Brazil

BRAZIL – A BOYS FORTNIGHT OUT!!!

Brazil – red ember (wood) is what it stands for and that’s how our wives saw it when 5 of us announced we would like to see the world cup football in Brazil…:) To ensure we could hold fort with the locals, when we land there, we started learning Spanish, which was the closest we could get to Portuguese (no one was teaching Portuguese in Cochin). The planning took a lot of time – because we wanted to see some cities and their culture, the Amazon forest and also watch the football matches. After spending a considerable amount of time in front of the laptop we were finally able to book the match tickets for 4 games & tie up all our internal flights and stay arrangements. On June 15th we finally took off on Etihad Airways for Sao Paulo for our 2 week – Football and Amazon extravaganza. Over the next 15days, we covered 5 cities – Sao Paulo, Manaus (gateway to the Amazon), Fortaleza, Brasilia and Rio de Janerio. We caught our first game Brazil vs. Mexico in a bar in Sao – at a street side bar – and it was packed. We knew right then why watching football in Brazil was going to be a completely different experience. Before we caught our first match in the stadium, we took off for Manaus which is the starting point for all trips into the Amazon forests. This is where we ended up with bruised egos but with tremendous love and affection for Cochin mosquitoes! We thought we had figured Amazon out – with all the insect repellents that we carried, but we were in for a rude shock. The first two days were perfect, staying in a scenic resort on the banks of the river with frequent field outings. We tried our hand at catching Piranhas and Cayman alligators, the first by throwing make shift lures and the later by hanging around their frequently seen sites, but neither did we catch Piranhas nor did we even get a glimpse of one Cayman alligator!! The only spotting we did were of Botos – the pink river dolphins, a sloth, a whole lot of lizards, monkeys and birds. The experience of floating around on a small boat in the midst of Amazon river and its swamps was thrilling.

This got our goat and we decided that we need to be more adventurous – so next day we picked up an argument with the guide and said that we need to spend the next three nights in the forest – spending our nights in hammocks with just a plastic sheet above us to protect us from the rain. So the 5 brave egoistic men went deep into the forest. After some barbecued chicken (prepared in woodfire with local spices by our guide) & Cachaca / Whisky we lay down in our individual hammocks – little did we realize the number of mosquitoes that are there in Amazon. Each one of us were left battling with about a million of them and we had just one mosquito net each whereas the norm in Amazon is to have at least 3 layers of protection (which we were told the next morning by a Polish family, who had a peaceful night in the jungle!!). By 1.30 am we were so badly bitten that we took the boat and went through the swamps not bothered whether an anaconda attacks or not. (One of us did get stung on the face and palm, as we were navigating the swamps!) The next  morning was hilarious – the main tour organizer and all his fellow men descended on us – and their comments “we thought you were brave men and so on” were enough for us, so we scooted from Amazon immediately. All Kochiites should spend a night in Amazon – there will be no further complaints on mosquito menace.

Back in Manaus we caught our first football action in an Arena called FiFa Fanfest -these are large screen viewings organized by Fifa and in Manaus this was by the river beach in an amphitheatre set up. There must have been around 30,000 people and it was an absolute riot. Never had we had so much fun watching a football game. The match was Brazil vs Cameroon and each time Neymar touched the ball there would be a roar. Tendulkar worship is nothing compared to how Neymar is treated. I think other than the 5 of us and a handful of others each and every person was wearing a Neymar t-shirt. .The other interesting aspect which i think India and most other countries need to learn is the absolute respect for women. Of the 30,000 crowd approximately 60% were women. And there was no pushing and shoving – the crowd was well controlled and police were standing far away. It was an amazing experience. Will we ever be able to host a World Cup??? From Manaus we flew to Fortaleza, which is beach town in the north of Brasil. Beautiful city with a great beach. This is where we experienced the way the World Cup had been organized. After checking into our rooms we headed out for the stadium. We were debating whether to cab it or not, when the concierge said there are free buses to the stadium – every 5 minutes there was a bus to the stadium and it was absolutely free – you just had to show your World Cup ticket. Once there at the stadium, it was an overwhelming experience – the match we watched was Greece vs Ivory Coast – a match crucial for both. One of my friends who is not into football – yelled out “what a fielding”when the Ivory Coast goal keeper made a save and people immediately knew why India is ranked 185 in world football :)). Here again women outnumbered men and there were 80 year old grandmothers cheering at the top of their voice. It was a sight to behold. We even had a 60 year old man juggling the football for 5 minutes with skills that even today none of us posses – we decided that this was one country that one shouldn’t even claim to be a footballer!!

We then flew to Brasilia – for the Portugal vs Ghana game – another crucial one for, both teams needed victory by a huge margin to make it to the next round. Here my great football friend said “Myanmar is a great player” and we didn’t know where to look – 65,000 people in the stadium – 45.000 of them wearing Neymar t-shirts and he had to say this!! We got our faces painted by a bunch of youngsters outside the stadium who were doing it for free – the only catch was that we had to listen to a sermon on Jesus while the face painting was going on. They got more than what they bargained for when one of my friends explained the virtues of Gita and Hinduism – since they were speaking in Portuguese and broken English and my friend in English and broken Spanish it was sight to see and a pleasure to behold as both parties split amicably!! Unfortunately my video recording did not work else it would have been a master piece. Brasilia is a city that all Indian infrastructure planners should go to. It is the most beautifully laid out city – and has absolutely stunning infrastructure. Our last stop was the great RIO – and it was 3 nights of partying on Copacabana beach -the FIFA Fanfest was organized on Copacabana beach and we stood and watched Brazil vs Chile game along with 40,000 others in the hot sun on the beach – an experience that will be etched in my memory for ever. This was a game Chile deserved to win and we realized what a great country of football fans when every single Brazilian we met and talked to on the beach and road said poor Chile “they should have won but guess Jesus was kind to us because we are the hosts”. Christ the Redeemer overlooks the Copacabana beach and he must have decided that which such a fan base the team should get one more life! It was in Rio that we were pleasantly surprised – in terms of the words we use and the Portuguese use. Our apartment landlord said he would be leaving the chavi on the mesha and also an extra pair of thala. In Portuguese “Chavi” is “key” and “Mesha” is “table”, “Thala” is “lock” and “Janela” is “window”!! (btw – Thala & Chavi in Hindi is Lock & Key and Mesha & Janela is Table & Window in Malayalam)

All of us have decided a visit is definitely due again maybe for the 2016 Olympics (which should be a valid enough reason to convince our spouses). We are also debating on learning Portuguese – now that we know there are whole lot of common words. Till then adios and obragado (thanks) from us to the whole of Brazil and Brazilians for their hospitality and love for the game.

This is a guest post by Naveen Philip, part of Kuttukaran group – 3rd generation in the 75 years old family business mainly in automobile sector With the launch of domestic and worldwide flight bookings and holiday packages on Expedia.co.in, Indian travelers can now book flights, hotels and holiday attractions in any corner of the globe – all in one place