Don´t go chasing waterfalls

Proudly showing off blue and white Victoria team jerseys the whole lot of us volunteers kicked off the night to a passionate start at the local futbol game. 8 of us jumped into a toyoto tercel taxi, and 15 of us in total apon arrival you could say we were like an dancing army as we jumped up and down while chanting in the stands. You have to understand that soccer isn´t just a game here, it´s a way of life. The people are very passionate and dedicated to their favourite teams, to a point where it can sometimes be dangerous. Every game we stand in what one might call the craziest section ever. We stand (and I mean stand, sitting doesn´t occur in this section)amongst the diehard fans. With 2 beers in every volunteers hands, thrusting our arms up in the air, a jump in our step, and grove to the continuous beat of the fan club drum we were definitely more than ready to rock and roll. When I say this section is crazy I mean crazy. You spend most of the game just participating in the crowd, enjoying the atmosphere, the intsity of all the action around you. I swear that the most hardcore fans don´t even watch most of the game becuase they are way to preoccupied with pushing each other around, running up and down the stairs, throwing fire crackers, newspaper confetti and toilet paper over the stands and onto the field. Next thing you know you are getting pushed around, half your beer has ended up on your shirt and your moving quickly to get out of the way. After that we´re making best friends with the little rascals hanging out in our section, I already have one child hanging off my back and playing hand games with another. Child fans adorned in fan club shirts and growing up singing to the team chants, and of course there´s vulgar language included. You can´t help but love the children here, they will immediately gravitate towards you and become your best friend all within about five minutes of meeting. Suddenly the police and military show up in our section wieghed down with massive m16s. Not sure what exactly occured that required their presence, but definitely on a power trip. However I can say that their presence is needed at the games for the numerous fights and brawls that occur between opposing fans! With all the excitement of the game the lot of us took off, and quickly so to escape people throwing rocks at opposing fan members. Soon enough we were back to the apartment with some east coast music, and maybe a little Billy Jean to get everyone into their dancing shoes! We had a hoot at our place a pre party to prepare us for the local dance club. We had a good crowd show up, all of the volunteers and a bunch of locals which always makes for a great mix. And if we needed anything else of course we could just run over to ¨grandmas¨, the little old lady that sells beer, cigarettes and cell minutes out of her house across the street from us. Hillarious.

As if last night wasn´t fun enough, we had an amazing day today! After a delicious homemade brunch with the 10 of us that all crashed at my place we all hitch hiked up to Pico Bonito mountain. All the way up I lead everyone in repeat after me camp songs to add a little oomph as we prepared to venture off into the jungle. First we had to cross one of those really cool springy bridges like in the Panda Adventure movie that rocks back and forth as you cross and then we climbed up the mountain through the jungle of twisting vines and colourful butterflies to be amazed by one of the most breathtakingly beautiful waterfalls! This waterfall was so huge we couldn´t even see the top of it! The pressure of the water falling down on us was so intense that in some spots it felt like you were being slapped! I looked like gollum from LOTR climbing and crawling over the slippery rocks. I felt so rejuvinated, refreshed, alive and connected with mother nature! Looking out from the waterfall we could see green jungle as far as the eye could see, the river rapids flowing way down below and the ocean in the distance. On the way to the waterfall I found a really cool giant leaf the same height as me! It looked to have been previously cut off and so of course the leaf and I quickly became best friends and I carried it all the way back here to the city with me, where now Im going to hang it to dry..a good souvenir i´d say. Point of story: this day was definitely in my top 10 coolest days.