Mike and I had a bet...and I lost

So World Cup has begun. Mike and I were debating yesterday about just how soccer crazy Brazilians actually are. I figured that the relationship of Brazilians to soccer was basically like the relationship of Canadians to hockey. It is a national passion. Basically all Canadians get into it, particularly during playoffs but shops don't close (though lots of places have TVs going) and life goes on basically as usual. How wrong I was. Here, everything...and I mean everything, shut down at 3pm, an hour before the game began. We were even starting to worry that the buses might stop running before we could make it to our friend Kira's house to watch Brazil's first game of the tournament. (I don't think they actually stopped...but I am not sure.) Luckily we made it and watched the game, along with millions of other Brazilians, from Kira's patio. We later saw some footage of a square in downtown Recife, filled to the brim with gyrating, samba and frevo-ing Brazilians. We'll have to head down there for one of the games just to check it out.

Perhaps I just can't see it, being unaccustomed as I am to futebol, but it wasn't a very exciting game. More exciting was to turn around and watch the Brazilians we were with cheer (well, mostly shout expletives). Brazil, after scoring only once, won the game. There is a great view of Recife and Olinda from the patio and after the goal and after the game you could see and hear fireworks (or in some cases just cherry bombs) going off all over the place. In fact, we were deafened several times by the explosions in Kira's neighbour's "yard." It is pretty rare to actually have a yard here...perhaps that is why I was told that every year a bunch of people, mostly kids, lose limbs and sometimes lives because of all the fireworks.

All in a all, a fun time...and pretty funny to see all the women we were with blowing kisses when they saw Ronaldinho on screen (have you ever seen Ronaldinho? Look him up on the net if you haven't).

Below are a few assorted pictures from an afternoon adventure Mike and I had the other day in Recife. I thought the outdoor pet store was kind of amusing...and I just like gargoyles.