On Saturday night, I headed to a futbol (soccer) match between the one of the local Medellin teams, Nacional and Uniautónoma, a team from Baranquilla (hometown of Shakira and Sofia Vegara so basically everyone is beautiful). It was apparently a big match and I was suppperrr excited to goo because even if I didn't knoww anything about the players or leagues, I know Colombians love their soccer (futbol) and they love to party! :) And I was nottt disappointed.
I had my hostel arrange everything, so a van picked me and Max up at around 6ish... when we got in, I saw the Dutch dudes we met in Cartagena. Apparently a few of them wagered 100Euros on Nacional winning the match. The local guy in the van was giving us a rundown about the team's current standing. Apparently Medellin has two soccer teams, the other being Independiente but Nacional is the better of the two, and considered the second best soccer team in South America. Anyway, when we got to the stadium, I bought a Nacional shirt for $8 (bandwagon fan hollerrr.) When we got to our seats, they were covered with water since it was raining in the afternoon. Luckily, they sold plastic bag covers and NON-ALCOHOLIC beer (blasphemy.. i was severely disappointed) so one of the guys graciously bought a plastic cover, which our butts all shared.
There were apparently 28,000 excited, not very drunk people at the stadium. Most of the hardcore fans/season ticket holders were sitting at the opposite side of us, but we notice a small, rather rambunctious (fuck yeah SAT word) section sitting on our side. I had to peee soooo badly during the first half, but i didn't wanaa miss a second, so I held it in and sped down to the bathroom after 45 minutes was up. When I got back, a few of us decided to sneak over to the fan section on our side after halftime, where we were treated like celebrities... probably because we stuck out like sore thumbs, being blonde/Asian butttt it was awesomeeee. Everyone was so excited and happy that we were thereeee. They were smiling at us, asking us where we were from, and wildly waving their flags & umbrellas, tossing balloons, singing songs, and jumping and clapping the whole time. I call it the Colombian workout plan cus all the guys are skinny little twigs.
Nacional was leading at first and everyone was happy, then the other team scored and everyone was quiet for like one second and then they continued to sing and clap. It made me think of something our tour guide said the other day... Colombians tend to forget the bad things from the past and instead live in the happy moments of the present.. and of course, hope for a better future... which is something I think we should all do a little more of!
The match ended in a a draw, which was a little disappointing, but everyone left in decent spirits (at least from what I saw.) Later on our guide explained to me that the group of fans sitting on our side were ex-communicated from the big fan section because they umm.. killed someone. Which of course, surprised me and all the other peeps I was with cus the dudes were sooo nice. I never felt intimidated or unsafe at any time during the match.. the guy below even gave me a kiss on the cheek at the end haha.
Anyway, I was supposed to be responsible and stay in and wake up nice and early to go to Guatape, a tiny town outside of Medellin. There was apparently supposed to be a prohibition on the sale of alcohol this Saturday and Sunday because of elections, which was going to help keep me in, but they lifted the ban, which meant I had an abrupt change of plans. We went to the park to drink our adult juice boxes and indulge in other vices which I cannot name hereeee.. and while I had initially planned on going out for a few hours, all of a sudden I looked at my phone and it was 4AM and there was no way i was waking up in 2 hours. I felt really guilty ditching Max, who acted like a responsible adult and stayed in, but i guess I'm on a permanent vacation, so i'm in no rush. I'm really enjoying Medellin a tonnnnn.... even with the rain :)
amazing drunk food
no drinking cus of the elections?!?!