Fifa Fan Fest in Copacabana
The beachside Avenida Atlântica road in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, turned into some smaller version of Argentina on Sunday (July 13). Complete with mate, drum-filled musical parades, and plenty of Spanish-language songs, the revellers were all over the local streets.
Sandra Mendonça, 25, is vacationing in Rio from her neighboring home state of Minas Gerais. She said the city feels as if it is already bilingual. “At times I even get to hear more Spanish than Portuguese. That's so funny,” she said.
Despite the relaxed atmosphere, large police deployments are everywhere to be seen. The main streets are full of police cars and thousands of men in uniforms, especially on the beach front.
At the FIFA Fan Fest, just hours to go before the game of the Salgueiro samba school would say “Gracias” on stage to a blue-white crowd sprinkled with scattered yellow-green and red-colored dots here and there.
One of these dots was the jersey on 20-year-old Rafael Tobar from , along with three friends. The son of a Chilean, he can speak Spanish too. He explained that he chose to watch the game on site even though he knew the Argentinian crowd would far outnumber the Germans. “It's such a big party. Some people do stare at me, but there's no hostility. I don't think we'll have any issues here, even after beats Argentina 3-0,” he joked.
Next, samba gave way to a DJ with an all-Argentinian set list to the beat of cumbia, clearly showing the favorite music style of the large majority who jumped and waved their arms in a festive mood.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Copacabana turns all blue and white
