Olé, Olé, Olé

Today, I played in my first chamusca in my community! I’ve been waiting for this day since I arrived in Guatemala. A “chamusca” is the Guatemalan term for an informal, soccer game. It comes from the word chamuscar, which means to singe. Many, many years ago, in some of the poorest areas, kids would ball up panty hose, cloth, and paper to make a soccer ball. For the last goal of the game, they would light the ball on fire and play until a goal was scored or it burnt out. Luckily, my first chamusca didn’t involve any fire, except for the volcano, El Fuego, that was erupting miles away from us.

It took me 15 days in site to work up the courage to get involved in a chamusca. Everyday that I got out of Spanish class, I would stare longingly at the groups of boys playing soccer games on the fields near my house. My community actually has 3 soccer fields! But calling the other two fields is being generous. One “field” is a cement, basketball court with two makeshift goals under the basketball hoops and the other is a gravel lot with metal poles for soccer goals. These games are so fun to watch. But I decided a gravel lot or cement basketball court might be a little rough for my already messed up ankle and me (not looking to get medically separated by Peace Cops before my swear-in date). So I decided that if I were really going to try and get out there to play in a chamusca, it was going to have to be the real deal in “El Estadio” (The Stadium). In El Estadio lies the one legit, grass soccer field in Ciuded Vieja.  This field is regulation size, with lines, and soccer goals (with no nets, but hey, ya take what you can get). It also has the most breath-taking panoramic view of all the mountains, volcanoes, and fields that surround the city. I’ll post a picture of the view below!

For the past week, I’ve gone to the stadium with my guy friends. It’s always a bit intimidating to even just walk in there because it’s filled with local guys who definitely aren’t used to seeing a girl in there. I’ve seen so many games with the ages ranging from eight years old to completely, grey-haired, men with serious game! But what I haven’t seen is a single female soccer player. This got me thinking of ways to intergrate into the soccer culture as an young, American, female. So I bought a soccer ball for 60 Quetzales (about 8 dollars). It was pretty expensive for a soccer ball here but I figured it might serve as a distraction from the fact that I’m not a Guatemalan dude. I decided that if I juggled around a bit on the sideline with a new soccer ball, maybe I had a chance of being invited to play. IT WORKED! After a lot of staring, I finally got asked to play by a group of boys. We played until it got too dark to see the person in front of us. I returned home, totally pumped up, and with a fresh vocabulary of Guatemalan slang. I told my host dad all about it and he was just as excited, even a little proud I think! After dinner, we watched a soccer game on TV together. Tomorrow, I have plans to play with the same boys tomorrow. I’m really hoping I might encourage more girls to join me in the future chamuscas, but for now, I’m just happy I found a way into the soccer culture.

Here's a pic from a trip to Pachalum where we did some activities with the jovenes!

The incredible view of the volcanoes from the stadium.