Trophey Muñecas

My host brother, Carlos, and I had an extensive chat one night about a week ago about many many things acerca de Estero de Platano... one of which was the ´´muñeca´´ that was to be killed the next morning. At that moment Carlos was making a list of all of the men who were on a specific soccer team a few years ago... and used the list to explain to me why there was going to be a slaughter the next day. WHAT. (Sometimes I have no idea what people are talking about because so much can be lost in translation and because sometimes the stories they tell are just wild.)

It turns out that a few years ago Estero de Plátano had an unbeatable men´s soccer team. They were SO unbeatable that they won the Men´s League Championship in the area, the prize for which was a cow. The cow, however, was just a small calf a few years ago. So, when I walked out of my house the next morning I saw a very large crowd of men standing around a very large, caramel colored cow laying on a few planks of wood. When I arrived, my host-mom´s brother was smiling and holding a hoof that he had just sawed off with his machete. So as to spare all of you the details of the slaughter, I´ll just say that for the rest of the afternoon I passed many soccer players carring huge bags or plates full of meat back to their houses. I, along with many many people in Estero, ate carne frescita (fresh meat) that night for dinner.