Landfall!

Hello from Brazil! And let me tell you, this is going to be tedious. Not being in Brazil - no no no, that's going to be great. But typing on this little phone screen is going to be tedious for me , and reading the drivel I am sure to produce when so handicapped is sure to be very little fun for you. So I think it's best if we just cut each other a little slack from the word "go". Don't you?

We thought we - the four of is - would have time to have dinner together before our flight, but thunderstorms in Toronto were delaying everything, and the nice lady at the ticket counter told us she could put us on stand-by for an earlier flight. So we all said a hurried good bye and then Q and I were on our way. There were some minor-league hitches, but once we were settled into the ridiculously civilized waiting areas in Pearson Airport, wih their complementary use of banks of iPads and power outlets that any ol body can access, we were on our way. 

Two in-flight meals, two movies ("Grand Budapest Hotel" and "Gravity"), and some surprisingly deep sleep later, we stumbled into the bright light of a São Paulo mid-day.

The two explorers mug for the camera in Toronto. 

Wine is an excellent sleep aid.

Everything went smoothly at the airport, and we were inside a brand-new taxi cab in a matter of minutes. Our driver's Portuguese was quite easy to understand, and he told us that from where we were headed, it would be a very easy subway ride to the stadium tomorrow. Q was psyched to find that out. We arrived at the Pousada, paid exactly the fare that had been agreed upon, and Bob was our uncle. We had arrived. 

Our cabbie......'s profile. Not at all sure why I even took this. Nerves, I guess. 

Q, just arrived, watching Holland-Australia. (And the jersey had just the effect Janneke had said it would: someone tried to speak to him in Russian.)

The view from my lunch table. 

It turns out that, in São Paolo, FIFA has set up something called the "Fan Fest", where people gather by he thousands to watch the games on huge screens and mill about. It's a 20-minute walk from the Pousada, and Q and I mosied on over to check it out, both freshly showered and changed. 

On the way, though, we saw a site ao Brazilian that we (I) just had to snap a pic. A city lot fenced off for futbol. Really good players, too.

We arrived at the Fan Fest, and saw basically this:

Lots of nationalities present, but Uruguay was by far the best-represented. The stadium is sure to be two-thirds Uruguayan tomorrow- though our hostel has about five Englishmen staying here. Nice enough, doing that Europe thing of traveling like mad while they're young. God bless 'em. 

And that is really the whole shootin' match! Tomorrow I'd like to do a practice run to the stadium before we have to do it under the fun at game time. Other than that, no concrete plans apart from sleeping in (VERY comfy beds (and a room upgrade - got our own bathroom!)), and perhaps recon. But tomorrow is mostly about soccer. 

Huzzah!!!