Boca, Boca, Boca

The last time I was backpacking was a trip to the South Pacific 20 (OMG) years ago. As I experience this trip, sometimes I reflect on the differences between the present-day me and the me of 20 years ago in how I deal with the nuances of travelling.

Case in point....a trip in Buenos Aires to experience South American football. Boca Juniors versus their arch-nemesis Rafeala. Number one versus number two.

First difference between the me of then and now - now I was perfectly fine with paying $1200 Argentina pesos (about $300USD) to arrange tickets via local tour company to provide seats (or so we thought), transportation, a guide, pizza, and beer.

The first hint that maybe this was going to be a bit of an "informal" tour was being picked up an hour later than advertised. But being seasoned south american travellers, we just chalked this up to the "ish-ness" of life down here.

Once on the bus we were briefed on the match. Our "guide" told us that the teams were heated rivals (good - we'd be seeing a competitive match). We were also told that our seating location would be under another level of seats, and to not go out from under as the Rafaela fans were above us and would "throw things" (maybe not so good but highly manageable). He also shared that apparently there was some sort of rift between different factions of Boca fans, and that we should be careful both pre, during, and after the game (also highly manageable), staying close to the guide and never letting go of our ticket.

With that completed, the bus came to a stop and off we headed for the stadium. Notice the riot police in the top left of the photo. We sure did.

Once inside we got the major "a-ha" moment when my past and present selves collided. Our guides instructions on accessing the seating area were "follow me, say permissione (excuse me in spanish), push past people and we will form our own territory."

In the end zone.

I've seen enough soccer to know that if bad things are going to happen, odds are they happen there where you are immersed in the throng of singing, energetic, rabid mostly-young people. Younger me would have been all over this. Older me, especially the parent part, was immediately deeply, deeply perturbed to be spending $300 on GA end zone seats that meant I would be a standing sardine for the duration. But we stepped up to the challenge and found a little piece of real estate to call our own and took in the pre-game show

Things continued to get louder. We saw the "other" Boca group raise their game but unveiling a team flag. Young me would have been happy to be holding it up. Old(er) me was very content to see it from across the opposite end of the stadium

Then Boca actually took the field:

We watched a couple of workers try in vain to use leaf blowers to get the confetti off the field, and experienced locals (and the coke guy) try to squeeze their way past us and other to better vantage points.

Once I was able to stop thinking about how much I paid for tickets that enabled the old guy behind me to lean on me like a wall for the first half, I was able to get into the game. A quick opening goal by Boca helped a lot. Here's a sample of the action

The action really was fantastic, and I think the final ended up Boca 3, Rafaela 2.

Now it was time to wait out the "other" Boca group, find our tour leader and attempt to escape unscathed. So where better place to hang out then with some locals....

while the end zoners had their post game celebration

At last it was time to depart for the promised pizza and beer, which was great because we were starving. There were no such things as concession stands in our 'hood at the game. We ended up at a local bar, where not just our group, but every group congregated. The tour company quickly distributed the "all-u-can-drink" beer, and we patiently awaited the pizza. Yep - I was more interested in pizza then the copious bottles of cold beer (picture younger me just shaking his head at older me).

The pizza finally arrived and we reminisced about the game with some fellow (mature) travellers....and tried not to do the math on how much money the tour company must have cleared from our Argentina football experience.




But in the end I know that long after I have forgotten how much this cost, I will remember and appreciate this day

Iguazu Falls

Having seen Niagara Falls for the first time this summer, we had the Iguazu Falls in Argentina pegged as one of the sights we wanted to see in South America.  As the location neared and we looked into it a little more, we realized that we didn't have a lot of time so the less expensive bus option was out and it would be too expensive for all of us to go by plane.  In the end the decision was made to send only me (aren't I lucky!!)

Iguazu Falls is in the running to be one of the new 7 wonders of the natural world.  It consists of 275 falls over 2.7 km.  It is surrounded by the lush jungle foliage and is a site to be experienced at least once.

There are a number of ramps and walkways built at the high, mid and low points of the falls.  Once you have paid to get into the park, you can explore the various paths at you leisure or be taken around by a guide if you so choose.  They also have large zodiacs that take you right up to the falls (kind of like the Maid of the Mist but there's no roof and no rain capes to protect you and your clothes from getting completely SOAKED!)  They do provide everyone with a dry bag to put your cameras and any other items that you want to keep dry into.

Fortunately quick dry clothes dry very quickly in the jungle heat!

I had a lot of fun out exploring on my own and I even got to experience staying in a hostel and sleeping in a 10 person multi-sex dorm.  I think once may be enough of that for now, although it did provide me with the opportunity to meet some very nice 18 to 20 year olds from a variety of countries (Germany, France, America, England, Ireland and South Africa were all represented during my time at the Bambu Hostel Mini).

After my brief time away from my family, I was thrilled to return "home" to Buenos Aires (after having an extra night in Iguazu compliments of LAN airlines due to a storm and a flight cancellation) and more importantly to Paul and Chloe.  Home truly is where the heart is!