USA!

American forces are out strong in Manaus today. At lunch, our pizzeria erupted with cheers of "I believe, I believe that we will win."  T minus 4 hours to game time.  Let's do this.

PS - in case ESPN doesn't mention this a lot at home, it's really, really, REALLY hot and humid here.  We are sweating profusely just walking around.  I already feel bad for the players.  They're calling for some scattered storms, so maybe we will get a little rain to cool us off?

Survived the rainforest

Our rainforest trip did not turn out quite like we thought it would be. Our tour operator is taking full advantage of the massive amounts of World Cup guests by jamming as many people on their tours as possible.  That meant not only were we reassigned to a very rustic jungle lodge instead of their nicer lodge next door, but also that our tour group had 22 people in it (normal groups are 5-8 ppl).  Transportation to/from the lodge was also challenging given the huge number of people heading to both lodges (most people were on our same itinerary due to the World Cup match schedule).  We had to take a van, to a boat, to another van, to another boat to get to this lodge.  Our trip there took 6.5 hours (thanks to a 2 hour rain delay as we waited for the storm to pass through so we didn't capsize on the Amazon), and our journey back took 4.5 hours (we finally got off our bus and took a taxi the rest of the way to the hotel since we were so over everything by the time we were asked to switched buses again in Manaus).  We were told normal transport time is 3 hours when they're not moving 40+ people plus luggage at the same time.

Our guide did the best he could given the tough situation he was put in, but it certainly wasn't ideal.  At least we were still given our private room with beds (with a private bathroom) rather than sharing a giant room sleeping on a hammock with 30 other guests (ours was not the only tour staying at this lodge).  No towels or blankets on our beds, but we had some privacy (and sometimes a frog would come visit us in our bathroom). 

What made up for these downfalls was our tour guide, the very nice staff at the lodge, and the other folks on our tour.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with them and bonding over the fact that we couldn't hear anything our guide was saying on our jungle trek since we were so far back in the 22 person line.  Lots of Americans on the tour but also people from Croatia, Jamaica, France, Canada, and Spain.  A couple of guys were there from Fusion network (a new younger-skewed ABC network), filming the local's perspective of the World Cup for a documentary.  We can't wait to see what footage comes out from this experience.

We spent quite a bit of time out on the lake where our lodge was located (on a tributary of the main Amazon rivers).  We went piranha fishing, though only one of the French guys was successful in catching one (they are a lot smaller than I thought they'd be - maybe 6"?).  I got to hold a caiman (alligator) that our guide plucked from the water.  We saw lots of birds, though sadly no blue macaws.  Briefly saw monkeys, but struck out on our quest for sloths.  Visited a local native Amazonian family's home where we saw how they lived and made a living (milling a grain and building canoes), then played soccer and volleyball with their kids.  Despite not speaking the same language, the kids certainly know how to direct us around a volleyball court!  We got to see a spectacular sunset over the Amazon, as well as a pretty cool lightning show a different night.  The weather changes frequently and quickly in the rainforest.  Could be sunny one minute and raining the next, and then sunny again moments later.

Thank goodness we knew enough to bring long pants and long-sleeved shirts since the mosquitoes in the jungle don't pay much attention to DEET.  We all basically bathed ourselves in DEET, and the mosquitoes would come take a bite of any exposed skin anyway.  We saw a couple of girls on the way back whose legs looked like they had chicken pox since they had so many mosquito bites.  Ouch.  A few people tried some of the natural bug sprays, and those were even more useless at keeping bugs away.  Luckily these mosquito bites aren't as itchy as the ones in the US, so they'd sting when we were bit but an hour or two later, they wouldn't itch much at all.  Of course as a trade off to this non-itchiness, they do carry evil diseases, but hopefully all of our immunizations and anti-malarial meds will take care of that problem.  

Overall, we were all ultimately underwhelmed by the experience.  Maybe it would have been better with a different operator or if we were staying at the main lodge or if our group didn't have 20+ people or if we didn't spend hours in the canoes with hard wooden seats.  But maybe the rainforest just isn't our cup of tea.  Animals are difficult to spot, and it's hot as an oven, and the mosquitoes are relentless. Maybe we are spoiled because of our safari experiences, though Nancy has never been on safari and was equally (more?) unimpressed as the Polichs. The rainforest tour is something we're glad we did once but aren't going to be signing up for again anytime soon (except Erin, who thinks taking a 7 day tour deeper into the Amazon is the solution to our complaints - maybe she's right but I'm not booking that trip any time soon).

In any case, we are back in Manaus and getting ready for tonight's big USA v Portugal match.  Last night we saw way more USA fans around town than Portuguese fans, so hopefully we will be able to own the stadium again tonight.  We are in the US fan section tonight (upper deck), so there's a chance you may see us on TV.

Hello Amazon Rainforest

We have arrived safe and sound in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.  Manaus is a rather gritty city.  It was formerly quite prosperous during the rubber boom of the early 1900s, so some of the buildings built during that era are quite stunning.  Manaus then fell on hard times after it lost the monopoly on rubber trees. Now it is reinventing itself as a manufacturing and tourism hub for trips into the Amazon, but for the most part does not have the charm of a tourist city. 

What Manaus does have going for it is its main plaza in front of the Theater Amazonas, which they have turned into an outdoor cultural center during the World Cup.  They have two giant screens to show all of the matches, as well as a stage for putting on performances between the games.  Last night the plaza was a hub of activity with locals and tourists alike enjoying the matches and various musical groups (we weren't fans of the Brazilian rappers, but enjoyed the Bossa Nova and guitar/folkish bands). Happy Croatian fans gathered there after beating Cameroon at the Arena Amazonas a few kilometers away.  Major thumbs up to Manaus for expanding on the World Cup fun with these free cultural bonuses.

We are off on a jungle adventure the next several days and are unlikely to have Internet access at the jungle lodge.  We will update the blog once we are back in wifi world with tales of excessive humidity (while wearing long sleeved shirts and pants to keep the bugs off), amazonian wildlife, and hopefully not too many bug bites (yes, we've all gotten yellow fever vaccinations and are taking anti malarial meds).

Windburned in Natal

One of the big tourist things to do in Natal is to go on a dune buggy ride through the sand dunes that surround the city.  We don't get to drive the buggies (a professional driver takes us on the tour). We opted for the 2 hour excursion over the 7 hour excursion that went further north, and I think our windburned faces are thankful for that.  We all wish our trip had included more buggying up/down the dunes and less time speeding along the flat, wet beach.  The dunes part was more fun and involved less sand whipping up into our faces.  We are all nicely exfoliated now.

Perhaps our favorite part of the trip was when we stopped to take pics at a viewpoint.  A nice Brazilian man came over as our "paparazzi" and proceeded to have us pose in a series of ridiculous poses.  I think you'll agree that the pics below were well worth the $5 (US) we gave him.  (We did turn down both donkey and camel rides though...)

Made it back to town to watch the Brazil-Mexico match at a crowded beachfront bar.  Think the Brazilians were slightly disappointed with the tie while the Mexicans were pretty happy.

We tried tapioca pancakes for dinner last night, which are similar to a crepe/tortilla/Swedish pancake but made with tapioca flour which makes them a bit thicker and sponger.  It's nice to see that most cultures have figured out a way to make a thin pancake and stuff it with tasty goodness.  For as diverse and large as the world is, some things (like stuffed pancakes) transcend borders.  

Off to the Amazon rainforest and 100% humidity.  Hello ponytails and high-octane bug spray.

One Nation. One Team.

Wow.  What a night for the USA.  Crowd support was incredible, and despite not playing their best soccer, team USA managed to pull out a very exciting victory over our World Cup nemesis Ghana (Ghana has kicked the US out of the last two World Cups).

As previously mentioned in an earlier post, there are a LOT of American fans here in Natal.  We definitely made ourselves known in the stadium.  We were very loud the entire time (though, disappointingly, we had no drummer to counter the loud, rhythmic Ghanian drummers). The Americana outfits were amazing.  We will try to get more pics of some of them next game: Elvis, Abe Lincoln, red/white/blue unitards, super hero outfits, Marilyn Monroe, tri-cornered hats, Uncle Sam, an eagle, etc.  Absolutely phenomenal.  We were asked for lots of photos of us with various other people, so they must have liked our Americana too.  The cutest pic we were asked to pose for was with a couple of older Brazilian ladies who were on their way home near the stadium, and a friendly police officer took our pic (there is a lot of police and military presence here in Brazil, but since everything is pretty calm, most of them stand around looking bored the whole time).

The game itself started off on a fantastic note when Clint Dempsey scored 30 seconds into the match. The entire stadium erupted in joy (except the Ghanian section, of course).  For most of the rest of the match we seemed pretty content to focus on defending against Ghana's attack instead of forming an attack ourselves.  American fans yelled, cheered, and chanted through the whole match - not just the fan club section but throughout nearly the entire stadium. Finally, Ghana broke through with an equalizer late in the second half.  The Ghanian fans then exploded, making their presence felt too.  Fear not though, America: a nice set piece and the first international goal ever for young John Brooks, and the stadium once again swung happily, loudly, and finally to the USA.  Our game-long chants of "I believe we will win this game" indeed came true. What an ending, what joy, what excitement.  Wow.  I love the World Cup.  Nothing else is quite like it.

The only downsides to the match were our injuries (Jozy's and Besler's hamstrings and Dempsey's broken nose), as well as transportation to/from the stadium.  Natal is not prepared to deal with getting 40,000 fans to and from the match.  Buses were a joke (crowded and/or non existent), and most folks relied on taxis (which of course were nearly impossible to catch after the match, and traffic was awful both to/from the match).  A lot of fans ended up walking 5 miles back to the Ponta Negra hotel area instead.  We finally caught a cab about an hour after the match.  I'm sure taxi drivers were thrilled with the extra business, but there were definitely a lot of frustrated fans trying to get home.

Next up: USA vs Portugal in Manaus (in the rainforest).  With a win or a tie, the US gets out of its pool. Portugal is playing down several players (red card and injuries), and played poorly against Germany.  Suddenly this Group of Death isn't looking as ominous as it once did.

One Nation. One Team.

Natal = USA South

Our 6am flight to Natal wasn't listed on the departure board at the airport this morning, leaving us a tiny bit worried until we spotted tons of other travelers sporting their USA gear. We knew we were at the right gate when surrounded by Stars and Stripes (and a few Ghanian Black Stars too). Clearly they had added in this special flight to accommodate travelers trying to get to Natal for the USA-Ghana match tomorrow.

Natal is a beach town about 3 hours (flight time) northeast of Rio.  The tourist area is called Ponta Negra, and it's saturated with American fans.  The restaurant we ate lunch at today was completely full of fellow Yanks (and our poor waiter didn't speak any English).  In addition to the locals playing futbol on the beach, we saw three separate groups of people playing American football on the beach too.  The Americans have clearly taken over Natal.  There are a few lingering Mexico fans (they played here a few days ago), but for the most part, welcome to USA South.

Last time we went to the World Cup in South Africa, the US group games we went to were in Joberg and Pretoria.  We certainly ran into a American fans while out and about, but since the cities were so large, it didn't feel like we had taken them over like we have here in Natal.  It's really fun to see USA soccer fever so loud and proud (in fact, we can't even get into the official US Soccer fan club party tonight since we waited too long to register so it sold out).

Keep your fingers crossed that the rains hold off tomorrow like they did today (rain was forecasted all day but it cleared up around noon and was a beautiful day).  It poured during the Mexico-Cameroon game a few days ago, so we are really hoping not to repeat that soaked experience (the fans looked really wet).  Plus all of this rain has flooded the roads, making transport to/from the arena more challenging (in addition to a transportation strike the other night necessitating school bus drivers to take over the public bus routes).  

We are all getting very excited for tomorrow's match!  USA, USA! 

Saying goodbye to Rio

We enjoyed a fabulous last day in Rio, with beautiful sunny skies and perfect temps.  Got to spend the morning at Ipanema Beach, with perfect brown-sugar sand.  The people watching was excellent.  Brazilians are really, really fit - and love to show off those amazing bodies in teeny tiny swimsuits.  A bit of culture shock for us prudish Americans who aren't comfortable with wearing thongs and speedos to the beach.  Brazilians also love to be very active on the beach - from running to footvolley (a hybrid of volleyball and soccer that is fascinating to watch but I would be terrible at playing) to beach tennis to volleyball to soccer to slacklining - there was always a fun sport to watch from our perch on Ipanema beach.  There were seemingly a million beach vendors too, peddling everything from food/water to hats/sarongs to sunscreen (IMO the smartest vendor out there).  Those folks were working hard, for sure.

After lunch we headed on a jeep tour of nearby Tijuaca National Park, a rejuvenated rainforest located in the middle of Rio.  The other tour group members didn't show so we ended up with a private tour.  Win! According to our friendly tour guide, the area used to be tobacco, coffee, sugarcane and tea farms, but after Rio ran out of water due to the rivers being used for irrigation, the government turned the farmland into second growth rainforest.  The area is beautiful, with yet another amazing overlook of Rio (major kudos to Rio for making so many of its overlooks so easily accessible to us tourists without having to rock climb or hike).  Our favorite part of the tour may have been when our tour guide started singing Sugar Ray and Sublime for us, and getting us all singing along. Gotta love bonding over cheesy 90s music.  Sadly, no monkey sightings, but hopefully we will see some in the Amazon rainforest.  We also got a tour of some Rio neighborhoods that we hadn't yet seen, from the swanky (Leblon and Jardin Botanico) to the outskirts of a militarized favela (David Beckham has supposedly just bought a home in the favela for $1 million dollars, due to its amazing sea views).  The Argentina team is staying at the Sheraton across from this favela, so it must be fairly safe.  I was content to view it from our coastal road though.  No desire for a favela tour for this group. We all agree it just doesn't feel quite right.

Dinner our last night in Rio was delicious and authentic.  We went to a restaurant that Erin's Brazilian friend had recommended called Casa da Feijoada, and that's all they served.  No menus, other than a wine list.  As soon we sat down, they started bringing us courses of food: bean soup, followed by random sausage, then finally the feijoada itself: various cuts of pork and lamb cooked in rich sauce, black beans, rice, sautéed greens of some sort, pork rinds, cassava, and orange slices.  We still aren't exactly sure what everything was (or the proper way to eat it) since our waiter didn't speak english and we most definitely don't speak portuguese.  Didn't matter since everything was absolutely delicious and we could eat until we were full (they'd keep refilling any dish that was empty).  It felt like we were eating at a brazilian friend's house instead of a restaurant. Two thumbs up for the food and the experience.

Sad to say goodbye to Rio but excited for the next stage of our adventures: USA matches!