Our experiences and photos of Brazil

including the World Masters Athletics Championship in Porto Alegre, Brazil

13 Oct – 27 Oct 13: Porto Alegre – stayed at the Mecure Manhattan
28 Oct – 31 Oct 13: Copacabana – stayed at the Windsor Plaza
1 Nov – 3 Nov 13: Iguaçu – stayed at the Viale Cataratas

XX World Masters Athletics Championships Stadia

Ralph competed in:

5,000m Racewalk (track) – 1st M70-74
A comfortable win in warm conditions, but wary of additional entries for 10km and 20km
10km Racewalk (road) – 1st M70-74 plus 1st Team M65-69
Another comfortable win in hot conditions, but the 2km course is about 90m too long!! That’s an extra 450m on the 10km race.
20km Racewalk (road) – 1st M70-74 plus 1st Team M65-69
A more trying win in hot and, near the end, wet conditions, but the 2km course is still about 90m too long!! Requests for a re-measure after the 10km were brushed aside. The silver medallist, Edmund Shillabeer (aka ‘Bob-a-Pint’), is a veterinarian from Bristol, and a delightful competitor [in the photo taken at the medals presentation].

Brazil:

Population – 200 million

Language – Portuguese

The land of coffee – no way – at least, not the way we like it.

The land of futebol (soccer) – yes, yes, yes.

Absolutely no semblance of racism in this enormous melting pot.

Porto Alegre:

Population – 1.5 million

Location – in the southern-most state, bordering Argentina to the west, Uruguay to the south. The city is located on a peninsula beside a delta/enormous lake flowing from the junction of five rivers.

Not tourist oriented. Difficult to find any ‘souveniers’.

Only one rainy day – had to be the 20km racewalk day, huh!

Porto Alegre moments:

Good vibes all round. Delighful, polite, helpful locals.

Ovatine milk shakes at the main stadium [CETE] – delicious!!!

Mecure Manhattan hotel breakfasts – excellent! . . . well, except when there were no ‘breakfast tea’ bags.

Venhois food court – great value, and those Rafaello ice-creams!!!

Ralph found a scout shop near the hotel – met a delightful, lively, rover scout, Carolina, and very helpful scout shop staff. Dawn bought a scout cap (and wore it everywhere) and some scout earrings.

Once waited for a bus to return from the main stadium to the hotel, for four hours!

Plenty of police – state, federal, military – practising for the World Cup (futebol), and the Olympics. Many on horseback – this State is the centre of Gaucho culture.