Ecuador loves Fútbol

So I joined a soccer team at the Universidad Catholical. We practice every day 5:30-8:30, although I’m sure how much I will be able to go because it ends after dark and there is not a bus I can take directly home, so I take a bus halfway home and then take a taxi the rest of the way. The team is combined with the boys team, so it’s about 30 guys and 8 girls. Sometimes we practice all together and sometimes we split up. Of course my first day at practice, my first drill the coach (Coco such a sweetheart) picks me to give a demonstration of the drill in front of EVERYONE… luckily soccer drills worldwide are all pretty similar so it wasn’t too hard for me to figure out… but I was freaking out!

Speaking more of fútbol/soccer… I went to my first game today! It was so intense! I love how passionate the people here are about soccer! I went to Barcelona vs some smaller team from Quito (Barcelona is Guayaquil). My family is HUGE Barcelona fans, so my brother and sister came…I learned quite a few new Spanish words from him during the game :)

Friday, I went and explored El Centro Histrico, which is FILLED with churches, one is made completely out of gold on the inside! We climbed the bell tower of the Basilica del Voto Nacional which gives you amazing views of the city. I learned a lot about the bus system too, which I am finally starting to understand a bit...

This morning I got up super early (after a very LATE night of dancing) to go biking with Diego, my cousin’s boyfriend… we went to Parque Metropolutano. This park is up in the mountains a bit and is huge! Its filled with forest, curvy paths, beautiful views of Quito. The biking was pretty extreme, down tiny curvy dirt roads. This was my first morning of “training” because in two weeks Diego asked me to join his team for this race called Quito Aventura. I guess its some sort of 40km race ( 10km navigating through mountains and 30km mountain biking) Which after today I am quite nervous for this biking part, I guess I’m nervous for nativagating through the mountains with a Spanish map and two guys that only speak Spanish also… Vamos a ver! And if I like this there is another one that is more intense on the 20th with rock climbing and repealing and biking and navigating. So we’ll see how this first goes… March 6th…

Tomorrow I will be heading on a two day trip with my microfinance class of 5 other people to check out some cooperativas in Provincia Cotopaxi… hopefully I will get a better idea of what I want to do for my internship…

Hasta Luego!

P.S. Happy 91st birthday Nana! I’m so glad you’ve been reading this! LOVEYA!