Argentina beats Mexico 3-1

Rough Road to Buenos Aires

Kyle- Buenos Aires, Argentina- After leaving Paraguay, we crossed the border into Argentina. Nico said that he felt safer and relieved that we were in Argentina, but was unaware of what would come. Yesterday and today consisted of a lot of driving. We drove 8 hours on Thursday and 10 hours on Friday. The drive started very well. The drive in Northwest, Argentina was tremendous. The forests we drove by were beautiful, and the sky looked awesome (filled with pink clouds). Even when we got lost, we came across a an amazing part of the forest that we had to stop and take pictures. The drive was going so well.
Unfortunately, the near perfect drive in Argentina turned into the most stressful part of the entire trip. As we drove, we started looking for hotels to stay for the night. All of sudden, we approached a National guard, check point. The National Guards took one look at our car and asked us to pull over (Only A small percentage of cars were pulled over). I got nervous even though I knew we did nothing wrong. Three guards approached the car. The Chief guard asked us for our passports and car registration. They walked away from the car and talked for a few minutes. When they returned, they asked us to step out of the car and take all our bags out. As soon as we stepped out, three guards began searching the car. This was a very thorough search- they looked under the seats, in the trunk, on doors ect. Then the chief guard brought over a table and asked me to put my suitcase on it and take everything out. As I removed my clothes i heard Danny and the Chief talking. I had no idea what they were talking about but figured it wasn't good. The guards then made Nico do the same thing to his bag. After they searched all the suitcases they let us go. When we got in the car, I asked Danny what they spoke about and he said they just talked about the World Cup. These guards weren't actually so bad and were just doing there jobs. Everything was fine!? not really!
We left the next morning at 6 am with 950 kilometers to Buenos, Aires. Within 5 minutes of the drive, we were stopped at another National guard check point. They asked us to step out of the car, searched it, but this time they only searched our backpacks (instead of our suitcases). It turned out, these checking points were about every 100 kilometers on the way to Buenos Aires. After being stopped for the sixth time (going through the process of being searched each time)we ran into corrupt police officers that decided they were going to give us an absurd infraction and take our money. We were brought into a small police office near where we were pulled over. The officer explained to us that our car lacked a fire extinguisher and the penalty was 273 pesos (approximately $75). This is one law I have never heard of but the officer said that we needed to pay the fine before we could leave. We only had 280 pesos which would not leave us with enough money for tolls had we given them 273. Danny told the officers that we only had 200 pesos and the officer said " okay great! we'll take it!" These cops really scared me. I knew we did nothing wrong, but that did not matter.
The rest of the drive was very stressful. We were all really upset, and knew we still had 4 hours left of driving (and possibly more police/national guard check points). I got nervous each time we got stopped and it became very annoying to empty our bags and suitcases so many times. We did not feel better until we arrived in Buenos Aires where Danny's Uncle and Grandmother took us out to dinner around 8p.m. At the restaurant we realized... it was our first meal of the day.

Paraguay Advances/ City Celebration

June 24, 2010
Kyle- Ciudad del Este, Paraguay- Paraguay and New Zealand tied 0-0 yesterday, but advanced to the next round. Before I talk about this game...Lets talk about Paraguay.

We crossed the border into Paraguay on Thursday morning and were immediately overwhelmed with the chaos that occured. As we drove, looking for a place to watch the game, hundreds of people were in the streets. Most of them had a Paraguayan jersey on and there were flags everywhere. Every 20 feet, people would knock on our windows in the middle of the street attempting to give us a flyer or handout. There were hundreds of people! One kid (10 or 11 years old) approached the car and washed our windshield (expecting a tip). We hadn't exchanged money yet so we had no Paraguayan money to give him. Nico gave him a few Uruguayan pesos instead and the kid immediately threw it at the car and started yelling at us. I didn't understand exactly what he was saying, but my guess is that he said "What the heck is this? give me some Paraguayan money!" We ignored him, but he displayed his anger by punching the window. Luckily, he did not break it and we were able to get away.

We pulled into a mall to watch the game. After all the chaos in the city, we were worried about the car, but Nico took his bag (with our valuables in it) into the mall. For the first time all trip, we felt unsafe. I thought I would feel safer once I bought a Paraguayan jersey and Danny felt the same way. We agreed we would look to buy one before the game started. The first store we saw was a gun store and this did not help us feel any safer. All I could think about was getting that jersey, so that everyone knew we were there to show support. We went to three sporting goods stores, but none of them sold Paraguayan soccer jerseys. All I could think was "How can a Shopping Mall in Paraguay not sell...Paraguayan jerseys!" The entire mall was filled with people wearing Paraguayan jerseys. If you needed an NBA jersey, you were golden, but no soccer jerseys. The game started and we found a cafe in the mall that had couches and a room full of passionate fans (with jerseys) ready for the game. Several stores closed for the game. This game was not very exciting. Paraguay outplayed New Zealand, but could not score. The fans jumped out of their seats every time Paraguay had a scoring opportunity but it did not happen. The game ended 0-0, but the celebration began right after the last whistle. Paraguay only needed a draw to win their group and the fans knew it. The celebration started with fans inside the mall screaming, blowing horns, and waving flags. The stores re-opened but most workers were partying, dancing, and screaming inside their store. People were partying in the streets so we decided to take a walk and check it out. The music was so loud that it was difficult to hear each other speak. I took out my phone and attempted to record a video when Danny quickly told me to put it away before someone snatched it from me. We decided it was time to leave and went back to the car. We got to the car and saw that someone tried to break in. Someone clearly cut into the door handle and tried to unlock the door. We left Paraguay (after crossing the border three hours earlier) and crossed back to Brazil before crossing again into Argentina. As we drove off all I could think was...If only we had those jerseys.

Iguazu Waterfalls

Kyle- We are sorry for the lack of posts in the past few days. We have had some internet issues that have been very frustrating. We have done more driving the past four days then anything else and have mostly been in the middle of nowhere. There is a lot to say and I will start with Wednesday.

June 23, 2010. We woke up on Wednesday and watched Team USA vs. Algeria. That was such an exciting game! Thank you Donovan for that goal in the 91st minute. USA!!!! We were so excited and can't wait for tomorrow's game against Ghana which we will watch at an American bar in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The majority of Wednesday we spent at Iguazu waterfalls which are waterfalls of the Iguazu River which are located on the Brazilian state of Parana and the Argentine province of Misiones. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. Everyone we talked to from Dannys friends in Montevideo, new friends we met in Montevideo, and people we met in Brazil all told us this place would amaze us. Our expectations were high when we arrived, and this place lived up to the hype and more! We were amazed! This truly is a magical place that is absolutely incredible and unbelievably beautiful. We toured the falls (from the Brazilian side) for 4 hours and loved every minute of it. This is the last time we had a nice, relaxing day as Thursday and Friday have been stressful and crazy!

Florionopolis to Guarapuava - Wild.

Danny - We left Florianoplis at around 10am this morning. Stopped by the local gas station filled up, check the oil, cleaned the car a bit and buckled in for a long drive about 580 Kilometers (350 miles). The drive started out smooth sailing on a scenic drive with the coast on one side and jungle/mountains on the other. The 4 hours north to the city of Curitiba felt like 20 minutes with great weather, open road and beautiful views. Our trip would take a drastic change on our drive west.

Unaware of the road ahead I expected the same drive that we experienced from Florianopolis to Curitiba. I was wrong. Finding the highway west took us on a tour through Curitiba asking everyone we saw where to go in broken Portuguese. We finally found the correct highway by sheer luck and were on our way.

In the exact opposite way that the first part of the drive felt fast, the next 3-4 hours felt like 10 hours. The highway was in and out of 1-2 lanes in what seemed to be an endless incline, winding roads through the mountains with a dense fog and mist and Truck conveys flying by at 70-100 mph. The highway near our destination (Guarapuava) would prove the worst as night fell. 43 kilometers with 0 visibility (fog/night), impatient drivers and cliffs on our right. Ive never been happier to see the city lights of a small, sleepy city like Guarapuava.

We got some food, watched the thrashing of North Korea (sort of feel for them, Kim Jung Il wont receive them with open arms) and we are going to watch Uruguay vs. Mexico tomorrow before we leave to Foz do Iguazu the border city with Paraguay and where we will stay for 2 days. Plan is to see the Iguazu waterfalls & watch the Paraguay game in Ciudad Del Est,Paraguay.

Brazil defeats Ivory Coast

Kyle- Earlier this afternoon, we watched Brazil defeat Ivory Coast 3-1 to improve 2-0 in group play. We watched the game in a small town in Florianapolis, Brazil. The scene in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was definitely much bigger. Before the game started, a shot of thousands of people gathered to watch the game in Rio appeared on the television screen. We watched it in a smaller town, but passion for their team was the same. People packed the bars hours before the game wearing their Brazilian t-shirts and jerseys.The bars had big Brazilian flags on them and most cars also had flags hanging out the windows. The fans also demonstrated their high expectations for their team (That has won more World Cups than any other country) when they yelled at the television any time Brazil crossed midfield and didn't score a goal. Brazil won 3-1, and some of the fans seemed disappointed that they did not earn a shutout. The bar got very silent when Ivory Coast scored a goal as people looked on in disbelief. Brazil dominated this game from the beginning and never looked back after #9 Luis Fabiano gave them a 1-0 lead scoring the goal midway through the first half. Fabiano added another goal in the second half and Ivory Coast never recovered. One huge story in this game was the physical play in the second half. Several yellow cards were handed out, and Brazil's star #10 Kaka received a red card after getting his second yellow card late in the second half and will serve a one game suspension. Brazil's team is very strong, but the fans expect nothing less than World Cup championship #6.

Danny - We are leaving Florianoplis this morning to get to our resting point (Guarapuava) as we drive west to the Paraguay-Brazil border and on to the Iguazu Falls. We will post from either Guarapuava or Foz Do Iguazu. Next match - Paraguay New Zealand on Thursday with some must watch games on the way. But Ciao Floripa for now!

Winter coat cold! (Uruguay) to on the beach warm! (Brazil)

Kyle- The trip to Porto Allegre was long. We left Punte Del Este at 8 am and arrived in Porto Allegre at 10 pm ( we made two stops of approximately 90 minutes on the way). It was pouring rain in Porto Allegre, but much warmer than Uruguay. We went out for dinner and then went back to the hotel early to sleep. We turned on the news briefly and the top sports story was the Brazilian soccer analysts talking about how they felt the refs robbed team USA of an historic victory. Danny mentioned earlier how we immediately thought they were robbed and this news story further highlighted the significance of that game. We woke up at 7 am and left Porto Allegre for Florianopolis, Brazil. This was another long trip and we arrived in Florianapolis today at 4 pm. The weather here is great. We went to the beach as soon as we got here and it was awesome. The beaches here are amazing! and so beautiful. We had a nice dinner at a seafood restaurant on the water after leaving the beach. We are staying here until Monday morning and will be watching Brazil vs. Ivory Coast at 3:30 pm tomorrow.