A-ZUL!!!!!

So, this past weekend we made the 2 hour trip back to Mexico City to set up our mexican bank accounts. All was going well until we got to the bank and they informed us that the computer system was down and that it would remain down until at least monday morning (so, in other words, they still may not have it up). Needless to say this kinda ruined our plans.

Well we were bummed for a little while, but on the metro ride home I was talking to Derek about how I really wanted to go see a soccer game sometime and how I wasn´t sure when I would get the chance. ¨Well,¨he said, ¨Cruz Azul has a game today.¨ So we went home looked up the time (5:00) and the cost (80 pesos , or about 8 dollars) and decided it would be a perfect use of our saturday evening.

We reached the stadium along with a swarm of blue(azul)-clad Mexicans. After some confusion at the gates we made it inside and found some good seats (they were comfortably shaped even though they were just concrete) on the upper level.

The game started strong with 2 goals in the first half - first a header by Cruz Azul that went of the post and then a scramble that ended up in a goal for Pachuca.

At half-time they had a ¨rodeo¨of sorts where contestents raced through a gauntlet of cowboys (who attempted to laso their feet) and then shot at a goal that was defended by the Cruz Azul mascot (a giant bunny). Haha! It was hilarious. Only 4 or 5 people ever made it through (out of like 15) and only 2 or 3 goals were scored. The rest of the time people would be bounding through the lines of lasos until one eventually caught and they hit the turf hard, haha. It was almost as entertaining as the game itself.

Anyway, the second half was a lot slower than the first half. There were no goals in the first 40 minutes. We bought some peanuts which we doused in lime (mexicans put lime on everything), and were happily entertained by a group of energetic youths who were roughhousing a few seats down from us. Some dark clouds were creeping in and we thought for sure we were going to get dumped on, but the rain never came. Finally, in extra time, Pachuca scored again during another scramble in front of the goal and the game was over.

Cruz Azul (the team I´ve decided to make my own) didn´t win, but we had a great time anyway. I should also mention that yesterday we went to see the Frida Kahlo museum and that was also sweet (haha, maybe this shouldn´t be a side note, but it´s hard to tell much about a museum). Now we have one more week of language school before some traveling with the CRs and finally our placements. Thanks for keeping up and keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. Hope life is good wherever you are. Peace.