Thanksgiving...Twice

So since we were in Palacios on Thursday, which has a very small kitchen with limited cooking utensils, we decided to have two Thanksgivings: a smaller, less extravagant one the day of; and a huge, much more elaborate one on Sunday after returning. On Thursday, we subsituted chicken for turkey, we ate instant potatoes, green beans, instant gravy, and an apple crisp. It was quite delicious, and we were able to share our American tradition with Ginda and her daughters, Celso, Aide, and Luz, which was really fun! But I know what you are all thinking - NO STUFFING! I know, we all were thinking the same thing, but don't worry we made up for it on Sunday. Not only did we have an eleven pound turkey (which Derek took the lead on), but we also made homemade mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, and of course homemade stuffing (thanks to Gretchen). It was a feast! I seriously did not think I was going to be able to make it to the soccer game that we went to afterwards - I was so tired! I think that Derek and I both have a new found confidence in our cooking abilities after being major contributors to the efforts that day!

Que mas? Well, the soccer game that night was certainly exciting as well. Not so much the actual playing, but what happened near the end of the game. Blooming, the Santa Cruz team, was playing La Paz. The score was 2-2 for most of the game until the last 5 or 10 minutes when La Paz scored 2 goals. The crowd when into a frenzy and stormed the fence surrounding the field. As they banged against the fence and chanted "Autonomia!" the policia gathered to protect the La Paz bench that the angry Santa Cruz fans had swarmed behind. At the moment that the game clock hit zero, every member of the La Paz team, coaches included, jumped up from the bench and ran full force towards the tunnel down to the locker room. If you look closely at the picture here, you can see all the police, the players bolting across the field, and the huge "Autonomia" signs covering the bench and plastered at the top of the bleachers. I hadn't seen any of them run that fast at any point during the game! We then looked at each other and thought that maybe it was time for us to go to! As we made our way out as quickly as possible, we were met with a bit of chaos as fans poured out of the stadium. As we made our way away from the stadium, we could still hear tons of people chanting and lighting off bottle rockets. It was a crazy thing to see. It doesn't take much to get the people here in Santa Cruz fired up when it comes to politics. Many of the government's previous leaders now live in Santa Cruz since the new president, Evo Morales, has been in power in the country's administrative capital, La Paz. The majority of people in Santa Cruz are opposed to the new government and president, which is why the fans were yelling "Autonomia!" This is a common saying here that we see everywhere. We've now been to probably the two most exciting soccer games that we could have seen here: first it was the cross town rivals of Santa Cruz (Blooming and Oriente), and then the city that wants autonomy versus the city it wants autonomy from!

Our time here in Santa Cruz is winding down. Before long we'll be off to Brazil. We've posted more pictures from the last few weeks on the side panel. There are some good ones of us milking some cows!