Are you ready for some Fútbol!

As many of you know, the US lags behind the rest of the world in it's appreciation for futbol or as it is known in the states, soccer. In Ecuador, futbol is second only to Catholicism in popularity and even that might be a stretch. Everywhere we have been we have seen futbol being played. We have seen "balls" of all sizes and shapes (including plactic bottles), players of all ages (no joke) and fields of all sizes and surfaces. If you go to the big park in Loja on Sunday you are likely to see futbol games in all directions with overlapping fields and goals made of whatever is handy. We once counted about eight different games from one sitting position in one section of the park.

So in an attempt to be culturally sensitive, we have decided to embrace this aspect of Ecuadorian culture wholeheartedy (perhaps Ben more than Sara). This is best recognized in our regular attendence at the local professional matches which take place every other Friday at the stadium in town. Loja's team is in the "B" league which is sort of considered the minor leagues here. Every year the winning team moves to the upper division and the losing upper division team moves down.

Lucky for us, Liga de Loja is quite good this year, so the games have been really fun to watch. So far we have been to about 5 of them. One ticket in the preferred section (there is an awning over the stands) costs $5, the 20 oz. beers $1.25 and (if you're so inclined) you can buy a knock off t-shirt for another $5. You could be an instant fan for less than $12. That would barely get you a Coke at a Sounders game. The only downside is that the seats are just concrete stairs and, if you're not careful, you could sit in gum like Ben did last week.

Yes the picture is crappy but so is the photographer.

Our only disappointment is that we can't understand all of the insults and profanity that the fans shout at the refs. For them, this is a big part of the game. Last week, when Liga was losing 0-3, the game turned into a one upsmanship of insults since the fans were getting bored with being the losing team. It went on for a good 20 minutes. We could tell when someone said something funny because the entire crowd would laugh, including our friend Eduardo. Ben has a list of bad words that he has been studying in an effort to contribute more. When in Rome.....