Corruption and futbol

Against any advice my mother would have given me, we decided to go to the Boca Jrs. futbol game on sunday. Funny thing about futbol games in Argentina though--there doesn't seem to be a box office for a legal way of buying tickets. So Maren, Alyssa and I took a cab down to the stadium and wondered around aimlessly. Through this process, we met two Irish guys. They didn't speak a word of Spanish so needed me to find them tickets and we needed them because we had been warned about three american girls going to the game alone. We finally found a man grilling something who claimed he had tickets. When I asked to see them, he called someone to bring them. Imagine my surprise when a cop showed up. Crap. Are we getting arrested??? No, we are just buying tickets illegitimently from the cop. Best part? There were only three tickets at 30 pesos each face value. We each (we meaning us and the Irish guys) paid 100 pesos for a ticket. The cop led us through the streets and waved us on through to the cops we passed. When we reached the entrance with only three tickets and five people, the cops made us go in two at a time. So there I am squeezed in a turn-style with an Irish boy behind me. I have learned a lot about the politics here from a teacher at school, Marcela, but never thought I would witness the corruption myself. All in all, the game was a lot of fun although really crazy. Lighting banners on fire, fireworks in the hands of the fans (including my own), people climbing over guard rails from the upper level, toilet paper thrown onto the field. Boca lost and we waited almost an hour to leave the stadium, as they let the visiting fans leave first as to avoid riots. Yes, there was riot gear. Hopefully I can share pictures soon--the Irish boy was the only one who risked bringing his camera.

We leave Friday night for Mendoza and will return to ba Tuesday morning. I plan on doing some last minute shopping and then will fly home Tuesday night. One week to go!
<3 J