Day 11... Ayoba!

Woke up at about 10 and went for a walk around the Fan Fest. These are viewing locations that have been set up in each of the match cities that show every single game live and on an enormous screen. It opened at about 11 and as I walked past at 10:55, there was a queue of about 1000-2000 people waiting to get in. Took a few pictures there and went for a walk through the town.

It had the feel of a place waiting for something to happen... Most people were getting on with their daily business of work and other things, but there was an air of anticipation that something was about to happen.

Walked back toward the fan fest at around the 12:30 mark and the sign said it all. "Fan Fest Full". I knew this would happen, and for this reason, I planned to watch the game at the Castle Hotel, the pub underneath the backpackers place that I was staying at.

Got back to the Castle, and dropped most of my crap off and went down to the bar at about 1:45. The opening ceremony started at 2:00, so I grabbed a beer and began to not pay attention to it... There was too much else going on... The people started coming in, decorated and faces painted, and the gold of South Africa was ever-present... Seemed a little bit like an Australian sporting event in some ways...

Game started at 4:30pm. The pub was packed... Beer and football and an excited local crowd... 3 things a man lives for... The nervous anticipation was incredible, and the vuvuzelas were blowing (yes, even inside pubs)...

South Africa scored... Tshabalala hit an incredible drive that would have beaten any keeper in the world, and certainly had the better of Perez... The feeling was amazing, hearing all the pressure that the locals were feeling being released... There was a sentiment of the locals not wanting to be embarassed... They knew now, at least in the opening game, that it was not going to happen... The crowd went apeshit... People were jumping and hugging and blowing vuvuzelas, and jumping a bit more, and you couldn't help getting caught up in it...

The game continued... Mexico scored... Beer, beer, beer... The rest is history... Mother Africa was proud and I was so happy to be a part of it...

There was another game, I don't remember who played, I was over-refreshed, so I went to bed, content, happy to be a part of an historic moment...

written by  Big_T on June 11, 2010 from Cape Town, South Africa
from the travel blog: World Cup
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