#i was in chile during last month and literally 2 days after I got home I caught covid oOUGH

[tinyfantasminha]

ya girl is alive haha whatssup

[lahijadelmundo]

PARAGUAY – ÑAMONGARU

Ñamongaru – this is a word in the Guarani language, which is one of the national languages of Paraguay. It is being used when in conversation two people or more are agreeing on the same thing or have felt the same. The word can be used, and an action might follow after that. It might be also used to promise something.

The flag of Paraguay

The emotion of going back to Latin America after 4,5 years was indescribably big. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the fact that I will be there again, no matter what happens, was enough to make me really excited.

My friend Julia invite me on a Erasmus+ project, called “Entrepreneurship Skills 4 Youth” which was happening for 21 months now with various activities as job shadowing, training courses and youth exchanges between the countries of Spain, Italy, Paraguay, Uruguay, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile and Argentina and financed completely by the European Commission. I was lucky to be part of the last training course in Calabria, Italy and now, on the final Conference and biggest youth exchange in Paraguay, where 5 participants of each country took part in.

Our group of 5 Bulgarians started the trip from Madrid, waking up at 5am to take a transatlantic flight with Air China. All good until the moment when we somehow realized (as the crew wasn´t speaking very well English?!) that the plane must go back as of hydraulic problems. So, after 3 hours of flight over the Atlantic Ocean we turned around to go back to Madrid. At some point there was water coming out from the fin of the airplane. The moment we landed the whole plane was applauding the pilot that he brought us back alive. (Although this manner with the final applause is usual among the Bulgarian population, every time it flies, curious fact, I think). The fact that we were at the point where we started was exhausting enough. After hanging for hours at the airport with no information and some vouchers for junk food, we were finally brought to a hotel where we were told to wait until the plain is fixed and we can fly again. It was a false alarm to pack again and jump into the bus again to take us to the airport, as we have found out, that the plain wasn´t fixed yet…. Back to do the line for check in in the hotel (let us not forget, that the whole plain was checking in in the hotel). At least we got some good sleep and in the morning we had to wait again (with no information provided, again). Later, the bus came and brought us to the airport.

Who would know that this initial, full of stress adventure, will mark our travels? Our friends from the project were joking, that we are bringing the bad luck in the group, but it was no joke that many more crazy and inconvenient things happened - we are laughing about the fact that someone cursed us (maybe not really consciously :D)

Our Bulgarian group in front of the waterfalls, Brazilian side

After many, many hours we finally reached the most gorgeous place in Paraguay -  the biological reserve Tatí Yupí.   It is situated in the district of Hernandarias, Alto Paraná Department and located on the right bank of the Paraná river. The reserve is one of 8 sites earmarked as the ecological reserve by the Itaipu, the largest dam in production in the world, located between Paraguay and Brazil. (The story about the dam later in this post!). When we arrived in the reserve, the only thing we wanted was to sleep. I really don´t remember the last time I went to bed at 9pm and the fact that there was a party and an opera singer in front of our dorm of 20 beds (top and down, unsecured and without a ladder) wasn´t bothering us much, we slept like babies. I woke up naturally at 5am because of the time difference and took a walk towards the river. So peaceful. I was thinking the whole time – I am in heaven. After a chaotic everyday life in a polluted and frenetic big city, being in Tatí Yupí felt like magic to me and something I have been waiting for a long time now. I went to the river dock where at 5:30 I saw the sunrise watching towards Paraná river. I wished I could stay at least for a month in this paradise, but as you know not all wishes come true because of various reasons. We enjoyed for a pretty short time the wild, gorgeous mammals walking around freely (like monkeys and coatis) and the amazing subtropical flora, as we had to go back to reside in Ciudad del Este in a random hotel. Now the reasons for that I will spear, as the whole story pisses me off. :D

Coatis in their natural habitat

Ciudad del Este has nothing much to impress with, as it is an industrial city with much of a trading activity as a border town to Argentina and Brazil. I need to always remind myself, that Ciudad del Este does not represent whole Paraguay, as much difficult it is to imagine that, as we have spent most of the time there. We had some fun nights out and got closer with all participants day by day. We had some great dynamics of getting to know each other, starting with games to remember our names and continuing playing games all night in the reserve.  After our first night out, we stayed until sunrise, still drinking, went straight away to breakfast and then woke up to go to the Itaipu dam.  As mentioned before, this is the largest hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. We went there at midday, all pretty tired from last night, after waiting quite some time again, we realized, that we were late to catch the latest day visit of the dam. (It is important to mention, that all things, that failed to happen on this trip, were mostly because we were late for some reasons as f.e. the drivers were always late or (spoiler alert!) never appeared :D). Most of the group decided to go back to the hotel to take a rest, before we can visit the dam at night and some of us stayed on a cute little beach called Costanera de Hernandarias where we saw the sunset and had the chance to relax. 

Costanera de Hernandarias

Тhat moment of rest was like a sip of fresh air, as our program continued being filled up with activities and we all wanted to spend as much time as we could together. We were still very tired as we came back to the point to see the light show at the electric dam. And we still waited. I was craving to sleep already; the exhaustion was huge. We were loling so hard after the “breathtaking” light show that lasted no more than couple of minutes and for which we waited literally all day long.

Itaipu Dam

But HEY, this is Paraguay. We have been training our patience big time, as waiting turned out to be the national sport there. We also had a motto “No tengo ni idea” Which means – “I have literally no idea”. That was the most probable answer to many of the questions asked in general. As much as we learned to don´t get angry if something is not functioning, the fact, that we missed out 2 nights of partying just to get up very early, so that we can go the Iguazu falls and the bus organized for us did not come at all, was frustrating so all the hopes, all the plans, all the waiting… in the garbage bin :D

The day we managed to reach the Argentinian side of the waterfalls started with almost no waiting (just 20 minutes) and everything seemed wonderful by then. (About the majesty and the natural wonder itself embodied by the waterfalls I will dedicate my next blog post, because the falls and their charm deserved to be described separately.) 

Iguazu Falls

The moment we did the boat tour, though, it started raining. Really hard. At some point it even started to hail. We were just having bikinis and light clothing on, as you get completely wet under the waterfalls. It was a slight storm in the river, even the boat needed to stop, as nothing was visible. All of us were covering our bodies with the waterproof bags we had, where we have put our valuables – the only thing which helped to cover us a bit. At some moment I was just taking deep breaths and was thinking “relax, it is going to be ok”.  We saw some caimans relaxing on the sand while we were disembarking the boat, thinking “hmmm, we would have made a nice breakfast for these buddies if the boat turned down occasionally”. We reached the starting position, but as the rain did not stop for a very long time we boarded an off-road bus which was the only way to go back, so half an hour more in the pouring rain while in the bus. (That was a roofless bus). And THAT was kind of crazy. No, wait a minute. That was beyond crazy. We were shouting pumped up with adrenaline to feel less the cold. My body was already shaking big time. The moment we dropped off my friend Maria and I gave up on the last part of the tour as we were soaking wet and the only thing we dreamt of was warmth and drought. We bought a T-Shirt as a souvenir, but that was more like a saving lives thing, as the most of us have not planned to take extra clothes. Finally, couple of hours later, when we made ourselves on the way home, some strange “eco-tourism” guys in Argentina stopped the bus and told us that all foreigners have to pay a certain fee, just because of the fact that we are foreigners. All the information provided was peculiar enough for us to refuse to pay, which caused unfortunately more circumstances as the police came and told the driver that he was lacking some documents of the bus, so the vehicle has to be let there and we were thrown out short before the Brazilian border with no idea how to get back to Paraguay (to go back there one shall still cross Brazilian border first in order to cross the so called Friendship Bridge to get to Ciudad del Este). In this crisis situation we were told from our organisators to walk toward a hotel in the middle of nowhere in a forest during the night and to wait there until cars will pick us up. We did not know whether to cry or laugh after all this. As it was somehow an extreme situation, there were tensions between us, but this is normal, when people are not used to situation like this, they have difficulties to stay calm. After we got some water, food and blankets in this hotel we felt again like humans and almost knew how a refugee feels like. The top of the cake was, that when we reached after hours our hotel, our suitcases were left in the Tatí Yupí reserve, as it was planned for us to reach there by night on the first place. There was no chance to go there for one reason or another (``no tengo ni idea``), so practically we stayed in the hotel with the soaked clothes we had on until the next day, when our stuff was brought back.

In the end of our stay, after saying emotional goodbyes, our Bulgarian group was brought the last to the bus station (respectively waited the longest :D), as we needed to catch a bus to Foz do Iguaçu. It turned out, that we have missed the last bus to the city. Nothing can surprise us anyways after all what we have been through. But bad things happen for good, at the end our organizer payed us a taxi to reach our hosts - we have split in two groups and did couch surfing. The half of us had a good experience, the other half landed in a miserable, stinky place with no windows, full of fleas and dogs barking, with a miserable one sofa for two people to sleep on. They have switched to a hostel after getting uber twice -  first to get to our place to get some WiFi and secondly to reach the hostel. The next day the other half of us booked the hostel as well to stay together. Marco das Tres Fronteiras, Eating Açaí Icecream and visiting the local gasolinera for a night party was on the program that last day for us in Brasil.

Marco das Tres Fronteiras 

The journey ended as it started though, I had to wake up after 2.5 hours of sleep and catch a plain from Foz to São Paulo, where I waited for 10 hours to catch a 10 hours transatlantic flight to Madrid, to wait there 12 hours again to catch a 4 hours Ryan Air flight to Sofia. It was soooooo surreal reaching Sofia, it was hard realizing where we were. And don’t ask me how we survived. Worst part was that our Friend Julia had to stay in São Paulo for one more day, as they fucked up something with her flight. Oh, not to forget as well, that they have switched her bag with the bad of another friend, while checking in so she stayed there with her stuff flying away towards Europe.

Hard to believe that all this and much more happened during last two weeks and it was hard to come back to cold Sofia, without all this 40 wonderful people around. These stories above are fun to tell, but the sensationalism will fade with  with time. As one of our Spanish friends said – the people have marked me more than all the mud in the ecological reserve (and this mud does not wash away, by the way). I feel the best when I am in a multicultural environment, it just feels home. All the obstacles and problems we had made us more united, closer and stronger. Despite the extreme situations and all the suffering, we created an amazing and strong connection and this will surely be the seed to something great in the future. All of us had something to give an teach to the rest and it was a remarkable experience overall!!!

Our lovely group

I want to learn Guarani or another indigenous language! I want to learn how to animate a big group of people!  I want to learn how to empower local youth and give it sense of belonging! I want to learn how to create things with my own hands! I want to deepen my knowledge in intercultural communication! I want to learn more about the cities of the future and to get even more familiar with the digital word and social entrepreneurship! I want to meet again all these wonderful people, learn and share with them! I will never forget the awesome moments we had. After all, going back to Latin America has covered my expectations and left me with inspiration and excitement about mutual future projects, that we might work on together.

I am sipping out from my tereré (infusion of yerba mate, similar to mate but prepared with cold water and ice rather than with hot, and in a slightly larger vessel) right now, feeling in the past days and I just want to to say to all my new encounters: “Te veo y veo la belleza, que hay en ti.  Ñamongaru.”

Tereré

[footballheroes]

Someday...

Tonight, I watched The Mexican National Team defeat Canada 3-1 in the Gold Cup. The team played well after Mexico’s captain, Andres Guardado came in substituting Erick Gutierrez in the last minutes of the first half. He scored two of the goals. Roberto Alvarado scored one. In my opinion, our defense still needs help. I’ve noticed we are being scored on almost every game. On the other hand, we are still scoring. So far, Mexico has won all their games since Manager Gerardo Martino’s arrival. Can he be the manager that will change history with El Tri? Will he stay for World Cup 2022?  I always dreamed of this National Team to win a World Cup someday. I’ve seen three World Cups since I started watching soccer back in 2010. Anyway, what better way to show this entry I wrote in my journal 5 years ago. The reason I am showing this is to show how this team changed my perspective on soccer.  It’s a bit long. Just a reminder I wrote this in 2014. There are some grammatical errors. I’m still working on it.

December 31, 2014                                                                                11:52pm                                                                                                                                             

This is the last note of the year. Tonight, this is dedicated to the Mexican National Team, “La Seleccion Mexicana.” Thanks to the Mexican National Team, I fell in love with soccer. As a kid I detested soccer however, I never knew that one event was going to change my perspective about soccer.

And it began in the World Cup 2010…

Mexico shared Group A with South Africa, France, and Uruguay. In the elimination round, Mexico tied against South Africa, won against France, and lost against Uruguay. There were some memories during the elimination round. For example, I am never going to forget when Andres Guardado, one of our Mexican midfielders, pushed a South African player to the ground. I did not like Guardado at all because of that!

My very first game of Mexico was actually against Argentina in Round of 16. Unfortunately, we lost 3-1 by an offside the referee didn’t mark, and let’s not forget Osorio’s mistake giving the ball to our opponents! (Watch the replay online, it’s too depressing to remind myself this again.) However, in that same game, I saw my first goal of El Tri by the one and only Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. After the disappointing loss, I was devastated from the elimination. I asked my father, who was a huge soccer fan, when the next World Cup will be?

“It’s next summer, right dad?” my 13-year old self said.

“No, the next World Cup is in four years.”

“What? 4 years?! I have to wait four years! Why can it be every year?” (I’m pretty impatient about so many things and imagine waiting for four years for the next World Cup! Impatience is one bad habit of mine, but boy I had so much to learn.)

My father said it’s good that the World Cup is every four years. I asked him why if this was the first time I witnessed the entire world together. You wouldn’t believe the excitement of all my classmates in middle school watching the game on television in our classrooms. Also, the time I entered the indoor swap meet and literally every stand had their television on a World Cup game. Everyone was so involved everywhere I go.

Well, there was no other choice, and had to wait until Brazil 2014. After the World Cup 2010, Mexico played friendly games before the year ended. We had the honor to play against Spain, the 2010 World Cup Champions in our home territory. Another game I remembered was against Venezuela. It was our last game of the year. I remembered we tied that day because in that time, they were also broadcasting the Chile miners being rescued after being stuck there for over two months. However, there were some changes. In October, Javier Aguirre, our manager during the World Cup, was replaced to Jose Manuel “Chepo” de la Torre. With little time, this is how I experienced my first months of soccer.

I realized I had so much to learn about soccer. It’s not just watching one of the biggest sports events of the year. It takes time to learn, and the Mexican National Team helped me along the way.

And this is how it started…in 2011.

Our manager at that time, Jose Manuel “Chepo” de la Torre made his debut against Bosnia. In this game, this is how I discovered goalkeeper Jose de Jesus Corona. “Chepo” won his first victory with El Tri.

So far, so good.

Then in their second game against Paraguay, I knew another goalkeeper, Alfredo Talavera. Although these goalkeepers did great in their first game with our new manager, I wanted to see Guillermo Ochoa, another goalkeeper of the team. In our third game we were against Venezuela, and that time I had the chance to see Ochoa as goalkeeper. (Also, this was Mexican player Carlos Vela’s last game with Mexico before he started refusing to play for us.) During these years in road to Brazil 2014, these three goalkeepers became special to me, and I knew they were going to the next World Cup.

Before the Gold Cup, it was assured that Corona will be playing the tournament. He had an amazing season with his club, Cruz Azul. However, Corona had the “headbutt incident” against Club Morelia’s personnel. Unfortunately, this caused him his absence in the Gold Cup for indiscipline. So, Ochoa took his place and played the first game against El Salvador where we won 5-0 (“Chicharito” did his first hat-trick!) When I thought our problems were gone after that victory, it got worse. The doping results came in and five of our players were positive with clenbuterol. It is a banned drug athletes use to build muscle and lose fat. Ochoa along with Franciso “Maza” Rodriguez, Christian Bermudez, Naelson Sinha, and Javier Duenas were separated from the team.

By this, goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera took Ochoa’s place. Who would have thought that our third goalkeeper was going to be the startup from now on? Fortunately, it didn’t affect the team’s performance. Mexico won against Cuba and Costa Rica and became leaders in their group. Mexico had a rough start against Guatemala, however, we redeemed ourselves and won 2-1 that took us to the semifinals against Honduras. I will never forget the time when personnel from the Honduras team said “Chicharito” should fear their players. The game was intense. The ball just didn’t want to go in. In the last minute of regular time, Talavera saved us with an amazing block that maintained us with life. During the extra time, we won 2-0 with goals of “Chicharito” and Aldo DeNigris. The best part of the game was that “Chicharito” talked on the field and had a little message for Honduras.

“Miedo No.”

I was so happy! The victory led us to the final everyone wanted- USA vs. Mexico, the biggest teams of CONCACAF.

The final was held in the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California. It was special knowing El Tri was so close to me in that final. In the game, United States had a 2-0 lead in 25 minutes. I know, crazy right?

I said to myself that this is not over, I know we will catch up. (You should probably know by now that I’m an optimistic and overly dramatic person when it comes to soccer, don’t judge me!) Mexican midfielder Pablo Barrera made the first goal and minutes later Guardado made the second one. Now, the game was tied 2-2, and it was still the first half! Barrera switched the score in the first minutes of second half. We were now in the lead and then… the best moment happened. Giovani Dos Santos kicked the ball for it to curve to the top edge of the net. It was the best goal of this Gold Cup, for me the best goal of the year. Even today I haven’t seen a beautiful goal like the one he made that day. My siblings and I jumped with joy. When the referee blew the final whistle, I yelled, I jumped, I cried. It was my first Gold Cup and what best way to start than to see Mexico receive their sixth title. Javier Hernandez won Best Player and Best Scorer of the Tournament with 7 goals. Also, our captain Rafael Marquez won the Fair Play award. Let’s also not forget this was Alfredo Talavera’s year. He saved us in almost all games he played in this tournament.

After the Gold Cup, the World Cup Sub-17 was held that same year. Mexico hosted that World Cup. It was the first time I heard about this tournament. I thought the only World Cup was the one that comes every four years. This World Cup, on the other hand, is played every two years. Anyway, I didn’t watch much of this tournament since I was busy around that time. However, I can’t forget the historic game that happened in the semifinals against Germany. This game was crazier than the Mexico vs. USA game. Mexico had the lead 1-0, then Germany tied. Germany scored again and switched the result. Suddenly, an amazing corner kick from Jonathan Espericuela gave us the draw. However, during that play, Mexican youngster Gomez received a hard headbutt. Blood already stained his shoulders. The jersey was covered with his blood. Many medics said he was done but he insisted to continue. He came back on the field with bandages around his head. That day I watched a wounded warrior on the field. He was like a mummy with that number of bandages on his head. He surprised us with his “chilena” that made Mexico scream on top of their lungs. Mexico won that day and went to the finals against Uruguay where they won 2-0 in the Estadio Azteca. They won their second title in this category. It was another beautiful moment!

Then, I had the chance to watch the World Cup Sub-20. I watched Mexico made it to semifinals. Unfortunately, we lost against Brazil. We were against France for third place. We defeated France and stayed third. Also, I saw my first Pan-American games where Mexico won the gold medal against Argentina. It was an amazing year for the youth players of the Mexican National Team. Not everything was perfect though. I can’t forget about the Copa America. The Copa America is a tournament of COMNEBOL, South America’s Soccer Federation. It is played every four years. Although, Mexico is not from COMNEBOL, they were invited to play. Mexico usually has good results in the past regarding this tournament. We made it to the finals once back in 2001 but lost against Colombia. However, in 2011, this was not the case. We lost all our games. Oh, and that’s not the worst part, eight players were separated from the team with a prostitute scandal. I discovered many tournaments. I discovered the World Cup Sub-17, the World Cup Sub-20, Gold Cup, Copa America, and Pan American games in one year! I guess my father was right. It’s better that the World Cup is every four years.

Can it get better?

2012 was a new year for other tournaments. However, it is the year the qualifying rounds in every soccer federation began. Although, they don’t win a title in these 2 year long qualifying games, it has something that all countries want- a spot for the next World Cup! (Except for Brazil since they are automatically in for being the hosts of this World Cup). So, the road to Brazil was officially on. Each soccer federation have different ways on how their teams will qualify. I’ll be focusing only on CONCACAF since Mexico is there. Mexico won all their home and away games against Guyana, El Salvador, and Costa Rica that easily took them to the Hexagonal. The Hexagonal will start in 2013, so Mexico was practically done until next year.

That same year, I had the chance to see the Pre Olympics, a tournament to secure a spot for the Olympics taking place in London. Mexico defeated Honduras and got their ticket to the Olympics. Another tournament was introduced for Mexico- Esperanzas de Toulon. Mexico made it to the finals and defeated Turkey. They won their first trophy in that tournament. Everything was going so well for El Tri until the friendly games.

Mexico had four friendly games scheduled before their start in the Olympics. Mexico had poor performances during these friendly games with two loses, one draw, and one victory. People were already criticizing that this team will not make it far and will not even make it to fourth place. I was in my room while La Ultima Palabra was on television. I was so fed up with the analysts’ negativity, I shut it off. I grabbed my soccer journal and wrote down my thoughts. My words exactly, “It’s true,” I wrote, “we will not make it to fourth place because we will win the gold medal. I know they will.” Days later, Mexico played their first game in the Olympics against South Korea. The game ended 0-0, and yes, people still criticize. However, Mexico won their two games and was leader of their group.

The game against Senegal was difficult. Mexico had a 2-0 lead, until Senegal tied us which made the game to overtime. Mexico managed to score two more goals and ended 4-2. Mexico made it to the semifinals against Japan.  Japan scored first, however it motivated us to attack in the second half. With goals from Marco Fabian and Javier Cortes, we won 2-1. This took us to the final which already guaranteed us a medal. The game was against Brazil, who never won a gold medal either. In the first thirty seconds, Oribe Peralta made record scoring a goal making it the fastest goal in Olympic history. Peralta scored both goals that helped Mexico win their first gold medal in soccer. We changed history! Also, I have to admit it was goalkeeper Corona’s year. His saves helped Mexico win that gold medal. Because of his games, everyone were saying that he was going to be in the startup of the World Cup.

2012 was a great year for Mexico again. I was so excited for 2013 because of the upcoming tournaments. There was the Confederations Cup, Gold Cup, Pre-World Cup Sub 17, and Sub-20, World Cup Sub-17 and Sub-20 were back, and the World Cup Qualifiers.

Can’t you see the excitement with these competitions? Mexico was going to be involved like the past two years. However, I never would have imagined it was the year that my faith was tested. And it all started in the first game of the year, a friendly against Denmark.

We tied against Denmark. The players look like they weren’t giving it their all. It was a boring 1-1 game. I didn’t make a huge deal about it. It was just a friendly game. I’ve seen some boring games in the past, and they were never anything to worry about. Then, we began our Qualifiers against Jamaica in our home stadium, the Estadio Azteca, and we tied a boring 0-0. We were having trouble in that game, Jamaica almost scored. They had more chances than us. After the game, our player “Maza” Rodriguez lifted his middle finger on the camera. Everyone made a huge fit over that. Criticism rose up. More friendly games and qualifiers came up and we kept tying. We tied against Honduras, United States, Panama, Costa Rica, and barely defeated Jamaica in qualifiers. In our friendly, we tied against Peru and Nigeria.

My first Confederations Cup wasn’t the best in my case. The Confederations Cup is a tournament played every four years before the World Cup. In this tournament, the winners of each Federation’s come together to face each other. It’s a small tournament of eight teams. Mexico lost their first two games against Italy and Brazil and won their third one against Japan. Because of the first two games, we were eliminated in the first round of the Confederations Cup. However, the youth teams didn’t do as bad. Mexico played an amazing final against USA in the Pre-World Cup Sub-20. “La Momia” (Remember World Cup Sub-17 against Germany) did another “chilena” that helped Mexico win the tournament. Also, Mexico defeated Panama in the final of the Pre-World Cup Sub-17. So, both teams had their spot secured for the upcoming World Cups. Unfortunately, Mexico Sub-20 lost against Spain in Round of 16.  Mexico Sub-17, on the other hand, had a rough start. They were defeated 6-1 by Nigeria in their first game. With that result, everyone thought they were not going to make it far. However, in the games against Brazil, we won in penalties by an amazing save from Mexican goalkeeper Raul Gudino in the quarterfinals and won against Argentina in the semifinals. Unfortunately, they lost against Nigeria again. However, we can’t forget the effort these youngsters did after that huge loss.

Anyway, things weren’t looking so well in the big team. We keep losing points in the qualifiers. Fans wanted “Chepo” out of the team, but the Federation decided to keep him longer. Unfortunately, the loss against Honduras in our stadium caused his execution from the National team. With only three days before our game against the United States, Luis Fernando Tena, our auxiliary manager, was going to lead the team. However, he already announced that after this game, win or lose, he too was leaving the team. It hurt me so much that two good years with the team wasn’t enough to make him stay, however, our lack of points made it possible that we could be out of the World Cup. And just to think things can’t get worse. It did.

We lost to USA.

Our position in the World Cup is in danger…

Victor Vucetich, former manager of Mexican club Monterrey was our trainer for the last two games of the Qualifiers, Panama and Costa Rica. There were many complaints from fans and reporters that we don’t deserve to play the World Cup. Many people lost their faith. I continue to stay optimistic because I believe my team was still going to the World Cup. However, problems kept rising when Ochoa and Vela refuse to play with Mexico.

The game against Panama was so intense. We made the first goal, but Panama tied us. Then, in the last minutes of the game, Raul Jimenez did an amazing chilena. In the end, we won 2-1. I wish things were different against Costa Rica. United States played against Panama at the same time as Costa Rica vs. Mexico. Costa Rica was defeating us 2-1 while Panama was defeating United States with the same score. With Panama’s score and ours, we were out of the World Cup! Unfortunately, we lost against Costa Rica. However, United States counterattacked Panama and won 3-2. That score benefited us to play the repechage against New Zealand. Even USA tweeted “You’re Welcome Mexico.” After this, Miguel Herrera accepted to be our new manager. He was still manager of Mexican club America. El Tri practiced three days a week to prepare that game. We played the home and away games and won both games against New Zealand and got the last ticket to the World Cup. This was the most stressful year I encountered. I never would have thought Mexico suffered that bad to make it to the World Cup. Even though we made it, many fans lost faith in our team. And this leads up to the year I’ve been waiting for… World Cup Brazil 2014.

Mexico send a #QuieroCreer message to the fans through twitter. In this message, certain players of the National Team asked for fans to support them while they play the World Cup. Certain players like the captain Rafael Marquez, Javier Hernandez, Alfredo Talavera, Miguel Layun, and among others said they will play with heart in this World Cup. It sounds a bit cliché, but it was still a motivational message. The video showed scenes of the team being scored against some of their rivals. Also, it showed scenes of the important victories that took them to the World Cup. (You can find this on Youtube.  Just search Quiero Creer Mexico)

Let’s just say they completed their promise. No, we didn’t win the World Cup or made it to the famous fifth game. However, we did win something. They play with heart in every game. How can we forget Guillermo Ochoa’s best performance against Brazil? We tied against one of the best national teams in their homeland! Remember when a Croatia player said we should tremble with fear? What did we do? We responded on the field with a 3-1 score. In the group stage, Mexico already won our hearts. Our faith was coming back. In the Round of 16 against the Netherlands, we scored the first goal in the second half. You wouldn’t believe how happy the players, the fans, my family, and I was. However, good things always comes to an end, right?

Unfortunately, with fifteen minutes left, Netherlands tied. In the very last minute, we received a penalty against us. Fans reading this know about this penalty. This is where the famous #NoEraPenal became wildly known to the world. Unfortunately, this was the end of our participation in Brazil. I feel we deserved to change history in this World Cup. You wouldn’t believe how much I cried that day. The sadness in the players’ eyes showing that they didn’t want to leave. The sound of tears from my little brother and sister in my living room. The faces of Mexican fans with tears in their eyes. As I lean my head against my wall, “Can we ever win a World Cup someday?

Months after the World Cup 2014…

Well, Germany won this World Cup. Memes of #NoEraPenal were across the globe. Mexico Sub-22 won gold in the Central American and Caribbean games. Mexico won against the Netherlands in a friendly with Carlos Vela’s return. It was a nice way to finish the year.

…

The Mexican National Team has shown me it’s better late than never. We will do whatever it takes to be in Russia and change history by becoming champions. It is going to be difficult, but I know we will be in Russia. We received memorable lessons these past years. Thank you Seleccion Mexicana for giving heart and soul in every game. Thank you for all the lessons you taught me. I have felt every single emotion while seeing you guys play and I feel that I am one of you. Thank you for showing me that nothing is impossible if we dream big and that we will play for our lives to win the World Cup 2018. 2014 is now in the past.

Now it’s 2018’s turn...

[tirsaroundtheworld]

The Nomad MBA Part I - Chile!

Hello everyone, I am back! Not even a month after our return back in Haarlem, looking for jobs and trying to settle in, when instagramming to kill those extremely long last pair of minutes of the washing machine’s cycle, I stumbled upon an add that caught my eye. Never before had I paid attention to Instagram adds, but this one was different. Relevant as if someone had been monitoring me, it said: ‘build a career you love, while traveling the world’. Barely two weeks after I first clicked on that add, I was selected (from over 6000 applications!! 😱) as one of the lucky 25 people to join the Nomad MBA on a 3 months adventure to Latin America!

In short, during those 3 months our tribe will live in 3 different countries/cities, while working on an online course - Programming in my case - and accelerating personal growth. The adventure started on the 4th of April, when I took off for the longest flight I have ever been on (14,5 hours in one go!!!) to the first location: Valparaiso, Chile!

Upon arrival, it quickly became clear that this was going to be a really special time. The tribe is filled with the most amazing people from all over the world and each of them with an interesting story and an impressive set of skills and knowledge, Chile is amazing and this is just the beginning! It wasn’t a real surprise that the first month passed before I could catch my breath. So many highlights!!:

# Valparaiso is a very colorful, bohemian and artsy city, characterized by its many ‘cerros’ (hills). Everywhere you look you see seemingly never-ending layers of brightly colored houses, the most amazing pieces of street art, stray dogs, stairs, stairs and more stairs; it is legday every day in Valpo #fitgirls! Some stairs can be dodged by taking cute little cablecars, called funiculars. Just walking around this interesting town and exploring its complex network of walkways is a highlight on its own!

# Even though Valparaiso is located right at the coastline of Chile, there are no accessible beaches. Therefore we took a local bus to the nearby Viña del Mar, a beautiful and completely different little town where the buildings are majestic, the streets are clean and there is an endless boulevard along the beautiful beach. We spent the day surfing and tanning at La Boca beach, strolling along the boulevard, trying all the empanadas and drinking Chilean wines in a local cafe. Life’s good!

# The good thing of being part of a tribe of people is that there is always someone with a good plan. One day we joined a local yoga class (in Spanish, si) in a beautiful, dreamy loft of the local cultural center. Another day we parkoured our way around town in search for the best nightclub. We went to cookingclasses and vineyard tours, played padel, hosted group dinners and so much more. Probably my favorite good plan was a calligraphy workshop in one of our favorite local cafes. On a fine Sunday morning, we learnt all about cool lettering while drinking tea, eating vegan brownies and enjoying great conversation. We even got to keep the equipment. 🙌🏻

# During the third week, we got time off of our study routine; Tribe Travel Week! We packed our daypacks and took off. First stop; Santaigo! We explored the city’s highlights, got up Cerro San Cristobal, hunted for souvenirs in Patio Bellavista and the Central Market, crossed the majestic Plaza de Armas, paid a quick visit to the palace La Moneda, had an overpriced but lovely Italian dinner and got op crazy early, 2:30 am kinda early, to catch our flight to the next stop: the amazing Atacama Desert! 🤙🏻

# The perks of arriving before the sun properly rose definitely includes having a full day ahead of you to start exploring. And as we only had 3,5 days to explore this amazing place we got right into it. We checked into our hippy hostel dorm room, that we filled with all 8 of us, in San Pedro de Atacama and took an afternoon tour around the beautiful salt flats. Unfortunately the herd of flamingoes (yes, really!) that usually resides here wasn’t home, but we got to enjoy a very floaty swim in the freezing salt lakes, made cool group pictures playing with the insane reflection of the Ojos del Sal, watched the change of light over the salt flats when the sun started setting and danced around the van while the daylight faded away and we got tipsy on pisco sours. Day 2 in the desert we spent biking through the incredible Valle de la Luna, Moon valley. True to its name, the scenery of this beautiful valley does remind one of the moon with its crazy crater-like landscape, sandy vasts, salty mountain ranges and never-ending views. Our self guided bike tour took us past the valley’s main attractions; we climbed through a narrow cave to admire the magical effects of the daylight through the cliffs, we climbed up various hills to be surprised by the one breathtaking view after the other and ate picnic lunch in the middle of nowhere - all the while accompanied by our very tough four legged furry friend Mufasa, who followed us all the way from the village. To end the day in style, we decided to follow up on this exciting rumour that we heard. The story is; to prevent San Pedro of becoming a drugs filled hippy hotspot, everything downtown shuts at midnight. But the party doesn’t stop there though! The people then meet in the street and collectively make their way into the desert, on to rave around a bonfire under the starts. Obviously not something to disrecard, so after a nice pizza-and-pisco-in-the-hostel-and-recover-from-the-intense-day kinda evening, we joined the last round in a local bar and then followed the crowd into the desert. And it was magical! Guided by the magical sound of a sole saxophonist, we found our way to the campfire and danced the night away under the moonlight. 🌝

# Just when we thought Atacama couldn’t get better, we got ourselves a rental car and drove off to explore the further distance of this natural phenomenon. Our roadtrip took us through many different landscapes and on our way we spotted the local species of lama, did a proper fotoshoot with the absolutely breathtaking mountain ranges behind us, ate a set lunch in a tiny local eatery and kept the leftovers for a second picnic lunch at the beautiful, bright blue Miscanti lakes (where we also finally spotted a flamingo, YEES!), got horribly stuck in the middle of nowhere, magically met another strandee and teamworked our way out, enjoyed the most beautiful sunset over the changing colours of the desert on the way back and felt very very alive. Back in San Pedro after this day of rollercoaster emotions and breathtaking experiences, we went for a celebratory dinner with our roadtrip crew. Afterwards we made our way into the desert for some stargazing and meditated under the stars while the moonlight set the mood just right for the perfect ending of this absolutely fantastic day. Lucky, lucky fucks. 🙌🏻

After our travel week to the amazing Atacama desert, there was just under one week left to close off the last things in Valparaiso, pack up our stuff and say goodbye to our beloved home for the past month before we would move to the next adventure. Even though I had expected to experience Chile in a rather deep manner during this slow travel rythm, one month turned out to be not nearly enough. It had literally flown over, the flight to get to Valpo had felt longer and there were so many things that I yet hadn’t done. That month was enough though to start forming strong tribe dynamics, beginning lifelong friendships and encouraging serious comfort-zone stretches - exactly what the Nomad MBA is about. It for sure got us oh so eager for the next stop: Cusco! 🇵🇪⛰

[sportsandfitnessinfo]

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Friday Faves

Hey hey! The weekend is here again!! Aaaaaand happy St. Patrick’s day! This is one of my favorite holidays and it always brings back fond memories. I would Irish step dance in the parade, and even though my feet would be numb by the end, I knew that soda bread was waiting for me at the festival. There are a lot of fun St. Patrick’s day events in Tucson, and I’m so excited to take the girls to celebrate. Of course, I’ll also be making the standard corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots. We’ll drink green Lucky Irish girls and all will be great in the world.

In standard Friday fashion, here are some faves from the week and around the web. I always enjoy putting this little list together each week, and love when you share your faves with me, too. Please let me know what you’re loving in the comments section if you’d like to join in the party!

A weekend getaway to Sedona. We’re packing up the kiddos to head to one of my very favorite places. I’ll be sure to share the adventures on IG and Snapchat! I’ll also do a recap post here on the blog next week.

(Please let me know if you have any family-friendly suggestions in Sedona! You always have the best recommendations.)

This rose liqueur. You guyssssssss. When I saw they had a Vom Fass at the Venetian Shops, I literally squealed with joy. (Is it bad that an alcohol store makes me so happy? Don’t answer that haha.) I told the Pilot we had to go in, because I had picked up some incredible Irish Honey Whiskey for him in Sedona, quite a while ago, and raved about the amazingness that is Vom Fass. They have liqueurs, whiskey, olive oil, vinegars, and tons of flavor-infused alcohols directly from the cast. You can also taste before you buy, just to make sure you love it. The rose liqueur (<— I spell that wrong every single time) caught my eye with its light pink hue, and I decided to try a little bit. It was EVERYTHING. It has a light, bright rose flavor, and the guy who helped us out told me it was ridiculous with Prosecco. Happening. 

We also got a Latte Macchiato, which made Bailey’s taste like sad water. Cheers to these fun finds. 

The maxi dress I wore in Vegas is on super sale if you want to check it out. (Express has so many cute dresses right now for spring!)

18 shoes from the 90’s you forgot you were obsessed with.  

Little changes for better days.

This is such a fun activity to do with kiddos and you can get your seeds for freeeeeeeee.

Tips for eating more salads.

The family from the hilarious BBC video speaks. Just when I thought I couldn’t love them more. 

I think the video was viewed and shared so many times because it’s real life. I’ve held Liv, who was very small and crying at the time, during a Skype call once and then vowed to only do conference calls when the Pilot is home or we have a sitter hahah. It’s hard to work from home with kiddos running around, and since we’ve been in Tucson, I’ve kind of been flying by the seat of my pants. (We had a beloved babysitter in San Diego, who was a part of our family, and she came over about twice a week for a few hours to help with P. She was amazing, and we all miss her dearly. I still text her every now and again to send pics of the girls and see if she’s bored of San Diego and wants to come to Valdosta haha.)

Our babysitter from when Liv was a baby watches the girls for date nights, but has school during the day, so I interviewed a handful of potential babysitters when we got here. None of them were the right fit, so I decided to just work during nap times and stay up late. After one week of staying up until 2am and still behind on everything, I put the call out on my personal Facebook page to see if anyone knew an awesome daytime babysitter. One of my good friends who is getting her PhD said she could help out and it has been INCREDIBLE. Not only have I been able to catch up with one of my closest Tucson friends, but the girls love her, too (duh). She has come over a few times, P has had the best time playing with her, and for the first time in months, I’ve blasted through my to-do list.

(Eating a quiche and writing at one of my fave coffee shops)

Now that I kinda of have my life back in order, we get to move again and restart the entire process. Good times, good times. Speaking of the move, I’ve done literally nothing to prepare. If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute.

Swimming in March. Gotta love Tucson weather.

(P liked it for about 4 minutes. I held her in my lap like a burrito and we watched the Pilot and Livi splash around.)

This smoothie looks SO good and I can’t wait to try this quinoa breakfast bowl.

These kitchen fails made me LOL for real.

This Caulipower pizza!! I was so excited to see this in the freezer section at Whole Foods. It was SO GOOD, and the ingredients were fantastic. I can’t wait to try the plain crust and add my own toppings. I’ll definitely be picking it up again.

A date night at Penca. Penca is one of the spots that’s been on our list to try, but we tend to go back to the ol’ favorites. I’m determined to venture to some new restaurants in the next few weeks! We decided to give it a whirl, and it did not disappoint. The atmosphere is quaint and romantic, with little candles, and fun loud Mexican music. The chips, salsa, guac and margaritas were my favorite part of the meal. They make the tortillas and chips in house, and they were so fresh and delicious. I ordered the chile relleno for my entree, and while I liked that it wasn’t breaded and was stuffed with veggies, I’m getting the tacos next time. 🙂

Walking around downtown:

See ya soon on the Family page with some Livi-isms. <3

Happy Friday, friends!

xoxo

Gina

Looking for a workout? Try this TRX circuit! So many of my fave exercises are here. 

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Originally at :The Fitnessista Written By : Fitnessista