The city has a "Miami beach," a name which local tour guides say was left behind by GIs who used to bathe there.
The mayor was skeptical of that claim. But "a lot of Americans married women from here," he said.
During the World Cup, his City Hall plans to commemorate the American connection by making postcards of a photo taken when Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Getulio Vargas of Brazil met in Natal in January 1943 to cement their nations' wartime cooperation.
The United States plays Ghana at the Arena Das Dunas, an airy bowl naturally cooled by sea breezes, with white roof arches reminiscent of wind-sculptured sand dunes and 42,000 seats in the light and dark blues of the Atlantic. Other games are Mexico-Cameroon, Japan-Greece and Italy-Uruguay.
