We based ourselves in Salvador where we saw some great football (17 goals in 3 games) and had a blast

The World Cup coincided with the Sao Joao festival so it was party time in the old town most nights especially after the Live Site at the beach was canned

We spent most of our time watching matches on a TV outside a souvenir shop in an alleyway where there was a band playing and dancing in the street

The shop owner treated us like family

One night we got caught in a crowd crush at the old square one night which was very hairy and I got my fake wallet pickpocketed - a rite of passage - but we made it out alive, no thanks to the largely ornamental Civil Guards you'd see everywhere