Update

A few days have passed in a flash. Due in large part to the 6-7 hours of soccer that we've been watching. The other part being that our sleep schedule is roughly 1-2 in the morning and then waking up at 10-11. So we only have 2-3 hours before the games begin. But hey, it is vacation after all, right?

The subsequent nights since my last post have seen some of the initial excitement come down on Long Street. However, it's really interesting to see how the demographics change depending on which teams are playing here in Cape Town. Next come the English and the Algerians. Could get interesting.

Last night we had our best meal so far before last night's game. I had prawns and talapia with a nice sauvignon blanc called Raka. Brent had a delicious steak with some Belgian beer. It was a Belgian restaurant called The Anchor(Der Anker). At any rate, we sat next to 3 Mexicans. Two were younger and one was in his late 60's. While Brent was in the bathroom, I started chatting them in Spanish and asked them where they were from. The father spoke to me in Spanish but the other two, responded in English after I told them that I was American. As it turned out, one of the young guys lives in Dallas and is in his last year of law school at SMU. His father was very proud. They were drinking chardonnay, so we swapped glasses of wine and proceeded to the game.

It was raining off and on the entire time. Despite this, there was a lot more energy in the stadium. Italy controlled the entire first half until a Paraguay free kick was perfectly placed in the upper right hand corner. I was very content, as I always cheer for Italy's opposition. At half time, I decided to learn from my previous experience and use the downstairs bathroom. There weren't any urinals, it was just a big wall with running water down it. I kid you not, there were probably 300 of us in this space for about 150, shoulder to shoulder. TIA.

Italy came back to equalize off of a corner that was taken about 20 feet from where we were sitting. We had 4th row right behind the corner flag. Being that close really shows you have FAST these guys are. It was very enjoyable despite the rain.

One other incident that I had was before we went to eat at The Anchor, I met some local Capetonians at the bar. One guy was wearing a Springbok jacket, which is the South African rugby team, duh. They were very interested and glad to hear that my time in Cape Town had been very enjoyable. They asked me where I was from and one of them said, "That's funny, you seem more like a democrat." I told him that I was and that McCain had actually only beaten Obama 51-49 in Texas which they found very interesting. In the end, they bought us a round and sent me on my way back to the table of Americans that we had met at the US/England match two nights earlier. It was a good thing we ran across them too, because the place was packed. Another axiom of traveling abroad during the World Cup: You are instantly friends with and protected by other Americans. Go US!