Happy Birthday Peñarol: the football adventure

On Wednesday (9/28) we went to Peñarol's birthday party.  Club Atlético Peñarol was founded 120 years ago and our friends here in Montevideo were really excited to take us to the celebration they held in the stadium to celebrate.  It was a real adventure.  We sat right behind the goal in a stadium filled with over 40,000 yellow and black clad Carboneros. There were fireworks, songs, bands, and an all-star game.  (When I say fireworks I mean that people in the stands were shooting roman candles and bottle rockets in the air, as well as, an official, but more boring, fireworks show.)  We sat underneath one of the giant flags that covers thousands of fans during the beginning of the games.  It was quite a rush to see the the people above us passing the flag down over our heads.

I could go on about the game and cheering sections, but the real story didn't happen until the game was almost over.  We had been sitting next to some real Peñarol fans the whole game.  These fans were the real deal, the definition of "soccer hooligans." They screamed every song, and a few times I even saw them crying because they love Peñarol so much.
After awhile we started talking with these guys about Texas and the U.S. and most importantly Peñarol. They took a liking to Andrew's shirt, and asked him to trade with them.  I saw the opportunity to spread the word about Liberty Skis (made in Colorado since 2005) so I offered them my shirt.  My friend, Jordan Hotmann, made this shirt for a competition with Liberty Skis last summer.  He entered another shirt that he liked better, so  I got enter this t-shirt into the competition.  We both won skis.  After my new friends heard this story, the trade was sealed. It makes me smile to know that somewhere a Uruguayan is walking around advertising Liberty Skis. I guess it is finally a real adventure down here. 
 More blog posts coming soon.  I have several that are in progress and am just now getting around to editing and posting them.  Stay tuned for a description of the last two weeks here in MVD (including the Bicentennial Celebration).  Until then Adventure with care.