ECUADOR VS. BRAZIL

I AM OFFICIALLY A SOCCER FAN!!!

Growing up in New York City, I certainly haven't been exposed to the sport the way I now wish I was. I've only attended two games since living here in Quito...BUT LET ME TELL YOU!!! On March 29th, Nick, Sam & I attended one of Ecuador's biggest games of the year. Apparently, The World Cup only takes place every 4 years (which the next one is scheduled to go down in South Africa...2010! Mess around, you just might find me there!) However, in order to qualify, Ecuador's national team needs to acquire a certain amount of wins during this 4 year span. Who better to go against than Brazil??? With 5 World Cup Championships, they are ranked as #1 in South America and debated as one of the best teams in the world. So, uh, with that noted...we got to see Ecuador go head to head with the big boys on the block and the game was OUTTA THIS WORLD! With over 50,000 people in attendance...the stadium was sold out! I had to pay double price for a scalped ticket and wait 4 hours just to enter the stadium.

Needless to say, we arrived 7 hours early to a mob awaiting the game's commencement. While waiting on line, I painted Nick's face as well as Sam's....as well as my own. After getting a great amount of attention from TV cameras and newspaper reporters...I said to myself, "Hey! Why don't I take this show on the road?" I ended up painting faces at the stadium for over 6 hours and got paid fairly well. I can't front...my designs were pretty dope! I guess you can say that my art was in high demand. In fact, within 2 hours of being interviewed by Ecuador's national press...our faces were on the home page of El Comercio's website and plastered on the actual paper the following day! (El Comercio is Ecuador's largest national newspaper with over 2 million readers daily!) You're more than welcomed to check out the link:

http://www.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_seccion=9&id_noticia=266533

Word! I should be uploading photos on myspace soon. If the link expires...I'll just post a jpeg of the article. In any event, I had an amazing time and met some really cool folks from all over the world. Ecuador dominated the entire game but lost priceless opportunities to score goals. By the time the game was over, Ecuador and Brazil was tied 1-1. NO OVERTIME!!! What a disappointment!? I've always thought that watching 22 men run around for 90 minutes to only end up scoring 1 or 2 points was not the ideal sport for me...but times-are-a-changing! I can finally understand why people are so emotionally involved with the sport. There's nothing like watching a soccer game in person...especially one with so much clout. There was even a bloody 12-13 person brawl that took place right next to us. Pretty crazy but egghhh...after 2 months in South America, I can say that I've seen worst. One more month left til' my return flight to NYC!

INTANGIBLES: I'll be coming home soon...