Date of Entry: August 6th 2016
Date of Writing: November 23rd 2016
It’s Olympic season in Brazil now and it’s not jsut the local poor feeling the crunch, I’m forced to move to a cheaper hostel down the street from Acai under rising prices even though Salvador is a long way from Rio where almost all the events are held.
Still chatting with some brits about football in the hostel kitchen I find out just how cheap tickets to the few qualifying round football games I decide I won’t purposely avoid the entire olympic experience after all and book a ticket to the two games happening later that day. Germany vs Mexico, and Fiji vs South Korea. Then as I’m booking I think about my company in Praia do forte and how much the boys might enjoy seeing some olympic futbol. A few whatsapp messages later it’s all organized and I grab the tickets for all of us.
I wander towards a big public square in pelourinho (salvador’s historical center) to meet Dona Ana, Felipe and Vinny and on the way pass by an opening concert, the Brazilian enthusiasm only slightly dampened by the constant drizzle that has been falling all day.
I make my way quickly through the wet street party tickets tucked away in my rain jacket and find my companions for the trip before asking directions and walking about 20 minutes to the huge stadium in salvador. At the entrance we give away our one extra ticket to a very happy local, get our faces painted with German flags (Because Renata would kill me if I cheered against them), do a quick Portuguese TV interview with vinny and then head into the stadium where we will spend the next 5 hours or so. It’s a beautiful stadium.
The games prove to be lots of fun with Mexico and Germany drawing and south Korea predictably trouncing Fiji who played with a lot of heart but we’re overmatched from the outset. The stadium is pretty empty so we move around to different places to protect from the constant rain as we watch but it’s a pretty cool experience, even if most of the more famous players have opted out of the olympics as is normal. So no we weren’t looking down at Neuer Gotze and Muller, but oh well it was still lots of fun, and special to be able to say I’ve now been to the olympics. while still avoiding the absurd prices and hectic atmosphere of any main host city during the games.
After both games we head back into Pelourinho and say our goodbyes there. Tomorrow Renata will arrive and we’ll see each other again. I’m beyond excited as I’ve missed her too much during the shorter second leg of my sojourn in northern Brazil.
