Yesterday we had a true Argentine experience. It felt like we were in a movie. Maybe it was a comedy, but perhaps it was more of a thriller.
One of the main events we have been looking forward to and planning on for this trip is a Boca Juniors game in the Bombonera. Last time we were here it was fairly easy to go to games if you went with a group so we called our guy Juancho. A chunky, grizzled, party guy who loves futbol and money. "Si, Si we can get you in. Call back tomorrow".......so we did, "Call back tomorrow"......again....."call back tomorrow. We all wanted to go. It was really our only chance to see a game. It turns out we landed on the game that would determine Boca Juniors the "Campeons de la league" if they were to win. It was a very desirable game to attend. Juancho was aksing a huge price for the game. I can't even begin to tell all the negotiations Andrew went through to make this happen. When we stopped by the office in San Telmo and turned over a boat load of cash I assumed that meant we had tickets. We were all excited. There are few events as exhilerating as a Boca game.
We met the omnibus at McDonalds in Palermo and headed toward the bar in Boca where they served
Soon we got on the bus and our "guide" said we were on our way......"pero no tememos los ticketas!" She announced, "as you all know we don't have tickets".....I looked at Andrew. He had omitted this small but significant detail. She continued, "We don't have tickets, however we have another way in....we will carry the flag!" At this point, my jaw is on the floor. What?!#? Really? She started in Spanish so I waited for the clarification in English to be sure this crazy plan is what I heard.....yep....no tickets....carrying the flag.....into Boca......a championship game, in a dodgy neighborhood. Has he lost his mind? Here we go....rolling in our mini van, no tickets, into the mobs of others who also DON'T HAVE TICKETS!
The Bombonera is a towering stadium with steep stacked seats of concrete stuffed onto a small piece of real estate in one of Buenos Aires poorest barrios. The stadium rocks and shudders when the fans get going and now we were headed into it with way too many fans for it to hold, for the championship game, and no tickets. I leaned over to Andrew and whispered with a smile, "if we survive this, you will hear about it for the rest of your life!" As we approached the stadium, Juancho was passing the Fernet and chanting Boca songs, while looking a little.
We rolled to a stop as the hoards of fans blocked the way. Right in front of the van a violent fight broke out. Now I was really nervous. Should we bail? Stick with the group? Go with the flow? For some reason we kept going. Juancho ran into the crowd and 20 of us tried to keep him in our sights. We had already lost Laura the guide who we were supposed to stay with "at all times". She disappeared. Paula the other bus guide took over. Now we were told to stay with her while she chased Juancho. Then there it was. Our ticket. The blue bandera. It was rolled into a 100 foot long roll and we were ordered to line up along it and get ready to carry it inside. We were sandwiched in so tightly I thougth I would get lifted off the ground. The sweaty guy in front of me said, "es como una anaconda!" Then it started slithering forward toward the turnstiles. I tried to walk through as one would think you should, turn the turnstile. A man on the other side resisted my efforts to pass through as I kept pushing harder to turn the turnstile...."no!"....then I got it...sneak by, don't turn it....duh! Really? One hundred people were going to get into the Bombonera because we were carrying Boca's flag? Right past the SWAT team? Sure enough, my family was in. Seventy five feet of flag was still trailing behind us outside the stadium with 100 or more people holding on! Jordy casually commented, "It is just like preschool. You hold onto the rope and walk in a line so you don't get lost!"
Our adventure with the flag wasn't totally over even though we were inside and it looked like we would see the game. Now we had to get that flag in its entirety past the turnstile and up 8 flights of switchback stairs. It became a tug of war. Those of us inside were pulling up the stairs. Those still outside were grabbing on and pulling hard to be sure they got into the stadium. We made it around one corner of stairs, but the tail end was still outside the stadium! Paula finally told me to let go and take the children to the side. Somehow that blue snake slithered it's way to the top of the Bombenero and we were inside in somebody's seats looking down at one of the most famous fields in futbol.
I'll let the videos and photos tell the rest. It was the ultimate futbol viewing experience next to the game we saw two years ago when Argentina qualified by the skin of their teeth, in the pouring rain, for the 2010 World Cup.
Fireworks, chants, songs, balloons, paper confetti, banners rolling up and down over our heads, three goals, more fireworks, more chants, La Boca, Los Campeones!
Buenos Aires partied into the night at the Obliesco. Juancho bought another round of beer and somehow we safely returned to our quiet apartment in Palermo.
Andrew carrying the flag
The same flag simultaneously inside and outside the stadium.
Under the flag
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