We've made it to the Amazon
Our taxis Saturday morning from Natal's beach area to the new airport saw the drivers reach speeds of 140 kilometers / hour through a small cobblestoned streets. At times you think they are racing, so you close your eyes because you expect a motorcyclist or pedestrian to be hit. But somehow it works.
The airport just opened a couple weeks ago, and on this morning, the entire computer system shut down. Not knowing when it would come back on, some of us on the checkin line for the flight to Manaus were quietly wondering if we'd make it before Sunday's game.
But what made it easier to accept was the line about 50 feet from us, which had 200-300 colorfully dressed Ghanaian fans waiting to check in for their flight to Fortaleza. Their game against Germany was four hours away, yet they thoroughly entertained everyone by dancing and chanting during the wait, showing no signs of stress that perhaps they'd miss their game.
The computers came back on an hour and a half later and we watched the Ghana fans board. They would likely be on time. Four hours into our flight, the entire plane was snapping photos out the window of the Amazon River down below as we approached our landing in Manaus - in the middle of Brazil.
Once the wheels hit the runway, a young kid started 'I Believe that we will win', which is when we realized the plane was overwhelmingly pro American. Everyone followed along.
This was a positive for us because for the past five days it seemed like every American we talked to in Natal said they couldn't make the trip to Manaus. The place is far and it's expensive to get here, so we were expecting a showing perhaps a third the size of what we had for the first game.
It's no secret that it's hot here, but what slaps you in the face the hardest is the humidity. The roads from the airport to our condo already reveal more of a true city than we saw the past week, and it feels like a World Cup is being played here. Our place is sweet - really modern and best of all, it has air conditioning.
The bug spray filled the condo as everyone prepared to leave. The rest of the crew had yellow fever vaccines and / or are taking malaria pills. I have neither, so any little bug on me will likely cause a funny reaction.
The heat seems manageable at night when we make our way to the FIFA Fan Fest in the Ponte Negra area to watch Nigeria-Bosnia. There weren't as many people there as we thought, possibly because of the matchup, but it's a neat area that we expect could be huge for other games.
From there we taxied it over to the U.S. Soccer party, which fortunately was only about 10 minutes away. We had no idea you needed to have RSVPd, and the line to wait without a pass was 40 minutes long. But then five guys walked out and handed us their wristbands and extra pass and we walked right in.
Inside the scene is similar to the pre-game party in Natal - flashing lights off a stage with a large crowd of adults jumping around and dancing in the middle. Others, like us, stood on the side taking it in and chatting. No surprise, the beer was flowing easily. We see friends that just arrived and re-tell old stories.
When we got back to our place, Kieran, Curtis and I walked down the street to a neat little outdoor food court of sorts. We're not in a tourist area, and the waitress confirmed we were the only non-Brazilains she'd seen. Kieran finally got to try a traditional type dish called tacaca, which is some type of soup typical to the region (more here). I even gave it a sip, though not sure how well my body accepted it this morning.
Our suspicions were right - there are not as many American fans here. We may be fewer in numbers but if last night is any indication, everyone is ready to make some noise tonight as we take on Portugal in the jungle.
