Recife é Rubro-Negro!

(Recife is red and black!)



Saturday was the official celebration of Sport's championship. The party was delayed because May 13 is the date that Sport was founded, back in 1905.

I left my apartment at around noon, before lunch -- and I didn't eat breakfast, a fact that later became important. I got to the Avenida Boa Viagem (the road that runs along the beach) just as the beginning of the carreata (parade) passed. I ran back to my apartment to get my camera, and resolved to stay until the end.

For ninety minutes, cars, flatbed trucks, and the occasional trio-elétrico paraded down the beach celebrating Sport's 35th title.

A trio-elétrico

The parade just didn't end. Every time there was a pause in the procession, filled with irritated motorists (this is Brazil -- you thought traffic would be re-routed because of the parade?), a minute later it picked up again.

A carioca (someone from Rio de Janeiro) asked me, "All this is because Sport won the championship?"

I told him, "Yes. The whole city stops when Sport wins."

He said, "This is great. In Rio there would be so much confusion and crime if they did this."

The taxi drivers were celebrating.

After a while I got hungry. And by hungry, I mean, wondering how much longer I was going to be able to stay on my feet hungry. Worried about passing out on the sidewalk hungry. (And had I passed out on the sidewalk, I would surely have awakened without my camera or cell phone.) So hungry that I just wanted the party to end. And the party refused to do so. I kept taking pictures and hoping that each truck would be the last.

Eventually, and only after a long, long time, the last truck went past, the last car honked and waved a flag, and traffic returned to normal. And your humble blogservant took off for a restaurant where he could eat some pig innards in peace, safe in the knowledge that he had recorded the second-biggest party of the year. (The biggest will come in December when Sport has secured promotion to the Serie A. Watch this space.)