Argentine Futbol: Boca Juniors v. River Plate

On my last full day in Buenos Aires, I was able to go to the Argentine version of Duke v. UNC, Michigan v. Ohio State, and the Red Sox v. the Yankees all rolled up into one. Boca Juniors and River Plate are the two most popular futbol teams in Buenos Aires (and probably the country). Diego Maradona (who in spite of endless drug problems and irresponsible behavior is still a god here) played for Boca for many years and has a private box in the stadium.

As I was recently told, the three things you don´t talk about in polite conversation in Argentina are politics, religion, and futbol. The only games that incite more passion than this one are national World Cup games (and possibly America´s Cup, which is the Latin American championship).

This game was in Boca´s stadium which seats about 55,000 (compared to River´s 70+). The tickets cost 260 pesos (about $87), marked up from a face value of 14 pesos in the ¨popular¨section (the rowdy area with no seats)...and the whole day was an adventure.

We were picked up at a hostel and loaded onto a bus which then went and picked up several other groups (including some who got on and then off again--typical Argentine chaos). On the bus we were given our tickets and told to stick close to the group (of about 40). Before the game, we had all been regaled with tales about how dangerous the game and the Boca neighborhood can be. ¨Don´t take anything with you.¨ ¨Don´t lose the group.¨ ¨There will be fights, stabbings, witches, etc...¨

We got into the stadium without incident (not insignificant given that another group from my hostel never got in--it seems their ¨tickets¨didn´t exist) a little after 1pm. The game started at 4:30. We had more than three hours to sit in cramped quarters and defend our seats (well, there aren´t any seats in the popular section, it´s just a place to stand) as the stadium filled up.

There was no drinking allowed, which was surely a smart policy but made for a boring wait. There was, however, plenty of singing during the hours-long build up.

Then, the teams were introduced...and this was the best part. When River came out, you can´t imagine the depth of invective hurled at the players. Every Argentine curse word was brought out in a barrage of pure hatred.

When Boca came out, the stadium was transformed. Blue and yellow smoke went off in the stands and everyone in the stadium hurled paper and toilet paper at the field creating an amazing spectacle of graffiti. Interestingly, they never bothered to clean much of the graffiti off the field, even at halftime. The entire game was played with white paper covering the corners of the field.

The River fans were separated into a small section at the top of the stadium. Throughout the game, streams of clear liquid would pour down from this section down onto the Boca fans below. I was confused. Were people actually buying bottles of water and throwing them down, or making return trips to the bathroom? Actually, I later found out, that clear liquid was piss.

The River fans weren´t just pissing off the side. In a manner that seems somehow worse because premeditated, they were filling up water bottles with piss and dumping them off the side. Apparently this is expected and the same thing happens to River fans at their stadium. We´re not in Kansas anymore...

The game was a 1-1 tie. Boca scored within 30 seconds and clearly outplayed River in the first half. River´s goalie made several spectacular saves to keep the score at 1. But River came on strong in the second half and evened it up.

The result was a big disappointment for the home crowd because Boca was much higher in the standings and heavily favored on their home turf. But, despite the result and the intensity of invective at the beginning, at the end of the match the crowd applauded in a gesture that I interpreted as being intended for both teams.

The other interesting part of the game was the end. After the final whistle blew no one moved. I was confused. I was pretty sure there was no overtime, and there definitely wasn´t another game. So, why wasn´t everyone heading for the door? In the U.S. there would be a mad stampede. I turned to the Argentine father and son I´d been talking to and asked ¨Porque nadie salen?¨

They explained that the police block the exits while the River fans leave first so there are no fights. After all the River fans are gone, the rest of the stadium can leave. I´ve heard that some opposition fans are known to lock themselves to the seats so that all of the home fans have to wait while they´re extricated.

The fascinating part was that, even after a disappointing loss, everyone just sat there perfectly patiently and waited--for about half an hour. I can´t imagine this happening at home. It was a telling example of the patience of the Argentine people. Nothing happens quickly here, so no one expects it to.

By the way, the game/atmosphere never felt dangerous for one second. Because of the no alcohol rule, even if people where shitcanned when they showed up at 1pm to claim their seats, no one could possibly have been very drunk by 7pm when the game ended. So, the scene outside the stadium wasn´t rowdy at all. But, since I listed to the warnings, and didn´t bring my camera, these are the only pics I have--taken with a friend´s cell phone.

Buenos Aires II

In and Around BA


After heading down to Patagonia for three weeks, I returned to Buenos Aires for another two weeks. I still had lots of people to catch up with and places to see. I´ll try to give you the interesting parts below.

On my last weekday in BA, I decided to take a bike tour of the city (many of you probably took Mike´s Bike Tour in Munich or another European city--I still have my t-shirt). It was a great way to see a lot of the city in 4 hours, and many (but not all) of these photos are from the tour. First, here is a picture of me with our small group. We´re at the ecological reserve.











Plaza de Mayo

Here are some images from the Plaza de Mayo, named because the revolution against Spain was declared May 25, 1810. The pink building is their version of the white house. It was painted pink as a compromise between the two major parties whose colors were red and white.




































Plaza de San Martin

General San Martin finally liberated Argentina from the Spanish on July 9, 1816. Here is therefore known as ¨el liberador¨and has tons of streets, plazas, etc. named after him. Here is his statue in Plaza de San Martin:






Avenida de 9 de Julio


The widest street in BA (and I´m told the widest urban street in the world) is named for Argentine independence day.


On this street they have their own (smaller) version of
the Washington Monument, erected for the World Fair. I guess every country needs its own phalic symbol.





San Telmo

San Telmo is a funky neighborhood with lots of antique stores and a cool outdoor fair every Sunday. I stayed in a great hostel in San Telmo called the Garden House at the end of my time in BA.

On my second-to-last Sunday, two American women who were living in San Telmo (Anne and Lindsay) took me on a little tour.



We saw some tango (see the part on tango below) and the fair. There was some truly weird shit at the fair. To the right and below are some examples.

It reminded me of my friend´s hilarious blog http://www.shitfrommymom.blogspot.com/m.blogspot.com (which everyone should check out immediately if you haven´t seen it--it´s one of the funniest things I´ve seen on the web).

La Boca

La Boca is the neighborhood of ¨la gente¨in BA. It´s poor, somewhat dangerous but with lots of character and quite beautiful. It´s crown jewels are its colorful housing stock and the stadium of the Boca Juniors futbol team.





MALBA--El Museo de Arte de Latinoamerica de Buenos Aires

I saw some Latin American art and an interesting exhibit of David LaChapelle with an awesome Brazilian woman named Rita. We hung out all day and were able to communicate quite well in spite of the fact that she speaks primarily Portuguese (and a bit of Spanish) and very little English. We even developed a system for using coins to help us explain particularly difficult parts of a story. Here we are outside of MALBA:

El Tango

Argentina, of course, is famous for the tango. Nowadays, this is a tradition mostly carried on by older Argentines and street performers targeted at tourists. But, there are still some places where younger people tango (often in combination with other dancing). There are myriad opportunities to see tango. I didn´t go to an actual show (which often come with dinner and can be quite expensive), but did check out two milongas (dancing events where one can participate) and saw some street theatre.

Here is a couple dancing on the street in the San Telmo neighborhood:

Here is the inside of a milonga:

Finally, here´s a video of a couple dancing Tango in the Boca neighborhood:

Hangin' at the Hostel...and some other random stuff

Buenos Aires Round 1: Saturday Night BBQ

Here are some pics from my Saturday night at the Alma Petit Hostel in Palermo, Buenos Aires.

Here's me pretending to man the "asada" (barbaque). We ate at 1:30 am that night. After finishing a full bbq meal at 2am some of the more enterprising folks went out to the disco (the bars here don't get hoppin' until 3am and the clubs closer to 4am)--but being old and boring, I passed out.

This is Alejandra and Fernanda, "muy bonitas" Chilean twins staying at the hostel:

Other Random Pics

This is Susie a wonderful Australian I met by asking her for directions to the restuarant I was basically standing in front of.

I guess this is some Argentinians' idea of genuine American pizza. Those from NY will of course know why this is funny.

Finally, this is actually pretty cool. I bought a zip-up in a bar the other day. That's right, during the day on the weekends a bunch of the bars become clothing markets--but the bar still stays open. Here are some pics.