Under the crushing sun of the tropical summer, residents and tourists passing through Santos take two diametrically opposed directions on this Sunday, January 1st.
Much of it heads south and up the beachfront of this resort town popular with Sao Paulo locals.
The rest head north, Brazil or Santos FC jerseys on their backs, to pay tribute to football legend Pelé, who has played most of his life in the local black and white colours.
Around the Vila Belmiro stadium, it's time for final preparations.
The next day, Monday January 2, the remains of the "King" will be transferred from the Albert-Einstein hospital where he spent his last days to the 16,000-seat enclosure for a grandiose funeral wake, worthy of his place in the pantheon of football.
Santos FC employees are busy deploying kilometers of barriers to welcome the crowd who will come to pay their last respects to their hero.
Further on, groups of supporters come to spread tarpaulins in the stadium.
"It's going to be madness," slips a local journalist. "There will never be enough room for everyone."
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Some, in too much of a hurry, only make a quick stop near the stadium.
A double parking lot next to the enclosure, the time to take a family selfie that will feed the social networks before leaving to enjoy the sweetness of this New Year's Day.
But others take the time to reflect on the place of the legend in their life and that of their country.
"It's a feeling of union"
Like Ruan and Gabriela, a young couple from Sao Paulo.
"We are here because it is a historic moment. Pelé is a legend. He transcended football and he left his mark everywhere he went," says the 28-year-old designer, from Bauru, where the " king" took his first steps as a footballer.
"I became a fan of Santos because of my grandfather who was a fan of Pelé. And I think that all the fathers and grandfathers who saw the 'king' play passed that on to the next generations. The legend of Pelé will continue."
"I've thought a lot about what brings us here and, in my opinion, it's the feeling of union that football provides", continues Gabriela, institutional journalist for a car brand. "For me, the round ball is a connection with my family.
Football brings me closer to my father.
And even if I don't follow football all the time, this bond brings us closer.
Pelé brought people together despite their teams and their differences."
Pelé, number 10 for eternity.
© Romain Houeix, France 24
At door number 10, the number that Pelé has worn throughout his career and helped to elevate it to the rank of myth, a memorial has been improvised at the foot of the statue of the only man to have won three football World Cups.
Flowers and wreaths have been laid, many passers-by come to meditate there for a while.
A great man with time for everyone
Ana Varela observes the turmoil that has taken over the neighborhood.
She lives opposite the stadium's main entrance, a blue and red vertical house.
She is the president and founder of the Torcida Seria Santista, the very first group of female supporters in Brazil.
The 65-year-old only saw Pelé play once, way back in the 1970s, but she puts him higher than anything.
"He was friends with the ball. The ball understood him and he understood the ball," she metaphorizes, Santos FC shirt on her back.
"He was like a GPS: he always knew where he was on a pitch as well as his teammates, his opponents and the ball. Above all, he took Santos and Brazil all over the world."
Ana Varela could talk about Pelé and Santos FC for hours.
© Romain Houeix, France 24
This gray-haired lady is most remembered for the man behind the star.
Because after having shone for so long on the lawn of Vila Belmiro, the Brazilian had his habits in the neighborhood.
"He was also a great man. He had charisma but attracted people with his simplicity. He spoke with everyone. He always took the time to stop. He gave attention. He signed all the autographs , was taking pictures. He was human, he didn't behave like a star. And all that made him what he was: the best of all", she lists, slightly moved.
Santos FC in the skin
The "German" does not say anything else.
Alberto Francisco de Oliveira, whose real name no one uses, runs the bar adjoining the stadium.
A high meeting place for fans of the black and white jersey.
The owner of the shop is an absolute fan of the club.
He has had a dated club crest tattooed on his arms for every regional championship win won by Santos since he has followed them.
And in the middle of the forehead, another crest, due to a bet this one.
“In 2006, I promised the coach that I would get a tattoo in a place where no one put a tattoo if they were champions.
They were, so I tattooed my head,” says this colorful character.
"But if it hadn't been for Pelé, I would have supported another team. He was a different player. On the pitch, he was a monster. His dribbling, his shooting. feet. What he was doing with the ball was something no one dared to imagine."
He concedes that the neighborhood is marked by the disappearance of the football icon.
Didi, the famous "hairdresser of Pelé" whose shop is stuck to the bar, closed the curtain as soon as he heard the news.
"It's very sad news to end the year. It's going to be two very difficult days...", explains the bartender.
"That's life… But if Edson Arantes do Nascimento is gone, Pelé is eternal to him", prefers to think his neighbor.
As the country is divided, "there was a union through him. See all these people? They just came to say goodbye to him. I have no words."
Pele put Santos on the map
Apart from uniting the country, Pelé has put Santos on the map of Brazilian football.
With its star, the team from the modest port city competed with the big teams of Sao Paulo - Corinthians, Palmeiras and other Sao Paulo FC.
With him, the club has won - among other things - ten times the regional championship, two Copa Libertadores, two World interclubs... The fame of the "king" has even made him go beyond the borders of Brazil with invitations to compete against clubs in Italy, England, Africa...
“Thank you king!” says this poster in the city of Santos.
© Romain Houeix, France 24
It is therefore logical that for his last trip, Pelé chose his adopted city.
He arrived at Santos at the age of 15 before playing there for 18 years (1956-1974), scoring 1,091 goals in 1,116 appearances.
If his career ended with a freelance in New York, he never really left this city.
Despite his death, he is still everywhere: a statue in the city center, on the banners that say "Obrigado rey" ("Thank you the king"), on huge frescoes in his image or on the buildings that bear his name. , such as the training center of Santos FC.
After the 24-hour funeral wake, the "king" will go through this stronghold he loved so much for the last time in a triumphal procession that will take him from the Santos FC stadium to the four corners of the city to the cheers of the crowd, notably passing in front of his mother's house, which is about to turn 100.
To finally return 500 meters from his starting point: he will be buried in the vertical ecumenical necropolis of the city and will rest on the ninth floor, in the family mausoleum, with his eye on the ground that made him famous.
For eternity.
The statue of Pelé in the city center.
© Romain Houeix, France 24
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