I Won´t Back Down

So, did you know they have Olympics in prison? I did not either, but today, I went to the opening ceremony for the Ayacucho Prison Olympics!

We brought volleyball jerseys for the women´s team and I did not fully understand this until we went to the crowded main courtyard for the big ceremony. Marisol and I scooted in late and took our seats under one of the three tents they had set up for the VIPs. (The only time in my life probably I will get to sit at a VIP tent for any kind of Olympics) The sun was hot, so the shade of the tent felt nice. The courtyard, which is a little bigger than a basketball court, was lined by crowds of spectator (ie, the male prisoners not participating as athletes). Our seats in the tent were directly behind the "godmothers" of the teams. These were three women with their hair done up, dressed in their nicest prison clothes, with maroon velvet sashes around them. They were inmates too. They were also holding big bouquets of flowers. I wondered who got these for them. Was it an expense for the Ayacucho prison?

The announcer was rapidly and very loudly narrating. There were at least ten teams, all in different uniforms, all inmates, lined up in front of the VIP tents. Each team had a banner that was held in front of them by eager supporters. But the icing on the cake was definitely the mascots. Yes, there were mascots (Now this explained the huge Silvester the Cat I saw earlier in the hall). There was a Pink Panther, one or two lions, a Tigger (from Winnie the Pooh) and a boxing monkey. All of the mascots were dancing around and acting silly like a good team mascot is supposed to do. Hilarious!

The announcer yelled Spanish into the microphone and a guy stared singing and playing the keyboard even more loudly into the huge amplifiers. Yes, there were huge amplifiers as well as a huge sound board. They pulled out all of the stops for this!

Next, was the lighting and running of the Olympic torch. Wait, they were going to let an inmate run around the other hundreds of inmates with a big burning torch. Yep, sure enough they were. The slim runner dressed in a white soccer uniform and some running shoes proudly held the torch for it to be lit. Then, he ran slowly around the entire courtyard as we cheered. Finally, he placed the torch in an old coffee can that was hung on the end of the courtyard. Soon whatever was inside the coffee can caught fire and the Olympic flame was up and going. I asked Marisol if the flame continues to burn the entire games. She laughed and said no because the games go on for weeks and weeks.

I keep forgetting I am in a prison right now.

Now it was time for the parade of the athletes. The herd of athletes turned and circled around the courtyard so that the would walk right in front of the main tent. Some teams waved to the crowd. Some saluted. The women´s team had traditional dancers from Puno (costumes looks a little like a tacky Quincenera dress mixed with a stripper outfit) dancing preceding their athletes. There were soccer teams, basketball teams, volleyball teams, and even a few boxers. The members of the last team to go were each holding small yellow flags that said, "maxima" on them...as in maximum security. They might as well have said, "I won´t back down...ever" Yikes, I didn´t want to mess with them.

As the parade of athletes was coming to a close, Marisol and I had to leave. Alejandro was waiting in the parking lot to pick us up. Oh, what a day!

I Won´t Back Down, Tom Petty