May 29, 2007 -- Last Game Day
By Bridget Daisy Fuentez
Well, if yesterday was Antarctica, then I am not sure what you would call today¹s gym. ³Muy frio!² was definitely an obvious understatement...
Once we arrived in Cordoba after a short bus ride, we checked into our hotel where we took our routine afternoon nap. Linzy and I were super excited about the down comforter that was calling our name the minute we opened the
door. After our short nap (2 hours) we meet the rest of the girls in the lobby to wonder through the streets.
Inside the Cathedral in Córdoba (capital city of the province of Córdoba.
Starting at the plaza which was basically the hot spot. Hot spot meaning, a huge crowd surrounding two men. We of course rushed to join the crowd in hopes of some entertaining street dancing. To our disappointment, we found two comedians (Spanish-speaking) and the least polite thing we could do was laugh when the crowd laughed, but we all know that gets old. So we quickly continued our search for some lunch. For those of you who do not know me personally, I guess you could easily say that I am a pretty healthy eater. So the Argentinean diet (jamon y queso o bife y papas fritas) has not been the most exciting part of the trip for me. BUT..Karley, Jess and I stumbled upon a Coffee & Tea shop where we had the most amazing lunch (cleared the plate). The menu had fish and turkey!! Enough said.
Our author, happy for a change from juicy steak and potatoes...
After lunch and some quick shopping, we loaded the autobus for our final match. We were filled with excitement and eagerness to play the Argentinean National Team one last time. Aside from the blister cold conditions, the gym was nice (biggest gym so far). We jumped out and stole the first game from them which was a goal of ours today remembering that we had to dig out of a slow start yesterday. Unfortunately we were unable to keep the established lead, and fell in four games. I can confidently say we left it out on the court today, and under pretty extremely challenging conditions (icebox gym).
Off the bus to the last game
Celebrating a point in game two
Johanna Hilbers and Bridget Fuentez on a solid right side block
Maintaining fire in a gym no warmer than 45*F...
We were left with a few memorable comments by the coaches and Pichu (our Argentinean team manager who works for the Federation down here). Although we started as individuals, we quickly became a team. This team will be a bookmark in all of our lives for many and different reason, but it has definitely been an unbelievable experience. An experience that is not yet over. Of course we had our usual midnight dinner which was very enjoyable. Once we filled our stomachs, we loaded the bus for our final bus ride (10 hours) back to Buenos Aires. I am going to join the rest of the bus and get some rest. I look forward to spending the last couple days with the girls in such a great city!
Link to Official Argentinean FEVA Page
