Come on you Super Rams!!!!!

Don´t be mistaken, although i am pleased that Derby County have reached the premiership, i´m actually referring to the super chivos (rams) that are Xelaju MC, the winners of the guatemalan league.
so, here we are again. time for some more information and some more photos. in fact, lots more photos. i was feeling generous so i decided to spend 2 hours at an internet café uploading them for your viewing pleasure. i hope you are happy...
the first lot of photos are from the football game i went to see here in Xela. Xelaju MC played local rivals San Marcos in the cup final of the guatemalan league. in the game that i went to (i had to queue for over 2 hours to get tickets) Xelaju lost 0-1. but went on to win the away leg 1-4. sweet. celebrations lasted a long, long time here in Xela, as they haven´t won the league for a long, long time.
the next lot are from a village called Las Nubes (the clouds) where i have been helping build a church. the building will also act as a community space for the villagers, where weekly film nights and typing classes will be held.
the final shots are of another village called xocalja (show-cal-ha) which is over 2 hours from Xela. a missionary group who set up the church i´ve been going to in Xela helped build the school and still have regular contact with the kids. i went along and played some games with them.

This is Shazad and Fred, my housemates, out shopping at La Democracia, the local market.

this is Jacob, Mary-Ann and Ruth (who is a teacher from the spanish school i went to) enjoying the prematch celebrations. we arrived at 6pm for an 8pm kick-off and the stadium was already full. some people arrived at 6am just to get a good spot!

Me and the girls!

things went crazy when the teams entered on the stadium. fireworks were shooting just over our heads onto the pitch. it was a very cool atmosphere. not quite as good as sitting in a half empty stadium watching Darlington FC lose though.

firecrackers were constantly attached to the fence or thrown on the pitch.

more craziness...

This is me explaining the complicated game of ´cat and mouse´ in english, which was then translated into spanish and then translated into the mayan language of quiche.

everyone having lots of fun!

... more fun

one of the school teachers being a mouse, much to her dismay.

me and some friends. very few of them spoke english or spanish, so there was little verbal communication to be had

These are some kids who live in the village of Las Nubes where i was helping build the church (you can just see it in the background). i can´t remember their names unfortunately. i can tell you they very much enjoyed bing photographed and seeing the pictures on my camera!

this is a picture taken by one the above kids.

me and me mates!