Unless you live under a rock, or you are American, you would know that the World Cup just finished up. I was rooting for Brazil to win, but as you all know, Germany kicked their butt and took the title. Sorry Brazil….Why do I bring up the World Cup on a food blog? Because I just got back from Brazil!
It was an amazing trip! To be in Brazil during the World Cup was a once in a life time experience. The food, the people, the beaches! I just wish I could still be there! Now that I am back to reality, I can share my experience with everyone. Just FYI, this post is going to be long.
My husband, our friend, Alex, and myself started in Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world. Luckily for us, they had a great metro system to get us around. We had a lot of luck while getting around during our travels. We just happened to find good people and great places to see by asking around at the last minute. And things always seemed to work out. We ended up finding a Fan Fest while looking for a place to watch the first game of the World Cup. It was amazing! So many people from so many countries gathered together to watch the game. It was great to see everyone getting along and we got to meet some awesome people too. As soon as the game started, everyone faced the big screen and got quiet. If there was a goal or a save, the crowd all at once would go crazy. The atmosphere was amazing.
After that first Fan Fest, we stuck to watching the game at bars. The atmosphere was great, but standing for 6-8 hours killed our legs and feet that first time. In our guide book, it said that in an area called Vila Madolina, there were bars on top of bars, so that is where we decided to go. The next day Mexico was playing, so we went in search of a bar in Vila Madolina. As soon as we got off the metro, we spotted a guy in a sombrero and a few friends! They were looking for a good bar too, so we joined them in the search. Eventually we found a good cheap bar to stay at (after trying a more expensive one first). We stayed there to watch the Mexico game (which they won!), and the next were Spain got their butt kicked. Afterwards, we decided to explore a little more. We only walked a couple of blocks before we finally stumbled upon the area where there were bars on top of bars. Every bar was packed with people that were over flowing into the streets. Everyone was there to watch the games and have a good time, so we joined in! It was great!
The next day, the last member of our group flew into Brazil. We met Matt at the airport and decided to take him to Vila Madolina to watch that days games before we went to the airport to fly to Natal. When we got off the metro, we were looking at a map to try to find out way back, when a young woman came up to us and asked if we needed help. She was on her way to work, but the area we were looking for was on her way, so she showed us the way. She got us to the area we wanted to go, but there just happened to be a street fair going on that day. It was perfect. We got to see all the food they sold and got to try some Brazilian street food. Pastel (deep fried dough with a filling), kibe (deep fried mixture of ground beef and Bulgar wheat), and fresh squeezed sugar cane juice. So delicious! Those are definitely on my to-cook list. After we delighted our taste buds at the street fair, then went to a bar to hang out and watch the games. As the day went on, the street got more and more full of people and soccer fans! Then we made our way to the airport and flew to Natal.
We got to Natal at 3am. It was pouring! And I mean POURING! After sleeping a bit in the airport waiting for daylight, we grabbed a taxi to the bus station to buy tickets to Fortaleza then another taxi to our hotel in Ponta Negra. The ride to our hotel was one of the scariest I have ever been on. The rain was still coming down and we found out that it had been raining like that for the last 3 days. Roads were flooded and it was hard to see very far. At one point, the road was so flooded in our direction, that our taxi driver started driving on the other side of the road with oncoming traffic. All he did was put on his hazard lights. That was definitely something I had never seen before! After we passed the flood area, we got on the correct side of the road. We checked into our hotel, and by that time, the rain had stopped. We grabbed some food and a quick caipirinha, then headed to the beach. 
By the time we got there, there were so many people in the water and hanging out on the beach even though it had been pouring a couple of hours before. The guys were so excited, they jumped right in! The view in Ponta Negra was great. There were gigantic sand dunes to my right and beach for miles to my right. That night we found a great restaurant to have dinner and catch the last game of the night. The restaurant owners and their daughter were so nice to us. Some of the nicest people we met during our trip. We also met some Ghanaians at the restaurant, which was such a coincidence, since we were going to watch the USA vs Ghana game the next day.
The next day we dropped off our stuff at the bus station and walked to the stadium. Since the USA vs Ghana game was the last of the day, we found a bar next to the stadium that had AC, great food, and a big screen to watch the earlier games. We caught the game while enjoying some bacon and cheese covered fries! Soooo yummy! Its the perfect American food. I’m not sure why I have not seen it in America yet. Anyways, we eventually made our way down to the stadium. It was packed and there was excitement in the air. There was a mixture of Ghanaians and Americans in the area we sat at, but the everyone was just excited to be there. The game was awesome and that ended up being the only game the US won! So glad we were able to experience it. As soon as the game was over, we had to run over to the bus station to catch our night bus to Fortaleza.
Once in Fortaleza, we decided to head to the beach since it seems to be popular. When we got there, the sun was shinning so bright. I HAD to wear sunglasses. I thought I might go blind. Fortaleza is known as the “City of Light” because the sun shines there 2,800 hours a year. It certainly lives up to its reputation. The beach was so nice, we grabbed some drinks and food as usual and enjoyed the view. Later that afternoon, we decided to go to the Fan Fest that was at the beach to watch the games. After a while, Martin had to leave us to go to the stadium. He was the only one in our group who had tickets to the Brazil VS Mexico game that day, so the rest of us stayed at the Fan Fest. Once again, since Brazil was playing, the area filled up fast and you could feel the excitement in the air. In the end, the game was a tie, so their will be peace in our house hold (I am half Brazilian and my husband is Mexican). After the game, we met up at the bus station to take another night bus to Natal.
We had spent the last 2 nights “sleeping” on buses and in bus terminals and sweating like crazy in the Brazilian heat without showers. After checking into our hotel, we desperately needed showers and rest. That day we just enjoyed the beach and games in bars since we had a place to sleep that night and no game to attend. It was so nice. The next day, we dropped off our bags at the bus terminal and did our same trek to the bar close to the stadium. We enjoyed watching the England game with a bunch of English people in the air conditioned bar. All I can say is the English really, really love their soccer! It was so much fun watching a game with them. We then headed down to the stadium to catch the Japan VS Greece game. We didn’t really have any ties to either country, but we decided to root for Japan. It was a fun game. It also started to rain a little during the game. Since the rain is warm, it felt great. We joined the crowd in doing the wave and enjoyed our tasty beverages! Once again, we had to leave right after the game and head to the airport to go to Rio de Janeiro.
After resting in the airport for a while, we made our way to the Centro area of Rio. I haven’t really been to many historical areas in Brazil before, so it was a little strange seeing the European influence on the buildings there. But of course, it makes sense since the Portuguese where the ones to colonize Brazil. We made our way to our hotel and dropped off our things. We grabbed some Churrasco (Brazilian BBQ), which was delicious, and then headed to the streets to do our souvenir shopping. Luckily we ended up in an area with nothing but shops! It was amazing! We found everything we needed to take home.
The next day we tried to go see Christ the Redeemer which is the large statue of Jesus with his arms stretched out on top of a hill. We got to the tram station at 10 am, but found out that the next available ticket we could buy would be for 6pm. Shoot. We decided we didn’t want to wait all day for the tram, so instead we headed to Copacabana beach. We walked along the beach and enjoyed the view. Unfortunately the water was too cold to get in, but the beach was just perfect for relaxing and drinking a caipirinha. So we did :). We spent the day there and enjoyed some food and that days games at a near by bar.
The next day was the start of our travel back to the US. We grabbed a bus from Rio to Sao Paulo. This was the first time we traveled between cities during the day, so we were able to see some of the country side. It was wonderful to see all the green fields and trees for as far as you could see. I wish California could be that green, but we need some rain. We made it to Sao Paulo and onto our plane with only one or two snags. We had about a 8-10 hr layover in New York which was awesome. I’m surprised at how much we were able to see in that time, but that is for another post since this one is so long. We made it back to LA safe and sound, and are now back to the reality of work and life. I keep closing my eyes and imagining that I am siting on the beach with a drink in my hand and not a care in the world. I want to go back.
