Day 4, part 2
We broke for dinner. The groups split up on a quest to find smoothies, pizzas, and more empanadas. Everyone met up again afterwards in the hotel lobby dressed in bright red; no one liked the idea of showing up at a futbol game in Argentina wearing the other team’s colors. In this case, the opposing team was from Chile, and their colors were blue.
After crowds of riled up fans, security checks, and a lot of stairs, we arrived in our own private balcony. Not only could we see the action on the field well; we also got a great view of the crowds. And they were quite the crowds.
Argentinian fans held banners, waved flags, shot off red smoke, waved their fists, jumped up and down, and sang peppy fight songs. Their excitement was infectious; MYSO students who had never followed Independiente Club were now clapping and cheering like fans. We only lamented that we couldn’t sing along to the fight songs.
The interesting part about futbol in Argentina was the crowds. Unlike major US sprouting events, there was no music, no flashing signs telling the crowd to ‘Make some noise,’ and nothing on the Jumbotron but the score and the time. All of the cheering was initiated and sustained by the Argentinian fans. And even as the MYSO students started to relax as the night wore on, the flag wavers kept going, the banner holders kept standing, and the crowd kept singing until the end.
We left a little early, when the game was 4-0. Later, we found out that it had finished 4-2. We finally got back to the hotel at a time that was before midnight. Which is good, because we have a concert tomorrow…