Loni is a huge soccer fan so while we were in Salvador we made sure to go to a Bahia game. From my experiences in Chile at soccer games which included tear gas, lots of police and out of control crowds, I was initially wary of the plan to go to a game. We picked a small, middle-of-the-week game to attend to avoid the craziness and had no trouble at all.
For me, the coolest thing about going to a soccer game in Salvador was that we were able to check out Fonte Nova, the brand new soccer stadium recently built in preparation for the World Cup. The stadium was both beautiful and modern and I was very impressed.
We were able to sit by the drum and fan section which was a whole experience in itself. The fan club was just like the devoted student groups at American football games. They had cheers and songs for any and every play, were decked out in colors and paint for their team and had no shortage of enthusiasm or noise.
It was not only fun to watch the game but to listen to all the fans as well. Brazilians take their soccer teams very seriously. I think I was the only person there not wearing an associated jersey and I'm going to have to remedy that for next time as I received more than a few odd looks.
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