Editorial
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – It is time to celebrate, 2013 is ready to get started and as the final weeks of 2012 wind down, we get to pile on some Christmas and New Years cheer. This year both holidays happen to be on Tuesday (or Monday night) – which means The Rio Times news team may seem a bit shy on the holiday spirit, as Tuesday is our busiest day of the week.
Last year Christmas and New Years fell on Sunday (or Saturday night), so not sure why if skips a day this year. Some quick research shows next year 2013 Christmas is on Wednesday, 2014 is Thursday, 2015 is Friday and 2016 is Sunday.
Hopefully by the time it comes around to Tuesday again The Rio Times will be set up so that it wont effect my holidays as much. Of course it will be after the 2016 Olympics and who knows what will be happening in Rio then.
This Christmas there is a massive free concert on Copacabana Beach with Stevie Wonder along with the Brazilian singer Gilberto Gil, that is expected to draw one million people. That is a lot of people converging on not that large a beach.
Then, just six days later is the annual Copacabana New Years bash, expected to bring two million people together. The epic Copacabana Réveillon party for Ano Novo (New Years) is one of the largest in the world and this year they are raising the bar with (literally) non-stop music and a light show accompanying the fireworks. That’s right – lasers.
Last year was the first time I made a point to go to the Copacabana for the event, braving the crowds and logistical considerations… and it rained the whole night. Not sure I’ll be up for it again, but I guess with the aforementioned publishing schedule it is not really a good idea anyways.
We won’t spend anymore time feeling sorry for ourselves about it, our friends in the service and hospitality industry work through the holidays as well. For us it is an exciting and busy time – with an influx of tourism and holiday-makers – and our upcomming Print edition will actually be our first time increasing from 20 to 24-pages.
This weekly Online edition – which comes out every Wednesday – is our 197th, and will be the last before Christmas 2012. So for myself and everyone involved in making The Rio Times happen – we wish you a very Merry Christmas. Here it comes again, ‘Tis the Season!
