Way to Die #3: Futbol games.

I just wrote another entry {two in one day!} that you can check out beneath this one... they're both long, I know (sorry) but worth reading, I think. They describe this city well.

Yesterday we went to our first Argentine futbol game. There is NOTHING to compare it to in the United States. NOTHING. It was Lanus v. Racing. We met an Argentine Saturday night who invited us to go with his friends. I fell backwards on the couch out of excitement when he asked us. We've been told by everyone that we can only go to a futbol game here with Argentines who know how to do it, or else we would die(after last night, I think they were speaking at least 70% literally when they said die), so I'd been anxiously awaiting an Argentine guy friend.

First, we took a train to the stadium. Let me set the atmosphere: thirty young guys, ages 14-30, singing futbol songs at a deafening volume (each team has its own songs); drinking wine from boxes; smoking marijuana and cigarettes; leaning out of the train windows; banging the doors, walls, windows so hard that slabs of train wall were swinging loose, so they banged those too; actually the slab of wall was being slammed by a 10 year old singing kid. Chaos. The five of us were for the other team (Lanus). We asked Marcus (our friend) what would happen to us if we started singing Lanus songs. He said they would jump us. We stayed silent and in a corner. When our stop came, the five of us were escorted off the train by three guards in bullet proof vests, carrying crowd control shields, like you see in photos from the 60s riots, and automatic rifles (I don't know guns, but they were three feet long and terrifying-looking). Marcus' friends grabbed us and escorted us out of the station. Apparently there is a train stop for each set of fans.

There are also two entrances to the stadium that holds 30,000 and is always full. During the game. No one sits; we are stuffed on top of one another so that sitting is impossible; they sing songs and chants constantly so that the entire stadium is at a deafening roar; there are thirty ft. high fences surrounding the field complete with barbed wire circles on it, and barbed wire on top, but that doesn't stop the 8 year olds from sitting on top of them for the best view; the same armed guards surround each fans' section (we tried them counting but stopped at 100); when people jump during chants, the stadium literally moves; fireworks are set off from the crowd; we throw paper and wave bags made into balloons; when Racing trips Lanus, the entire crowd screams "Hijo de puto" in unison (son of a bitch) and then proceeds to curse the players entire family; cheering for one's own team is ALWAYS encouraging (different than US); we waited 45 minutes while Racing fans were let out first; five armed guards on horses, two squad cars, and over twenty armed guards on foot stood outside our exit and walked with the crowd back to the trains and buses; we heard police's warning gunshots (of fights) as we walked to our colectivo.

We were told last night's game was incredibly tranquil, especially in comparison to the legendary Boca/River games. They're the two most popular teams, and supposedly if the two crowds of fans were to intermingle during the game, people would die. Boca and River play each other in May. I'm in.