.....they were the words our Rio tour guide Eliana left us with yesterday. So given it was the weekend and we had been going pretty hard since we left Sydney I told Spencer he could do whatever he wanted today. He said he wanted to go to the beach and play football – can't argue with that.

After brekkie at the hotel, we put our cossies and flip flops on and headed to the beach. Our hotel in Copacabana is 100m from the beach so it was lovely to be able to zip down to the beach like a local. Our first game of football over, we wandered back to a local suco (juice) shop. The Carioca’s love their fruit juice and there was every kind under the sun (and some I’ve never heard of – cashew apple?) Spencer decided on strawberry juice (frangola) and I had pineapple and mint – delicious!

After our juice we walked toward the southern end of Copacabana to the Forte de Copacabana. This is still an active military area however the troops have one eye on the beach (and the birds). It was interesting to have a walk around (and to see the local fisherman still bringing in their catch for sale – won’t see that in Bondi). We walked around the corner to Ipenema beach which is a little classier than Copacabana (think Bondi v Clovelly) but not by much. The shopping is better that’s for sure – we went to the Nike store to see if we could buy Mum a team USA jersey but no luck.

A quick gelato then we headed back to Copacabana to the fan fest and then lunch on the beach at one of the many kiosk that dot the foreshore. We watch the remainder of the Germany v Ghana game and then had a rest back at the hotel. Spencer was keen for a second half so around 4pm we went back to the beach for some more football and it was very special to be there, playing football, as the sun set and as the locals warmed up for their Saturday night – truly Rio is a magic place. We both had a quick swim (not too cold – even for June in the middle of winter!!)

That evening we went to an amazing (Agoda Tavola) Portuguese tapas place. It was packed with locals and Spencer did very well with some non 9 year old food (Escapache de Sardines, Lagosta di fume). It was delicious and like much of the world cup everyone was in a good mood and nothing (for a non-Portuguese speaker) was too much trouble. It helps having Spencer here as it encourages conversation – if Spencer had a dollar for how many times he’s been told how lucky he is we’d be flying home business class!

Suitably full in the warm Rio dusk we wandered back to the hotel and crashed.

June 22nd

Sunday is the day in which all good Carioca’s work out in some way - some run, some bike, all go the beach and play something (most likely football). We thought we’d do the same and so after a quick brekkie (hotel full of Belgians (very polite) – Belgium v Russia today at the Maracana) we wandered down to the beach for another session of beach football. On Sunday they close most of Avenida Atlantico (the main beach road) off to traffic so it seemed like all of Rio was out walking, running, biking or playing football. Spencer practised his scissor kicks in the sand and then it was time to head back to the hotel to pack and off to the airport.

Rio has two airports and we flew out of Santos Dumont this time (superior to Galeo in many ways – foosball in the departure lounge anyone?). It's smack in the city and when you take off you immediately bank left otherwise you hit Sugarloaf. Thankfully our pilot did this and we got amazing views over Sugarloaf, Copacabana and Ipenema as we said good bye to Rio. The usual stopover in Sao Paolo (at least a different airport this time – Campinas) and we landed in Curitiba.

Curitiba – about 800kms west of Sao Paolo is a landmark in urban planning and is the only Brazilian city that "works" in the sense there is meaningful public transport and there is little traffic gridlock. Unlike Sao Paolo and other Brazilian cities, it is very green and clearly more prosperous than say Cuiaba and Porto Alegre (they even have a huge Walmart!). We arrived at our hotel as the sun set.


I’d read great things about the restaurant Madero’s in both the Lonely Planet, Trip Advisor and the NY Times so when all three are in agreement we had to check it out. Suffice to say they were the best burgers I’ve had in years (Corner Bistro - you’ve met your match). Give it was a day of airports and flying we tucked into some comfort food while watch USA play Portugal. While deserving of the win, Team USA couldn’t hold on and it finished in a draw. We were texting Mum, Eleanor and Campbell the result as they were boarding their plane to Fiji. We taxied it back to the hotel and fell asleep knowing that tomorrow was our final game against Spain!