The month-long World Cup in South Africa started last week, and so begins the madness.  The country is legendary for its passion for football (sorry, we’re training ourselves not to say “soccer” while we’re here), and it’s easily spotted in the swarms of people walking around in their team jerseys and the talk about the football games overheard in every shop and restaurant (yes, we can actually understand!!).

For the big kickoff game Saturday morning, we called ahead and booked a table at Buller Brewery in Recoleta, which has a huge screen covering the back wall of the restaurant.  And we’re thankful we did – when we arrived just as the game started, the place was packed, and our reservation meant we didn’t have to stand out in the rain and wait.  Everybody in the bar was decked out in team regalia, and we vowed to have our own jerseys in time for the next game.  The restaurant had a minimum purchase we had to meet, so this is what we had for breakfast:

Pints and onion rings - breakfast of champions!

We cheered with friends as Argentina won their first game (1-0 vs. Nigeria), and we’re psyched to be part of the excitement over the coming month.  Apparently the US played England on Saturday too.  Nobody cared.

Next game is Thursday morning at 8:30 – think we’ll skip the brewery this time around . . . especially if we hope to make it to school after the game!!

We were just about the only table in the bar not wearing blue and white - won't make that mistake again