world cup whirlwind

i wasn't planning on going but while waiting for a friend at the hospital I saw a travel agency and decided for curiosity sake to see how much a ticket would be. To my astonishment rwandair had a 500$ round trip promotion. I couldn't pass that up, out came the plastic and 10 hours later, russ and I arrived in Johannesburg. Everything immediately buzzed of excitement too hard to describe.

on the flight down i noticed that it was really foggy just past lake tanganika on the rwandan congo border. what i thought was fog turned out to be smoke, the entire flight over congo, namibia, zambia, zimbabwe, botswana, and south africa was smoldering from what i assume (you know what they say about assuming) are agricultural fires for clearing land.

lake tanganika (rwanda, burundi, congo border)
somewhere

zimbabwe?

This trip was blessed with divine intervention from the start, as we arrived without hostel reservations but promptly ran into folks we had met in Zanzibar a month earlier who were waiting on a free shuttle to their backpackers hostel momentarily. they called ahead and there were two cancellations after turning away 58 people during the day. My aussie bunkmate at the hostel immediately asked if i wanted a ticket to the us v ghana game. Mission accomplished. I spent a very cold night (30F) there (this is africa right?) and in the morning joined the group going to pretoria, an hour north, for the chile v spain game. We arrived in the capital, a cool bustling city, reminiscent of a us college town - think madison, wis - booked a guest house and walked the two blocks to the city center and stadium and watched the brazil v portugal game in the city square on a huge screen tv. The crowd represented the united nations; flags and faces covered in paint and beer. Every other conversation in a new language.

jill and i in hatfield square in pretoria before chile v spain

chileno goading spainish supporters

girls with spainards

spainards

chilenos

hatfield square was packed

I was unsure of the ticket scalping situation as fifa had instituted regulations to deter fraud but given the half-empty stadiums they were facing I think they relaxed. Regardless there were no tickets to be had after 2 hours of my most obnoxious american efforts. 10 minutes after kickoff I heard a motorcycle policeman, of all people, was selling tickets, even with my sub 10 sec 40 speed I couldn't catch his bmw. I turn to leave and see a south African guy with a ticket. It's for a "partially obstructed view" seat 80$ face value, I offer 50$ and he hands me the ticket. I run past my fellow scalpers beaming like charlie with the golden ticket and find my seat. I keep walking lower and lower til I'm at the second row at the 18-yard line. Apparently the view is "partially obstructed" by the players heads cause I can see their nosehairs!!! david villa, fernando torres, gerard piqué, carlos puyol, andres iniesta, yup all there 50 feet away. Unfortunately my chilenos lost 3-1 but still it was worth 50$. *pictures to follow

June 26 2010 will live on in infamy: us v ghana in the round of 16. We rented a right-handed car and because no one drove straight drive I was given the duty of driving 7 Americans to rustenburg. We had heard that the stadium was outside of a crap town and to plan three hours of traffic to get to the park and ride. after an hour of fruitless searching for accommodations we found an apartment complex 2km away from the arena in an admittedly sketchy area. That settled we headed to the bar packed with americans and led the promenade to the stadium vuvuzelas ablaze!!! The game was significantly less remarkable a 2-1 result in extra time. African humble pie for dinner. I'm all for african success as long it's not at our expense. 30 minutes we were in bed dabbing our tears on our frigid thin comforters.

"wait a second this is gonna be cool right?"

why did i decide the gay ultimate warrior look was a good idea?

russ and i gettin ready

it was fun before the game

the crew





Next day the group split and russ and I headed to jo-berg for the argentina v mexico game. we arrived and immediately booked a hostel and caught a ride to soccer city with three mexicans two hours before the match to hustle tickets. Incredibly there wasn't an ATM outside this massive modern complex. dejected we started to walk the mile back to the shuttles back to town when someone asked "y'all need tickets?" two Americans let us have their extra tickets until we get inside and we watch a great game, arg 3-1, with the eventual champions, I predict, you heard it here first folks.
The next day I caught a flight back to Rwanda with my zanzibar people who crash at the house for two day before returning to arusha, tanzania.
All in all an amazing(ly expensive) weekend.



traditional south african breakfast, braai, meat meat more meat. great for a hangover and to drown your sorrows after an american loss the next morning.

russ looking a little rough the next morning