Hoy si papa!!

I am well and truly riding an emotional rollercoaster at the moment! Last night was the most fun I’ve had in ages!! Related to....football. John you will be soo proud of me!!!

So, last night was our last chance to qualify for the world cup. No-one held out much hope. In order for us to win we had to beat El Salvador AND the USA had to win or draw with Costa Rica – this was the hard one!

I went round to watch the game with Lorena and the boys – bracing myself for the disappointment afterwards. They had bought meat which they cooked on the small BBQ outside – the only way to cook it here! Zuko was there – a chance to have a break from his family for a while. Both matches were on the TV at the same time – different channels, so we sat flicking between the 2. Honduras were winning 1-0 and the States were losing 2-1. Then in the LAST minute of extra time the US scored another which meant Honduras would pass through to the World Cup. The first time in 27 years!! Unbelievable.

We all jumped in my car and went round to Zuko and Carina’s house. They couldn’t really celebrate in the same over excited way as us but we wanted to share with them. Poor Zuko and Anael were just crying with it all – understandably!

Now when Honduras wins they have a ‘Caravan’ going through town after the game. Basically, everyone piles into cars and pick ups and drives through town and everyone takes to the streets and goes to the Plaza. So, you guessed it we all piled in my car and went to town! All 9 of us! There were hundreds of cars and literally thousands of people. Pick ups full of people jumping up and down. In my car Jaime climbed out of the sun roof and sat on the roof – as did Chele (not a small man!!) Adelson, Zuko and Kristian (the boy from the river) were in the boot/trunk/back part (depending where you are reading this!) and I can lower my back window so they sat on the back part of my car. Lorena was sat on the window of one side of my car (as in Window down, sat leaning on roof). It was insane. We followed Kike’s pick-up full of camp people screaming and jumping. We went to the plaza and everyone lined the road and any car stupid enough to actually pass through these people was rocked and kicked and banged! We all jumped, cheered and sang – until people starting breaking the plant pots in the middle of the road and throwing dirt at the passing people...and the over excited person who shot his pistol!!

So, having bumped into everyone we knew, we stood around in the plaza itself for the next hour just chatting. They had turned off the plaza lights (like street lights) to try and get rid of everyone. It was beautiful, looking up at the stars. The boys stood and re-lived the matches and discussed how it would affect the country and lift the spirits of everyone and politics etc. They are right, for one night the golpistas and Resistencia joined together for a common goal. I lay on the floor - in the middle of town just thinking how I was celebrating with all my closest friends here!

Then, having dropped various people off we went back and set off fireworks outside Lorena’s house! I still had some left over from my Firework shopping spree at Christmas!

Everyone celebrated the entire night. Today, all public services, banks etc are closed as a National Holiday to celebrate (and because everyone was out last night celebrating!) And the best bit...the big restaurants in the cities are offering free food today..Pizza hut, Burger King etc to celebrate!! So I’m off to Comayagua tonight to get my free Pizza - if I can stay awake long enough!!!

So from tragedy to extreme excitement! What next?