Editor’s Note: Passport Brazil is a series on what its like to be on the ground in Brazil during the World Cup. For Yesterday’s entry, click here.
The 9-hour plane ride to São Paulo was one of the best plane rides I’ve ever experienced. About 75% of the seats were filled with World Cup travelers who cheered, chanted and celebrated as the plane took off and landed.
We landed in São Paulo early in the morning and found our way to our hotel near the city center. After getting situated, we took a short walk to FIFA’s Fan Fest in São Paulo. Just one day until the opening game and the area was still being constructed in the city center. We had serious doubts as to whether it could possibly be finished by Thursday. Even the booths that appeared ready and open told us they were still setting up and to come back tomorrow. Like so much of this World Cup, the jury is still out as to whether they can be ready.
As the day went on we began to see more and more Croatian jerseys littering the streets. Could there really be that many Croatian fans here? The consensus with the local Brazilians was that the opening game would end in a score of 3 – 1 in their favor. Eventually we met up with the guys I met back in the states who were chatting about Chicharito and made our way down to Vila Madalena. Vila Madalena is a vibrant, fun neighborhood which was absolutely going crazy with the World Cup opener just around the corner.
We had decided to visit a particular bar but our taxi had to stop short because the streets were filled with both locals and tourists who clearly were not interested in obeying local traffic ordinances. Some cars actually got stuck in the middle of the street and were surrounded by fans for hours. Again, Croatian fans made an extremely impressive showing but only barley edged out the representation of Mexican fans in the area. Luckily they seemed to mostly just laugh at Elaine who responded to their chants for El Tri with her own chant of Dos a Cero. I assured them she wasn’t with us.
Even in the small area we were in there was such an amazing variety of fans. We saw Australians and English who were desperate to speak to someone in English. Mexican fans were there; they had come down from Mexico City. Croatians, French, Germans, Colombians, Argentinians, and Brazilians were everywhere. And my favorite was probably a Peruvian girl we spotted rocking a star spangled red, white and blue bandana rooting for the US.
People lit fireworks and jumped all over a flatbed truck, but the most enthusiastic fan had to be the El Tri fan. He was wearing a luchador mask and waving the Mexican flag while hanging off a beer truck. Man, Mexico at it again. We really have got to step it up. At least the guy serving drinks from a mobile bar in the middle of the street appreciated my freshly cut hipster haircut which was eerily identical to his and gave me a price break on a round of drinks, so we had that going for us. Mind you, the World Cup hasn’t even started. But the way the country-wide celebration was unfolding, I can only imagine what tomorrow, and the rest of my trip will be like.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @TheCleavesiest. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Feel free to discuss this and other footy related articles with thousands of fans at r/football.
For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Main Photo:
