that I can get more visitors.  So far I have my Mom and possibly my Dad lined up…anyone else?