Playing Futbol at an Altitude of 2500m...

Krysta, Jackie, Haley, Chet, Mike and I were pumped about the idea of joining an Ecuadorian soccer league when Bibi mentioned it about a month ago. The six of us joined the respective men's and women's Ruminahui teams... and have gotten ourselves into quite the adventure. In the last few weeks we've paid our dues, received our uniforms, and participated in our first games.

I can't speak for the men, but I will say that being on the women's team has been pretty funny thus far. We had our first practice two weeks ago, which entailed scooping the entire field clear of dog poop before starting drills. Our coach placed the order for our uniforms, and subsequently got us jerseys an average of 2 sizes too big per person (Chet, Haley and Krysta wear the same size, if that gives you any idea...). And our starting lineup includes Bibi (who is surprisingly good), Krysta (who is known for her volleyball skillz), Jackie (who is chastised by the coach about 98% of the time), Haley (who has never played soccer) and me (who last played soccer in the non-scored YMCA league in 3rd grade). We're clearly a force to be reckoned with...

Here's a brief list of the good and the bad:
Good -
1. Jackiepants scored our first goal of the season. Perhaps the coach won't be able to yell at her as much...
2. The 6 of us have super sweet matching uniforms (even if they're HUGE). I, for one, will be sporting mine with pride. We're so legit. (Too legit to quit. En serio.)
3. The other teams don't know what we're saying when we yell to each other on the field. (Or if insults are tossed around after being knocked to the ground... several times...)

Bad -
1. Both teams lost last Sunday. But since we've added hill workouts and soccer drills to our daily routines, I expect big turnarounds. :) Ha.
2. Sprinting up and down a very uneven soccer field is just not the same at 2500m altitude.
3. Soreness. Lots of it. Who knew those muscles existed?

Our team meets for a huddle before the game
(Bibi is #8, Jackie is next to Bibi, and Sarah is #7)

Bibi dominates the mid-field

Taking a breather... the ball was probably booted into the highway or something similar.

Both teams are playing this weekend... we'll keep you posted.

Thanks for checking in!
ss

Three-Day Weekend Voyages

Even though Guayquil is over 160 miles from here, we were fortunate enough to celebrate its independence day with a day off from work. We spent the weekend rather scattered throughout the country; Sonia was off in Tena with Ricky (we miss you Ricky!). Haley and Sarah ventured north to the infamous Rose Cottage for a quiet weekend in the mountains of Otovalo. And the rest of us braved the Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa for the Ecuador vs. Uruguay game.

The hammocks they barely left for 24 hours

Future save-the-date announcement?

We had been looking forward to this game for about two months, ever since Serena sent an e-mail informing us that the first five people to write her back would claim tickets owned by last year's PDs. Chet, Erik, Krysta, Mike and I were lucky to have read our e-mails first and after a couple of weeks trying to find the receipt, plus two days trying to pick up the actual tickets in Quito, we we're geared up and ready to go Saturday morning. You would probably think that a 5p.m. game wouldn't require us to get there much more than an hour or so ahead of time. However, as we made our way into the stadium around noon, we barely found enough open seats and the crowd was already extremely rowdy.

Me and Krysta (hour one of waiting for the game to start)

The flag that covered our whole section (hours 1 - 5, multiple times)

Erik rocks out, fully-dressed in Ecuador gear

Mike and Chet just before the opening kick off!

Unfortunately, as you probably already know, Ecuador lost 2 - 1 to Uruguay. Before we had enough time to marvel in the glory of scoring the first goal towards the end of the second half, Uruguay retaliated and somehow got themselves a penalty shot within mere seconds of the game ending. Though we were all disappointed, it was an amazing experience and tons of fun, even the five hours of basking in the sun playing cards.

Thanks to some advice from Seth, we'll be attempting to watch Wednesday's game against Chile in the teen center. Although our chances are slim since being pushed down into 6th place with 23 points (we need to be in at least 4th place to qualify for South Africa 2010), we're still hopeful!

Si Se Puede!

- Jackie

Fundraisers, Infomercials and Futbol

It might sound like these three topics don't mesh well together, but that, in chronological order, is exactly how we spent our weekend.  Mid-afternoon on Saturday we headed to a fundraiser for the church of Rumiloma.  The building had been knocked down sometime last year and the community has been slowly renovating it, but unable to get very far due to lack of funds.  As we walked into the courtyard and found a half dozen tents, a full band on a covered stage, and some of our favorite library kids running up to greet us.  We wandered through the crowd, some of us ordering Cuy while others watched a clown sporting over-sized plastic American flag shoes sing to a woman for her 100th birthday  (and shamelessly point out the ten gringos lingering in the background). 

Being greeted by some kids in the community

Watching the impressive (and well dressed!) band

Mike and Chet enjoy their cuy (a.k.a. guinea pig, an Ecuadorian delicacy) 

After stuffing ourselves with cuy and chochos we caught a bus into Quito to scalp some futbol tickets.  Although we're accustomed to people hopping on buses and sell everything from Bon Ice to historical dvds (guilty of buying both), the man that hopped on our bus had a talent that most lack.  I'm not sure if it was his thought-provoking riddles or straight up charm, but he somehow convinced at least half of the people on our bus, including Krysta, to buy a family indestructible tiny Snoopy keychains.  How do we know they were destructible, you might ask?  The salesman threw it on the bus floor (lick any of those lately to avoid going to Jersey, Seth?) and stomped all over it to demonstrate.  

A clan of snoopies... enough said.

The rest of us were happy to spend our allowance on futbol tickets, avoiding the ploys of a Billy Mays in the making.  La Liga Deportiva, the club team we've become partial to, played against el Deportivo de Quito.  Though our team lost 3-0, we thoroughly enjoyed waving around Liga flags and jumping around with the rest of the fans and chanting "esta noche tenemos que ganar!" (at least that's the only part of the cheer I remember). 

Liga fans loyally chanting for their team 

The girls attempt to chime in with the fight songs

Until next time, 

Jackie