Fútbol

Sometimes words just don't do justice to the feeling you get when you connect with someone on a different level. Language doesn't need to be a barrier to communication, especially when it comes to sport and camaraderie.

The other day as we explored the streets, we could hear loud singing and cheering, not just loud, but top of your lungs booming, male voices, spilling from the second floor window of a bar.  We wandered in and saw the soccer game playing on the downstairs TV and knew we had to check out the party above.

The barmaid waved us through to the back of the bar so we made our way up a narrow pitch black staircase toward the noise.

When we reached the top of the stairs we were greeted with "Hola's" and Lord knows what else, but they immediately grabbed stools and old chairs and pushed them in our direction and motioned us to sit and join them. The gang was made up of guys, probably young 20s, and one pretty rough looking young woman.

The room was dark but for the sun streaming into the window, a run down, dirty place that hadn't been painted in years and the beer-stained ceiling was a testament to previous jubilant celebrations.

It was obvious that the revellers had been there for some time, judging by the number of litre bottles of Escudo and Cristal on the tables. They mostly all wore blue Claro-sponsored soccer jerseys, or had started out in them, some were waving them over their heads in solidarity for the University of Chile team, exposing tattoos of hands in cuffs on one fan's back, (which may have tied in to the numbers tattooed on the back of his shaved, nearly bald head), and U Chile crests inked on chests and shoulders.

The emotion in that room when their beloved U Chile scored was totally incredible. There were only 19 there, including us gringos, but we moved closer to the wall as we thought the floor might give out as they jumped, sang, belted out Chilean victory songs and chants. I could only imagine what a stadium game might be like. It was awesome. We hugged, high-fived, clapped to the victory songs and as the gang trickled out, finished our beer and hit the suddenly overly bright street, smiling for having had that experience.

I didn't take photos, partly because we'll remember the moment and partly because I wanted to keep my camera...

Rainer also likes to 'impress' kids with his soccer moves...and always comes back feeling that one day, they may become world class soccer heroes and he will have been the main contributing factor.  Always fun to watch...no need to speak the language, really.