Happy slave to my North, my South, my East and West

Having made it my unquestionable priority to be in Brazil in June for the World Cup with or without media accreditation, and knowing (after years of… obligatory practice) how to make my few euros go –way- further than what one would imagine, I decided to spend February-May 2014 in South America. I mean, either way I was going to pay for a Europe-Brazil-Europe plane ticket, so… why not make that transatlantic plane ticket more worth it (lousy excuse to spend some more months in my favorite part of the world), right? Riiight…

First step in saving money was catching a night bus from my city in Greece, Thessaloniki, to Istanbul, from where the flights to Sao Paulo were considerably cheaper. A few days later, and having added Turkey to my –short- “countries I’ve watched basketball games at” list (Galatasaray-Anadolu Efes), I caught a flight to Sao Paulo. On January 30, I watched my first ever game at legendary –to say the least- Pacaembu, a Palmeiras win over Penapolense for the local championship of the State of Sao Paulo. That was my game number 115 (games watched outside of Greece). Next day I flew to Colombia. When I returned to Brazil, exactly four months later, from Peru, “115” had become “139”…

Sao Paulo summer night, enjoying the view and the experience I got myself for 30 BRL (9 euros back then, January 2014), money well-spent, at anything but modern, but filthy rich in history, and truly iconic (football-wise), “o meu, o seu, o nosso, PAAACAEMBUUU” (as it’s presented to the fans by the guy whose voice is heard from the speakers, “mine, yours, ours, Pacaembu”)

From Cartagena to Lima, for four months, borrowing WH Auden’s words (almost a sacrilege, I reckon, but either way my soul is doomed to burn in hell, so… no biggie), I made watching football “my North, my South, my East and West, my working week and my Sunday rest” (I’ve watched “Four Weddings and a Funeral” half a dozen times, and every single one I got goose bumps during the funeral scene, thanks to which I became familiar with this deeply touching poem), basing my whole itinerary on which games I could watch, where, what day, what time. A “football nerd”, no doubt, guilty as charged…

Now, if you’re thinking, “what an idiotic waste of time… Who goes to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and makes watching football his top of the top priority?”, then, let me just say, in my defense, that was my SECOND time in all three countries, I had already spent several months there in 2010, 2011, 2012, I felt I had done most of what a first-time visitor is “supposed” to do in all three countries, which left me guilt-free to succumb to my… football “nerdiness”.

What I do feel guilty about, what makes me feel bad even now, months later, is that for my own reasons, I chose to spend those 120 days almost as a… hermit, limiting the amount of time I spent hanging out with people to an absolute minimum. For every person I met, I could have met ten more, and for every hour I spent with company, I could have spent a dozen more. Only, I did not. There were even cases that I passed by cities where I knew people, people I had met my previous time there, people I had stayed in touch for two, three, four years, people who knew I was going back and expected me to drop them a line and arrange to meet up, nice people, GREAT people, but I… acted like a rude ghost, staying irrationally invisible. That, I do regret (too little too late, I know)…

(Oookkk… I just finished writing what was meant to be ONE blog post, but it’s well over 3000 words, so if you’re here and you’re reading my rambling, the least I can do is have the decency to keep the rambling doses as short as possible, so for today I’m sticking to what you already read, plus the list of games I watched those four months. Tomorrow I’m sharing my Cartagena, Barranquilla, Medellín, Manizales and Bogotá memories –you're holding your breath, I bet- and the day after that I conclude this… trilogy, with my Cali, Pasto, and lots of fond Ecuador football memories).

115 to 139

115 Palmeiras-Penapolense 1-0, São Paulo, Brazil, 2014, January 30
116 Real Cartagena-Valledupar 1-0, Cartagena, Colombia, 2014, February 5
117 Barranquilla-Deportes Quindío 2-0, Barranquilla, Colombia, 2014, February 6
118 Junior- Itagüí 2-0, Barranquilla, Colombia, 2014, February 6
119 Medellín-Santa Fe 0-2, Medellín, Colombia, 2014, February 8
120 Atlético Nacional-Newell's Old Boys 1-0, Medellín, Colombia, 2014, February 13
121 Itagüí-Fortaleza 2-1, Itagüí, Colombia, 2014, February 15
122 Once Caldas-Alianza Petrolera 2-1, Manizales, Colombia, 2014, February 16
123 Santa Fe-Millonarios 0-1, Bogotá, Colombia, 2014, February 22
124 Bogotá-Deportivo Pereira 1-2, Bogotá, Colombia, 2014, February 23
125 Millonarios-Atlético Huila 2-2, Bogotá, Colombia, 2014, February 25
126 Millonarios-Santa Fe 2-1, Bogotá, Colombia, 2014, March 2
127 Deportivo Cali-Lanús 2-1, Cali, Colombia, 2014, March 13
128 Deportivo Cali-Patriotas Boyacá 2-1, Cali, Colombia, 2014, March 15
129 Depor FC-América de Cali 0-0, Cali, Colombia, 2014, March 17
130 Deportivo Pasto-Uniautónoma 4-0, Pasto, Colombia, 2014, March 23
131 Imbabura-UT Cotopaxi 2-0, Ibarra, Ecuador, 2014, March 28
132 Deportivo Quito-Universidad Católica 0-1, Quito, Ecuador, 2014, April 12
133 LDU Quito-Emelec 0-0, Quito, Ecuador, 2014, April 13
134 Deportivo Quito-Mushuc Runa 1-0, Quito, Ecuador, 2014, April 17
135 Independiente del Valle-El Nacional 2-3, Sangolquí, Ecuador, 2014, April 19
136 UT Cotopaxi-Deportivo Municipal 3-1, Latacunga, Ecuador, 2014, April 20
137 Olmedo-Mushuc Runa 2-3, Riobamba, Ecuador, 2014, April 26
138 Macará-UT Cotopaxi 1-0, Ambato, Ecuador, 2014, April 27
139 Emelec-Olmedo 0-2, Guayaquil, Ecuador, 2014, May 4