I'm at a loss for words!!!...... REALLY!!!!.......

.....more about that later.

As Miguel and Rita, our drivers, wove our way towards the futbol stadium we noticed an escalation of excitement and anticipation, and that was just in the vans.

Outside, the atmosphere was positively electric.

These people are futbol fanatics of the highest order.

We walked past an ensemble of mounted riot police on our way to meet up with Claudia, who was in charge of the tickets.

Chanting and singing fans everywhere! A sea of red and blue "Cerro" jerseys!

"Cerro" was playing "Nacional". "Cerro" was the home team, which is a bit of a misnomer as both teams are based in Asuncion....but this was their home stadium. 

This is Paraguay's premier league, consisting of 13 teams, 10 of which are based  out of Asuncion.

 Just as we met up with Claudia, a battalion [ok, slight exaggeration, but certainly quite a number] of riot police marched past looking so much like Roman Centurions with their body armour, headgear and shields.

We entered the stadium and took our seats at midfield.

I believe it was a faint hope of neutrality. As it happens however, Cerro is Miguel, Claudia, and Azu's team...therefore, we supported Cerro by association.

End zone left was obviously "Cerro" territory.

Those under the banner in the photo above chanted, sang, beat drums, tooted hooters, banged the seats and generally made some sort of noise for the entire 90 minutes.....never letting up for a moment. It was brilliant!

It was also an exciting match with Cerro having four good chances within the first five minutes and dominating possession for the majority of the first half.
A miscue by a Cerro defender allowed, what I thought was a bit of a soft goal. Nacional 1, Cerro nil at the half.

Nacional popped a second goal early in the second half and then it happened....a typical tropical deluge!....raindrops the size of watermelons!
[ok, I admit to another slight exaggeration....but you probably get the idea]
Interestingly, the harder the rain, the more intense the fan support....including many members of our group.

....which brings me to the loss of words.

Like any self respecting blogger, I keep a small notebook in my back pocket to, you guessed it, take notes.
It took all of five minutes to be soaked to the skin, notebook included and now totally illegible....bear in mind that my handwriting is unintelligible at the best of times....add water and the notebook became a soggy hieroglyphic mess.

"Centurions" keeping watch over the "rowdies"

The game was called at the end of 90 minutes [no injury time added]
The referees had a police escort of the field and a grand time was had by all....rain notwithstanding!

On the build front, I was mistaken when I mentioned the coins were planted in the threshold...they are embedded in the foundation parging  coat beside the main entrance.
I'm told that Alixie was so touched she held the coins to her breast before setting them. The masons were touched as well, to the point of creating a special mix to ensure the permanence of the installation.

Progress is obvious so "nuff said" about that.

There was a question in the comments about the neighbours house and barbed wire.
Pretty much every property, no matter where or rank, has some sort of security fencing, be it walls and gates, or steel bar and gates, or simple barb wire and some sort of a gate.
I'm not sure if it's a question of a high incidence of theft or just plain old peace of mind security.
I've noticed this throughout Latin America and the Caribbean....in fact, in Aruba, which is a desert island if ever there was one, I've seen fences made of Pipe Cactus.

My name is Dan .....and I'm still 2 days behind in this blog!!!!