Where better to watch your team play in the Round of 16 than in Salvador, the birthplace of Carnival, where the party never seems to cease. We were up against the red, yellow and black of Belgium. It was fun to be back in the US supporters section and we painted our faces again. Our hope was to get the attention of the film crew to appear on TV, but we did attract the attention of other fans who wanted to take pictures with us. Chris also hoped to start The Wave. We tried and got our section going but it stopped at the next section full of Belgium supporters.

A few Brasilians coming to support Belgium sat infront of us. We were able to convert 2 of them to cheer on the US and Chris made a bet with the stubborn Belgium supporter that if the US wins, he gets her Fuleco mascot cap and if Belgium loses she gets his stars and stripes head band. We taught them to say some of our chants. They caught on quick to ‘Timmy Howard’ as we kept celebrating his spectacular goal keeping. By game’s end he saved 17 goals, a World Cup record! But it wasn’t enough as Belgium advanced into the Quarter Finals winning 2-1. Playing fair, Chris handed over his headband to our lost Brasilian Belgium supporter. The little rivalry did add some fun to the game and helped ease the pain of the loss. We were proud of our team and glad we could be here to see them play their best performance in The World Cup. We still got to celebrate though because there was another Brasilian festival for Bahia’s Independence of slaves. Case in point, Brasil has many more holidays than the US.

Street Parade – http://youtu.be/erYGhAD4-cU

Samba School – http://youtu.be/jeDOZO8SDgE

Chris and I started our trip south towards Rio but took a detour and as fate would have it found ourselves on a military outpost on an island. In broken English and struggling with Portuguese we had to pay up and agree to their terms that practically signed our lives away. No need to alarm yourselves though as this was a Scuba Diving Excursion to Arquipelago de Abrohlos.

Our first evening there, Brasil played Colombia in the Quarter Finals, so we disembarked the Catamaran to watch the game on the main island that served as a miitary post. Shortly after the start of the match, a guard lead us on a tour of the lighthouse. I was hesitant at first because I knew it would be a good match with Colombia having a strong team. I stayed to watch more of the game until Brasil scored, then ran up to catch the group and announce the score. We returned just before the end of the 1st half with the score still 1-0. We enjoyed the 2nd half of play munching on popcorn and drinking Guarana. Brasil won 3-1 and we returned to the catamaran for a night dive.