We are the Champions

Real Juventud is the division II futbol (aka soccer) team in Santa Bárbara. The players come from all over Honduras to play for the team and for the since their creation they have remained a division II team. However, last Friday night they won the division II championships for the second season in a row and therefore were able to move up to division I, making Santa Barbara very proud to have a division I futbol team! Katie and I went to the game and it was incredibly exciting. People started arriving 3-4 hours before the game started to get seats but Katie and I decided that we didn’t necessarily need to sit down so we arrived about 1.5 hours before it started and stood at the fence separating the field (which I personally think is a great view).

The stands were packed with crazed fans…

The riot police were ready…


And the hot dogs were hot… and the beer was cold...The other team scored in the first half and Real kept missing shots. We started to get nervous…Theyn in the second half they scored their first goal and then with about five minutes left of the game they scored a second goal, winning 2-1! Everyone exploded with excitement, climbed the fences, rushed the field, grabbed the trophy and went crazy.
Luckily it was all in good spirits and the riot police were not necessary. The other team kinda just stood around and I didn’t even see any of their fans. After the field settled down a little Nineth and I made out way out to congratulate the players.

Nineth & me

On of the most exciting parts of the game was the fact that Katie and I knew a number of the players, so it made it much more personal. Also, people seemed to love the fact that we were Americans supporting the team (Afitrionas Americanas). They interviewed us and I had a number of people tell me they saw me on TV.

This is Frijole, the goalie (and no, that is not his real name).

Afterward they had a caravan of cars all around the city and to neighboring towns to pick people up to go downtown for the celebration. They caravan was headed by the fire truck with about 30 people hanging off of it and was followed by motorcycles and trucks full of people, half of which were probably drunk (yes, incredibly dangerous and illegal).

Luckily there were no incidents and nobody got hurt. Then we all ended up in the center of town where there was a band playing. Overall it was such an exciting night and it made me so proud of Santa Barbara. I couldn’t stay out too late though because I had to get up early the next day and save my energy for carnival.