Started the day with a quick trip to the laundry mat to get some clothes washed. That would normally be an uneventful errand, but this is Rio. Nothing is really uneventful in Rio. Gotta love it.
So while I’m standing there, these guys come and block off an entire intersection. I could explain further what they were doing, but I got a video instead. Enjoy:
Yeah, I thought that was crazy too. Wrong. Wrong! That was nothing, because for their next act they pulled out knives. Go figure:
After the little show by the laundry mat, we walked a couple blocks to “Big Rock” on Ipanema Beach. Big Rock is just that, a big rock. Well, several big rocks. It gives you some great view of Ipanema Beach and the city.
Apparently the sunsets are supposed to be amazing from Big Rock, but no luck on seeing one of those today. We have a futebol game to attend. Futebol!!!
We hopped a bus to the game. Buses are an interesting thing in Rio. Most of them are privately held, there is no schedule. A bus simply shows up when it shows up. Fortunately that tends to be about every 15min or so. Another interesting thing is that the bus loads/unloads wherever convenient. So getting off the bus in the middle lane happens, often.
Once we arrived at the stadium, you could see the craziness. There were folks lined up everywhere. The craziest part, is that we went to a small game. The Flamengo’s (the favorite team in the Ipanema area) were playing against some nobody team whose name I don’t remember. Still, people were out in full Flamengo gear ready for the game.
Inside the stadium is even more interesting than the outside. The seats are old concrete looking seats. You can tell comfort was not a priority when they were built. Fortunately, nobody sits down, ever. People are standing, chanting, and waving flags, the entire time. It is absolutely insane. Well, I thought it was insane. Then they scored. Triple-Insane. Wow:
Side Note: No people were harmed during the making of this video. However, a styrofoam box and at least one shirt was destroyed. Crazy!
On the way home, we traded in the bus for a subway. It took us a good 20min to walk to the subway, since someone kept taking photos (me), people kept stopping to buy jerseys, hats, scarfs, etc., and someone else had to buy a bottle of water to wash the mud off her feet. Wonder who that was?
The subway ride was pretty basic. Hop in at one location, get off at another, wait for another train, rinse and repeat. It did give me an opportunity to take some nice photos though, so no complaints from me.
In conclusion, the futebol game was absolutely amazing. If you ever make it to Rio, you have have have to go to a game. You won’t be sorry you did.
Photos:
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