Buenos Aires, Argentina - Part 3

Went to see a Boca Juniors soccer game yesterday with a guy from London and a guy from Brazil. It was exciting for me because I´ve never seen a professional soccer game, but these guys were going nuts because Boca apparently is one of the world´s famous clubs: home to Maradonna, housed in a famous stadium nicknamed "The Cauldron," and the pride and joy of La Boca, which is B.A.´s toughest, roughest, blue-collarest neighborhood. The antics of the fans there are legendary.

I was feeling pretty good about it until the guy from Brazil (who lives in Sao Paolo, mind you, one of the most-populated and insane cities in the world) approached me a little bashfully before we left and said, "Chad, do you know if we´re supposed to wear all neutral colors today or is would it be ok to wear this shirt with this blue stripe?"

I said, "Are you serious?"

He shrugged and walked back to his room. I immediately went back to mine, dug through my "luggage," and found a brown t-shirt, which I considered complimenting with a pair of brown pants. In the end, I figured I was safe in blue jeans but spent most of the rest of the day with my hands in my pockets, clutching my wallet and camera.

The game didn´t disappoint. I´ve never seen anything so ridiculous. Not even if you multiplied Crutcher by 60,000 would you have a collection of sports fans more intense than this. The visiting fans from Independiente were literally quarantined in one end of the stadium, sectioned off by 15-foot fences with barbed hooks on top. Just after halftime, the visiting fans started launching red plastic bags filled with urine and feces over the edge of the second deck, drilling more than a handful of hometown Boca fans directly in the heads and chanting "Now you´re the shitty ones who´ve been shitted on." But there was nothing to be done. The cops weren´t about to go up there to stop it and I was amazed at how well the Boca fans took it. I suppose those things were settled after the game, regardless of the fact that no Boca fan was allowed to leave the stadium until all of the visiting fans had been escorted out by police in riot gear.

I asked if this was special treatment due to the pissbag episode but was assured that it happens every game. "The pissbags or the police escort?" I asked. "Both," said the guy in front of me as he waved his Boca jersey above his head and chanted the words to one of the many songs that were sung throughout the game.

I´ve never seen so many people jump up and down in one place for so long without stopping.

Boca won 2-0 and people were really happy about that.

After the game, we went to watch people dance tangos in the street.

It was Sunday, so I got to bed early, around 3:00.