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What has football in Brazil and South America that Europe lacks?

Written By: Magnus - May• 15•12

Football is a very important thing for me and Brazil as well so I guess I found an appropriate country to live in. Football has changed a lot the last decades or maybe I should rather say football fans have changed or the people who go to the matches. The changed has occurred mostly in Europe in the big leagues in Spain, England and Italy, where it has changed from a working class sport to stadiums full of just tourists and rich people in suit sitting and watching Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United. Uefa has tried to remove the hard core fans and get the richer people to the stadium. Luckily, these changes have not arrived to South America in that great extent and some countries in Southeastern Europe. I can admit that in some matches in South America the number of spectators has been reduced due to most matches are on television today. However the kind of fans has not changed, you still find the passionate supporters, so the soul is still there.

I’ve watched Barcelona vs Real Madrid on Camp Nou which is considered to be one of the biggest matches, but the atmosphere was nothing of that I have seen in Brazil and South America. Everybody is really involved in football here in some degree. However one thing that differs a bit is that many European countries especially when you are in a smaller country like Sweden you are engaged in other leagues such as the Premier league, Serie A or Primera divison in Spain, but for Brazilian people all or most focus are on the Brazilian league. So if you come to Brazil and want to make an impression on the Brazilians try to learn something of the local teams from the city you are going to. I always have nice and interesting football conversations with strangers at bars.

The football is perhaps better in Europe nowadays which we saw between Santos and Barcelona but the atmosphere in South America in my opinion you cannot compare with most countries in Europe. I really advice you to go to Brazil and watch football and feel an atmosphere which is out of the ordinary, you will not get disappointed. The Brazilian league is between May and December. Or even better I would advice you to go to Brazil during world cup 2014 which I think will be one of the greatest World Cup of all time and maybe the last World Cup with real football supporters. So go it is a chance, once in a life time for a football fan.

What can you do in Brasilia?

Written By: Magnus - May• 01•12

Brasilia is not the primary tourist destination in Brazil although it is the capital. It is a pretty modern city and as the Brazilian President Kubitschek preferred another capital than the former capital Rio de Janeiro he therefore let the people construct Brasilia which started in the 1950′s and was finished in 1960.

Brasilia has an impressive architecture. The population in Brazil is around 2.5 million. I have been in Brasilia one time and it was a positive surprise. To me who like cities along the coast due to the beaches, my expectations was not very high, but I liked it. Although it is such a young city it has an interesting history and many nice buildings. It is really the opposite to Rio de Janeiro due to other reasons than the lack of beaches, it is a very flat city.

I and Juliana visited her brother who has lived in Brasilia since 2000. Before I went there people from Rio had told me that were not much to see and the people in Brasilia were not so open-minded but that was really not the fact I experienced. I encountered very nice people and guest friendly as Cariocas (Rio citizen), but I guess sometimes when you don’t have enormous expectations you get positively surprised. We will go there many more times to meet my brother-in-law who is one of the best person to take a beer and have a conversation with. We are planning to come back and visit him in September this year.

As I said there are no beaches in Brasilia so what can you do in Brasilia? There are plenty of things to do in Brasilia and here are some tourist attractions.

Cathedral of Brasilia: a catholic cathedral with a very elegant and different design for a church.

Palácio dos Arcos (Palácio Itamary): most known as Palácio Itamaraty is the residence of the president and an interesting place to visit.

Praça dos Três Poderes: A square where the executive, legislature and the judiciary premises of the city are located.

Brasilia National Park: a park with green area including animals and rare flora and fauna. It is located about 10km/6mi from Brasilia

Memorial to President Kubitschek : This is an interesting museum of the president Kubitschek which gives you a hint at the creation of Brasilia.

Catetinho: is located 40km/25mi south of the city and was the first stage of the creation of Brasilia and during the construction of the capital President Kubitschek lived here.

The television tower: It is the best place to get a view over the city and it is free.

Paranoá lake: there are great restaurants at the lake and a park. A great place to watch the sunset.

Zoological and Botanical Garden: a zoo with around 1300 animals and 253 species.
Feira do Guará: One of the most popular and traditional fairs in Brazil. It is quite big, I almost got lost when I was there.

Juliana in the museum of Kubitschek

I and my brother in law Carlos outside the museum of Kubitschek in Brasilia

The football stadium in Brasilia where Brazil will play one of their games in world cup 2014

view over Brasilia from the The television tower

In the Cathedral of Brasilia

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Picnic in the evening on the beach Cavaleiros in Macaé

Written By: Magnus - Apr• 23•12

After a strenuous week, I, Juliana and our friend Uliana were deserved to do something fun. We chose between a picnic on the beach or the bar Chico with some barbecue but eventually we decided to picnick on the mild autumn evening.

Unfortunately, I forgot my bathing suit so I couldn’t have any evening swim. But the great grub, beer and good company made it a fantastic evening. We had Sandwich including cheese and bologna, biscuits and chips. The ladies had a coke and a Fanta and for me some cans of the Brazilian beer Antarctica. One thing that is a bit boring is that you are not allowed to have barbeque on public beaches in Brazil.

This is supposed to be autumn to me born in Sweden it is amazing that you can sit in shorts and a t shirt without freezing at night. I am certainly not spoiled with that in Sweden. Next to us several people were playing beach volley and sometimes you can see people practising Capoeira in the evening or different kind of Martial arts but they were not present this evening.

I’ve been playing the guitar for about 6 months ago, but so far haven’t had the courage to take it with me to the beach. Brazilian music is so incredibly hard to learn for a gringo like me, music such as Samba and Bossa nova which I tried for a while. Girl from Ipanema and Wave by Tom Jobim I manage to play fairly well for being a gringo so next time I promised them to make a fool of myself and show my guitar skills rss.