It's fair to say I couldn't leave Rio without a visit to a football match (or futebol as they call it here). What a crazy experience. We caught a bus with a load of brazilian crazed fans, the first thing they asked when we got on the bus was 'what team are do you support?'. The right answer was Botafogo. Lucky for me I'd already decided to wear black & white - so it was clear what team i was behind.... Super fast way to make new friends.
The bus trip to the stadium was hectic to say the least. 15 brazilian men all talking excitedly in Portuguese about the football game was a sight to see. We were super lucky and made friends with a couple of guys from Brasilia - one was a professional athlete come Jujitsu black belt, so we felt kind of safe in insanity of the streets when we got off the bus. Sarah described it as a war zone... and it's not far from the truth. I was told to put my camera away super quickly, and then we walked with the mob of the crowd to the big entry gates. Fans from the two teams can't sit anywhere near each other (very big rivalry!) and apparently the fans of the other team (Fluminense) are 'uneducated, disgusting and not even dignified as human'... Yes, the passion runs deep here.
But once we were in, it was so much fun. We were amongst (Botafogo) friends, so we were welcomed with open arms. Lots of yelling, lots of swearing & lots of laughing later, the match ended in a 1-1 draw. What awesome way to spend the afternoon.
