World Cup Begins!!!! June the 12th and the day when the whole worlds eyes will be on Brazil. After not much sleep again I decided to get up early and have breakfast with Perpetua before she headed off to work. Tonight I am flying to Macapa in the north of Brazil but after lunch before the World Cup begins Perpetua had offered to take me to the airport. I used the time I had in the morning to organize the last of my things, contact upcoming hosts, send photos and do some yoga. At midday Perpetua came and picked me up at the apartment and took me out to a very nice por kilo resteraunt so I could try some of Fortalesa and the state of Cearas local cuisine. Perpetua had told me it wasn't a flash resteraunt but when I arrived it was quite obvious that it was a very flash resteraunt. Basically it is a huge buffet and after you get your food your plate is weighed and you pay depending on how heavy your plate is. Strategically I walked around the ginormous selection working out what I would try. I went for very little salad and instead grabbed some smoked salmon, meat pâté, quail eggs and chillies - next was the roast vegetables and I loaded up on eggplant salad, sautéed onions and a fried bean and sausage dish. Now to the fun part: The meat selection; here I got to try regional meats and dishes which included 3 different spicy sausages, quail, roast turkey, roast ham, chicken hearts (by far my favorite), carne del sol, codfish and anything else I could fit on my plate; I think in the end i nearlly had a kilo of food. I can't explain how excited I was about the food and it didn't disappoint - all cooked to absolute perfection and the flavours were all intense and the fact I got to try so many different plates was great. I could tell Perpetua was nervous about the traffic as its World Cup Day so I asked if I could take a doggy bag of what I hadn't eaten yet which the staff kindly obliged - great I now have dinner organized. Luckily on the way back to Perpetuas the traffic had all disappeared and I could see Perpetua had relaxed a bit more. A quick shower, a run around and check that I hadn't left anything behind and it was time to go. I had got Perpetua a few little gifts to say Thankyou for her hospitality and I don't think she was expecting or had ever received from surfers before and so she was very suprised. We were at the airport in 10 minutes and we said our final goodbyes before I headed in to try and check in; unfortunately you can only check-in 3 hours before take-off so I had to go and find something to do for next 2 hours. Luckily there was a nice lounge with free wifi and TVs setup so everyone could watch the opening ceremony and the first match of the World Cup; Brazil vs Croatia. I watched a little bit of the opening ceremony and then went and checked my bag in so that I could be in the departure lounge for kick-off. Unfortunately in the departure lounge there were no TVs so I had to go back through baggage check and out into the waiting area to watch the game. Football does not interest me at all and I find it incredibly boring and to be honest this game was a prime example of that, however the people watching were far from boring; cheering and screaming every time Brazil went for or scored a goal. After a shaker start from Brazil - kicking an own goal they kicked 3 more and ended up winning 3-1. After the game I made my way through security check again and then within 45 minutes we were boarding. I ate my left overs from the resteraunt which was a real treat compared to the crappy airline food the other people had to eat. The plane was half empty so i got my own 3 seats which was a nice change. The flight went very smoothly, stopping in Belem for 1 hour to drop off some passengers and pick-up others. I managed to sleep most of the way and by 11:55am we had arrived in Macapa. First thing I noticed was the extreme heat and had to start removing layers, I collected my bag and then headed out to the front of the airport. I didn't fancy taking an expensive taxi and on my map the distance to Cecile and Roberto's was only 3.5 km so I decided I would walk. The walk was tiring and to bs honest a little rough as some of the roads were made of clay and soaked in water, however I made it to the apartment with no worries and after a little confusion with apartment number I was let inside by the lovely Cecile and Roberto. It was now 1am so we talked a little, worked out a plan and then we all agreed it was time for some sleep.

OBSERVATIONS:
- Valentines Day Brazil
- World Cup kick-off Brazil vs Croatia 3-1
- Por kilo resteraunt Fortaleza: incredible meats, fish, delicacies
Macapa Hot hot (on equator)
- CS Cecile & Roberto