Bloemfontein/Port Elizabeth

So Greg, Mom and I headed south to Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth for a few days (6/13-6/17) to see Japan vs Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire vs Portugal, and Greece vs Nigeria.  The last two games were definitely much more fun to watch than the snoozefest that was Japan vs Cameroon, but we also had a good time seeing more of the countryside of South Africa.

a view of the Karoo from our drive

The Karoo is a kind of desert-ish region in the middle of South Africa.  It is very pretty, but what this picture doesn’t show is how cold it was.  So cold, in fact, that we got to see snow in June!  (and yes, I know June is winter here, but go with it)

snow!

Greg being goofy during our drive through the Karoo

Mom and me in Karoo

Greg and I pose with a Cote d'Ivoire jersey on our way to Port Elizabeth to watch Cote d'Ivoire vs Portugal

Mom, Greg, and I arrive at Port Elizabeth/Nelson Mandela Bay stadium before the Cote d'Ivoire vs Portugal match

The Cote d'Ivoire and Portugal teams during their national anthems, before kickoff

Sadly, while the game itself had perfectly decent weather, if a bit cold and windy, it then started raining.  Our hotel was a piece of crap, crammed full of other soccer fans, and no restaurants in the area were even accepting any more customers.  Yet another example of South Africa not really being prepared to handle the volume of people coming here, unfortunately… So we wandered around for a while and then resorted to McDonald’s 😦

The next day was still rainy and gross, so we scarfed down some fairly decent breakfast and prepared to head back to Bloemfontein, except that Greg had to get proof he’d been near the ocean:

Greg on the beach at Port Elizabeth

On the drive down to Port Elizabeth we had seen a ton of vervet monkeys just chilling out by the side of the road, but Greg wasn’t quick enough with the camera.  We looked on the way back, but all we saw were 2 monkey roadkills.  However, we did see this:

...and the ostrich sees us in return

Back in Bloemfontein, we saw Greece vs Nigeria, which was a fun game.  I was rooting for Nigeria (and that red card was a crap call by the ref), but you had to cheer for Greece too, for coming back from behind and winning their first World Cup match.  These guys were of course insane with joy:

Greek supporters dressed as Spartans

Then we came back to Johannesburg to watch USA vs Slovenia.  But that’s another post (and yes, I know I’m way behind, but once the first round ends we’ll have some gaps between match days)

GO USA!