At the Fan Fest in Rio: Brazil vs Mexico

We took the bus from Cabo Frio to Rio today to have a look around the city and to join the fan fest at Copacabana to watch the macth between Brazil and Mexico.

The atmosphere was just electric throughout the city from the moment we stepped out of the bus. It seemd all the people around were dressed in team colours, be it Brazil, Mexico or any other copa team. People were running around cheering their teams in very joyful spirits - the Brits with cans of beer in their hands, of course.

At Copacabana the crowd started to gather around the fan fest area well in advance - under the scorching sun we stood for four (4) hours in the sand cheering for Brazil and Mexico. The match ended in a draw without any goals, but it is funny how fast the time went: I did not feel bored a bit, because the match was so exciting and the people around us so funny. We got some new Spanish friends, too, who wanted to come to the same picture with us.

Originally I had thought of leaving after the first period for a swim and a walk around, but with the over 30 000 people at Copacabana around us it would also have been impossible to locate one another had we gotten separated.

It was all so thrilling, boisterous and noisy, but it felt good, not at all threatening like I woudl have thought beforehand. Normally in Finland you feel safe in a place without any people, and would feel a bit scared if you are surrounded by a crowd, but here we noticed that we turned into Brazilians a bit: threatened if in a solitary location and safe in a crowd.

We returned back to Cabo Frio by bus around 11pm feeling pretty exhausted, but happy :)