Lustrabota Soccer Championship

On Saturday, David and I had the privilege of playing in a Bolivian shoe shiner soccer championship! It was the guys that shine in front of the Bisa bank vs. the guys that shine at the post office. David and I played with the Bisa guys. We met early in the morning and caught a bus out to a small town outside the city. The town was pretty fun - there was a lake, horseback riding, 4-wheelers, carnival rides, paddle books, and food! My team arrived at the field around 1030am. The other team was no where to be found so we waited around until they arrived. We finally started the game when Freddy arrived around 1230pm! The post office guys were still short on players, so a few of our guys played with them in exchange for a free lunch. We played 10 on 10. The game was really fun, somewhat intense, and pretty dangerous. The field we played on was ridiculous! It was completely uneven, full of holes (some the size of trenches), covered in rocks.... and had 2 sheep grazing around midfield. Insane. But that's Bolivian soccer for you! Anyways, the game was intense. It went scoreless for about the first 10 minutes and then I scored the first goal, putting the young Bisa team ahead! The score went back and forth well into the 2nd half. Then Charlie got taken out by Freddy and we were given a penalty kick. We scored and jumped into the lead 4-3. We fought hard, and ended in victory 5-3! It was pretty cool to see the young Bisa guys come out on top! They should have bragging rights over the older post office guys for quite a while! Viva la Bisa! After the game we celebrated with our 18 2-liters of soda and enjoyed some of the local activities! We took a boat across the lake and a few of us took a short horse ride! All in all, a fun and victorious day!