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Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 11:07 am
by Stuckey
Yesterday brought very heavy torrential rain all day, so we decided to postpone our trip out to the Falls. Instead we battled the weather and had a wander around Foz's CBD - stopping every 2/3 minutes for rest under shelter lol. Was good to get amongst some local people.

Ended up grabbing a late lunch/early dinner at a local eatery, and I do not understand how Brazilians eat such large portions of food! Cow and I (mostly Cow :p) made solid dents in our food but there was no way any human could finish that I swear! We both ordered steak (Brazil's specialty!) which turned out to be 7 steaks between us - not to mention the sides!

But, I have to thank beef for getting me over my jet lag! We got home at 5pm in food comas, so I decided to take a nap and didn't wake up until 10 hours later! Haven't been able to manage much sleep at all since leaving home, so i'm very glad to have found an insomnia cure! Lol.

It's currently 3:20am here, so I'm going to sleep a bit more and hope that we wake to some better weather!
I nice long sleep is great for jetlag/time zone adjustment! Just don't do what I did and go to bed at lunch time. I was waking up at 3am for then next week! :evil:

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 11:31 am
by Nash
Yea I woke up at 3am the first two mornings but have been able to sleep fine since :)

Yesterday I checked out the Falls from the Brazilian side, and then the Argentinian side today. Absolutely mind blowing. Pictures to follow in a few days :) Also spent the night last night just over the border in Argentina talking football too with a lad from Belgium. Tonight was football talk with a Frenchman, Englishman and Swissman :D The World Cup is in the air!!

On the topic of football, I need your help guys! Now it's obviously subject to change due to my travel schedule and ticket availability, but I really want to see a local game before I go and there's some enticing ones when I'm in Rio :)

Should I go and try to see

Flamengo v Atlético Paranaense
Botafogo v Curitiba
Fluminense v Santos
Vasco da Gama v Santa Cruz
Vasco da Gama v América

I can only make it to one.. Flamengo feels like a no brainer, with the Cassio connection (spoke about him briefly today with a Foz local :D ) but Santos put on a good display - especially if fans travel/Rio based fans turn out for the match...

Help! Lol

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 11:33 am
by Stuckey
Yeah I'm not Brazilian football expert but Flamengo seems to be a goer in my mind.

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 1:51 pm
by shinAUFC
Flamengo is a no brainer.

Imo go for which ever games will have the highest crowds and best atmosphere

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 6:14 pm
by sevengoals
Santos, Pele's old club.

It all sounds great!

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 7:57 pm
by EdDog
Santos, Pele's old club.
Also an iconic SA mining company of your looking for some relation to Adelaide :)

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2014 9:21 am
by Nash
If Huge gets a game, pls try getting the "Eugene Galekovic, clap clap, clap clap clap" going.
I remembered that I am on the side of the pitch and not with 'active support' so this may be difficult lol.
Weather sounds similar to Radelaide at the moment!

Naive question - what season is it over there weather wise? Do they have wet/dry?
Sorry man, missed this. Yea it is wet season here (pretty sure lol) but its mostly the north of the country that's affected by it - I'm mostly always in the south this trip :)
Santos, Pele's old club.
Also an iconic SA mining company of your looking for some relation to Adelaide :)
Haha true, but not enough to convince me to see them instead of Flamengo :p I love the Flamengo shirt too so really hoping I can sort it out! Googling how to get tickets hasn't helped.. Any forumites have inside goss for me?? I asked a Brazilian hostel worker and he said just go to the stadium... But it's 2 days after the WC Final... I doubt I'm the only tourist here to have the same idea!

An update from me though since I last posted. We've moved on from Foz do Iguassu to Bonito - a little town in the mid west of Brazil near the Paraguay border. It's a central hub for a bunch of tours, beautiful rural countryside. We drove here from Campo Grande (flew there from Foz via São Paulo) which was a joy - after getting our heads around driving on the right hand side lol.

Today we trekked through some jungle on a tour and went swimming in some water holes, including in and under waterfalls :D We also fed bananas to monkeys!! Today will be one hard to top that isn't football related lol.

Just about to sign up for Flickr (or something similar) to share photos with you guys :)

EDIT: a handful of photos from the trip so far :)

http://www.dropshots.com/NashRambler#da ... 4/21:11:28

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Sun Jun 08, 2014 12:01 pm
by shinAUFC
such a beautiful place!!

What are the people like in the rural areas? i can only imagine from stereotypes but i get the feeling friendly and passionate would be in the mix?

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2014 3:26 am
by ChillyPhilly
Nash, I can send you an email address of someone I know in Rio, a local. He's a tour guide.

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2014 4:45 am
by Nash
such a beautiful place!!

What are the people like in the rural areas? i can only imagine from stereotypes but i get the feeling friendly and passionate would be in the mix?
I was actually thinking about commenting on this the other night! Well not specifically your question but the people in general :)

I think there are going to be many people arriving at the World Cup without knowing the reality of the language barrier. My friend and I just get by on what we know, I myself with only about 10/15 handy phrases and numbers up to 20 and my friend who has been self learning with audio books for the past 16 months. Even then we are often coming across difficulties because reality is, in my experience, that only around 1 in 25 people speak broken English and 1 in 40 speak fluent English. I don't think the masses of tourists realise this... Many are going to struggle to get around...

Furthermore, I've come across many people who are taken back by the question of whether they speak any English or not as if it is an insult... Not sure on what basis, a few theories of mine are only the rich learn English and/or the general dislike of Americans/Westerners... We are often assumed as Americans, being clearly white westerners! The tone changes somewhat when they find out we are Australians, but that doesn't always become known... I am curious to see how the US travelling fans get on with the locals. Even walking down the street we hear at times "Americano" under people's breath... But let's be honest, this is not something exclusive to this region :D

As for the rural areas, it has been a much more pleasant experience. On all levels. Loved being out from the cities, away from the heavy traffic and busy side walks. Some of the people are still hostile in a non aggressive way like I've explained above, but generally they are friendly and helpful :) The language barrier seems to be less of an issue for those I spoke to/communicated with - they seemed happier to work around it.

To bring you guys up to speed, I am now in São Paulo after 5 days in Bonito MS. Did a few tours out there including hiking through jungle, swimming in waterholes/rivers - including plenty of waterfalls!, feeding monkeys :) , snorkelling and my mate repelled down a 220m sink hole to scuba dive :D Missing it already! Loved driving down the off track roads :) We had plenty of time so avoided the main highways and enjoyed the views! (Pretty sure I've already mentioned that lol). Will try and get more photos up tomorrow - but I didn't take too many of the towns.. There's extreme poverty out there, and I felt it would be disrespectful to find somewhat pleasure in getting such photos.. I may be over thinking it but it was on my mind..

We're in São Paulo now in preparation for Game 1 and then our travels south to Cuiaba for the Chile match :) It's expensive down there, not many hostels if any at all.. So we're leaving majority of our stuff at our accommodation in São Paulo and living out of backpacks and the airport for a couple days for our first match! It's starting to sink in!!!

If anyone has contacts selling Spain tickets, I would love a hook up eternally... :)
Nash, I can send you an email address of someone I know in Rio, a local. He's a tour guide.
Yea please do! Does he work for a specific company or free lance? Our days are pretty set in Rio, but I'll run it by my mates and see if they're keen too :) We arrive back in Rio on the day of the Final and am then staying for 7 days. Hoping the crowd does off and we can get around and enjoy the city a bit more than we could with the masses around!

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2014 4:56 am
by Nash
Met a German couple who have been travelling for the last 10 months. They have a blog of their travels and are trying to put together 1 minute interviews with one fan from each of the 32 participating nations... check out the Australia video ;) haha

http://www.upnaway.de/suedamerika/brasilien/wm-special/

I'll also add, many people I've spoken with are backing Argentina to make the final. I personally don't think they'll do so well... Without looking at how the draw would play out (which I should do super soon!), my top 4 prediction is Belgium, Germany, Spain and Brazil. How's everyone else feeling??

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2014 7:24 am
by sevengoals
Met a German couple who have been travelling for the last 10 months. They have a blog of their travels and are trying to put together 1 minute interviews with one fan from each of the 32 participating nations... check out the Australia video ;) haha

http://www.upnaway.de/suedamerika/brasilien/wm-special/

I'll also add, many people I've spoken with are backing Argentina to make the final. I personally don't think they'll do so well... Without looking at how the draw would play out (which I should do super soon!), my top 4 prediction is Belgium, Germany, Spain and Brazil. How's everyone else feeling??
Good one Nash!
:D

I am waiting for the first round of games before committing myself,

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2014 7:28 am
by EdDog
Actually I recall Adelaide United posted something about getting in touch with them for WC tickets. Was a while back but worth a crack.

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2014 8:55 am
by shinAUFC
I always get mistaken for english or american when im overseas and there is always an under tone of "oh your american/engish....pfft"

But when i tell them im aussie its as if a light bulb turns on in their head and people suddenly want to help you....either that or they have a relative in australia and they think you might know them haha

Re: My World Cup Experience

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2014 11:14 am
by Nash

Good one Nash!
:D

I am waiting for the first round of games before committing myself,
Haha a wise man!
Actually I recall Adelaide United posted something about getting in touch with them for WC tickets. Was a while back but worth a crack.
Hmm thanks man! Worth a crack, but I'm running out of optimism.. Might try a get a ticket from around the ground too... Can anyone shed light of the floods in Curitiba for me? Hard getting news here, what's being reported in regards to our Spain match?
I always get mistaken for english or american when im overseas and there is always an under tone of "oh your american/engish....pfft"

But when i tell them im aussie its as if a light bulb turns on in their head and people suddenly want to help you....either that or they have a relative in australia and they think you might know them haha
Haha yep! Exactly what I mean! Except the relatives part, haven't come across that one yet! :D

Image

90 nervous minutes soon awaits us gentleman! Not long to go at all! I fly out to Cuiaba tomorrow night! (Morning in Aus)