We went to our bar round-the-corner, (called ‘The Rabbit
Hole’), and got a prime table out the back with a great view of the various TV’s,
and proceeded to start on the drinking. The place filled up slowly to begin
with but by kick off it was almost full, mainly with locals, but there was a strange
table of about 6 middle aged men next to us that we were convinced were not
Brazilians. We were well into our 5th or 6th round of
beers by that time and nothing was going to stop us enjoying ourselves, in fact
I think we were doing most of the 
I think that it was the right result in the end, but Croatia
was justifiably upset, but anything that keeps the locals concentrated on the
football and doesn’t give them a reason to protest about anything is fine by
me. We lost count of the number of rounds of beer we had had after about 10,
but even then the bill was a reasonable R$300, (US$150), and that included 2
massive plates of fried chicken pieces... Suffice to say we retired to our
respective apartments satisfied, stuffed, and maybe even a little drunk. The
World Cup was officially under way....
The next day was a travel day, and an easy one at that. Our
flight out of Sao Paulo wasn't until 3:15pm, and with Sao Paulo’s famous traffic
congestion in mind, we decided to go straight to the airport after our 11:00am
check-out. We need not have worried, the taxi ride that had taken the best part
of 2 hours when we arrived only took us 40 minutes on the return trip, so we
were at the airport with a couple of hours to kill. We were hoping to catch up
with Yates’s brother David who would be joining us for the Fortaleza leg of the
trip, who was in the airport at the same time, but we were trapped in Terminal One,
while David languished in Terminal Two waiting for his connecting flights to
Fortaleza. The fight was another of those of the uneventful kind I have come to
like so much, and after waiting for Fiona’s bag that seemed to come out last on
the carousel, we were through the controls and out in the arrivals area....
Blimey, it was hot, and not just hot, but humid as well. I usually wear my
heaviest, and generally warmest, clothes when I travel, and standing in the
arrivals area, I was starting to sweat in places that the sun doesn't shine..!
Yates was going to wait for his brother who was coming in on a flight an hour after
us, so Fiona and I got in a taxi and went to our new home for the next 17 days.
Bloody hell, did I say it was hot...?? 
Yates &
David arrived about an hour later, and it was great to catch up with David for
the first time since we saw him in Germany during World Cup 2006. He hasn't changed a bit in the intervening 8 years.... We didn’t waste too much time on pleasantries
as we were all staring and it was already 10:30pm, so I fired up Foursquare and
found a restaurant about 2 blocks away. This was a Brazilian Churascaria, where
for a fixed price we could help ourselves to the extensive buffet, while white-shirted
waiting move around the tables offering cuts from various barbecued meats, all
of which were delicious. They gave us each a little token with a red side and a
green side, and if we wanted more meat, we flipped it to the green side, and
when we needed a break, flip it back to the red side, neat huh..? We also rented about 4 litres of local beer
which was a welcome accompaniment to the mountain of food we mowed through, I
say rented, as I am sure that the beer was oozing out through my sweat glands
as quick as I could drinking... Man, its hot here.... All I can say is I am
glad that the bedrooms in the apartment have air-conditioning, we set ours at
16 degrees and left it running all night....
Woke up next morning, it was still hot...!
There were many more Uruguayans in the stadium than Costa
Ricans and they made their presence felt with a rousing rendition of their
National Anthem, which I swear has the longest introduction in World Football.
I thought this should be an easy win for Uruguayan with their world class stars,
including Forlan & Cavani, playing in the top leagues all around the world,
against a Costa Rican side made up of unknowns and an Arsenal reject striker and
a mediocre Fulham midfielder. The first half followed the script with Uruguay
taking the lead with a nailed-on penalty, but Costa Rica were definitely not going
to go out without a fight, but at half time I was still of the belief that it
would go to form. The second half saw a turn-around as the ponderous 
We had decided before the match that we wouldn't have time
to travel back into the city before the Italy v England game kicked off, and we
had spotted a few bars on our walk towards the Stadium, so we found one with a
free table in a prime position in front of the TV and settled in. One thing we didn't count on was the bar running out of beer before we got half way through
the 1st half, but the game was so exciting, I hardly noticed. When Italy
scored I was downhearted, but this was soon resolved with a beautifully worked
goal for Sturridge and England. The second half had hardly started when the
Italians scored again, but there was plenty of time and
England were taking the
game to Italy. As time ticked by and chance after chance was squandered by
England, that sense of impending doom started to creep over me, and when Rooney
missed a sitter, I kinda knew it wasn't going to be our night. Plenty of positives from England, in all area’s but the result. Disappointing.... We got
a taxi back into the city and wander around for a while, tried to get into a
very happening bar on the waterfront, but it was so busy and that South
American queuing system was in full effect, so we bailed and went to a local
bar to the apartment to watch the end of the late game and grab a bite to eat.
Whilst the England result had gone the wrong way, it had been one hell of a
day....
I only stopped sweating when I fell asleep in our
air-conditioned bedroom.....
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