CLUB COBRA

So when I got back from vacation in January I joined a new gym. It is called Santa Rosita and is pretty near my school. My friends (Rebecca and Debrorah) and I are the only foreigners there which is nice, it is a completely Bolivian scene. That is nice because sometimes it feels like we are really separated from the community we live in. I speak English all day at work and have mostly non-Bolivian or English speaking friends so it is cool to spend a few hours at night in real Bolivia.

The gym is a pretty big scene. It is about the size of two basketball gyms. It has two raised wooden stages in the middle where the wrestlers, tae kwon doe and karate groups practice. The boxers and kickboxers (I'm in one of about 5 kickboxing group) are sort of scattered around the periphery of the gym. Some days there is a boxing ring set up, some days not. There is a big, official ring set up now because there was a competition last weekend. It was great. I have never been to a live boxing match and was worried that it may be a little too bloody and gross for me. I'm not really into watching people fight. It turned out to be a lot different than I thought. Because it was kickboxing, there didn't seem to be so much face/head punching as I expected. And given that most of the fighters were really good, they seemed to block most of the punches and kicks that came at them.

I'm in Club Cobra. Yes, that is for real. We have black shirts with gold iron-on. It is a big cobra with the words Club Cobra on the front. The back has two people fighting and it says Full Contact Kickboxing. We have to do pushups if we don't wear our shirt to practice. Hard core! Each group in the gym is their own club with their own name. I have not actually had any full contact fights and don't think I ever will. I do it for the workout. People at work say they would pay money to see Rebecca and I in the ring together but I don't think we will ever entertain their desires. Two of my teachers fought last weekend. It was a big tournament and a ton of people came out to watch. It wasn't too crazy because you had to pay 5b to get in. That really curbed the mob. After about 6 matches our assistant Frank went got into the ring. He is the one in the club cobra shirt in the pictures. He didn't win. He isn't so fast on his feet. Renaldo went next and it was great. It was definitely the fight of the night. He fought "Jumpin' Jack Flash". Not sure that guys real name but he is quick. It was a good fight and they were evenly matched. Lots of punch and kick blocking so I liked it. In the end, my teacher prevailed and won the title. It was pretty exciting.

I think the highlight of the whole thing was the huge sound system set up that played Eye of the Tiger at the beginning of each round of each fight. So by the time our professor fought, we had heard the song about 28 times. It was like being in the movies and as cheesy as it was, it really got everyone pumped for the matches, fighters and audience alike. What an international song!

Pictures
-Renaldo, our teacher, when he won (he is on the left, Jumpin Jack Flash is on the right)
-Renaldo getting ready to fight, Frank in Club Cobra helping him out.
-Frank getting ready for his fight. He was bummed to lose!