August 7th – seriously, that was the date of my last post finding the dear pooch mentioned in the last blog, as I am starting at an August 23rd date wondering where the time went!  A – Maz -ing – flying by! In that time span, a thousand events seem to have progressed by!

Following acquiring a sweet and obedient-positioned dog, Wednesday brought on the chance to go to the United State vs Mexico futbol game, and I was thinking there would be a 1 in 75 chance we would get tickets.  Then, going onto Ticketmaster for the first time in Mexico, traveling to Polanco to obtain my new credit card since the trip from DE to Mexico and my original not really working, I was able to purchase tickets for four to attend the futbol game here in Mexico…and we got them!   I was geared up the whole time, then realized the day of I had no idea how to get there…:)  Through the wise sage Moct at the Upper School Library, we realized we rode the end of the blue line, then crossed onto another from of transportation, the rail train, which took us to Azteca Stadium for the game at 7:00 PM.

I was amazed at the crowd that had gathered for the train, but even more amazed that we found every nook and cranny in the train to fit.  We literally spilled out at the Azteca Stadium entrance, and the site of so many vendors crowding the path on the way to the stadium was – amazing…we found ourselves passing sites of entertainment like swings that you usually see at a fair that trampoline like and suspend you high in the air, with models showcasing them that looked like they just walked off a stage, this was truly a show inside and out.

We made our way into the stadium, the whole way I am marveling at the enormous size of the stadium making our way up into what seemed would be peanut heaven.  Arriving in our section, we realized, “Hey, we are United States and Canada represented here (Julienne, Nena, me and Deborah) and Mexico is playing the United States!  That was when we saw the four people in front of us give us the sign as if they were going to lie us in our sleep knowing we might be the only individuals from the United States in the stands in this section But…..at least those four people were smiling when they gave us that death sign?!

What do you do, cheer for the U.S, or cheer for Mexico, never thought I would need to be in this dilemma, I started rooting for the U.S, but then seeing their uniforms resembled a barbershop quartet, and seeing anxious glances our way to see who we were rooting for, I was pulling for Mexico as I lived here now, and Mexico had just won the gold in futbol!  We did this cool trance-like futbol chant when it was the goalie’s turn to send out the ball – and by the end, we saw Mexico fall to the U.S, 1-0, a little diconcerting.  However, the fireworks that went off, as well as the parading on the field of the Mexican team that had brought home the goal was amazing – and very unexpected but amazing just the same.

The whole night had an air of excitement – including the thrown items.  Yes, we were high up, but we realizing aside from being able to see the game perfectly, we also escaped the items that fans hurled down below them when they were upset.  I totally mean HURL.  Pizza boxes, items of chicken, pizza, full glasses of beer, full glasses of a substance that looked that beer that was NOT beer, you named it, anything within reach would end up flying below us to the crowds below – it was kind of like the Gong Show, or some other type of strange warped show, where the judging of the largest object to be thrown, or most full, would catch us by surprise, but wow….I realized we were smart for cheering for Mexico AND for sitting in these seats!  🙂  We were rooted int he seats until the end, and then looked around dubiously as we realized that the U.S. won and we were the obvious American leaving the stadium, lol.  The four that had heckled us on the way in asking us for a photo on the way out, and we did the photo shoot with a beautiful view of the city behind us from the stadium. amazing night, I mean amazing.  Did I mention the belt guy?

Going into the stadium if you are wearing a belt, you have to take off your belt, and a number is put on it where you can come back out and claim it after the game.  No kidding, I realized if people were going to throw the items they did on the crowds below, the belt lashing was game as well.  Leaving, we saw the “belt line” looked longer than the ticket line or train line coming in!  LOL but after 10 minutes, wow, belt in hand, Julienne was amazed as I he was able to claim back his same belt!  The way out we noticed the Mexico fan were better fans at losing a match than any American fan, still dancing and singing and celebrating their gold win at the Olympics.  On the way out we had the best meal at a stand of meat and torta stuffed ingredients, I can still taste it!  If we thought this had been an exciting night, we didn’t know what was in store as we boarded the train…