Happy New Year

I welcomed the New Year on the beach out at Maringanha with Jacinto, Katie, Raphael, Ana, Jessie and Rui - and of course my dog Bala had a blast running around chasing crabs!



The sky was clear and the stars bright as we built a fire in the sand


and roasted marshmallows to make 'smores'


and to add the usual African flair to the festivities, the guys cooked pork...

As midnight approached we made sure to keep a close eye on the clock. But when our cellphones displayed 00:00 we realized an important thing: We had totally forgotten to countdown! So we promptly started a countdown - and when we reached '1', the few cheap fireworks Rapha and Ana had bought at a store in town were meant to go off. But they didn't, so we counted down again and finally halfway thru our 3rd countdown they lit up the beach.


We were all laughing quite a bit by then!

It was a fun way to spend New Years and I wish you all a wonderful and prosperous 2009!