A little late but this will be my final recap of my trip to Brazil for the World Cup! I got to see 6 matches in total and the trip was really fun and exciting. It had some good and some bad but was really worth it and if there are any big sports fans I suggest you try to go to the next World Cup (it will be in Russia). And lucky for me I got to go with my family, my cousins and my uncle so I was never alone and always had company. Quick recap for those that see this and think TLDR, (the world cup is awesome! Go to the next one, also you should visit Brazil. I went to 6 matches, USAvGhana, AustraliavNetherlands, ArgentinavIran, KoreavAlgeria, ArgentinavNigeria, GermanyvAlgeria. Brazilian steak is delicious!)
Three cities, 9 airports over 2.5 weeks. That's what I did. I saw USA v Ghana in Natal. Three (four if you include JFK) airports to Natal for the game. As I mentioned in my earlier post it was a very exciting match. I had gotten to see the USA national team on several occasions but this match was different. This match mattered. It really does just have a different feel from a friendly since it really matters who wins and who loses. The USA started strong and scored a goal almost instantly and then played like shit for 80 minutes. When Ghana tied it the feeling really was that USA would be lucky to walk away with a tie. But on a corner they scored a second goal and took the win. Shocking result and quite frankly the team that played worse got the win that day. I won't complain though, sometimes the stats be damned because the only stat that really matters is who has more goals!
Then to Puerto Alegre. I got great weather on every match day but crappy weather on the days between games. Since Puerto Alegre is the Southern most city in the country of Brazil for the most part, it was chilly there. 45-55 degrees, and a good 10 degrees colder at the fan fest since it was right next to the river. I did get to enjoy the fan fest zone a couple of times. They sold one of the largest sausages I have ever seen, I mean in the USA we have "foot-long" hot dogs. Well this was like 1.5 feet long, (think like half a meter for you metric based people) and was as thick as a German sausage. Usually foot long hot dogs are fairly thin, well this was a full meal, tasted pretty good too but I really was shocked at the size of that meat (That's what she said, amiright?). The fan fest is really fun. Just lots of people from different backgrounds all joining together to watch a soccer match. It is nice to see that there is something in this world where people can put aside their differences and enjoy peace.
Argentina fans are crazy. They REALLY love their soccer team and they bring tons of excitement and energy to the matches. Since Brazil is close to Argentina in physical location lots of Argentinians made the trip over to cheer on their squad. They sang a song called "Decime que se siente" which is based off of a Credence song with lyrics used to insult Brazil's soccer team and Brazil fans. It was fantastic and amazing that these fans managed to sing this song over and over for well beyond 10 minutes. The energy was electric at the second game I went to that had Argentina (vs Nigeria) but not as strong as the Iran v Argentina match. That crowd was easily the most energetic and intense sports crowd I've ever been in, and that is saying something because I've been to a lot of sports matches across all sports.
However there was some bad in Brazil for me. Really bad actually. Since my group was staying in one city for such a long time we rented an apartment since it was cheaper than a hotel. However the apartment had fleas!!! Jesus christ that was awful. They wrecked my legs and feet during the day and then my arms during the night. It was so bad we had to abandon the apartment for the last 3 days because it was just ridiculous to wake up with 5-10 more flea bites every day. Now I'm a little paranoid that I brought them back to NYC with me, but I'm also sure I did a WHOLE lot to make sure they didn't follow me home.
I had one experience with a fancy restaurant while I was there, it was a steak house in Belo Horizonte called Ambrosia. And OH MY GOD, it was the best fucking steak house I've ever been to. The Brazilian steak house style is sooo much fun to go to. You get a little coaster that has two sides, one side says I'm hungry, bring me more, the other side says, "No thank you". Well, waiters walk around with full cuts of meats and sausages and look for customers that are hungry and walk the meat up to them and cut them a slice off of the roast right at the table. Each type of meat and roast I had there was fantastic. Not a single piece of food that night was even average, everything was fantastic. I wish I could have that restaurant to go to here in New York! It was my favorite night of the whole trip. To spend an amazing dinner with my family as we laughed and ate amazing foods with a carapiña in hand. I will remember that night for the rest of my life.