Vamos Argentina!! Watching the World Cup Final Game

After Argentina defeated Holland in penalty kicks to make it to the Championship, we immediately knew that a trip to Buenos Aires was mandatory. We booked our tickets for the morning of the game. The night before we got 0 sleep (more to come on why in a later blog).

We headed to the bus station on 0 sleep but super excited! The ride was uneventful and soon we were in Buenos Aires. The excitement was palatable; everyone was ready to cheer on their team. We got to the hostel, checked in, and then walked around the Feria San Telmo for a few hours. Around 3, we started heading to Plaza San Martin to watch the game. We heard that that was the place to be, there were putting up a big screen and everyone was going to be there. On the walk there, we bought our Argentina paraphernalia. We were joking at how easily our loyalties switch (most Uruguayans wanted Argentina to lose).

We made it to the plaza and it was a mad house! People were everywhere, there was no space to walk and we couldn’t see the screen. We started weaving our way through the sea of people, looking for any opening we could find. We even considered climbing the trees but when we looked up, we saw that they were already full of people.

I swear all of Buenos Aires was there, we even saw parents with their newborns weeding through the crowd.

We finally found a spot where we weren’t being pushed and we could see a corner of the screen. At one point, Meli climbed onto Maya’s back for a better view and commentated. After 10 minutes in the first half we decided to look for a bar so we could actually see the game.

The only places we found were also packed with people. For the rest of the first half, we watched the game outside of a restaurant, looking through the windows to see the small screen. For the second half, we found a spot inside of a different restaurant but we had to stand for all of it.

Argentina played a really good game but unfortunately lost with 8 minutes left in the extra period. When the game ended and the realization of the loss hit the people, there was dead silence. Some were sobbing, others sitting with their mouths wide open and disbelief and disappointment all over the face. After a few moments, someone started to sing one of the cheers that says “I am Argentinean” and other phrases of national pride. Everyone joined in and then slowly filed out of the restaurant. It was cool to see them bond together, supporting their team, their country and each other even with the heart breaking loss.

Even though the team lost, we still wanted to go to the Obelisk (the normal site of celebration for the wins). We followed the crowd of people heading that way. Even though people were reacting fairly well, we saw signs of unrest. Every single trash can had been tipped over and spilled out and there were police lining all of the streets.

When we finally got to the Obelisk, the crowd was pretty subdued. I remember telling my friends that I was almost glad that Argentina didn’t win because it would have been crazy there and I would’ve felt a lot more unsafe. Even though the crowd was “subdued” it was still quite crazy. The square was jam packed with people and it was growing by the minute. We made sure to stick together and only to speak in Spanish as to not draw any more unneeded attention to us.

The longer we hung out, the crazier it got. Soon, there were people up on the light posts shaking them. I was really nervous that the lights were going to fall.

After another 20 minutes, we decided to head out before it got any crazier. The city was absolutely dead. We headed back to the hostel to meet up with Alex and help her get a taxi to the airport. By the time Alex got there, she was running late. We ran to the street corner, looking for a taxi but nothing was coming. When we asked the hostel to call one they said it would take an hour for it to get here.

While we were waiting, a gentleman pulled up in a really nice looking car and asked if we were going ot the airport and if we needed a ride because he was going that way. We all looked to Alex who said yes, feeling it was her only way to get to the airport on time and not miss her flight.

We helped her get loaded up in the car but we were a little weary of the situation. The man, sensing our uneasiness, gave us his phone number. We told Alex that she had to contact us when she got to the airport and she leaned in and whispered that if we hadn’t heard anything from her in an hour to call the number. Not long after the car pulled away, we all locked eye contact and wondered what the heck did we just do!? Talk about breaking every single travel safety rule possible.

We went back to the hostel and decided to go out for dinner. We had a really hard time even finding a place open to eat dinner at. When we finally did sit down, the staff was honestly depressed. We ordered and had a nice meal but every 10 minutes, one of us would run to a spot with WiFi to see if Alex had contacted us. (Although it took hours of worrying, she finally contacted us saying she was safe, it was a long story, but the guy was amazing).

After dinner, we hung out until about 2 AM, enjoying our time together. When we went back to the hostel, I slept with Maya in her bed because I didn’t want to pay for a bed (I was going to be leaving in 3 hours).

When 5 AM rolled around, I got up, ready and headed to the international airport to surprise my mom.

The surprise went great and she is here safe with me! More to come on our adventures in a future post J