Weekend Edition: Rodeio, Derby, Sinuka

On Tiago's bike

The weekend began on Friday night for me as I went out with Tiago, Fucho, and Rosana to a "country party" in Americana, a city about 25 minutes' drive from Campinas. A rodeio, the party was essentially a concert held at a rodeo grounds where I presume they had held events for the past week or so. The party included a fair-type layout with food stalls, boardwalk games, western-themed shops, and a dance area. The concert, however, was held in the actual rodeo arena, and it was overflowing with people. Tiago estimated that 50,000 people had gathered from all over this side of Brazil for this annual event.

The rodeo grounds

The concert itself featured the duo Victor & Leo, a Brazilian-country-music tandem that sang songs about love and the like. I, of course, struggled to understand the lyrics, especially with everyone around me singing along. They performed for a good 2 hours before closing the show around 2:30 or 3 in the morning. Overall it was a very enjoyable time, though I was tired after my night out with the guys on Thursday.

Victor & Leo

Saturday we got up around noon and got ready to go to a soccer game. Not just any soccer game, but the Derby game between Campinas rivals Ponte Preta and Guarani. Fucho, a big fan of Ponte Preta along with his whole family, arranged for us to go to the game, as Ponte Preta was playing host to Guarani. The game was slated to begin aroun 4, but we left at 2:30 to get to the stadium in time to settle ourselves before the match began.

Ponte Preta

We situated ourselves on the home side along with the thousands of other Ponte Preta fans crowding the stadium. On the far side, behind one of the goals, the Guarani faithful stood waving their banners and cheering their side on. Though the match itself was somewhat dissapointing with only one goal, scored against Ponte in just the second minute of play, it was certainly a complete Brazilian soccer experience. I got to help in hoisting the massive flag of Ponte Preta that covered almost the entire length of the long side of the stadium. We were in the front row, so when the match started, the people down below threw the top edge of the flag towards us, and we threw it backwards, continuing to raise the fabric and push it towards the back. Eventually, the banner reached the top, and the flag was rumbling with hundreds of fans supporting its weight.

Guarani

The real exciting/slightly scary part, though, was the famous rowdiness of the fans. During halftime, some sort of brawl broke out between the Guarani fans and the police officers holding the line between the Guarani and Ponte sections. We saw as four officers carried away an unconscious colleague, and dozens more rushed towards the conflict. Later on, we saw a Ponte fan coming back, blood dripping down his face from a gash on his head. After the game, as we were walking back to the car from the stadium, we saw an angry Ponte fan kicking at the windshield of a car stopped at a red light. After a couple unsuccessful attempts, the man took a few steps back and leapt at the window, forcing it in with his foot. Moments later, after he and his friends had run away, police were swarming in cars, all armed to the teeth with shotguns, pistols, and other weapons. I would not be surprised if there were other violent incidents across the section of the city.

Sunday was a much quieter day. We relaxed all afternoon, and I once again did my laundry at Tiago's house with the assistance of his mother. That night, Tiago and I picked up Fucho and Rosana and first went to a shopping mall. Originally, the goal was to find a place for me to get my hair cut, but both the salons in the mall were very expensive (50 reais = $25 for a cut, wash, and dry). Looking for something more to do, we drove around for a while, flirting with numerous ideas of going to other cities. Finally, we decided to play sinuka (snooker) and drove to a place nearby.

Breaking

Making fun of Rosana

The game was very similar to normal 8-ball in the states, but instead of stripes and solids, we played evens and odds, with the one ball being the last to be pocketed for the win. Tiago and I teamed up against Rosana and Fucho, who was by far the best of us. After seven rounds, including one very sick shot executed by yours truly to win a round, Tiago and I emerged victorious, 4-3. The shot that I'm so proud of came at the end of the third game. Only the 1-ball was left on the table, and I nailed a difficult bounce shot to pocket the 1-ball off of the side rail.

The showdown

The face of concentration

After playing the rounds of sinuka, Fucho and I pitted our mini-soccer skills on the foosball table. Playing a best of three, I took the series 2-0-1, with the tie coming when the table only deposited 6 balls instead of 7. I was quite pleased to have secured a foosball win against a Brazilian, as they are renowned for their football prowess. On the real field, though, I'm sure I would have no such success.

"Yay friends!"

Hope you're all well wherever in the world you're reading this from. I've been here for 4 weeks now and I only have 8 left. The Portuguese is still improving, and I'm greatly looking forward to using it in the Amazon in a couple of weeks.