A pilgrimage and a soccer game
Trip Start
Apr 29, 2005
1
9
10
Trip End
May 08, 2005
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Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Friday, May 6, 2005
We are driving back to B.A. via the pilgrimage town of Lujan. The weather is cloudy and a bit chilly. Arriving just before lunchtime, we park in the extensive plaza fronting the enormous gothic basilica of Our Lady of Lujan. Although one sees photos, they don't really prepare you for the sheer size of the church. It's as large and ornate as any grand European cathedral, and impressed even us worldly travelers.
The town is less impressive. Away from the basilica, it's a mishmash of modernity and faux colonial. We are sucked into a "typical parillada"
01. Basilica de Lujan, with friend
. Compared to what we have enjoyed up to now, the food is pretty miserable, and we are happy to continue on to "our" Buenos Aires, and arrive in good time for afternoon tea. This evening we have planned a trip to see a football (soccer) match. We are unable to experience a Boca Juniors game. All that's left for us is Club Atletico Independiente, who will be playing the provincial team of Colon Santa Fe. This match will count towards the 2005 championship season. Independiente are the big favourites, and we have been told the game won't be all that interesting as they will overwhelm Colon.
We still have our rental car, so we get direction and drive to the Avellaneda district of the city. We can see the stadium lights from way off, so it's easy to find. Parking is also a snap, and we walk towards the stadium. We have been told to purchase preferred seats, as these are in a nicer part of the stadium, where we won't have to brush with the hoi polloi.
We arrive at the ticket window, which is mobbed by hundreds of fans trying to get tickets, and a very strong police presence. It doesn't look very nice at all, as the window is merely a hole in the wall, and everyone seems to be struggling to get to it at the same time. Nevertheless, it looks worse than it is, and I eventually arrive in front of the hole to purchase seats.
"Just one price" I am told. I find this rather strange, as in all stadiums, seat prices vary considerably. I think that perhaps as this is a minor game, with a single price for all seats
02. Nuestra Senora de Lujan
. I pay my 10 pesos (US$ 3.50), thinking that it was awfully cheap, and we enter the rather grubby corridors and ascend the steep stairs into the stadium. Once we are in, we realize our grievous mistake. We are at the south end of the stadium, standing room only, and half filled with fanatical fans waving black and red flags. Hold it a minute! Independiente is red and white! We are in the Colon supporters section!
We look across the pitch and see the elegant preferred section on each side as well as the opposite end of the stadium where the Independiente fans, with their red and white flags, are packed into an area similar to ours.
Nobody told us that each entrance was separate, away team supporters at one gate and home team supporters at another (to keep them from fighting), and preferred seating at yet another entrance.
We decide to make the best of it and in the end we realize we have actually been fortunate in our error. The atmosphere in our sector is loud, rowdy and everything we had hoped to experience. The most remarkable thing is that as the game progresses, our end explodes into joy and celebration, in contrast to the home team's end, which gets quieter and quieter (there seems to be no noise or action ever from the preferred seats) as Colon finally beats Independiente 2-1, the surprise of the season. And we are there, right in the thick of it.
Afterwards we enjoy a wonderful dinner in the restaurant beside our hotel.
