2014 World Cup - Day 10 - Blumenau to Brasilia

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I woke up a bit stressed out over figuring out how to go about visiting my grandmother’s apartment, then the family friends, then having lunch with my cousin while also trying to squeeze a phone call with Janel. We had agreed to talk in the morning around 10am or 11am my time before my day got busy.

I ended up waiting until 10:30am my time (7:30am in Saskatchewan) to phone her but ended up waking up my father-in-law. I’m sure he didn’t expect that. Haha I had counted on Owen being awake early but that was not the case. My aunt Gladys then did me a HUGE favour lending me her car so I could do everything I wanted. Just as I was about to head out the door, the phone rang, so I got to chat with Janel for a bit. The connection wasn’t the greatest, and the clock was ticking. I felt so bad I sort of had to rush the conversation, but I had no choice; I didn’t want to cancel my visits.

When we come to Brazil, 2 weeks is never enough time to see everyone; I was trying to do it all in 2.5 days. In these 2.5 days, I went to bed late, woke up early, didn’t eat properly but managed to just about visit with everyone I wanted to. I will have to wait to see the few I missed.

My visits went well. My grandmother’s apartment is quite nice, very tidy, just right for her. It was a quick 10 minutes but I’m happy I got to see it. I then visited with Paulo and Quinca, who I’ve known all my life (Quinca is my dad’s cousin). We had a nice chat in their home, updated each other on how everyone in the family is doing, what my trip is shaping up to be, etc... Even though I was pressed for time, it all worked out in the end.

Lunch was really good, and I got to hang out with my cousin Luiz’s family a bit more. His 6-year old daughter Aninha is hilarious and super chatty; all she wanted to do was go outside and play tag with me. So we both finished our meals and off we went. We played tag and hide-and-seek. In the end, she gave me a card she had made herself that contained a photo. Very cute. On the way home, I dropped off my grandmother while, in the back seat, Aninha took about 50 pictures with my camera. She even took a photo of my grandmother and I.

After lunch, my cousin Marco picked me up and drove me to the airport. Within the last 8 years, they either built or improved a road that has almost direct access from Blumenau to the airport. We had a nice easy drive and in 40 minutes, we were there. The drive allowed him and I to talk, which we hadn’t been able to do in my 2 days of running around. I had tried to get Marco to come to Porto Alegre with me to attend the Argentina vs Nigeria game but he was unable to get tickets.

My trek to Brasilia, Brazil’s capital, had a quick stop in Campinas (near Sao Paulo). The airplane had TVs available for use and roughly 20 cable channels to choose from. I quickly found the Costa Rica vs Greece game and was able to watch the first half. Once we landed, I found that terminal we were in didn’t have TVs showing the game. In the hour or so I waited for the connecting flight to Brasilia, I worked on a couple blog entries. This Mexican guy beside me was following the game on his phone and told me that it was going to overtime. Once we boarded the flight to Brasilia, I quickly found the game, but there were 2 minutes left in overtime. We were able to watch all penalty kicks in the time it took us all to settle down and take off. In fact, as soon as Costa Rica scored the winning goal, the captain turned on the jets and off we went. Both flights were really smooth and quick.

I had booked a hotel in Brasilia a month ago or so, but for different days because I thought I would only come here for the quarter-final game figuring I’d be following Argentina and not Nigeria at this point. Once Nigeria qualified, I emailed the hotel asking for a switch and for an extra night. While I was doing all this, my uncle Djalma was at it again calling family/friends. He was able to find me an apartment to use for free not too far from the stadium and government buildings. This apartment, in fact, belongs to the Federal Government and is currently assigned (if you will) to a Federal Senator from my state. Since the Senator was not here using the apartment, I was allowed to use the place. So when I landed, the Senator’s driver picked me up and took me to the apartment. How lucky am I? Big thanks to my uncle Djalma for helping once again (he already hosted me AND got me the hotel in Porto Alegre) and to the Senator and wife for allowing me to stay.



Once I got settled, I published Day 9’s blog entry and went to sleep. Tomorrow is game day for me: France vs Nigeria.

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