19th November 2011
Managua, Nicaragua

After four days of rain in San José there were exactly three hours of sun. I rushed into the streets and ran to the place I had selected the day before. Of course when I got there it didn’t feel right at all. I couldn’t really find a good composition on the square I had selected and I knew the clock was ticking. Rainy season in the tropics. It could start pouring down any minute.

I decided to take a chance and start walking again hoping to find a better place in this small window of opportunity. I was leaving the next day. Somehow the pressure was starting to build up because leaving without a decent photo would mean I would have to return with all the costs and loss of time that comes with it. This has already happened twice before in the past two years. In Macau and Tajikistan. Such bad weather that nobody was out and it would ruin my equipment. Hopefully not again this time.

I walked down the shopping street, Avenida Central, which was suddenly very crowded. It was obvious I wasn’t the only one taking this opportunity to venture out after all the rain. I walked around a corner and saw all sorts of football stuff lying around on the ground in the middle of the shopping street. "That's right," I thought, "in a couple of hours the game is on between Costa Rica and Spain." An exciting game because Spain is World Champion. And football is not just a sport in Costa Rica, it’s a religion.
I walked on a bit trying to avoid standing on the red and blue shirts, flags and vuvuzela's that were scattered on the ground. That’s when I saw a big crowd gathered around what seemed to be a mini football goal, yelling and clapping. I walked up and pried myself through the crowd. In the goal several empty cans were put up in a pyramid shape and guys were trying to knock them over with penalty shots! I immediately knew I had found my spot.

All sorts of people were trying: women, kids and elderly. It was hilarious to see the quasi-professional preparations before they would take the shot. Some even totally missed the goal to the great amusement of the bystanders. Others almost knocked over the goal and theatrically cursed and put their hands in their hair like their heroes do on TV.

I positioned myself exactly behind the goal which didn’t give me much protection against the sometimes way too hard and not so precisely taken penalties. But it was a good place for photos.
In the three hours I had before it started to viciously rain again I did get a small taste of Costa Rican enthusiasm and total lack of inhibition, just playing and laughing together in the Streets.

Costa Rica-Spain 2-2