Benfica!!!

Mindelo seems to be solidly behind Lisbon's Benfica football club, which has just won its league championship two games before the scheduled season ender, simply because they have accrued so many more points than the next two teams, including defending champions Porto.

I don't really know what this means in the sporting world, but in the world of Mindelo on Easter evening, it means finding any red shirt you have, pulling out your Benfica fan gear, and either rushing on foot in a river of exultant, screaming humanity, or driving, horn blaring and echoing through the amphitheatrically arranged streets, down to Praça Nova, to join the parade of revelling fans.

We were briefly a part of this exuberance, having a need to visit an ATM at Praça Nova, and Ian captured a shot of the exuberance from the safety of the ATM enclosure. We retreated back up the hill to the (relative) quiet of our lodging, with me periodically raising my arms over my head and shouting "BENFICA!", which seemed to go over well (and was probably a better choice than plugging my ears against the painful blaring of increasing numbers of car horns).

So far, the revelling seems to be avoiding the metamorphosis into rioting, and many police were on hand.

Sports fans: enthusiasts the world over. I don't really get it, myself. Screaming crowds? Run away!!!

one-fingered on my phone