Puebla FC vs. Toluca

So Saturday morning we rented a bus to take us to Puebla... we were driving around the center and to our surprise we saw Lauren and Emily walking down the street. We had been trying to get in touch with them all morning and it was just great luck to run into them. Adri and I ditched out and went shopping with them for the morning while everyone else went to look for a hostel. Adri and I had been planning on going to Taxco but because it was just the two of us we weren't allowed to go because we are supposed to travel in no less than groups of three. Adri and I changed our plans and decided to got to Puebla and hang out with our favorite girls from there. As soon as we got out of the bus we headed off to go shopping. At the first store we went to I bought most of the gifts I was planning on getting in Puebla. It was awesome. We wandered around for a while longer and were able to find a cool jersey for me and a few other odds and ends. It was just a nice afternoon in the sun with some friends. We went back to the park where we needed to catch a bus back to the school to meet everyone at 3 to go to the futbol game that night and got some lunch. While we were sitting on a park bench eating there were a few kids that came up to us and were trying to sell us things. We didn't buy anything from them and so they went back to playing on the fountain in the middle of the park. There was three of them a little boy around the age of 9 maybe 10 and a little girl probably 7 and then another little boy who was probably 5. We were sitting there and the little girl and the younger boy started to fight. They started hitting each other which then turned into kicking and pushing and got ugly really fast. The little girl pushed the 5 year old over and booted him really hard in the back. He started to scream and obviously in a lot of pain. When she had pushed him over his pants had fallen down and he had no underwear so this poor little boy is laying in the middle of the park with his bare bum hanging out and screaming because he just got booted in the back. Lauren jumped into action and ran over to comfort him and help him pull his pants up. She scolded the little girl and then ended up laughing and playing with the little boy for a bit. When she came back to sit on the bench with us the little girl went and pretended to kick the little boy again, he just started fake crying hoping that Lauren would come back. I sat there in total shock that the kids were there to fend for themselves. It was like a scene from a movie.

Adri and I jumped on the bus and went back to the school. When we got back to the school we looked at our watches and realized that Emily's watch was an hour fast. It was only 1:30 and we were supposed to meet everyone at 3:00. So we went into good old Suprema Salsa and there we sat for a long time. Neither of us were hungry because we had just gotten tacos from a stand in the park and so we ordered Horchata and waited. We played hang man, boxes, X's and O's and looked at pictures. Oh and we made lists of the gifts we still had to buy. I'm sure the waiters were sitting in there thinking "Stupid Gringas... they are just gonna sit there and drink Horchata, what a waste... they better give me a good tip" Oh well it ended up being a nice break. Adri needs to work on her 'sacrament meeting' game skills.... she beats me in everything else but I won every time. She came up with a pretty good hangman "Sponge Bob Square Pants" was pretty clever and took me quite a while to guess.

Waiting in Suprema Salsa with my delicious Horchata

On our way to the game

Wahoo!! LJ and I in front of the stadium

My ticket... Puebla FC vs. Toluca

Bethany with her annoying noise maker... we got into it!

At half time a whole bunch of men came up to us and wanted to take pictures with the gringas. If we didn't already have enough attention because we were white with light hair... we weren't sure what to say but then it just kinda happened, everyone started taking pictures. After like ten minutes other fans started getting mad at the guys so they started throwing things in our direction. It wasn't good! Finally people calmed down and the game started up again. I thought it would be a good plan to get up and leave the game early so we didn't have to fight with the crowds or deal with all the drunk men. We got up with a few minutes left in the game and I felt like the entire stadium started whistling at us. Shouting and cat calls came after all the whistles. It was nuts! Adri and I were in the back and kinda got separated from the group when we caught up all the girls were laughing but like us totally relieved to be out of the situation. It was a good thing there were 9 of us.

Well I thought that the game sucked, Puebla played awful and ended up losing 2-0. Toluca scored in the first 5 minutes of the game. I felt like I was watching a bunch of high school boys play against professionals. Toluca rocked them and I learned later that night that Toluca is rated #1 and Puebla is #7 or something. I was embarrassed to be wearing their jersey. Cruz Azul is my favorite team... I should have just sported that jersey. Oh well! It was fun to be part of the crowd, the fans are nuts and it was an adventure.

Sunday we spent the day at El Ranchito, Emily and Lauren's host family's restaurant. It was a nice relaxing day up in the mountains with the sun shining. It was nice, we had a really good lunch and enjoyed spending the day together. That evening while we were getting ready to go we were sitting with grandma and grandpa. Grandpa just recently got out of the hospital and he he had, had a fall and they thought he may have broken his hip. They had tried to make him comfortable on the couch and he was obviously still in pain but I think it was the best situation they could get him in. At one point grandma started to cry, she had been watching him shake and sit there in pain and it was hard for her. It broke my heart to see her watching the man she loved so much in so much pain. It was also a learning experience for me because she was still more concerned about me than her own needs simply because I was coughing and had a really bad headache. It was amazing to me how charitable and sweet she was.

Monday we spent the day shopping. It was great! We went out for breakfast and had delicious fruit and pancakes, and orange pineapple juice. Then we had some delicious orange carrot juice for lunch after shopping at El Parion for four or five hours and then we went for Applebee's for dinner. It was a totally awesome day. Teo came and picked us up and took us home and it was just a great weekend. Adri taught me a whole bunch of sexy spanish and I thought I had to give the family prayer in Spanish. I was terrified.... Adri wrote it out for me and I practiced and practiced. I think I picked up more Spanish this weekend than I have the whole time I've been down here in Mexico... it was wonderful. Lauren and Emily's family were so sweet and it was so nice to feel the spirit that was in their home.

Puebla Center