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Argentina vs. Bolivia

On Saturday, at the last minute, I decided to go to the futbol match. Argentina was playing Bolivia, and when I arrived there were no more tickets left. It was a gamble to go anyway. At 3:15, when I arrived back in my hostel after having a tea at the oldest café in Buenos Aires, Tortoni (dating back to 1858), the staff at my hostel said I was pretty much screwed if I tried to make it to the game by 4 pm, especially since I didn’t even have a ticket. How do I get there?—I asked. The bus left over an hour ago…it’s far…a taxi may not get you close enough…streets will be too crowded—they said.  It only takes a half hour to get there by car, but they were worried about traffic making it take longer. I had roughly 45 minutes to get there, find a ticket, and not get lost in the crowd—challenge!

I found a fellow last-minute fan on the corner and guessed right by thinking he was a tourist too. We shared a cab to River Plate stadium and chatted the whole way—he in his Brazilian Portuguese and me in my ever-improving Spanish. The taxi got us within a five-minute walk of the game and only cost 10 pesos (~$3) each. The scene outside was not as hectic as I expected, and I was able to find a ticket from someone on the sidewalk—safe, real, out in the open, in front of the cops. I paid 20 pesos more than the value, but only spent 50 pesos, which was good compared to the 100 my Brazilian buddy spent. And it was a pretty good seat! First level, just off to the side behind a goal, and, most importantly, in the shade. 

The day was hot and I would have fainted if my luck had been bad with the seat location. I sat between two Argentinians, one who was in his 60s and at the stadium for the first time in his life. He and I chatted more than I chatted with the younger guy on my right, but after each goal the younger guy and I high-fived. As soon as I sat down he had asked who I was rooting for…my response—Argentina, of course!

In the air you could feel the weight of thousands of people being there (stadium capacity is over 65,000). Shouting, singing, and high-pitched whistling were thunderously amplified even in the open-air stadium, and the sounds rolled in waves throughout the crowd. My claps and whistling seemed to drown in the noise, but I know I added to it all the same. In the second half of the game, firemen whipped out the water cannons and sprayed the sunny sections. They were lovin’ it. Kinda wish I got showered too, because after over an hour of sitting in even the shadows of a packed stadium I started to feel a little light headed (I happened to be hungry too). A burger, coke, and slow breathing helped that. I thought it was odd, but was thankful, that they didn’t sell beer there. If people were to drink at these games, they’d be crazy. And the passion for futbol is enough to pump up the fans. Seems that everyone loves and even plays futbol down here. This is why I just had to see a game in South America. And Argentina won, 3-0.

November 19th, 2007 Posted by Jessica | Blog | no comments