Futbol!

Big football match, a world cup qualifier. El Salvador is ranked 106th, and needs the win. They played the United States, currently ranked 17th; ES wasn't thought to have a chance. We trekked to San Sal to check it out. First we bought $5 tickets from a scalper for $20. General Admission at one of the several gates/sections of the stadium that can hold 60,000 people. It took a long time to get in. The police, decked in full riot gear, didn't want to let us into our zone, which is nicknamed 'Vietnam' and holds the most hardcore soccer fans. And apparently someone scalped a bunch of tickets, and the stadium was beyond capacity. People were pissed. Many had come from all over the country to see this match. One group busted through a gate, about 25 got in before the riot police formed a wall in front of the breach. When the cops locked all the doors, people started banging on them, screaming 'we paid for our tickets, let us in!' There were about 40 people at our door hoping for seats. One guy dumped a beer through the slit at the top of the solid metal slat that formed the gate, onto the cops just on the other side. They sidled out slowly, batons drawn, masks down, faces angry. 'Who did that? What's wrong with you? Do you want to get hurt?' People backed off, I got a little nervous, but mostly the cops were just angry. The Guatemalan that was our escort from La Libertad paid a $20 to a guy to try and get us in. While we waited, a sudden orgy of cheers erupted from the stadium, confetti flew into the light spilling out of the stadium, and we knew ES had just scored. Only 20 minutes in. Eventually we were let in, but we had to stand in the ramp to the actual bleachers. We walked in, overwhelmed by the crowd and the feeling of it all. People were amped, their team was up 1-0. Good for us, because if we had walked in during the opposite situation we probably would have gotten the shit kicked out of us. Actually, we probably wouldn't have gotten in at all. As we stood there, our host exchanged words with the cops just behind us. He looked at me, and back at them, and then put his blue ES cat-in-the-hat floppy top hat on my head. 'You'd better wear this,' he said.

I don't like watching soccer, it's boring, even during World Cup I come in at halftime and watch the recap. But this game went fast, it was fun. ES scored again at the beginning of the second half, and people were really out of their seats, 2-0 is a big spread in football. The home-field advantage was working to its utmost, as people cried 'miedo!' (fear!) when the US kicked the ball out of bounds to shut down a play. This was accompanied by a talking hand, which meant that the other team was scared, but literally was a chicken's asshole(!).

At halftime I noticed my feet getting wet, and turned to look up the ramp and see 10 Salvadorians with their dicks out, creating a river of piss against the wall where I was standing. Ah, beer.

After the second goal the US seemed to say, 'OK, fuck this,' and really stepped it up. They scored a goal with ease, with about 20 minutes left to play. But still looking good for ES. About 5 minutes left, and our host told us we needed to go. 'There could be a riot,' he said, and I believed him. The fans were throwing bags of piss, and beer cans, and whatever else was nearby (not at us, generally - fortunately). On our walk back, a guy on crutches tried to attack us. 'You motherfuckers, I'll kill you! Come back here and suck my dick! Fuck you!' We didn't really understand, but it was kinda funny since he was on crutches. When we got back to our cars, we saw people passing by, from the game, looking dejected. The US had scored again in the last few minutes. Since it was a World Cup qualifier, there was no shoot-out, the point went to the team higher up the ladder. The US. A bad day for Salvadorians. Football is an extension of the national identity, in a small country that sometimes feels besieged, especially by the shadow of the United States.

I moved into a house in El Tunco, with two Israelis (Guy and Matan), plus three girls, one from Austria (Sophie), one from Germany (Julie), and one from France (Lucie). It's a lot more fun than I was having, and we cook a lot. Lucie's dad is a chef (of course) and Sophie is a good cook for being 19. Lucie is 25 I think; Julie 30. Guy I don't know, he left the day after I moved in, I think Matan is 22 or so, young. Not the most fun ever, I don't feel so close to the group, but more fun than being by myself in Sunzal.

So yeah, the house was in town a short walk from the beach, good kitchen, a couple rooms (one for guys and one for girls), hot and buggy at night, but pretty nice all around. It's hard coming into a group where you're the new person, I felt like Matan had a relationship worked out with the girls, and the 3 girls were fairly insular with themselves, or just seemed closer with each other than with the guys in the house. Anyways, it was a bit rough at first, but we settled into a pattern after a few days.

I managed to cut my other foot surfing, in the exact same spot as the first foot. More iodine! The waves have been insane, huge tides with crazy rips, lugging huge chunks of concrete and large rocks ashore. I didn't know about the concrete until I ran over it with my board. Bummer. I need a day off anyways, my rotator cuffs feel like they're taking a real pounding, and I don't want to stress them out too much, especially since I tore the left one last year. I switched to a long board, and it's more fun for sure. Easier to paddle, easier to catch waves (which I sometimes do. Foam is fun to ride, too).

I'm probably going to trek down to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, with the girls next week, and work my way north back to Honduras before heading home. It's a day on the bus, not really so far. I'm so used to South American countries which are so big. I came all the way here, may as well check some shit out! Semana Santa, Easter celebrations, are next week. The girls have picked San Juan as the place to be. I may not stay through the week, we'll see.