The morning started with the usual breakfast and then we were picked up by Avila’s Team bus, which was a large double-decker.  For most of us, the ride was a great opportunity to catch up on some sleep.  A couple of quiet hours later we arrived at our hotel in Avila, which was small, but nice and located right down town.  Most of us walked about 10 minutes to the oldest part of the city which has a wall built around the entire thing.  Everywhere you looked was a Kodak moment.  The scenery was beautiful, but pictures hardly do it justice.  It turns out that Kristina is quite the little tour guide.  Her and Erin guided a group of us around for the entire day and most of the trip.  I worry about what it would be like trying to navigate without them.

We walked around the entire wall (which amazingly enough seemed up hill the whole way), stopping frequently for photos. We also found a quaint little souvenir shop with all kinds of cool things, like the sling shot I bought for my 10 year old brother. Dana was a real trooper the entire day as she kept up with all of us even though she was dealing with strep throat.

One of the hardest things on this trip was ordering food. I didn’t really know much Spanish, so it was an adventure whenever Tim wasn’t around to translate the menu. I learned the safest choice (most of the time) was ordering “un jamon y queso”, or one ham and cheese sandwhich. I also learned that they put mayonnaise on just about everything. Mid afternoon, we met back at the hotel and boarded Avila’s Team bus again, but this time their team was with us. It was a great chance to get to know some of them and the scenery made the drive enjoyable.

Once we arrived, we invaded a small locker room to put on our uniforms and then tried to get pumped up for the match by listening to some music. Maybe we should have listened to a little more, because we were a little flat during the match. I seemed like we were intimidated. It took some adjusting to get used to the way they warm up over there and the sun was glaring in our eyes the entire time. It was also our first match against a first level team. During the match there wasn’t a whole lot of talking on our side. Our blocking communication was especially poor, which allowed them to run their middle at will. They were nice enough to play 5 games with us, but we lost them all. Some were closer than others, but overall we hadn’t learned how to play as a team.

After the match, we traveled back to our hotel, where they had a nice area set up for us to eat. There was plenty of food, but it was the saltiest I’ve ever eaten! At least the meal ended well with a yummy dessert to mask the salty after taste. When we were finished eating, a group of us went to check out the accommodations for Michelle (one of the American players on Avila’s team, # 13 in the back row). She shared a large 5 bedroom apartment with 2 of her teammates. The extra bedrooms were mainly used for drying laundry as no one has clothes dryers over there! It reminded me a lot of college living. After the tour of her place, Michelle took us to a nearby internet café so we could say hello to everyone back home and then a few of us went back to her place to chat. Her and her roommates were great about answering all of our questions and giving us helpful advice. We didn’t stay too late before we made the chilly walk back to our hotel. Amazingly enough we were able to find it without Kristina’s guidance!