Leo Messi and Sting

Last week, Mark had the opportunity to attend a match between the Argentina national team and the national team from Chile.  Apparently, the Argentina national team goes by the nickname "La Albiceleste" - which basically means white and blue stripes and comes from their uniforms which are, you guessed it, covered in white and blue stripes.  Based on what the fans in our section said during the match, the Chilean team's nickname, on the other hand, is a swear word I cannot write here because my mother will read this.

Anyway, we arrived just before kickoff and sat in the cheap seats.  It was super crowded and fairly uncontrolled.  This was not for the claustrophobic.  But, once the "action" started, the crowd was remarkably focused on the match.

The pre-game was fun.  There was fireworks and the respective national anthems of both teams.  Thankfully, the Argentines used the short version of theirs (rather than the 13 minute version they use at formal events).

Mark attended with a couple of friends and we all had a great time.  The match ended in a 1-0 blow out (?).  So after attending only 2 matches and 180 minutes of soccer, Mark finally witnessed a goal in Argentina!!!!  It was scored by a guy named Leo Messi.  Apparently, he's pretty good.  How good?  Well, the crowd had chants about the greatness of Argentina, the terribleness and mothers of the Chilean players.... and about Messi.  They had a song.  Just about this one dude.  Mark notes that he has witnessed some pretty strong athletes in his day.  Tom Brady, Ken Griffey Jr, Roger Clemens, Cal Ripkin, Barry Bonds, Usain Bolt, LaBron James, Kevin Durant, Favre, Adrian Peterson (on the day he set the single season record), but never has he witnessed an entire stadium of people sing a song about one guy on a team.  So, Leo Messi is a pretty big deal around here, I guess.

The only goal Mark has ever witnessed in Argentina in person.

So it was pretty cool to see a big star like Messi ply his craft in person.  But... that was not the only big time celebrity in attendance.  We also found Sting..... Well, Argentine Sting, anyway.

Sting

Argentine Sting, second from left.

 On our way in to the stadium, we were running the gauntlet of security checkpoints, as you would expect in this type of situation.  Between the checkpoint when some random guys asked to see our tickets and some other guys asked to see our ticket, some drunk Argentine fans ran up to my colleague and started freaking out.  They then composed and sang a new fan anthem entitled "Esting es Argentino" (~Sting is Argentine!).  One of the youngsters had the gumption to ask my colleague to take a selfie with him, which Argentine Sting had no problem doing.  Argentine Sting is quite the crowd pleaser.

So all in all, it was great to see two celebrities be so kind to their adoring masses.  While Argentine Sting endulged in selfies, Messi just waived to the crowd.

He is actually waiving AT Argentine Sting.

Millionarios for a Night

So, after all this time, Anne and Mark finally went to a soccer match in Argentina.  Thanks to the Texas spitfire and her colleague the King of Buenos Aires, we ended up going to one of the first matches of the year of River Plate, one of the two big time teams based in Argentina (the Boca Juniors are the other).  River Plate is sometimes called "Los Millionarios"(~the millionaires).  There are multiple explanations for this floating around.  One is that they spent a lot of money on free agents and earned the nick name for that.  Plausible, but kind of dry.  My preferred story is the other one though.  River and the Boca Juniors both used to play in what is now Boca's stadium, called "La Bombanera" (~the chocolate box).  Eventually, they couldn't both stay there, so they played a match to determine who had to leave.  Boca won, so River moved.  River decided to move to a better part of town, got a bigger stadium, pays their players more, etc., so the fans of the rival Boca Juniors started calling River the Millionaires as a pejorative.  River, however, decided that if someone calls you a millionaire, you thank them and go with it.  So now, the name is both an insult and a compliment, depending on who is doing the calling.

Let's go!

So, first: the tickets.  The tickets we received as a gift, which is the only reason they were what they were (i.e. Anne and Mark would never have bought tickets like these).  Why not?  Well, frankly, in order to get these tickets, you had to buy the team.  Anne and Mark's tickets were essentially in the owner's box area.  Right on the fifty yard line (or soccer equivalent) and in a luxury box.  Pretty much the perfect location.

We were there.  The location of our seats is not actually on this map.  We were a bit off.  Oops.

The other advantage of these tickets, besides the great seats we eventually got to, was that we could pretty much go wherever we wanted.  Naturally, we first attempted to enter the stadium in the wrong area.  The guest services guy looked at our tickets and told us that we could enter through the press entrance, so once we found that, we did.  When we got there, we got waived through.  The press, mind you the people who attend every match and who the ticket people know personally, had to stop and pick up credentials and what not: we just got waived through.  From there, we kind of developed a "we're probably not supposed to be here" vibe, but just keep going until someone told us to leave.  We did ask directions, but we were told that the area of our seats was just "over there" about 10 or 15 times.  It turns out, most of the guest services people didn't know, so they just told us to go wherever.  So, we ended up wandering around the bowels of the stadium.  We passed the ramp where the ambulance enters the field at field level.  Probably could have walked out there if we wanted.  Opponents dressing room?  Walked by it.  Refs dressing room?  Walked by it.  Could have gone in.  We even saw the other team warming up (although at the time we didn't realize it because they were so small we thought they were a high school team warming up - soccer players are small).

But why would we assume it was a high school team?  Good question.  The reason is that in the bowels of the stadium there is a full service school.  They had gyms, computer labs, classrooms and even a pre-school (this is the room for the 4 year olds).

Eventually we did make it to our seats.  They were very nice and we had a view of the entire pitch.

After a small amount  of pre-game festivities, they kicked off.  The kick off was not nearly as exciting as it is in football, it is just one guy passing it to a teammate.  And then they played soccer for a couple of hours (also not as exciting as football).  So, spoiler alert, River Plate and Union Santa Fe played to a 0-0 draw.  Mark and Anne did not understand much of the strategy, but did gather based on comments from the other attendees that the refs were terrible and the other team was getting all the calls.

Soccer is a sport that is much better sport to watch live than it is on television.  The atmosphere is charged and the fans get really into it.

Everyone loves Ozzy.

 There are multiple fan groups, but the one you need to watch out for is called "Los Borrachos del Tablon" (roughly: "the drunks of the scoreboard").  These are the serious fans.  Some people might point out that these are the kinds of fans that often get into trouble around soccer matches.  Other people might point out that this particular group actually had a power struggle a few years ago in which some group members ended up dead, making it look less like a group of fans and more like something else.

In any event, at our match, all of the fans were vocal, but under control.  They played music the entire time, no breaks.  There were drums at all times and a series of songs and/or chants for most of the time.  During the slow parts of the game, it appeared that the fans may have been working harder than the players.

 So we had a great experience and a lot of fun.  We saw the most successful soccer club in Argentina play (36 Primera Division titles in Argentina, more than anyone else).  And, best of all, we were able to walk to and from the event, as the stadium - "El Monumental" is not far from our neighborhood.  So, at least for one night, Anne and Mark were millionarios.

Mark Goes on Strike

The demonstration got going under the watch of Eva Peron

Ok, so Mark didn't go "on strike." He actually went TO a strike.  In Argentina, strikes are not uncommon.  So far this year, we have already had a transit workers strike, a teacher's strike and a strike by topless women (seriously).  But this was a big one, even for Argentina.  The big unions in Argentina are upset about how contract negotiations were going, so they decided to have a big strike.  And it was big.  News accounts put the total number of demonstrators in the thousands.  That seemed about right:

Pretty good turn out for a Tuesday.

When Mark and Anne first arrived to Argentina, the protests were much easier to see.  This was because they were usually right in front of the U.S. Embassy.  Then, after President Macri was elected, the protests seem to be located elsewhere.  Which is nice, for the most part.  However, in this case, it meant Mark had to make the trek down to the downtown part of the city to see the protest, rather than watching it from the comfort (relatively speaking) of the embassy.

 This protest was big because many different union participated in it.  Each different color, flag, or banner represented a different union.  There are a couple different "umbrella" unions, which each have a group of individual workers' unions as their members.  The umbrella unions sometimes don't get along, but in this case, they were marching together to give a strong, united showing.

For the most part, the protest felt kind of like going to a tailgating event on a homecoming Saturday in a college football town.  There were marching bands (mostly just drummers, but still..),  basically a parade, tons of people grilling, tons of people drinking beer, and an overall festive atmosphere.  

You might think the crowd would try to break them up.  You would be wrong.  They were chanting "GOL-PE-AR, GOL-PE-AR" ~ "to hit".  

There was one brief bit of action.  The heads of the main umbrella unions spoke.  Some of the more militant workers were expecting that the heads would be stating the date of the next nationwide general strike.  However, when all was said and done, no date was set.  So this rather vocal minority got fired up and went after the union heads....Like I said earlier, the umbrella unions don't always get along.

This crowd is gathered around the backstage area.  The people standing on the yellow boxes (which are actually power generators!!!!) are trying to get a view of the pushing and shoving going on just below.  The whole thing lasted only a few seconds and no one was actually hurt, but this was the headline coming out of the event.  Go figure.

The most disappointing part of the whole thing might have been the artists and artisans union.  The red sign in the photo above is there.  Just black writing on a red background.  Kind of lame.  YOU'RE the ARTISANS UNION!!!  Show some pride.  You should have the best banner of everyone!  Just saying....I expected a little more from these guys.

Anyway, Mark's impression was the whole thing was very organized, much less dangerous then he had anticipated, and very well attended.

Photo from when Mark snuck onto the press platform.

Only in Buenos Aires

Full house

There are a few things that one can do in Buenos Aires that one might not be able to do in other places.  As our time in B.A. draws to a close, maybe it's time to review some of these.

Last weekend, there was an eclipse that was visible in the Southern Hemisphere, including Buenos Aires.  If had professional equipment like they did at the Buenos Aires planetarium, it looked like this:

Mark did not have professional equipment, but took a stab at it anyway.  He stared at the sun for hours, but really wasn't able to see the eclipse-y part. And the photo didn't turn out as well as the planetarium's photo

Eventually, Mark noticed a group of people in the park who had a method other than staring at the sun.

To see the stars, keep your eyes on the ground?

The guy with the menu (or whatever) had cut a whole in it and the shadow it cast let you "see" the eclipse.  Kind of.

Kind of much ado about a sliver of light on a piece of posterboard.

So, that eclipse thing was ok, but not all that impressive in the end.  Seeking to find something more impressive, Anne and Mark made it out to Teatro Colon.

Anne photobombs the Teatro Colon.

Teatro Colon is supposed to be one of the best concert halls in the world.  Some people would rank it as one of the best opera houses in the world.  So definitely worth checking out a show, if you get the chance.

Second level lobby.

Anne and Mark went to the opening night of the philharmonic season.  They played two very different selections.  The more famous one was Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.  It contains the famous "O Fortuna" - which you will recognize when you hear it even if the name doesn't ring a bell.  So seeing that live was pretty cool.

View from the Abe Lincoln seats.

The other piece was called Madre Tierra and was written by an Argentine composer named Esteban Benzecry.  This piece had portions called "Pachamama" and "Nuke Mapu", which are both phrases that roughly translate as "mother earth" in languages indigenous to South America.  So the the whole thing was about the earth and had a "South America" sound (think pan flutes, flowing water, and Amazon jungle noises).

At the end of it, the composer was called up to the stage to take a bow.  It was at this point that we realized the composer was the guy sitting two seats to Mark's right.  I don't know if we had good seats, but they were at least as good as the guy who wrote the music, so that can't be all bad.

The grey hair guy is Esteban.