World Cup is here! We officially have World Cup Fever!! We have watched several games at restaurants/bars here and it has been an incredible experience. It is impossible to not be a soccer fan after being in a country that is so passionate about it! We watched the opening game, Brazil vs. Croatia at Bar Amigo in Santa Elena. We sat next to a couple and their young daughter. They were from Hawaii and they were in Costa Rica for the next month, having planned their trip around the World Cup (they spent the last World Cup in Ecuador and were rafting when the USA lost to Ghana, he told us that people were climbing the trees trying to get cell service to see what had happened!). They had just spent a month in Fort Collins, Colorado and had arrived in Costa Rica only two days before. They only vacationed every couple of years but traveled for several months, the reason being was that every ticket out of Hawaii was expensive so they wanted to get the most out of it! It was so interesting to meet them and hear about their adventures, as well as get some ideas for how to keep traveling! We sat between them and a couple from Brazil (so we tried not to express too much disgust when Brazil got some seriously questionable calls!). The next day we went to watch the Netherlands take on Spain- a game we expected to be a blowout, but a blowout in favor of Spain. It is amazing how something as big as the World Cup can unite people. The exasperation associated with a barely missed goal- ohhhhhh!- is the same in English and Spanish. Cheering for the underdogs- the Netherlands- and marveling at how thoroughly they thrashed the reigning World Cup Champions, Spain, sounds the same in both languages. Laughing in disbelief when the Netherland team scored yet another goal crosses the bounds of culture and language, an observation we would make over and over again during our time in Costa Rica watching games. We had a great time watching that game!
Comida y cerveza en Bar Amigos
Yesterday afternoon we ventured back to Bar Amigo to watch a game we were very excited about- Costa Rica vs Uruguay. A game that every Tico here has been excited for, but a game that heavily favored Uruguay. We arrived about half an hour early, hoping to find a seat, and we were in luck! We arrived in time to get one of the last tables in the restaurant. Bar Amigo filled up fast, by the time the game started the restaurant was completely full, the servers pulled stools and chairs from the back and several people ended up sitting on stools made of beer crates! The place was completely packed and there were only 4 servers and a bartender. Those poor servers were running around like crazy, but could barely keep up with the demand. It took upwards of an hour for the family sitting with us to get the four hamburgers they had ordered. Because it was so crowded in Bar Amigo, and we are only two people we shared our table with a couple from Minnesota and their two tween daughters who arrived only a few minutes before the game started. They said that they had moved down to Monteverde in January with the hope of introducing their daughters to another culture.
Ticos getting ready for the game
As the game opened, we were hoping for at least a goal from Costa Rica. However, as the first half progressed we grew less and less hopeful. After the referees missed an obvious handball-right in front of the goal!-and then gave Uruguay a penalty kick after the worlds tiniest infraction- we doubted that Costa Rica would emerge victorious. We did, however, learn a great deal of Spanish curse words! The second half proved to be much more exciting- Costa Rica came back and scored 3 goals, with the final score 3-1. After the equalizer, Bar Amigo erupted in cheers and excitement- we sang “ole! Ole, ole ole! Ticos, Ticos! Ole! Ole, ole, ole!” And high-fived and cheers-ed everyone in the place. When Costa Rica scored their second goal and went up 2-1, the bar once again erupted in cheers, whistles, singing and general merriment, which did not subside for the remainder of the game. Many Ticos were on their feet for the rest of the game, cheering and singing. When Costa Rica scored their third and final goal, the place could not have been louder! The game was incredible- truly the beautiful game has the power to unite people from all backgrounds. We gasped together over shots from both sides that barely missed the goals, we boo-ed together when the refs made dumb calls or missed a call all together, cheered and gasped as Costa Rica moved the ball closer and closer to the goal, we jumped and clapped and sang together when Costa Rica scored- language barriers and differences forgotten- we were all united for one afternoon, a group of mostly strangers united for the game. We entered the bar hoping that Costa Rica would win, but even if we had not it would have been impossible to not get caught up in the excitement!
We came back to our cabina and met out new neighbors- a couple from San Francisco who were staying in the apartment next to ours. They came over to watch the afternoon game, Italy vs England. They were very interesting, he had worked for Google for 10 years before taking time off to travel (he was 6 months into to an 18 month trip) and she was from Germany but had fallen in love with San Francisco and had moved there three years prior. She was still working but had agreed to meet up with him occasionally on his trip. She gave us information on some of the Christmas Markets in Germany- highly recommending Nuremberg- after we mentioned that we were hoping to go there around Christmas. We were really looking forward to meeting new people on this trip and we have sure met some incredibly interesting people already!
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