Back in Buenos Aires - Boca Juniors vs. River Plate Futbol at El Monumental

The skaters appeared as we left our hotel. They are reminding me of the bike-riding group in San Francisco that disrupts traffic.

"Saturday in the Park I think it was the 4th of July" (Chicago 1973)

These girls were being photographed in a passionate embrace by the young man with the phone/camera. We saw dozens of vampy outfits in this wholesome looking young crowd in Pena Park.

We are winding down our trip having left Uruguay with some sadness. Eduardo and Carla were terrific hosts. Because of Anna's friends from home having visited them in the past, we were accorded special treatment and a welcomed friendship.

For our main meal today, we returned to Parilla Peña on Calle Rodrigues Peña, near American Towers. 

Veal cuts

Parilla Peña

After lunch we walked through Peña Park.  

Nicolás Rodriguez Peña (1775, in Buenos Aires – 1853, in Santiago de Chile) was an Argentine politician. Born in Buenos Aires in April 1775, he worked in commerce which allowed him to amass a considerable fortune. Among his several successful businesses, he had a soap factory partnership with Hipólito Vieytes, which was a center of conspirators during the revolution against Spanish rule. In 1805 he was a member of the "Independence Lodge", a masonic lodge, along with other prominent revolutionary patriots such as Juan José Castelli and Manuel Belgrano. This group used to meet in his ranch, then situated in what today is Rodriguez Peña square in Buenos Aires.

Then I got this idea to scalp a ticket to the Buenos Aires first division championship match. The hotel accommodated and we were picked up at 3PM and driven to the game at El Monumental Estadio.

Friends Marcelo & Claudia

Enroute to stadium we were stalled in traffic.

Along with us we met Claudia & Marcelo,  pictured here.




Diego, our driver to the stadium, and his son run a scalping service. For years, his family have had tickets to all Boca Estadio and El Monumental futbol games. They are Boca fans and because of past violence, no Boca fans are allowed into Estadio El Monumental so they sell their tickets.

And yes, no River Plate fans are allowed into the much smaller Boca stadium. Thus the sea of white shirts/red stripe in the photos at the game we saw. (We were cautioned to wear no blue or yellow into the stadium.)

Before the game the Captains of both teams enacted a ritual burying of the hatchet in compliance with Pope Francisco's lecture on sports.

Fireworks exploding marked the beginning of the game.  Lots of 'em. Fans erupted into song after song that seemed to depend upon what was happening on the field.

Sidewalk teams hear this: The discount on the one-hour class devoted to learning how trees grow is about to expire. See the bottom post here for details.

Farewell Dinner

Eduardo Santos is our host for our stay in Montevideo.


He led us to MarIntimo, the beachside restaurant & late night jazz spot in Carrasco, East of Montevideo 6.9 kilometres past the Sofitel Hotel. It is difficult to find. Even Eduardo had to stop at ANCAP gas station to receive instructions from the very attentive attendant. Alone a remarkable experience in Uruguay is the cheerful willingness of everyone to help others find their way, "Return up the road until you see Blue Flags, then make U turn. Your next right turn on the dirt road toward the beach is to MarIntimo", and there we were.

We arrived about 9PM. For the next hour enjoyed a dinner of Ojo de Befe (ribeye), fried squid, salad and a special bottle of Chilean Pinot Noir (2013).

The food was excellent and we were seated next to the small corner where the musicians were set up.

Eduardo (maroon shirt), a seasoned actor, is drawn to the stage.

 Three years ago Eduardo purchased a GoNow van made in China as it is his obligation to pick up guests from the airport or the ferryboat from Buenos Aires. So both Anna & I enjoyed our first ride in a Chinese automobile.

We returned to his B & B, (www.UnaNocheMas.com.uy) 

Franzini Stadium

a block from Estadio Francini the futbol (American Soccer) stadium in Montevideo. It is an eclectic home close to tennis courts, soccer stadium, Atlantic Ocean and world class restaurants.

It took me a while to relax into this trip.



But after a couple weeks we settled into a routine, and that helped.



Dressing was simple. Shorts and a tee shirt worked every day.

We rented a Renault Clio to get around but came to the conclusion that local busses and walking was much better than driving. First of all, the world's scariest drivers are in Argentina, a close second is Montevideo. Yikes! Secondly, we were eating more and needing the exercise.

Defensor in semi-finals

 Una Noche Mas, our eclectic and homey B & B, is near a professional team's home pitch.  Defensor vs. Danube in semi-finals. It was an experience.

I was planning to attend the second period, and took a nap when it began (about 4:30PM). I got up and headed 2 blocks to the stadium at 6pm. The place was crawling with policia. I approached the gate and said, "I wish to buy a ticket! "NO!!" - then a lot of rapid Spanish was to me the unintelligible reply.  Disappointed, I said, "Then, how can I see the game? I want to see?", holding and waving two fingers to my eyes and pointing them toward the stadium. The man said " GO!!!" and motioned to a door that took me to bleachers at mid-field.

 I looked up to the scoreboard 2 to 2. This man below, Maximiliano Gomez, had scored both goals for the purple team, Defensor Sport.

No activity on the field, players on both teams standing around, many with hands on their hips. Drums beating and the Danube's cheering song sung loudly from across the field. The clock said 51 minutes which confused me until later I figured out they were into penalty time second half. Everyone was simply standing around waiting for the Referee or what I could not tell. (I later learned there had been a fight and the game was stopped.)

Soon enough they started to play. Rough play dominated. My team (Defensor) was in violet shirts (that is, the side I sat on everyone had a purple shirt; I clapped when they clapped.) The clock wound on...several attempts were made and foiled to the huge disappointment of each alternating crowd. I did not know how many minutes were added for the penalty time, but standing around added to it.

Finally Defensor made a successful attack, the surrounding crowd went wild! Goooooooooooollllllllllll!!!!!!

The heroic player (above), Castro Gomez No. 30, whose header won the game, was knocked out and lay on the ground. The game stopped.

A golf cart with a small twirling red light drove onto the field near to the net. A stretcher brought the injured player to the sideline right in front of me whereupon, he jumped off the stretcher, raised both fists as the whistle blew ending the game.

The police would not let us leave the stadium for nearly 30 minute after the game was over and the opposition side had left. So bottom line...I saw only 4 minutes of the final penalty period, the game ended at 55 minutes. But I could not have chosen anything better than those 4 minutes. 

The local paper online reports (Google translating):

The match had all the condiments. Those who argue whether Defensor-Danube is a classic, have observed enough that yesterday's meeting at the Estadio Luis Franzini. Practically filled grandstands, a special color and two teams fought to the end in search of a victory. None had a great start closing, but that was not aware today of these teams, perfectly could have thought they were playing a final. (................) Defensor but quickly found the tie. Facundo Castro, great second half, put the ball in the heart of the area and Maximiliano Gómez pushed his head to put the 2-2.

From there, the game was played from area to area. The two had chances but were not fine in the definition. The tie seemed sentenced, but in the eighth minute of extra time of great joy for the locals arrived. With the same formula equalizer, Castro Gomez attended with a header put the final 3-2. The striker gave him to celebrate. While throughout Franzini was started in a single cry, he was lying on the ground. His head hit the rival and was knock-out. When he regained consciousness a few minutes later, he received hugs from his teammates and the cheers of the fans. He had been one of the great responsible for the smiles of fans violets.