El Superclasico

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This was it, what I'd been waiting for for about 2 months. The big one. No, I'm not talking about seeing Rik Waller in concert, but of Boca Juniors vs River Plate at La Bombonera. (I have to confess, that joke isn't mine, I actually stole it from someone else who went to the game, but I didn't meet until Puerto Iguazu... Gareth if you read this, please don't sue me.)

First though, a short tale about an interesting first night back in BA. As you may recall from the last exciting episode of "Stewart's blog" I caught a ferry from Colonia at stupid o'clock, meaning that I couldn't sleep beforehand. A group on the boat decided it was a great idea to get out their instruments and have a bit of a jam on the boat at 5am, so I didn't sleep there, therefore I got into BA feeling pretty ropey. I tried to get some kip once arriving at the hostel, but kept being woken up, so abandoned it as a bad job.

I didn't feel great for the rest of the day, but just about mustered the energy to go to the bus terminal to buy a ticket up to Puerto Iguazu. When I returned, I was a bit surprised to find that the annoying band from the boat had turned up at the hostel. I'm not sure they knew how much they annoyed me earlier, but did their bit to make up for it by offering steak, which is a lot better than an olive branch. I was now just about ready to crash out, and walking back to my room, a chap passed me wearing possibly the most ridiculous suit I have ever seen. I assumed that was why Erico (one of the staff at the hostel) was looking so amazed. But no, it turns out this chap is a really famous singer in Argentina, and had just turned up unnanounced at the hostel, as he is friends with the band, and they were going to play a gig that night. It all sounded quite fun, and I really regretted taking that early ferry, as there was no way I was going anywhere. Shame.

So, you've had the starter, now for the main course. Luckily, I was feeling a lot better after a good nights sleep, and headed to La Bombonera with 3 Danish guys from the hostel. We got to the ground nice and early, where it was already really busy. After buying our Boca shirts, all that was needed was the simple task of going in. Except it wasn't so simple. Unfortunately, where we'd arrived at the ground was between the entrance we needed, and the entrance for the River fans. As you can imagine, this meant a huge police corden stopping us using the route I'd intended. Even more unfortunate was that every policeman gave us different directions of the best way to go, with one even nearly sending us into the area where the River fans were gathered. Thanks for that Mr Policeman. What a good idea it is to send 4 tourists wearing Boca shirts towards their arch enemies.

We abandoned the idea of asking policemen the way, and instead asked some other Boca fans, which turned out to be much more useful. But by the time we found our entrance, we were no longer nice and early, and it soon became clear we weren't going to have the grandstand view we expected. Still, this all ceased to matter when the teams came out. The stadium basically exploded in a sea of flares, ticker tape, balloons etc. It was one of the most incredible things I've experienced, and the match started with the pitch still covered in litter.

The first half was pretty dull to be honest, but that didn't stop everyone singing and shouting. Even the people in the posh seats were bouncing up and down. As I mentioned, as we ended up a bit late, we didn't get the best view in the world, as the roof from the terrace above us made it a bit tricky to see. This terrace happened to be where the River fans were, and the Boca fans who weren't under the roof were getting showered with spit and other even more unpleasant substances. Whoever it was that decided it was a good idea to park the opposition fans over your own needs their head seeing to.

And so to the second half, which was meandering along like the first until Martin Palermo, the man they call "The Argentinian Andy Booth" gave Boca the lead with a sweetly struck left foot shot from outside the area. Maybe not quite the same as Boothy then. The stadium exploded for the second time that day, and it remained like that until River equalised 10 minutes later. From there, it kind of petered out, and so it ended in a draw, with the River fans probably going away happier.

It really was a great experience, and I'm really glad I went, even though it did cost the best part of 100 quid. It was just a shame that it took so long getting in, as I reckon I'd have enjoyed it so much more if we'd been more towards the middle of the crowd than the back. Ah well. The following day, I had some waterfalls to chase, and a swanky cama bus to take me up to Puerto Iguazu.


And thats where I'll leave you,

Stewart

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Photos

Pre match
This photo really doesnt do the atmosphere justice

Business time
Boca get us underway

River free kick
I'll give you one guess where this went.