[Note: It has taken me while but I am finally catching up with my all of my Brasil reports, which, not surprisingly, have become much longer than I originally intended. This is the first of what has turned out to be four posts about Recife, there will be one (or possibly two) about Rio, as well as a couple more about Brasil and Portuguese in general.]
We had to get up
ridiculously early to catch our 6:20 AM flight from Salvador to Recife and
after a short, hardly scary at all cab ride, we were at our hotel by 9:00 AM,
with the whole day ahead of us to get the lay of the land. We explored the
local neighborhood and found a cool little deli/market/cafe down the street and
had some of the best coffee I have ever tasted, once we figured out the
“system”. Many retail places in Brasil have
slightly different processes for purchasing, many times needing to pay a
different person or at a different place, often first, from where you actually
get your merchandise. However, at
“Diplomata” (and I think a local even tried to tell us it was different here,
even for Brasil), whichever area (coffee, deli, bakery) you started at would give you a lanyard with a barcoded
card that they would digitally scan prices into for you. Then, when you were ready to pay, you just present it at the cash
register up front to pay when you are all done.
Each place you go tends to have their own set-up so you usually have to
observe and ask.
Later, we went
to the main high end shopping mall to get tickets for the Arena Expreso bus (ahead
of time because you couldn’t just buy them on the day of the game because that
is the system here) and of course, it
was only open certain hours. So we
wandered around the gigantic Rio Mar Shopping mall until they were ready. This enormous labyrinth was full of every
store imaginable, including many customer-less American and European designer labels. Most of whose employees, no matter what type
of store it was (except maybe the high end ones) were dressed in the familiar
yellow and green and the storefront windows were often decorated the with that
same color motif. The busiest spot was
the tiny FIFA kiosco filled with mostly Fuleco crap. We did find a really cool
“retro” soccer jersey store. Eventually,
we were able to buy our transport tickets to and from all three games, which
turned out to be a great decision as this bus was the most efficient thing we
encountered in Brasil.
After relaxing
back at the hotel, we took the easiest choice and went to the restaurant right
next door, Maxime’s Boteco, another fine decision as it became a favorite place
to eat and watch games, when it was open.
The pub/tavern has six big screen TVs, three inside and three outside
and an extensive menu, from full entrees to a variety of bar food, much of
which is brought around on trays for you to sample. You never knew what was going to be passed or
when the next one would come, but it was usually something delicious, like crab
or shrimp cakes, little pasties pastries and pies, or grilled meat or chicken
skewers. You could fill up without ever
having to order anything but more cerveja.
You can order “chopp” a small draft beer, or they also had large ~40
ounce bottles that are brought to your table in an plastic insulating container
(similar to a tailgate beer can holder) with small glasses to share, usually
the “Original” brand (yes, that is the name) but also with Bohemia or Heineken
when they ran out of the original.
The next morning
we were treated to an extensive breakfast buffet, with even more choice than
the impressive Salvador spread, including fruit, breads, hot entrees, eggs,
pastries, cereal, juices, cheese, meats, egg and tapioca (they use tapioca for
everything including this crepe-like dish) station, so you could something
different every day if you want and we were there 8 days without really getting
tired of it. The breakfast room was
packed with Costa Rican red jerseys, although the atmosphere was quiet and
reserved as everyone readied for the crucial match with Italy.
The bus ended up
being an excellent, efficient mode of transportation sine they never completed
the planned subway or public bus lines and the stadium is way outside of town. We had to pass the stadium before we parked
and it looked really cool out there in the middle of nowhere. We still had to walk a little ways to get to
the actual stadium but for the walk up anticipation has always been a huge part
of attending any game. While they had been pretty mellow at the
hotel, the Costa Ricans were starting to get loud. We hit all the stations in the Fan Zone and
headed inside to watch the crowd and warm-ups.
The Ticos had a
huge section behind one of the goals and they rarely stopped singing and
chanting from an hour before kickoff to well beyond the last whistle. And they (we)
had a lot to cheer about as the team proved their victory over Uruguay had
not been a fluke, flustering and all but shutting down Andrea Pirlo in the
middle. Since he had trouble getting the
ball, and was harassed by two or three bodies when he did, he could not get it
to Mario Balotelli, who was quiet the whole game. Each Costa Rican goal was greeted with a roar and made me
realize how cool it was to be part of it.
The walk out of the stadium and back to the bus was quick and merry,
serenaded by the victorious Ticos.
Afterwards, as
we were waiting for a taxi to get back to the hotel, I wondered out loud about
what was going on in the next game. Just
then, a taxi pulled up and as we got in, we noticed that the driver had a small
TV mounted into his dash and had the game on!
When we got back to the hotel, we ran across to the gas station to grab
some water and they had a TV set up outside so workers and customers alike
could check the game; it turned out that this TV was almost always on with
whatever game was currently playing. That night the celebration continued back
at Maxime’s with numerous Costa Riquenos and a generally fun multinational
crowd, including a bunch of crazy Mexicanos who were already started to show up for the approaching Mexico-Croatia match.
No comments:
Post a Comment