Futbol Practice (still)

The main soccer field that B's team normally practices on has been claimed by a semi-formal adult game today.  Average player age is probably in the upper twenties, but this could lead one to miss the fact that there are guys in their forties and maybe fifties out there.  The love of futbol is strong here and these guys play hard.

For today B's team is pushed off to the side, stuck in one end of the track oval behind the south goal of the adult game's field.  This lack of space means running drills for the boys with hardly any ball work and NONE of the shots-on-goal they like second only to actual game play.

The refreshment vendors (i.e. jugos y raspados) work the area heavily.  I knew I was a clean freak and touchy about my food but OAX has a way of constantly reminding an American about food hygiene unless you are TOTALLY ignorant of germ "theory."  So much food out and about everywhere you go.  Vendor carts, taco stands, old ladies selling tamales door to door, and restaurants with furnishings ranging from no chairs/tables to fancy glass and modern, steel dining sets serving fancy multicourse dinners.  The options (and respective Mexican naming system) is beyond my grasp.  Are our food prep and dining practices cleaner? OH YEAH!  But how much of my sense of discomfort & risk is due to the fActual hazards and how much to the American inclination for illusory "cleanliness?"  I.e. out of sight, out of mind.

Having been here two months now and having had many meals at decent non-gringo restaurants, none of our family has had any GI issues.  So it seems we are being way too cautious.  And, almost every time I walk by one of the sidewalk taco shacks surrounded by locals munching down these "lunch & late evening only" treats I admonish myself for listening more to my fears than to my stomach and my nose who are in solid agreement that the aromas from the taco stands are some of the best smells of OAX.