GALO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Belo Horizonte is home to two professional soccer clubs:  Cruzeiro Esporte Club (ZEIRO!!!) and Clube Atlético Mineiro (GALO!).  You have one team you cheer for, and when the games are on it is popular to yell out the window.  Or let off fireworks.  Or honk your horn.  For those of you who are reading this who might be considering a move to Brazil, don't ever imagine that the cities here are quite, peaceful places.  They are loud, and when there are games, it is ear-splitting.

The past two days have been especially noisy.  Atlético, who's mascot is the Rooster (i.e. "Galo") was playing in the final game for the Copa Libertadores.  Thankfully, we were out of town for the last game that happened last Wednesday.  Atlético lost, but apparently that didn't make much of a difference in the volume coming fans.  On Tuesday afternoon, the horn honking (quarter, quarter, eight-eight, quarter pattern), and m-80 fireworks began.  But the game wasn't until 9:00 pm on Wednesday night.  My son is a Cruzeiro fan, and the rest of us just prefer quiet, so we were all hoping and praying that Galo would lose.  Bummer.

I fell asleep at about 11:30 pm, despite the raucous neighbors, but then when the game was over and Galo had won, it was like Christmas and New Years all wrapped up in one.  It was Atlético's first time wining this cup, so people were crazy!  I was two delirious to get the camera, but my friend Ling caught this:

We had more m-80s going off right outside our window.  

Despite my complaining, I actually don't mind it all so much.  But here's what bothers me.  My husband was almost late to work this morning because fans were celebrating at Praça Sete and bringing traffic to a standstill.   The other thing is that the Paraguayan team was staying at a hotel in Belvedere, and apparently people in the neighborhood decided to make LOTS of noise to disturb their sleep, hoping to affect the outcome of the game.  The noise and general craziness got out of hand, and some fans lit something that started a forest fire!  I understand that Atléticanos are passionate and excited about this huge win, but really?!?

But to end on a positive note, you may remember this picture I posted last December:  

Ronaldinho had been written off, but now with this win he's back in the limelight!