Streetball in Santiago, Chile via Couchsurfing

"Heavy D"

Crashing the Boards

Barkley goes Coast to Coast

I got my first run of South America in Santiago, Chile at Parque Inés de Suárez. A Polish girl organised a basketball event via Couchsurfing and 5 of us showed up for the inaugural meet. We played full court with some locals and we dominated them handily. At one point it was 8-0 with all the points posted by the 3 girls on the court.

Our Polish organiser had actually organised previous basketball events in places like Buenos Aires and Chicago. The two other girls on our team were Australian, one had previously toured the States with her Year 11 basketball team and had experience playing with American competition in schools around California.

This is only the second time I've played organised hoops via Couchsurfing, interestingly it was also organised by an expat. If you're in Santiago and interested in hooping you can find regular Couchsurfing meetings here - Basketball Couchsurfing Santiago

Update: December 2013
After being involved in the inaugural week of this CS meet its heartening to see it's still going strong. Entering its 16th week at the time of this writing. Myself and the original organiser are no longer a part of it as we've moved onto other countries. P* the only Chileno who represented the first week has done an admirable job with the reins.

Full Court

The girls from the first week are still reppin' it

Other adventures in South America:
- Streetball in Santiago, Chile
- My time in Caracas, Venezuela for FIBA Americas 2013
- Finding Basketball on the Frontera of Brazil and Argentina
- Streetball with locals around South America: Christmas Day in Bogota, Colombia

Find other Basketball experiences facilitated by Couchsurfing:
- Social Sunday Sports, Basketball in London via Couchsurfing
- Streetball in Santiago, Chile via Couchsurfing
- Baloncesto: I love this game - Basketball in Europe (PtI: España)
- Balancing Basketball and Travel in Lithuania - Part I