Futbol (soccer) is very popular here. From about age 8 and up, the average boy plays at least an hour a day. No one is too “lazy” to play soccer. Even the most unofficial pick-up games have nearly complete rule enforcement, Goalie gloves, and cleats. The kids here have skill levels and ball tricks that you don’t see in the U.S. They play very hard but high-class, there is very little hacking at the ball or body contact, and good passing.

In the jardin, many kids play soccer, destroying the grass, and once in a while breaking a light. For goals, they usually use a tree as one goal post and a cell phone or another soccer ball as a marker for where the other (imaginary) one is. If the ball goes through the posts but is too high, the goalie will shout “altura!” (height).

The conserjes (guards/groundskeepers) who maintain the apartment complex don’t like it. They get complaints from older people who dislike the jardin having patches of dead grass and flying soccer balls that occasionally hit people.

We are next to a large and well maintained public park that has two soccer courts (with concrete, not grass), but they are almost always occupied.

The conserjes make threats to fine people if they continue playing, but, as far as we can tell, they never do.

The same is true with water balloons and the splashing in the fountain.

The Chileans are like that – lots of rules that are not enforced.

“You don’t need a parachute to skydive; you need a parachute to skydive twice”

– Unknown