Long But Exciting Journey

Adrian dropped me off at the airport and I started the day with a quick veggie sandwich from Subway and a bottle of water. Dessert to go: pain du chocolate, apple pastry and chocolate donut… yummy yummy. I hope to find a ride to Polokwane for the Mexico vs. France game. Is a four plus hour drive so I’ll watch the other games later. 440 Rands for a round trip in a mini-bus with 18 small seats, not bad. Francisco, now named “Panchito,” is coordinating our shuttle ride to the mini-bus parking lot and I help by encouraging an earlier departure since we have enough passengers. Our driver Lefur gives us his cell number so we can call after the game if we get lost. We leave the city within 20 minutes and for the next 4 hours, nothing but open space with mountains on the West side and flat land as far as you can see to the East side. Hoping to see exotic animals I have my camera ready but all that we see is many vehicles pass us by with a lot of supporters for “El Tri,” blowing the vuvuzelas, waiving the flags and screaming “Viva Mexico.” It is going to be a good game. Our new German friend in the back requests a pit stop so Lefur pulls over and points towards the trees and bushes.

As the road signs keep showing less and less kilometers to Polokwane people start chanting in the mini-van, a little of Cielito Lindo, a German cheer, a cheer for the Bafana Bafana, and several cheers for Mexico… we have a party in the mini-van and Lefur is singing better than he drives. We get to Polokwane and the stadium looks impressive and very new. I called my friends as I have the ticket for their Dad and they said… “Sell it because my Dad got a ticket.” OK this is now twice the Dad has let me down and now I’m stuck with an extra ticket. There are many people selling tickets and nobody buying so I’m not about to get in trouble for scalping. I walk around the stadium to enjoy the atmosphere which has about 300 Mexicans per each French.

Tonight, Polokwane is the city with the second largest Mexican contingency next to Mexico City! The game starts and this time the result would be different than the “Pastry War” from 1838 where Mexico lost and had to pay reparations to the French nationals living in Mexico or the 5 times that France has defeated Mexico in the past World Cups. It was strange to see Thierry Henry on the bench where he could not help Les Bleus. Mexico kept pushing the ball forward creating good opportunities with close misses. With the Mexican substitutions came the goals and the final demise of the French team who had just one clear chance in the last 15 minutes. The referee had his hands full with Mexico wanting to chat with him throughout the game but he delivered consistent officiating.

After listening to Mexico celebrate big in a section of the Stadium, I went looking for Lefur’s mini-van which was nowhere to be found. The pick-up spot was full with the big, coach buses and mini-vans taking people to Polokwane. After 25 minutes or so I find Lefur, who already has five passengers in the van. Rodrigo and the two girls decided to stay in town and celebrate so we looked around and found the South African family and the young Frenchman so we started our return to Joburg. Lefur started playing local music very loud which at first it was cool but after 40 minutes or so… it was torturing as it is midnight and we’re tired and sleepy. For the rest of the trip, we listened to the same music which kept all of us awake as well as Lefur, which was good since he was driving.

When we get to Joburg ,Lefur drives by the airport towards the parking lot where we departed but is now 3:00 a.m. and there is no shuttle to the airport. So the mom in the South African family yelled, “Take us to airport!” which is good because I was not about to tell Lefur what to do. Lefur ignored mom, but she kept insisting and 20 minutes later, Lefur drove to the airport and dropped us off… THANK YOU Mom!! I was not ready to walk the two miles to the airport at 3:30 a.m., so I would have just walk the few blocks to the Cesar Emporium casino. Next, I started negotiating a taxi ride to the hotel which is only five minutes away. The price started at 120 Rands so I walked back into the airport. After a short walk I went back to the negotiation table and eventually secure a 50 Rands taxi ride. As I approach the hotel, I’m thinking great game and good long day but the night security guard was not by the gate so I had to wake Adrian up and he opened the gate… thank you Adrian.