I had an awesome time in Brazil over the New Year's holiday starting 2001 off. While I've lost the friend I went traveling with, I still have excellent memories... and photos.
Fireworks started off the year. They had set up about a dozen fireworks platform along Copacabana beach. Even though it was raining ridiculously, they set off the fireworks on time at midnight. People were standing very close to the launching platforms, and sure enough, people were actually injured by mis-fired (or malfunctioning?) fireworks shortly after I took this pretty photograph.