We arrived at our accommodation in Brasilia at around 9am. It was perhaps the most effort we have had to go to too get anywhere. First we walked around twenty five minutes from our hostel in Belo Horizonte to a bus terminal to get our bus tickets; from here we were directed to another bus terminal 6 stations along the metro line. Once here we got our twelve hour night bus from BH to Brasilia. Once in Brasilia we had another metro to catch to the centre and then a bus to a hospital then just a short walk to finally get to our accommodation. We were staying once again with a Brazilian couple who had advertised a room on AirBnB. The flat was really nice, our room had a bunk bed and a single bed, it was very small and basic but perfect for a couple of people. It may have been pretty far away from central Brasilia but it had a great view onto the city. The only downside to the flat was that is was also occupied by four cats, and if you know me well you will know that I have a huge hatred for the feline creatures. Our host Heitor was also really friendly, and not overly friendly like Roger in our last AirBnB. With it being the first day of no football for just over two week we got settled and then decided to explore the area we were staying in.

We were stopping in a suburb called Paranoa. We walked the main street and I managed to snag myself a Brazilian shirt for a few quid. We then made our way to a supermarket, which there was no shortage of. We had gone from not being to find one for hours in BH to one every other shop in Paranoa. The place looked like it had a good few bars which I was keen on checking out later that night. The suburb had a funny feel to it, it was like an old school town, with flashes of modern stuff around. For example the flat we were staying at was in apartment located on the street of what looked like slum like buildings. And the town had the perfect view of what semt like a pretty modern city of Brasilia where this part of the city was pretty run down, but it had character and I liked that. To be fair though the main city might not be that modern I'm just going on a short bus ride through the city. But I would find out if I was right or not in the next few days.

We got back to our flat cooked some lunch and then I don't know if it was the bus rise from the morning, the exhausting heat from our three hour expedition of town or just a lack of sleep catching up with me but I ended up crashing in bed for several hours. Pulling myself together I cooked a pasta Bolognese dinner for Earl and myself. It was then decision time we were both feeling pretty lazy so didn't want to do too much but I didn't necessarily want to stay in either. After a couple of failed attempts to try and get Earl to pre drink some of the £1.25 39% rum we had in Sao Paulo we decided to go and check out a few local drinking establishments. The first place we went to looked like a Brazilian version of Riley's granted it had far less tables. As soon as we entered I knew something was not right as we swarmed by a group of Brazilian females, some hot some not so hot. Now this thing doesn't happen to me ever so I knew something was amiss, my guess was they were ladies of the night, but it could have also of me just being paranoid so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and carried on drinking and beating Earl at pool. My earlier suspicions were then confirmed though as one offered me a blow job and then another disappeared in the back with an old man only to re appear twenty or so minutes later shouting 'f*** Me.' Not being into this kind of situation we drank up and headed elsewhere. We followed our ear's to the next bar where Lunbar was blasting out the tunes. It was full of locals and some slightly eccentric people, one of which couldn't stop walking around. Not feeling too comfortable in there we made short work of the 600ml bottle of Skol we had and made our way over the road to a much more quieter place, where we sat with a beer and a Brazilian equivalent to quavers and discussed the world and the nights events before calling it a night in preparation to the big day we had lined up the next day.

I woke up the next day to the sound of fireworks in exploding in the sky. It could only mean one thing Brazil were playing again, this time they would face their toughest challenge yet against Chile in the last sixteen of the World Cup. Heitor had told us about a party that was happening on the roof for this. The weather was perfect for the occasion, blistering heat and not a cloud in the sky. We had a crate of Brahma and still the cheap rum to drink so it promised to be a messy day. The day didn't disappoint either. Heitor was strangely not present at the party but his friends made us feel more than welcome. It was quite family orientated but the atmosphere for the game was phenomenal. If they were inside they would have took the roof off with their rendition of the national anthem. Chants were happening all through the game even one stated by my good self, we were initiated in with shots of whisky and they even shared there tasty barbeque with us which consisted of various tasty meats, a rice dish, a tomato based salad, and an excellent potato salad. We danced at half time, played football with the kids who were about ten years old and tore Earl and myself to shreds. The Brazil game ended up going to penalties after being 1-1 after ninety minutes and an additional thirty extra time minutes. I was at Euro 2004 when Portugal beat England on penalties and it was one of the most gut wrenching emotions I've experienced watching football. Looking around the roof I saw familiar nerves, excitement, emotion and I was feeling it two. The penalties got underway - Luiz - scores. What noise! Pinilla - saved. Even louder! Willian - wide. Stunned silence. Sanchez - saved. Huge eruption! Marcelo - scores. Almost there! Aranguiz - scores. Surely irrelevant! Hulk - saved. Oh no! Diaz - scores. Trouble! Neymar - scores. Back on track! Jara - post. Paradise! Again if we were inside the roof would have been took off with celebration, again there was dancing, drinking, fireworks again were herd in the air as Brazil celebrated a victory sending them to the quarter finals. The drinking carried on well into the afternoon, more football was played, more dancing, more food, a running lap of celebration was done around the roof chanting. It was incredible scenes. We watched the next game as Colombia beat Uruguay to send them to the last eight to play Brazil which again will be a great encounter. The celebrations lasted well into the night, not that I lasted too long, the combination of a group of kids tearing me apart playing football, the sweltering heat, the emotional game and the amount of beers I drank left me exhausted and I ended up passing out. It was a great day, a lot of things on my travels have left me unable to find the words to describe and this is again one of them.

The next day we decided to go to the Brasilia Fan Fest to watch the Holland vs Mexico game. I was after meeting some fans and ticking a few more countries off my World Cup Fan Challenge list. I still had eight to go Holland, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, USA, Belgium, South Korea and Portugal. Honduras, South Korea and Portugal were all now eliminated from the competition I wasn't feeling too confident with finding Honduras and Korea fans. Portugal I assumed would be ok as people loved Ronaldo and Brazil is a Portuguese speaking country. I thought my best bet would be at the fan fests where people from all countries gather to watch games. In my time at the Sao Paulo fan fest I had seen jerseys ranging from Romania, to Peru, to Venezuela, to Sweden and these guys weren't even at the world cup. The fan fest in Brasilia was pretty far out of town, but it was well worth it when we got there. If I had fell asleep and woke up there I would have thought I was at Leeds Festival. It definitely had he festival feel about it and had heaps of huge television screens so you could see the game from pretty much anywhere. It was head and shoulders above the fan fest at Sao Paulo. Unfortunately though there weren't too many fans there, the French took the majority share partly because they were due to play Nigeria in Brasilia the next day. There were handfuls of Mexicans and Dutch. My problem with getting a photo with the Dutch was that I wanted the perfect photo, a big group, a photo blinded by their famous orange jersey but when they were 1-0 down with time running out I thought I was faced with a shocking picture with one of the few fans at the fan fest. Luckily they managed an epic come back and defeated the Mexicans 2-1 thanks to a last minute penalty. So my dream of a perfect photo with the Dutch was still on. I was still deperate for Honduras and Korea though and despite seeing Ghana, Denmark, Swedish, Argentinian, English shirts there were no Honduras or Korean shirts to be seen. I was beginning to lose momentum for the challenge; these two were going to be my downfall my only saviour would be the World Cup Final in Rio surely fans from everywhere would flock to the fan fest to watch that or was I just clutching at straws?

After a quick walk round scouting out jerseys and checking out the rest of the fan fest we decided to head into Brasilia. Earl had found a TV Tower which was free to go up and check out the views. Unfortunately though as we got there the queue was as long as for when the Oblivion first opened at Alton Towers. The viewing platform didn't seem that high so we decided to give it a miss. Just as we turned to head back to the bus terminal I noticed three blue shirts with a big H on the top left, yes my friends they were Honduras football jerseys! My excitement for the challenge was back. I got snapped with the family who were in Brasilia to watch the France v Nigeria game and the challenge was back on. Seven more to go! Following our brief chat with the Hondurans we checked out the impressive fountain in front of the TV Tower. It reminded me of a much more smaller version of te fountain in front of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It was very impressive and with the sun I appreciated the way that some of the fountains were able to create rainbows. We headed back to our lodgings where we herd noise coming from the roof again, we investigated and there were a small group watching the Costa Rica vs Greece game, we were just in time for the second half and decided to watch the game with them. Things were a lot less chaotic than the previous day and a little more subdued, perhaps people were still recovering from the events of the previous day. Our host Heitor was in attendance and he was told stories of how we cheered, danced and played football, one guy even said we were now pretty much Brazilian and they were disappointed to hear that we wouldn't be able to make the next Brazil gam with them and in truth I was a bit disappointed too. After the game which Costa Rica won on pens we had dinner and then had a relaxing music, well as relaxing as you can with garage music being played on the streets outside until the early hours. Wow, I am really turning into a grumpy old man!

I'd like to tell you we did something interesting the next day but in truth we didn't. We simply chilled out watched the France vs Germany game, ate noodles, and popped into town so Earl could get a Brazil top. Heitor did want to take us to Lake Paranoa so we could see what he described as a magnificent sunset but unfortunately we had to leave. We were off to Fortaleza. So until next time stay safe and take care.

Adi

xx