Ovalle and the Majestic Valley

We all enjoyed the soccer game a lot. I thought I would share with you all my best interpretation of my favorite cheer:

Wabble wabble wabble, wabble wabble wabble, wabble leeso
Wabble wabble wabble, wabble wabble wabble, ayyyyyy
Wabble wabble wabble, wabble wabble wabble, wabble leeso
Wabble wabble wabble, wabble wabble wabble *crazy whistling*

People here really are crazy about their futball teams. The flags we bought to wave at the game read, "If the Lions were playing in heaven, I'd die just to see them." Also worth noting is that there is a literal mote around the field to prevent people from rushing it. There's also police wearing nothing short of riot gear ready to beat some ass.

Friday morning passed without much event. We went home after class to rest up for our own soccer game against the Chileans. We made it back to the school at around 4:30 to warm up our foot skills, work on our touch, and do our best not to embarass ourselves. The girls played their game first and things didn't look good for us. Because of a lack of numbers, we ended up playing the games on a basketball court. Our ladies did have a savior in Beth, who plays for GCSU. I think they ended up putting up 4 or 5 goals to the Chileanas 10 or 12. Not a bad effort. We took the field... court and saw our opponents.
Our advantages:
1. Six to ten inches in average height
2. Six to ten times better hair cuts
3. The sheer size of Matt Bailey's feet
Their advantages:
1. Better ball handling
2. Better shape
3. Quicker
4. Kick harder
5. Years of experience
In spite of our heaping disadvantages we did manage to score one goal. More by mistake than anything else, but it counts. They only scored like... you know... 12 or 14. Not a bad effort.

After the game we had to come home and ice our injuries like old men. We ended up taking it easy and watching whatever movies that were in English that we could find. This morning we woke up much too early to drive two hours north to the Lumari Valley. The first stop was a rocky outcrop with a small creek running through it. There are a lot of carvings and drawings on the rocks from the people who lived here even before Incas moved in. It was pretty cool to see and a lot of fun to screw around on the rocks.
Our next stop was the Tabli Vineyard not too far away. Apparently the vineyard was the idea of some billionaire and is unique because it's the northern most vineyard in Chile. In fact, it's right on the edge of a desert. This means that they have a very unique brand of grapes that make for some great wines. The buildings at the vineyards were so nice and very clearly built by someone with a lot of money. There was a big mural of the Majestic Valley (the nickname of the valley) in the cellar that spanned about 20 or 30 feet of wall and was about 6 feet tall. Very impressive. The '05 Shiraz from this vineyard was voted the best Shiraz in the world that year. We tasted a few of the wines and bought a couple bottles a piece to take home.

We're sitting around the cabana tonight trying to figure out something to do. Tomorrow, we're going to visit an orphanage and have a cookout here at the cabanas.

Hope everyone back home is surviving the heat. We miss it.

Dave