Futbol in Cochabamba!

This weekend was fantastic! Me and the other 5 SALTers managed to plan a trip to the famous Ruins about 3 hours away from Cochabamba. It was so beautiful! There was so much to see and so much history to hear. We were in the sun all day, so I felt a bit sick when I got home. Apparently we are only supposed to be in the sun for 30 minutes out here.. but we were outside for about 6 hours! My host mom lent me her sombrero for the day. Those are really in style here! Yesterday (Sunday) we went to the market to have breakfast with Noami (one of the spanish teachers from our language school). Noami actually did IVEP years ago and was in Rosthern, SK so we made the connection that she knows Evan (my cousin).. crazy! Anyways, we then went to her church. We got there and were introduced to the entire church. My spanish is coming along, I managed to understand the songs but was no where close to understanding the sermon. I pick up words here and there but I´m sure that will improve. After church we climbed up to El Cristo... the famous statue of Jesus on a hill overlooking Cochabamba. It was beautiful! We got to then climb up the Statue which had a great view! I will post pictures once I get back into Santa Cruz. In the afternoon we then we to the futbol game against the two Cochabamba teams (Aurora vs. Whilsteern). It was the greatest thing. My host family told me to cheer for the blue team, but pretty much everyone was cheering for the red team. In the end the blue team pulled through for a 2-1 win! It was pretty sweet. I think the futbol players here are much more dramatic than other soccer games I have seen- although that isn´t that many. I almost started to count how many times a player would fall to the ground after they kicked the ball and rolled around in ¨pain¨when really all they wanted was a foul. There were six times when the medics ran out with stretchers for the hurt players and every time once the stretcher came to them they would suddenly get up and start playing again. Very interesting. People were throwing fireworks and garbage bags full of wripped up paper that they would throw during the game. I found it very interesting that there were police men with shields to protect the players from getting hit by water bottles. I hope to get to see some more games while I am here. We are in Cochabamba for the next 2 weeks for spanish lessons. During the afternoons we usually go out and explore the city! Things are going well and I continue to ask for your ongoing thoughts and prayers!
Much love!