Football Fun and Shopping Madness!

So, most of Sunday was slept away.. given I didn't start sleeping til the morning had come anyway this won't be a surprise to any of you!! I did have to get up early afternoon though... we had a date.. with a football match! The La Boca Juniors were taking on Quilmes in a big local derby at the home of La Boca Juniors; La Bombonera... The Chocolate Box! Despite my body clock being totally out of whack and everything in me wanting to carry on sleeping, I was ridiculously excited about going to the match. I've always been told it's a 'must do' when in Buenos Aires and was so pleased that my timing was right being there when they were playing at home...I was also looking forward to watching my first football match where I wouldn't be wrapped in several million layers in futile attempts to keep warm... oh no, it was denim skirt, flips and a breezy summer top for me!! woohoo! In fact, if anything, I was a little too hot... sunscreen was slapped on and we did fear we'd burn... a welcome difference from all those cold English matches I've found myself at over the years!

Anyway... thanks to a La Boca match being such a Lonely Planet/Backpacker 'must do', as well as the fact they're a top of the league team that is, tickets sell out sharpish.. especially when it's a massive local derby such as this. Our ideal was to get tickets from the ground, cheaper and much more fun than going in an organised group but alas, it wasn't to be... other than a few they'd release early on match day, they were all sold out when Paul, Tim and Jamie went down to get some for us all. So we had to resort to buying them from the hostel... costing us stupid amounts more than it would've but at least we'd get to go.

We set off about 2pm ish despite the match not kicking off until 6pm! The main match that is, there was another match before it.. i'm assuming it was the seconds team although can't really remember. Either way we were quite happy to sit in the sun and soak up the atmosphere! Prior to making our way into the stadium however, once off the bus along with the 20 or so other people, we whiled away a bit of spare time at a roadside hot dog/burger stand.. me feeling a tad hungover, Kate feeling far too spritely for my state.. and were instructed by our guide on where to meet for the bus back to the hostel after the match, if we got lost. After sitting in the sun trying to conquer the hangover with a good old bottle ofr Sprite, I needed a quick trip to the ladies at the service station opposite before heading into the stadium.. unfortunately there was a queue and unbeknown to me, whilst queueing - and peeing - the guide decided it was time to head into the stadium and refused to wait... when I came out, everyone but Kate and a couple of others who'd had to answer the call of nature then as well were the only one's left! Oops!

Anyway, the 5 of us; myself, Kate, Sarah (a lovely Kiwi girl from the hostel), Lorraine (another lovely girl, english - who i recognised from somewhere, and vice versa, but neither of us could figure out where!) and a guy who's name i can't remember (sorry dude!), headed into the Chocolate Box figuring we'd find everyone else once in there! That wasn't quite what happened.. although we didn't realise the reason for it until after the match... we'd managed to wander into the wrong stand... the one for all the locals and the one with the Away fans on the top tier - above us!! Everyone else from our group was on the top tier of the opposite stand! During the first match (not the main event) all was well, there were a few other gringo's in the stand around us and all the locals were pretty friendly. In truth we were actually quite pleased at that point, we kind of wanted to be with the local fans rather than surrounded by 10 million other backpackers - thought it would be a better experience! What we didn't consider at that point, was the wrath of the Away fans during the main match.. when the Boca Juniors were 1-0 up!!

Seriously, I've no idea what possessed the 'powers that be' to place opposing supporters on tiers under/above each other.. it's a reciepe for disaster.. obviously! The first sign of trouble was about half way through the first half.... in the form of some 'classy' away fan deciding it was appropriate to pee over the side onto the home fans.... thankfully this was far enough to our right not to hit us! After that it all got a bit mental, people started chucking drinks on us, throwing things (and not small, harmless things either..things you wouldn't want to have hit you!) and gobbing on us... I, unfortunately, wasn't as lucky as the other 4 in our group, and found myself with some Quilmes fan's spit dripping down my right arm.. not a pleasant experience I can assure you.. but at least it wasn't one of the numerous heavy objects being hurled over the edge that i was hit with!

The match itself was wicked though, and to be fair, all the supporters of Boca Juniors couldn't have been friendlier.. the little boy in the pic above was there with his father and they were so cute together.. the atmosphere was totally alive and it was a great experience regardless of the stupid behaviour of the Quilmes fans! A few minutes before the final whistle, Kate and I decided we'd watch the end from the side, close to the exit (yes, I'll admit we were getting a little concerned about what would happen when everyone came out and both teams fans came face to face) we needed have worried though, in fairness to the Argentine authorities, we were greeted with a wall of policemen (not a bad thing to find yourself faced with I can assure you girlies!! ;0) alot of others had had the same idea, however, no one was allowed out until the match was over and then it was fiercely regulated in order to avoid any trouble occuring! Although i could have done without some skanky person spitting on me, taking in a Boca Juniors match definetly is a 'must do' if you make it to Buenos Aires and while I know I'll get told off for not remembering the score, Boca Juniors won so it was all good in the end!!

We had an interesting time finding our bus back to the hostel but eventually we were all safely on board and got back to Millhouse about 10pm.. just in time for dinner... Kate, Sarah, Lorraine and I went for food at a lovely little place called Harmony just around the corner and had a good girlie chat... if i remember correctly, the main topic of coversation that evening was the lovely subject of bowel movements... oh, to be a backpacker!!!! We were all pretty shattered as the weekend drew to a close and headed back to the hostel where our beds were tempting us with thoughts of cosiness and sleep... I think all the other 3 managed to fulfill that temptation pretty sharpish.. me on the other hand... I'm far too easily led!!!! Which is actually far more innocent than it sounds.. honest!!) When on my way to bed, having left a note saying 'goodnight and see ya' to Paul, Tim and Jamie, on the notice board as they were off to Uruguay early the next morning.. I had the misfortune of bumping into Paul which, unbeknown to me at that point, was the kiss of death for any thoughts i might have had about sleeping that night.... somehow we ended up sat in the bar, chatting the night away... literally... I managed to make it to bed at 6am... which for me at least meant I got to sleep for a few hours... Paul on the other hand had to get up at 7am to catch the boat to Uruguay!! Unlucky dude.. but if you will keep me talking!! I'm going to be nice to you now Paul... careful... don't want that ego of yours getting any bigger than it already is (is that possible anyway??!) I was actually sad to see the boys go, it'd been fun hanging out with Paul and it would've been good to have them around for the last few days of my trip but ah well.. there was sleep to be had... that was all i cared about a second after saying bye to my young friend and besides, now you're back in London to Paul, I'll probably never be able to get rid of you.. god help me!! ;0)

Anyway.... with the incessant talking in my ear ceased... i managed a few hours sleep then forced myself up..... Kate and I had important plans for the day.... Shopping!!!! What else?! We headed down to Avenida Cordoba - one of Buneos Aires main shopping streets, full of plush leather stores and fancy shopping malls.. and set about our business... although not before we'd grabbed ourselves some lunch at a lovely roadside restaurant in the sun (as you can see in the pic here) along with a cheeky Triple Oreo biscuit... for those of you that haven't sampled the delights of those - well, you can't get them over here - but if ever you come across one, trust me... try one! After that we got the serious business of shopping underway, there were presents to buy - after my big Bolivian shopping spree I only had a few more Christmas pressies to buy and then there was things for me... well, if you can't treat yourself??! Besides, I figured that as soon as I got home I'd have to watch the pennies so I may as well shop while i still could!!

All didn't go quite according to plan though.. half way through said shopping trip, Kate discovered her wallet was no longer in her bag! Yes, that's right, the poor chica had been pickpocketed... boo! We spent the next hour or so sorting things out, cancelling cards and retracing steps just in case but it was gone and then we opted for more retail therapy.. I helped Kate out so she didn't need to worry about not having money for the rest of her trip and soon we'd calmed down and the retail therapy had worked it's magic! It was a shame it had happened but I guess these things can happen anyway... why people do it I'll never understand but at least we were ok - there are worse things that could happen and hey, we were in Buenos Aires. Man, I love it here!

The pics here btw are of an outdoor exhibition around the city. Each heart was designed by different local artists with various theme's running throughout... all set our in the sunshine, they looked fab and really do just enhance the vibrance and colourful vibe this city gives off!

After an exhausting but fab day shopping, that night we went for an 'all-you'can-eat' buffet with Kate's friend Clint and Emily... which was lovely and about all I had the energy for that night..... it was with utter exhaustion but total contentment that I fell into bed as soon as we got back to the hostel.... to sleep.... actually at night for once... a novel, and very welcome, experience!! xx