Futból practice and game

Underneath the Mediterranean Saturday sun some friends and I hit up the beach with a soccer ball to work on our skills.

Here is Bryana teaching me her moves with the port of Palma in the background:

Talented as we may be, I found myself both losing the ball to the tepid waters and my face in the sand a few times.  I washed a good amount of sand out my hair in the shower this morning.

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This is our practice team:  Monica (the soccer mom), Jenny (tired, sitting with ball), Liz (the serious pirate), and me

Our practice paid off and this evening the Amazonas (our independent league team of tiny south americans) defeated their opponents.  After scoring my first goal of the season Liz Collins did the worm on the soccer field in honor of a bet she had made with me at a team dinner.  I can promise that more business negotiations (bets and dares) will be made as to embarrass each other more as the season progresses. The league's president took lots of photos and we can only hope that they are featured soon online or in the news, which will lead to major contracts in the national division.
After the landslide win, our Ecuadorian coach, Wilson, bought us two rounds of beer at the soccer arena cafe and then dropped us off at our home-stay doorsteps.  Rounding out the weekend, we are all a little tipsy, wet from rain and sweat, but smiling from this afternoon's victory.