Honduras vs. Jamaica fútbol

Sarah, Manuel (our taxi driver), John, and me

Wow. How I wish I had a video camera here so I could have shown you all this night. Honduras played Jamaica in soccer.

We have a taxi driver, Manuel, who takes us to and from school everyday. On the 2nd day of school we randomly flagged him down in front of our house because we still didn't have transportation to school, so we had to find a taxi every morning. We asked him if he could pick us up every day and so, now he does. He doesn't speak a word of English, not even goodbye or good morning (though he's slowly learning because we are tutoring him). Its great for us because we have to practice our Spanish a lot with him and he is really patient. So he invited us to watch the game with him and his family at his house tonight.

Manuel picked us up at 7 from our house and we was extremely excited about the game. He was talking SO fast that we couldn't understand a word he was saying. We just nodded and smiled mostly. Per usual, he stopped somewhere without telling us why and told us to wait in the car. He came back a few minutes later with hamburgers to go.

His house is really big and very well decorated and furnished. They have a beautiful dining room with a wooden table and cabinet and a lot of other decorative stuff. His mother and father live in this first floor. Manuel, his wife, and his two little daughters live upstairs. We sat outside on the porch to watch the game. He gave us all hambugers, which were delicious, and we sat and talked (or tried to, anyway) until the game started. His older daughter who i think is 8 or 9, came and sat with us and told us the english words she knows: "what is your name, be quiet, dog, cat." Later she came out and gave me and Sarah bracelets as gifts. She was such a sweetheart. Manuel's mother, Ester, was incredibly nice, in that overbearing mother kind of way. She told us that we are always welcome at the house and they would like to have us over again. Manuel's father talked with us as well, he was really excited about the game.

So the game started and went on with a lot of yelling, jumping up, and laughing from Manuel and his dad, and us sometimes as well. My cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much during the game. Honduras won, 2-0. It was so exciting every time honduras scored a goal and Manuel's father would come out with his shirt unbuttoned and his huge belly showing and screaming in excitement. Every time Honduras scored a goal we could hear fire crackers going off all over the town (fire crackers for everything here, EVERYTHING).

After the game was over, we got into Manuel's taxi and he started to drive us home. On the way home we ended up behind a pick up truck with 15 people riding in the back who had a huge honduras flag and honduras soccer jerseys. They were yelling and celebrating and honking the horn, so Manuel decided to follow them and he honked the horn as well and we were yelling out the windows. Soon, we were in a line of about 10 cars all honking, with their flashers on, flashing the brights, with screaming, laughing, happy people. Manuel was screaming out the window for everyone to wake up, "Don't sleep! Wake up!" For 30 minutes we drove all around Santa Rosa in this caravan of celebration. Seriously, what an experience. My muscles in my face are sore from laughing.
Sarah took some videos and I will try to put them up on the internet so you guys can see a little bit of what I experienced tonight!

Now I am exhausted and need to plan for my lessons tomorrow. Manuel invited us to go back to his house for the next Honduras game which is in October. I seriously can't wait.