Sports

This is Latin America- all they play is futbol, right? Wrong. Not here in Southern Chile. Well there is a futbol team in town. They have a nice field which doubles as a swamp and a solid fan base of 50 people. Yeah so futbol is pretty lame here. The problem is, it rains so damn much down here in Southern Chile is that everyone prefers to watch or play sports which offer some sort of protection from the elements. Here in Valdivia, basketball is the main sport, it has a huge fan base, and the league has some of the best pros outside the NBA.

So last night I went to a pro basketball game with a Chilean friend. I'm not much of a basketball fan, but since this is part of the Valdivian experience, why not? It seemed like half the city had the same idea, including the entire police force (they're called carabineros and wear sweet green uniforms here). It was nice to know we were safe.

The game ended up being pretty worthwhile. I still don't understand where the away team came from- their jerseys all said Boston College Eagles but they were almost all speaking Chilean Spanish. (Since when does Boston College have a Chile campus? not sure) Both teams had a few Americans on their team- for the guys that don't make it to the NBA, Chile is a great alternative! (as long as you don't mind playing in a different language). Anyway the game went back and forth, and after Valdivia blew a 20 point lead and was down by 1, it all came down to a fantastic but tragic ending for the home team as Valdivia missed a last-second 3 point attempt and was left on the floor weeping. Well maybe not weeping, but pretty close. The whole game was really intense. The players and fans let it all out and were really into it- great sport atmosphere.

Afterwards, my friend and I walked back outside only to be greeted by near hurricane force winds and drenching rain squalls. I really do love Valdivia.