¡El Dia de FUTBOL!

Rarely is a day filled with two losses so enjoyable...
Before I get to today´s post, I should probably thank Laura for being a willing companion in today´s football madness, muchas gracias señora, muchas gracias...
1) El Juego De Futbol Numero Uno (the appetizer) fue a las Doce de la tarde: Lucky for us, the Ecuadorian football league is in full swing... and today, mighty Cuenca hosted rival Guayaquil, who currently possess the top spot of the Ecuadorian table (though it has been plausibly asserted by some that Quito plays the most beautiful futbol in Ecuador, at least this year)... the final score was a bit anticlimatic with a one-zero loss favoring the current table holders of Guayaquil, but the game was lots of fun nonetheless...



Before the game we were advised to sit in the $15 section for our comfort and safety versus the general section with ¨la gente¨for a fiver... always employing the utmost caution, we waited until we got to the stadium to see what the vibe was like... we opted to sit with ¨la gente¨and bought two tickets that looked like high school lottery tickets- we were not sure they would work until we were inside... not only did they work, we each got a free pack of sunflower seeds with each ticket... the section was totally safe, though it was cement rows with no backs, but hey, as mentioned before, we did get free sunflower seeds! and it looked like the $15 section was exactly the same except under a cement roof (a la the ¨con sombrero¨section in Costa Rica eh phil?) and las personas pobres cannot afford to enter... the quality of play was so so, i would say on par with middle of the pack to the upper echelon of MLS teams, though there was one jugador on the visiting team who wore neon boots and always seemed to be causing trouble and looked very skilled, much like each MLS team typically has at least one standout, if you are going to rock the neon boots while the rest of the team wears more modest black you better be good no?... in any event, the crowd was lively and there were beautiful views from the seats (see above photos), you could actually see la catedral, las montañas, a nearby school, etc... so, with the game looking solidly in Guayaquil´s hands, we ducked out 10 minutes early to...

2) ¨Locos por Futbol¨, a bar and lunch spot (the Norton´s Vault of cuenca, if you will) that was recommended to us by our host family, we had front row seats to our own big screen to watch the valliant valliant valliant effort of los Americanos, Los Estaods Unidos! For those that have not been following along, the USA stunned Spain, the best team in the world (at the moment) 2 nill in the semifinals of the Confederation´s Cup in South Africa, featuring many of the best teams in the world, including the eventual champions: Brazil. The first day Laura and I arrived to Cuenca, was the same day the USA beat Spain and, surprisingly, many people in Cuenca were discussing the game, i had not seen it, and was encouraged by many peoples´ comments that not only did the US win, but that they looked great doing so... que bien... We arrived at the bar with the USA up 1-0 from the creative and skilled goal by Dempsey (Phil can tell you a great Fulham chant involving Dempsey, just ask him)... we were happily surprised by the incredible run and goal by Donovan, when he plays like that, he can play with anyone... there was a nice Ecuadorian couple who had also been on our double play domingo futbol action at the local Cuenca match that had high praise for Donovan, as soon as they arrived they said: ¨where is Donovan?¨, within minutes he had scored the goal (not dissimilar to Phil´s high hopes for Dempsey)... alas, mighty Brazil eventually bested los americans and the stunning Tim Howard, but nonetheless, how far the USA came from losing to Honduras a few weeks ago, no?

At the end of the day of football, a day filled with two losses, all I can say was it was a great day, it appears many of mi amigos americanos watched today too, and i think we would all agree that we were very proud of the lads, as phil would say, and to answer Lars´s question in an email... absolutamente!, the Ecuadorians were amped for the Confederations cup and were really very supportive of los americanos, we have already met many Ecuadorians who have lived in New York for a few years, have cousins in the States who send cashish back home, etc., also many in Toronto, though that´s obviously not in the States... so the Americans get a nice reception in Ecuador...

¡viva el futbol! ¡viva los americanos!

spanish classes start again tomorrow...

hasta luego,

esteban y laura

¡Cuenca esta chevere!

So, we made it to Cuenca, Ecuador (which is in the souther highlands) without a hitch. We flew here on TAME which was a much better experience than most American airlines. We even got sandwiches, on our 45 minute flight! Amazing! (though, we´re still only partially sure what was in those sandwhiches, hmmmm...)
Our host madre met us at the airport. She was muy simpatico (very nice) right from the start. She welcomed us into her home and we felt like part of the family right away. The homestay has helped our Spanish immensely. We take classes in the afternoon which have also proved to be helpful. But, the most important thing is that we are forced to think and speak in Spanish most of the day & night. This has accelerated our learning process greatly. We have enjoyed spending time with the family, Rocio (madre), Jorge (padre), Rafael (hijo, 24 años), Jorge Adrian (hijo, 26 años). Rafael is married to Soledad and they have little Louis Antonio (2 años) - pictured below, tiene mi corazon (per Laura).

Oh, and we can not forget Puchini y Madona (los dos peros). Puchini esta bueno en la mañana y esta malo en la tarde. Le Puchini esta bipolar (their words, not mine, but they are correcto).
We are really enjoying the city of Cuenca as well. It is very picturesque with large plazas, grand cathedrals and cobblestone streets. The people here are very friendly and helpful, especially when we speak to them in our elementary Spanish.

(view of Cuenca from our balcony)

There are also many activities and things to do outside of Cuenca. Today we went to Ingapirca, which is a pre-Inca/Inca archeological site. It was very interesting to hear about the history of this special site. Incapirca was a nice appetizer for the main course of Machu Pichu to come in a few weeks...


p.s. chevere = cool. Steve is learning the local slang from Raphi.

Ecuador!

(our hostel)

We (Lau-ooh-ra and Esteban) arrived in Quito safe and sound yesterday evening a bit before 23:00 after a brief (briefer than expected!) layover in Atlanta, where our biggest entertainment was a row of payphones (yes, they still have those) dominated by Mormon missonaires phoning home before they embarked on their missions to who knows where... For the first time in my entire life, listening to the announcements on the airport speakers paid off as I faintly overheard that last call was being announced for our Quito flight 40 minutes early!, we said good bye to the missionairies, raced to the plane, only to find out we were 20th in line for takeoff, glad they rushed it...

Our biggest adventure of the evening involved the innagraul test of the nifty water purifying gadget that the Gelbergs procured in Santa Barbara and skeptical Harris confirmed the efficacy of via an online study by what we hope were respectable md´s... passing Harris´s google test, we went in for the real thing... (SO FAR SO GOOD!)

Today (Martes) we headed over to the potentially very useful South American Explorers club that has free internet for us in all the major cities we will be visiting (which will help us keep in touch) and a bunch of other nice amenities which should make our travels easier, more productive and more enjoyable. This also put us conveniently near Quito Nuevo and a section of town dubbed ¨Gringolandia¨ (think Rosarito in Ecuador), its like backpackers disneyland. There were some useful shops nearby and not far from Quito´s ¨Fisherman´s Wharf¨or ¨Union Square¨was una calle full of local Quitenos walking around in suits and work clothes, local students, some tourists, etc. This area holds more promise. More or less, today was about getting a feel for Quito. Though Gringolandia wasn´t all bad...

Oh, and we booked our flight to Cuenca... we will be headed there tomorrow for a homestay and a week of Spanish instruction with a bit of fun and sightseeing mixed in. There is a nearby town of Inca ruins which is supposed to be relatively easy to reach and cool, we´ll test both of those hypothses in the coming weeks...

p.s. for the footie fan followers of this blog, Phil, dempsey is on the main us soccer page ahead of the match v spain tomorrow, good luck americanos, make it respectable...

http://www.ussoccer.com/