colo colo!!!

so this week has been pretty cool.  i joined a gym really close to the house so i can walk there, which is cool.  i have lots of free time, which i am not accustomed to since i usually work 2 jobs in the states and in mexico we had hours in the afternoon that we had to work also.  here i work until 1pm each day and then i am free.  clearly, as a teacher, i spent loads of time creating lessons and materials from scratch - but still i have lots of free time in the afternoons.  the gym is a good diversion and is helping me work off all that bread and meat im eating!!!

wednesday there was a soccer game, between Colo-Colo and Universidad de Chile, rival teams of chile.  my brother cristian is for chile and everyone else is for colo colo.  well we went to the game, and i sat with the big crowd of colineros while cristian and marcelo (our dad) sat in the chile section.  as you may or may not be aware, the concept of time south of the border is flexible, to be kind.  when people say "now" they usually mean "anytime within these 24 hours"  and arriving to anything an hour or 2 after it was supposed to start is completely normal.  EXCEPT for a soccer game.  

the fam rocking colo colo flag!

we arrived at 6pm and the game started at 10pm.  we got there early because the stadium fills up and we wanted good seats, which we did get.  but for 2 hours we just sat in the stands.  i was definitely getting bored.  by 8pm a band "la noche" came out and sang, which was really entertaining.  and the game was originally supposed to start at 9pm.  well after the band left, they had a middle school soccer team play a mini game to keep the crowd semi interested. finally around 10pm the teams came to the field and proceeded to take millions of pictures before the game.  ugh the waiting!!!!  but once it started it was really really cool.  soccer fans are crazy! mexico doesn't compare at all in this department.  you have to enter the stadium according to your team and everyone knows and abides by this rule.  they actually block off the road so people can't go into the bleachers of the other team and there are barricades between bleachers so people can't cross once inside.  there are tons of police and tons of riot police standing by.  additionally, at the end of the game they only let out one side of fans at a time, the other side has to wait until the other side has pretty much cleared out.  sounds crazy, but seeing how passionate they are with all these restrictions makes one wonder what it would be like without them.  oh AND they dont sell alcohol at the games either, what a concept!

during the game some people from the chile bleachers hopped the fence and tore down flags from the colo colo fans.  the colo colo fans BROKE the barricades and ran to the other set of bleachers to start fighting.  it was crazy.  i was scared for a minute watching it, but we were sitting in the "neutral" section nearish the colo but far away and separated by cement walls that couldn't be broken down.  but you should see people respect the cops here without any question, another difference from mexico. 

yes that is two of the many cops on horseback monitoring the crowd.

the coolest part of the game - well actually there were 2 parts.  the beginning because when the teams come out onto the field the fans shoot fireworks and confetti like it is july 4th, you have never seen anything like it before.   this video is how the team is celebrated before they even start playing!  if celebrating your team is like our independence day, what is independence day like you ask?  well i will tell you - the entire country has off for 5 whole days to celebrate.  that will be coming in the end of september!!!

back to my story... the other cool part of the game was the very last 2 mins of the game, colo colo (my team) was losing 2-0 and they finally scored a goal in the last minute to regain some dignity.  it was the best!!!  although it sucked at first, it was totally worth the wait!

the rest of the week was normal, school and hanging with the family in the afternoon and evening.  today we went to a beach house owned by some relative.  it was gorgeous.  we stopped first at "la portada" which is this cool geological formation in the ocean that looks like a big door.  the mountains and ocean narrowed closer on the drive to the beach and it was such a magnificent view.  

my mom, pamela, bro cristian and i at the portada.

we arrived a bit later at the beach house and spent all day hanging on the deck eating and relaxing.  the house was built by my mom's uncle's father years ago.  it is 2 floors with a mini kitchen and 2 bathrooms and a few rooms with beds.  simple but all you need.  

the thing to do in towns with mountains is to write the name of the town on the side of the mtn with rocks and the name of this particular beach is "juan lopez".  my mom's uncle and his family were the first to write the town's name on the mtn way back when.  more recently my brothers, cousins, and sister rewrote it with bigger, brighter rocks.

moutain with juan lopez written on it

the kids took me for a walk around the beach and to the other side of this mini mountain.  the ocean was calm and the weather was perfect, windy but brisk.  we walked to the top of the mini mountain and saw up close and personal the "juan lopez" they wrote.  

aaron and i at the top of previously shown mini mountain.

all in all it was a very relaxing day with a more than impressive view of the ocean and desert.