World Cup review by a novice traveling fan

As you already know, Mike was a huge baseball fan. I am carrying on our tradition of listening to ballgames as I travel by using my MLB.com app on my phone. Well, now it is World Cup tournament season - a big deal in most of the world - and although it took me a while to get plugged in, I learned from Mike that sports are good entertainment, so I decided to follow the rule “when in Rome do as the Romans do”.......,

 I arrived in Mexico on June 10.

The World Cup matches began on TV on June 14.

The first game I remember hearing on TV was on June 16.  I was not interested. It was a cloudy day on Isla Mujeres while I sat at a table at a beach bar having a pina colada and guacamole for lunch 

while the game entertained a few people sitting under the roof. When that came was over, I went in to the TV and watched a few Spanish music videos before continuing on my walking tour of Isla Mujeres. 

The next game I remember was on June 19. Still on Isla Mujeres, it was a sunny day and I had just returned from an afternoon sales pitch at a resort in Cancun. I sat at my favorite restaurant - Cafa Mogagua -

an open air corner cafe with good ambiance.  Today I paid attention to my phone and had my first michelada of the trip but was aware there was a game on TV.
I returned to Cancun on June 21, and remember that Lupits’s  home and office helpers were interested, because while they worked together between patients on baby shower decorations
I helped and listened to the game on the TV in the kitchen 

but I still was not interested in who was playing.  

June 23 was a big day - the baby shower began at 1:00 rather than noon because Mexico was playing at 9AM and several of Clau’s friends were interested. We saw it in the kitchen and were aware that Mexico beat South Korea. 

After the baby shower I went to Valladolid and was more interested in bike rides and walking tours of the town, but did check in to the next time Mexico played - 

it was lucky the match is still in preliminary play because Mexico lost to Sweden, but I enjoyed my agua sandía with the folks I had been on a bike ride the previous day
Next stop for me was Bacalar where there was a great place to watch the game projected muy grande on a wall inside El Manati.  

By now, June 30, the match was beginning the round of 16, single elimination play and I was starting to pay attention.  Isa and Abe were happy to host a big crowd on their restaurant, 
but sad to see Argentina lose to France.

Next stop for me was Tulum. I stayed there three nights and scheduled my days around fútbol.  On July 1 I had lemonade at the bar at El Milagrito in el centro 

and watched the second half and overtime of an exciting game when Croacia beat Russia in the free kick shoot off.

Next day, July 2, I  went to Paris Tulum on the main drag and watched Mexico lose to Brazil. Really sad for the home country...
but it was a delicious breakfast of avocado toast with grilled shrimp.

Then later in the day, I had a Caesar Salad 
at Pizzeria la Queirda while watching the end of the game where Belgium beat Japan. 

July 3 was a travel day for me - but I managed to catch a little bit of the game in a small taco shop next to the bus station.

Bad game timing for me to miss this exciting overtime penalty kick win for England over Columbia while I was riding a comfy bus back to Cancun. 

There was a break in play moving into the quarterfinals while I moved from Cancun through Guanajuato to San Miguel de Allende. Here I had lots of game watching options. 

I had green juice for breakfast on July 6 at Taco Don Manolito where I watched the end of France’ s win over Uruguay ( here I began exchanging texts with our friends, Dean and Joelle, from  France).

And later that day I enjoyed another delicious Cerveza michelada at a El Mezon Hotel to watch Belgium beat Brazil. This is the day I read online about how the US failed to even make the cut to play in the World Cup series this season. 

On July 7 I missed England’s win over Sweden because I was watching my Spanish teacher explain about when and how to use direct object and indirect object pronouns.  
But after class, I went with a group of fellow students to La Choperia  

to watch an exciting penalty kick after overtime Croatia win over Russia to knock out the home team in the quarterfinals. 

Semi-finals began on July 10.  I saw France beat Belgium in a 1-0 game during a rainstorm  on the terraza rooftop at Via Organica with some fellow classmates.

Then on July 11, I watched alone (with lots of other fans) at the bar at Los Milagros when sadly, England lost to Croatia. 
This day I enjoyed another Michelada and a portion of my neighbor’s guacamole.

And finally, on my last full day in San Miguel, I went to McCarthy’s Irish Pub and watched France beat Croacia with a house full of Croacia fans and one more Michelada. 

My friends from France were happy, of course!