GOOOAAAAAAL!!!

So much to catch up on. Starting last Thursday, Margara, Jana, and I went to a cafe to see her cousin from Maine play the bass in a jazz concert type thing. It was really great. They sounded really good and everyone was chillin´. I made the mistake of ordering a coctail. (Background information: I have a problem everytime I order a coctail here. They make it all wrong. Once I got a red Vodka Tonic that had a pineapple and cherry on the rim.) So this time was wrong again. I got a martini and it tasted like a shoe. So I got a glass of wine. I think I will stick to that from now on. Later a couple of Jana´s gringo friends joined us. 3 girls from Australia, Texas and Holland. After only 10 minutes I swore to forever hate the girl from Texas. What is with those people! (Why does the wind blow in NM? ´Cause Texas sucks!) Sorry family and friends from there. You are of course exempt from these generalizations. But seriously this was one of the most miserable and condescending girls I have ever met in my life. I don´t think we will be friends. After that we went to a karaoke bar again and again stayed really late. But it is just too much fun.

Sunday was the big day! Margara, Gato, Julio, two people I don´t remember their names, and I went to a futból game. It was the final game and the teams were Quito (Liga) versus Guayaquil (Barcelona.) We of course were rooting for Liga. Their jerseys are white and blue and Barcelona´s are yellow and black. We all wore white shirts. On the way to the stadium cops on horses were surrounding the Liga fans who tend to be the most...passionate (violent) and they were all singing and making noise and throwing confetti. It was so cool. Inside the stadium you would see all white and then groups of yellow huddled together for safety. The fans are really really crazy about their teams. We got there like 3 hours before the game was going to start and it was a good thing because it got so packed that people were sitting on the stairs. But the time went by quickly because everyone was so rilled up. The Liga fans would sing one of their team songs and then the Barcelona fans would sing one of theirs and they would cuss and scream at eachother. I was so excited and nervous that I seriously felt a knot in my stomach. Then some extreme fans on one side of the stadium rolled a flag from the top of the stands to the bottom, it was the biggest flag I have ever seen, that had the Liga symbol on it. One of the biggest fan groups is Muerte Blanca (White Death.)
When the teams were announced and came out, people were screaming, fireworks went off, ticker tape went in the air, it was nuts. Then the game started. These guys are so talented. They were running back and forth across the field and bouncing the ball off their heads and practically doing acrobats to get the ball towards the goal. I am really impressed. Everytime the ball got close to the goal the crowd was on their feet and screaming and yelling. Then, GOAL! and everyone lost their minds. We screamed and jumped and hugged eachother and then of course started singing the fight songs again. Then later in the game Quito scored again and the singing turned to taunting. "Llora llora llora Barcelona!" In the last part of the game Quito scored again and that left the final count at 3-0 Quito. Everyone was so happy. Then they jumped up on top of a 15 foot fence that bent in and had spikes at the top, tore through the net and ran out into the field. Men, Women, children, everyone was crawling up this thing like it was nothing. Then the group circled the stadium with some of the players on their shoulders. One bad thing happened, but its nothing too bad. I guess somewhere someone sprayed pepper spray. First I felt something on my tongue then my nose started to burn. But it didn´t get too bad just a little sneezing.
As we went out we passed a fountain that is on the West side of the stadium. People ran into it, fully dressed, and splashed around and sang the fight song. Julio and Gato of course joined them and got totally soaked but it was great fun. Later that night we went to Shyris to celebrate. People parked their cars in the median, turned up their stereos and drank right there in the middle of the road. It was really fun, as it got later and the crowd thinned out we decided to go to a park and continue our private party with a few bottles of Switch (the 2-liter vodka maracuya thing.) I regretted it the next morning but now I don´t. It was too much fun.
These folks are some serious fans. They don´t take their futbol lightly. Being the antithesis of an athlete that I am, I still had an amazing time.


Here is one of the many fight songs for Liga:
Yo te daré
te daré LIGA hermosa
te daré una cosa
una cosa que empieza con L, con I, con G, con A
LIGA campeón
Yo te daré
te daré LIGA hermosa
te daré una cosa
una cosa que empieza con C: campeón!