Day 12 was the worst day of our World Cup experience.

And it all began so well:

Arrival in Recife was amazing. Free Coca Cola and ! Caipirinha ! for everyone 🙂

Of course we had to have one even though it was 8 o’ clock in the morning.

In the Arrivals Hall there were traditional dancers, too!
Well done, Recife #thumbsup

At the airport we tried to buy tickets to the Mexico vs. Croatia match which would take place later on in Recife. But since we only managed to find a couchsurfer who lived really far away and we’ve had 2 hours of sleep that night because we’ve had to leave for the airport at 5, we weren’t sure how we’d manage to make it to the stadium which was far away, too, but in the other direction.

Then we had to wait for 1 hour at the airport until our couchsurfer arrived and the he showed up with his daughter and a creepy looking guy. Both in suits. Brazilians in suits when they are not working? Weird. But they said our couchsurfer was a lawyer and they‘ve had to go to the police station to resolve some things.

We then squeezed all of our bags and ourselves into his car and went towards old Recife and then Olinda. All we wanted to do was sleep but when he stopped for us to take a walk around old Olinda, we didn’t wanna be rude and didn’t say anything.

When we walked around and met Mexicans everywhere, I really really wanted to go to the match since it was in Recife. But Corinna was getting sick and I didn’t know how I would manage to first sleep and then go there by myself because it would have taken several hours.

The guys then stopped at a restaurant for lunch but we asked them if it would be possible for them to drop us off home first so we could sleep a little and then they could have some lunch by themselves. We didn’t wanna be rude but we really couldn’t make it anymore, plus wanted to watch the match Brazil vs. Cameroon later on if we already couldn’t go to the stadium.

Leaving Olinda and driving to Janga where we were going to stay, the surroundings reminded me a lot of the outskirts of Belém and Mosqueiro. The house was big enough, but not very well kept. We learnt that he lives there alone with his daughter of 2 years old. We found that uncommon, but he said he has 4 friends who are single fathers.

After sleeping 2 hours, we had lunch. This was actually very cute of our couchsurfer – he had bought lunch for all of us. Chicken, rice, beans, french fries, farofa and vinaigrete – a very typical Brazilian lunch. Plus coke – „refrigerante“ – is very popular in Brazil!

Then we went to Recife to watch the Brazil vs. Mexico match at the FIFA Fan Fest. Of all the Fan Fests we have seen, this was the worst. No security checks at the entrance, so people could bring whatever they wanted. So inside the fan fest, every 60 seconds someone came to sell you drinks, chewing gum, kids came begging and can collectors bumped into you with their huge, wet and dripping waste bags full of (half) empty cans. This of course was when it got less crowded. During the Brazil match the Fan Fest was so crowded, at some points you didn’t even stand on your own feet for being squeezed into different directions at the same time.

The weather was horrible, windy and rainy. And those tropical rains are not rain, they are downpours.

Our couchsurfer kept on saying, we’re gonna have an all-night party and that he was gonna take everyone home for a house and pool party. We were almost routing for the house party, so we could go home and sleep. As I had mentioned before, Corinna felt like she was getting a flu, we were beyond tired and didn’t like the fan fest at all so we were already hoping to go home soon.

I have to add that there were no „gente bonita“ as the Brazilians call nice, quite good-looking and educated people anywhere to be seen.

People kept on spilling red wine and beer all over us – so yes, we were having at good time. NOT. #sqn

So we walked over to Old Recife where they had a street festival for Sao Joao. We were looking forward to this. Maybe the people over there were nicer and we could distract ourselves from all the negative feelings that had accumulated during the day. But it didn’t get any better – although I like forró, the traditional music they were playing and we should’ve been happy to take part in a traditional Sao Joao festivity.

Since we didn’t want to be party poopers, we tagged along and met some people from Germany and Switzerland. I was waiting for a Mexican invasion (which never came) because I was very happy about their 3:1 and even more unhappy that I hadn’t been in the stadium 🙁
There were some Mexicans but not as many as I had expected to come and party in the city. Maybe because the stadium in Recife is really far away.

But after a while we really couldn’t go on trying to like it because we were just exhausted, the weather was bad and the party not good. So we asked our couchsurfer if it would be possible if he gave us his key and his address (we didn’t have his address because it was a very last-minute couchsurfing thing as we hadn’t been able to find another couchsurfer for just this 1 night and he had picked us up from the airport) so we could take a taxi to his house, although this would be very expensive because it was far.

But he said, we were all „leaving soon“.

In the next hour, I asked twice again. We really didn’t want him to stop enjoying himself and stay at the forró, that’s why we said, he should stay and we’d just leave by ourselves.

Then it started pouring down and we found shelter underneath a tent. We stayed there squeezed between hundreds of other people for about an hour and lost sight of our couchsurfer. After it started raining more lightly, we began looking for him again. Since we couldn’t find him, we went back to the car – and guess what!? – it was bouncing and the windows were fogged up. Seriously!?
Awe, come on!
We then gave him about half an hour, but when his creepy looking friend arrived, he knocked on the window. Another 20 minutes after that he finally opened the window a little. We were so angry and frustrated by the time – beyond belief. I mean, when you feel cold because all your clothes are wet, and tired and want to leave and just can’t for 3 hours – how would you feel?

I asked him again, if he could please just give us the address and the keys, but he said „we’re leaving now“. We wanted to scream.

And actually the creepy looking guy was angry at his work colleague, too. He said, if you have guests, you have to look after them, too  🙂 that was actually nice of him. Looks can be deceiving!

Last couchsurfer I found couchsurfing the best thing in the world and now I find it the worst. How quickly this can change!

So we waited another 15 minutes until he found his other friends and we went home in his tiny jalopy – 7 of us!
Went to bed immediately when we got there and haven’t seen him since. I just hope we will find a way to get to Recife today – because another exhausting night awaits us.