World Cup Fever Begins

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First thing in the morning we headed to the airport to pick up our car around 830 AM. Little did we know we wouldn't be leaving the airport until nearly 11 AM.

Friday was the opening day of the World Cup so the airport was PACKED with cheers and vuvuzellas (the horns you hear on TV) everywhere.

We ran some errands, buying a converter and a road map because we don't trust GPS. We attempted to deal with the issues with my phone, but that was an epic fail. I went to two phone companies and waited for a total of 2 hours. Both of the piece of crap companies told me I would need their service and that my phone was locked and wouldn't work in SA. I tried to explain that it had been working for 1.5 weeks, but they just didn't get it. We then waited for 50 minutes to pick up the most precious commodity we have - our World Cup tickets. The atmosphere here is electric and everyone definitely has World Cup fever. The SA people have been as hospitable as possible and are willing to help visitors at every turn. They truly see this as a turning point for their nation and as the tourney kicked off Friday, people were literally weeping in the streets as the horns blew and people both in person and in the media compared it to the Nelson Mandela election, the end of Apartheid, and for many... The best day in SA's history.

We picked up our car with a slight delay and entered another interesting first... Driving on the left side of the road. Being on the right side of the car is strange enough... But driving on the left just added to the confusion in my head. It was a 2 hour drive to Rustenburg which is a town of 100,000 sort of in the country. It is definitely different than Jo-burg and the bush, and the racial divide there isn't bad - its just different. There is definitely a clear dividing line in the town where you go and don't go. The white locals warned us of the dangers of SA and it became clear to me that they themselves have never left Rustenburg and experienced the world or even their own nation.

I do want to touch on something again though - road safety. When all the books said it was the biggest issue here - they were absolutely correct. Besides the people running across the road, broken traffic lights, broken down cars parked in the middle (not sides of the road) and bad infrastructure - on two lane roads it is customary to pull onto the shoulder and let people pass. This causes an incident every 5 minutes or so where a head-on collision at nearly 80 MPH almost occurs. From what everyone here tells us... You need to drive like everyone else is out to kill you by driving like idiots. Its literally a rush... And not in a good way.

We got to our B&B, the BouBou B&B about 10 KM outside of the city. It was beautiful and we met our host Marnice for what would later become probably the best place I have ever stayed abroad. Her hospitality and especially her food made the stay seem like home. We met the first of the other guests, Tim, a British guy who works for Royal Caribbean and headed downtown to watch the Mexico vs Bafana Bafana game at a local bar.

There is a little less intensity in Rustenburg than in the city, but the bar was packed nonetheless. And little did we know it, but the local celebrity pop-star, Lorenz, was doing a show that night in his leather pants and NY Yankees shirt. I felt I needed to mention it since I can only assume that Lorenz will be an international celebrity in the near future. Mark my words and note my sarcasm.

We met a group of like 8 local 25-year olds that sat with us and Tim to watch the game. They were mystified by foreign visitors and asked millions of questions. I was driving, but Heather and Tim (mostly Tim) took advantage of the SA tie and celebration to get hammered. Tim probably polished off 10 beers and two bottles of wine - and from that point on, we were friends. He called every other nation on earth "wankers" and other adoring terms, and while we were friends on Friday, we would all be opponents on Saturday.

Game day started off with the rest of the guests arriving. The place only holds 10 guests, but man was it a great group. Two kiwis came ready to watch New Zealand, a British couple Jamie and Sharon Rooney (no relation to Wayne) and finally... A Brit and an American. Before you get excited and think, well at least they weren't all US fans, you should think again. The kiwis were originally from the UK, and the American? Don't even get me started. He was from LA, and while I don't remember his name, I think Benedict Arnold fits the bill. This idiot had no connection to the UK and proclaimed he really "wanted a tie" in the game. I however wanted to punch him in the face. A true American, born and raised, rooting for the UK in the biggest soccer match in years. He critiqued the US team, name dropped, and recited soccer facts out of recent ESPN article until the rest of the group hated him. I however, was at the forefront of that push. With that anger brewing, and having watched he first two games of the day, we ate another delicious dinner (Marnice cooks breakfast and dinner each night) and carpooled to the game. I drove, which will be important later.

We headed out and after a expletive filled, chat singing, whirlwind shuttle ride from the parking lot, we... Along with 40k other US and UK fans descended on the stadium. The stadium itself was... How do I say it? A piece of crap. The pitch was nice, but the lack of video screens, a scoreboard, or even a clock really made for great situational awareness during the match. But it didn't matter... The atmosphere was amazing, and I'm not sure how it looked on TV, but the US brought a ton of support and was probably outnumbered 60/40 by the Brits.

As many of you saw (hopefully every single one of you), the game could NOT have started worse. England scored 4 minutes into the game on a huge defensive lapse and the energy started to wain. To our credit, the US fans embarrassed the UK fans as far as chants, enthusiasm and all around life. In fact, after the pre-game banter, I can say that the UK fans were truly a disappointment. The US fans hung in, and on a fluke goal, Clint Dempsey tied it at one. While we got completely dominated in the second half, we did have a great chance when Altidore hit the crossbar, but with some terrific saves from our goalie, we were able to hold on for a 1-1 tie. We met tons of other supporters and all things considered were content with the tie. Notice I don't say happy, but to that team, giving up a goal that early - a tie was a good result.

The British however were DEVASTATED. I've been part of some pessimistic fan bases, but those fans were the worst. The media and fans roasted the goalie (thank god for him) and blamed it all on him. None of them were sure they could win the game, and it showed. We rode the shuttle back to the park and ride with a deep depression resonating amongst the UK fans, and all the US fans, while not celebrating, could do, was to smile. The biggest banner in the stadium almost read correctly - 1776, 1812, 1945, and 2010. A tie however... Will do.

I cannot begin to explain the feelings and emotions at the game. If you watched it, you could feel it. The entire nation is entranced by the World Cup and this game in particular rivaled the most important of the tournament.

The tie was however, the last good thing of the night. After running over a small tree to get out of the parking lot, I felt a wobble and there, in the middle of the SA wilderness - where is frowned upon to even drive in sunlight - I changed a flat tire on our Chevy Aveo as Tim, Jamie, and Sharon tried to make sure we didn't get killed. You'll recall that the shoulder is an extra lane here, and our safety concerns were close to reality when a car came 'fairly' (with a few feet) of hitting us and the car before swerving off the shoulder. Its definitely all part of the experience - but I was ready to go home. All things considered, I changed it in like 20 minutes and aside from the hassle and frustration - no harm, no foul.

A few hours of commiserating with our British friends and our second day in Rustenburg was over.

After our final fantastic breakfast - like a 6 course meal - Jamie, Sharon, Tim and I headed out to play with baby lions at a lion park and then headed to Sun City - the Las Vegas of SA.

Sun City was like Vegas mixed with Disney in the middle of the SA wilderness and shanty villages. Odd yes, but cool at the same time. We watched the day games in the Casino, walked the grounds, and spent our "sunbucks" the official currency of Sun City. And don't even try to steal the Sun Bucks, because they very well may kill you. It was just a great day at an interesting place. It has a zip line in which you can reach speeds of 180 KM/HR, a man-made lake for jet-skiing, and the largest water park in Africa that while looked awesome, was closed for the winter. The only users of the slides were hysterically the monkeys. One last odd note from the day. Apparently Sun City has a car theft issue. When you leave the park, you are required to take the keys from the ignition, show them to a camera, before you can leave. Its to prevent hot-wiring vehicles, but with all the other security issues they are dealing with, is that really their biggest issue? We headed home for the final game of the day, our final dinner with the group (minus the wanker American), and off to bed for an early trip to Jo-burg.

I will literally miss the group that we had at the B&B and our hosts. It was one of the best travel experiences of my life and I already have plans to see many of them before I leave the country. So far, we have watched all 9 games of the World Cup, from start to finish, and I hope that continues through the end.

We are off to Zambia to see Victoria Falls, and pending any phone and email craziness, I will update everyone soon. I cannot believe its been half the trip and we will be home in under two weeks - but so far, this ranks up with my best trip ever. Until then...

GO USA!

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Photos

US vs England
Game 1 of 3 - I do hate ties, but this... I'll take.