Paraguay Advances/ City Celebration

June 24, 2010
Kyle- Ciudad del Este, Paraguay- Paraguay and New Zealand tied 0-0 yesterday, but advanced to the next round. Before I talk about this game...Lets talk about Paraguay.

We crossed the border into Paraguay on Thursday morning and were immediately overwhelmed with the chaos that occured. As we drove, looking for a place to watch the game, hundreds of people were in the streets. Most of them had a Paraguayan jersey on and there were flags everywhere. Every 20 feet, people would knock on our windows in the middle of the street attempting to give us a flyer or handout. There were hundreds of people! One kid (10 or 11 years old) approached the car and washed our windshield (expecting a tip). We hadn't exchanged money yet so we had no Paraguayan money to give him. Nico gave him a few Uruguayan pesos instead and the kid immediately threw it at the car and started yelling at us. I didn't understand exactly what he was saying, but my guess is that he said "What the heck is this? give me some Paraguayan money!" We ignored him, but he displayed his anger by punching the window. Luckily, he did not break it and we were able to get away.

We pulled into a mall to watch the game. After all the chaos in the city, we were worried about the car, but Nico took his bag (with our valuables in it) into the mall. For the first time all trip, we felt unsafe. I thought I would feel safer once I bought a Paraguayan jersey and Danny felt the same way. We agreed we would look to buy one before the game started. The first store we saw was a gun store and this did not help us feel any safer. All I could think about was getting that jersey, so that everyone knew we were there to show support. We went to three sporting goods stores, but none of them sold Paraguayan soccer jerseys. All I could think was "How can a Shopping Mall in Paraguay not sell...Paraguayan jerseys!" The entire mall was filled with people wearing Paraguayan jerseys. If you needed an NBA jersey, you were golden, but no soccer jerseys. The game started and we found a cafe in the mall that had couches and a room full of passionate fans (with jerseys) ready for the game. Several stores closed for the game. This game was not very exciting. Paraguay outplayed New Zealand, but could not score. The fans jumped out of their seats every time Paraguay had a scoring opportunity but it did not happen. The game ended 0-0, but the celebration began right after the last whistle. Paraguay only needed a draw to win their group and the fans knew it. The celebration started with fans inside the mall screaming, blowing horns, and waving flags. The stores re-opened but most workers were partying, dancing, and screaming inside their store. People were partying in the streets so we decided to take a walk and check it out. The music was so loud that it was difficult to hear each other speak. I took out my phone and attempted to record a video when Danny quickly told me to put it away before someone snatched it from me. We decided it was time to leave and went back to the car. We got to the car and saw that someone tried to break in. Someone clearly cut into the door handle and tried to unlock the door. We left Paraguay (after crossing the border three hours earlier) and crossed back to Brazil before crossing again into Argentina. As we drove off all I could think was...If only we had those jerseys.