Buses, a Deluge and Muller Lite (Germany v USA – Game 5)

So we checked out of Fortaleza and, due to a friend’s sense of adventure (and slight fear of flying), we headed for the rodoviaria (bus station) for a night bus to Recife. A mere 13.5 hours distant. These old bones aren’t made for that kind of sitting so we’d opted for the leito (sleeper) service where the chairs fold ‘somewhat’ flat.

First, find the station and figure out the system. Bus depots the world over are very… utilitarian and similar.

… bar the wildlife

A brief pause then, our chariot awaits.

My view for the foreseeable future.

The journey was mainly done during the pitch dark night, possibly just as well as there was a lot of single carriageway and a lot of overtaking… by us… maybe not what you’d expect. Some late night stop offs in unknown landscapes that could have been anywhere from Watford Gap to your grandad’s allotment shed added to the mystique. However, I slept as much as possible, as on arrival we were headed straight to see Germany v USA. A battle for the top of the group and, after the bus trip, our consciousness.

As it turned out additional plans were in play to test us. We arrived in town knowing there’d been a little rain for the last 3 hours of our journey. In fact there’d been several inches in the last 24 hours.

A barely visible stadium

A soggy crew

Energy flagging pre match.

And we enjoyed that the roof didn’t cover our seats!

It also made for a wild time crossing town later. The taxi didn’t get this deep but we had our moments where I thought I’d have to lash some pontoons to each side of the vehicle.

As to the game, pretty poor considering the pitch actually played surprisingly well. Germany’s initial cut and thrust petered out but the USA didn’t know how to engineer an opening. A good goal by Muller (Muller Lite as he is in no way ‘Der Bomber‘… in action) took the spoils with the USA going through to the second round as Ghana could not take advantage of their loss. Both teams still have much to prove.

We’re looking forward to a better view of Recife tomorrow.

Tchau.