In the Copa Del Mundo

I have been staying in Northern Brasilian city of Salvador for the past three days in the old historic center of Peleourinho. The center sits on top of a hill among this sprawling and spread out, hilly coastal city and feels a little like an artsy, tourist colony. It is full of cobbled stone streets and crumbling buildings and churches but shop keepers and hostel workers constantly warn against pick pockets and thieves and some of the nearby neighborhoods are not safe to walk around, despite the heavy presence of tourist, local and military police. One local scoffed they are only for show as there was a police strike three weeks ago, just before the World Cup but they were ordered back to work and their heart is not into it and there is a feeling some of them are corrupt.

With the cumulation of both the World Cup and  a local 5 day holiday of  Sao Juan, Christmas and Birthday has arrived for the pick pockets. With the tight streets clogged with people and at times, neck to neck inching among the thick crowds, these thieves are having a field day with locals and tourist. I went out on Friday, light with only my wallet, leaving my camera and phone in a locker at the hostel  and while huddled in the mass crowds, felt hands reach into my pockets and waist (for the money belt). One of the people in our room, lost his I-phone this way. It is Brasil, and when you add a large population who are unemployed, uneducated, poor  without much hope and disgruntled with government, it usually spells crime.

Some of the local's are really friendly though, and we got invited to a artist's home and he described his pieces from teen years to current and introduced his wife and home to us, with no expectation to buy anything (which was beyond anything I could afford). Good ol'Goggle translator came through.

I am enjoying watching the World Cup, and during these early stages there games everyday and fans from around the world walking and cheering. I watched the England and Uruguayan game in quintessential fashion, outside on the streets with a TV propped up on a window and a sudden make shift bar made up, sitting on plastic chairs with chanting, swearing and jeering English fans yelling nearby (including their loss). A total World Cup experience.

I also watched the high scoring Swiss and French game at the newly renovated and beautiful Arena Fonte Nova. Built vertically high to capture the crowd sounds and to be closer to the pitch, the 51 000 plus cheering fans could be heard chanting, cheering, singing and booing. I felt bad for the Swiss loss as they were definitely louder and initially more spirited.

The security was a bit lacked though. I don't know why they even asked for my name to be printed on the ticket as they never checked and they quickly rushed people through the security checks. I heard that they were not strict on where you sat and you could move down and even into the tunnels where the players moved around. No armed security on the field or even in the stadium. People were also scalping tickets outside the stadium, many of them for less than were bought  in cities outside of Rio De Janeiro (though some of the police do warn you not to do so or may confiscate it, and use the ticket themselves as in the case of a one English fan in our hostel). In the future, just come to the world cup and buy your tickets outside the stadium in the non-major cities which seemed pretty easy to do.

I can also understand some of the Brasilian frustration with government spending on this event. From what I could see, it was on the stadiums and police presence, but I was surprised how dumpy the Rio De Janeiro airport was with outdated and old layout, limited seating with few amenities, I could not believe they claim it had been renovated. Even in Salvador, the Fan Festival (TV stage and entertainment booths) only happens when games are played at the stadium or when Brazil plays because they ran out of money for security. The seaside promenade is unfinished as they too ran out of money.  

Off to the beach today and starting to enjoy Brazil and adjust to the high prices here.