The morning after our big night out, I couldn't believe we slept until 11 a.m.! I guess all the go, go, go, finally caught up with us, we needed sleep.
Michaela, Patty and I headed out walking for San Telmo. Lewis decided not to join us. I don't believe he was felling so well after the night before...yup, we've all been there! On Sundays, Defensa avenue becomes a large market. The street is closed off and vendors set up shop. You can find everything from leather goods, paintings, clothes, hats and scarfs to antiques and food. There's also plenty of entertainment - tango dancers, musicians, bands, street performers and random acts as well, like the guy that just stands there and looks like he is walking in a wind tunnel...random. We had a couple of hours to walk around the market. I spotted some items that I planned to buy, but wanted to wait till I was on my way home. I didn't want to carry extra stuff with me until it was absolutely necessary. Around 3 we headed back to the hostel to rouse Lewis and Eduardo, another friend we met who was going to the big futbol game with us.
The 5 of us, headed for the bus stop and hopped on the good ole 130 bus toward the River Plate Stadium. Now, I had issue with the name "River Plate" - what does it mean? The only answer I could get was Plate = Plata = Money/Gold/Silver. OK but River is an English word. I am still not following. Gotta luv the internet. River Plate is the English name for Rio de la Plata, the river that Buenos Aires sits. It is believed that back in the club's early days, one of the founders observed sailors playing impromptu futbol games in the port of Buenos Aires next to crates marked "The River Plate", hence the club name. Ah...I feel better, knowledge, although random, is power.
We arrived at the stadium and were at the wrong gate. We had to take a long walk around the neighborhood to get to the correct entrance. Talk about high security...whoa! There were policemen/women everywhere. On the way to the correct entrance, we saw a police escorted caravan driving to the stadium. I didn't realize it at the time, but that caravan was comprised of the visiting team's, Argentino Juniors, fans. Yeah, it says something about the level of "fan intensity" if the visiting team fans have to be escorted by police into and out of the stadium.
The game was fun to watch. We were seated at mid-field, front row in the non-hooligan section which allowed us really good views of the fast and fancy footwork of the professionals! But, the hooligan section looked fun too, minus the mosh pit. The fans did not sit down the entire game. Drums were beating, River Plate songs were sung, flags were waved and fans jumped and bounced around the entire game, even after River Plate lost, 2-1!
Considering they were outnumbered, the visiting team crowd was pretty loud too. They were pent up in a section that was behind barb wire with a police officer at the end of every row!
After the game, we were not allowed to leave the stadium until all the visiting fans were gone. Crazy, we were locked in! Now, you know, at one point, things must have really gotten out of hand for there to be this kind of security. We had a great time, quite an experience!
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