Our next destination after viewing the Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate was to double back north to gawk at the towering peaks of the stunning Fitzroy Range. Travellers come from from all over the world to this sleepy little town geared towards hikers and rock climbers alike. We thought we were quite equipped with our little Trooper until we laid eyes on some of the mammoth homes on wheels that more resemble dumptrucks than livable domiciles, and they all have EU license plates that were shipped across the Atlantic to tackle South America. We came here to do some day hikes as amazing views of Mount Fitzroy and Cerro Torre are easily accessible by a short hike (about 11-13 miles round-trip). The park rangers and just about everyone else we spoke to warned us of the high winds that are omnipresent on these hikes. We got a very rare stroke of luck on our two hikes as there was hardly a breathe of wind to be felt and nothing but clear skies to allow us the privilege of taking in the views of the towering peaks.
On our first full day we waited until the afternoon for the heavy clouds to clear and headed out of town on the easier of the two tracks that we would attempt. The Cerro Torre trail meandered through the foothills with magnificent views of the jagged peaks most of the way there. They grew bigger and bigger as we approached until we finally made it to the end of the track which was a glacial lagoon which provided for a pretty spectacular lunch spot before we had to head back as we would be cutting it close to sunset. 12+ miles and 2200+ calories according to my GPS and Jo’s heart monitor. It definitely felt good to get some good exercise after feeling like we were starting to develop sores from sitting in the car for so long recently. We rewarded ourselves with a nice meal consisting of some of the legendary Argentinian steaks and a bottle of Malbec – can’t beat it. The following day we started out on a trail that would put us face to face with the Mount Fitzroy. After a pretty difficult initial 6 miles and qute a bit of elevation change, the real ascent began. When the pitch of the “trail” approached 45 degrees of loose rocks and the wind started to pick up, we thought it wise to turn back, it wasn’t worth another fall. Although we weren’t rewarded with the final view that we came for, we got the idea.
All in all our thoughts of this part of Patagonia were pretty positive. We were very thankful that we got good weather for our hikes as later in the afternoon the wind really started to whip and we found it hard to walk down the street in a straight line. Other than that, great treks, good food, amazing sunsets – a bit too pricey and definitely no opportunity for authentic argentine experience as the town was erected solely to cater to tourists.
The following afternoon we once again prepared ourselves for a long drive as our plan now was to first head east to the Atlantic coast and turn north towards Buenos Aires. We first needed a quick stop at the gas station to top off El Diablo’s tank which was about a third full. Its funny how quickly our plans can change because we were informed that not only did the only pump in town not have any gasoline to dispense, but he couldn’t tell us when the next truck would arrive to replenish the supply. “No problem” we thought, we’ll just head to Tres Lagos, a town about 100 km east and top up there.
“Tres Lagos doesn’t have any gasoline either” he further informed us.
Fabulous! A quick study of the map would confirm that there wasn’t a single gas station before the east coast about 400 kms away.
“El Calafate has gasoline…its only 220 kms away,” the gas man stated.
This would mean that we would have to drive ONLY 220 km back to the south in order to buy gas to drive northeast…makes perfect sense to me.
To put it into a big of perspective, imagine packing up your car in Philadelphia to drive south to Florida. First you want to fill up your tank before you jump on Route I-95 but the Exxon is fresh out. No problem, you can top up in Delaware on the way, you would think.
“Actually, they’re all out in Delaware as well, not to mention that Maryland and Virginia have run dry, but not to worry, you can fill up in New York City ONLY 150 miles northeast of here” the friendly Exxon attendant quips.
So we took the long detour back to El Calafate again where we filled our tank and decided to spend the night in a campsite before hitting the road bright and early. The mountains were quickly in our rear view mirrors and the road quickly went from paved to gravel paths. Here we go again. The long drive east gave us time to research the towns and other sites up the coast through the Patagonia Steppe towards Buenos Aires. The one thing you won’t read about in the guide book is the ridiculous wind that blows incessantly. Not a good thing with a car that is shaped like a box and can only go 50mph without wind. The other thing is how quickly the temperature rises as you move east. An ugly demon began to rear its head again in El Diablo’s underbelly and the temperature gage began to rise again. We had all but forgot about this problem as we were driving for so long in the cold of the Andes. The first overheating stop was perhaps the scariest as we were at least 100 km from the closest “town” in either direction and hadn’t seen a car in over an hour. We stopped and turned the ignition off to let our girl cool down as we normally would (this should never be a “normal” occurrence). When I went to start her up again, I got nothing. One more time…nothing. Our hearts stopped. A panicked glance under the hood and a quick rundown of the essentials and I found that the positive lead on the battery had rattled loose during the drive – pheeew. She started right back up but the overheating didn’t stop. Every 30 kms or so we’d take a 5 minute power break and let the powerful winds cool our baby down…as Buenos Aires was still close to 2000 miles away, this was shaping up to be a loooooong drive. It is never a good feeling waking up every morning and thinking, will today be the day that the car fails us for good?? Jo was pretty much over it by this point, and already looking up bus timetables and preparing to hitchhike.
On our first full day we waited until the afternoon for the heavy clouds to clear and headed out of town on the easier of the two tracks that we would attempt. The Cerro Torre trail meandered through the foothills with magnificent views of the jagged peaks most of the way there. They grew bigger and bigger as we approached until we finally made it to the end of the track which was a glacial lagoon which provided for a pretty spectacular lunch spot before we had to head back as we would be cutting it close to sunset. 12+ miles and 2200+ calories according to my GPS and Jo’s heart monitor. It definitely felt good to get some good exercise after feeling like we were starting to develop sores from sitting in the car for so long recently. We rewarded ourselves with a nice meal consisting of some of the legendary Argentinian steaks and a bottle of Malbec – can’t beat it. The following day we started out on a trail that would put us face to face with the Mount Fitzroy. After a pretty difficult initial 6 miles and qute a bit of elevation change, the real ascent began. When the pitch of the “trail” approached 45 degrees of loose rocks and the wind started to pick up, we thought it wise to turn back, it wasn’t worth another fall. Although we weren’t rewarded with the final view that we came for, we got the idea.
All in all our thoughts of this part of Patagonia were pretty positive. We were very thankful that we got good weather for our hikes as later in the afternoon the wind really started to whip and we found it hard to walk down the street in a straight line. Other than that, great treks, good food, amazing sunsets – a bit too pricey and definitely no opportunity for authentic argentine experience as the town was erected solely to cater to tourists.
The following afternoon we once again prepared ourselves for a long drive as our plan now was to first head east to the Atlantic coast and turn north towards Buenos Aires. We first needed a quick stop at the gas station to top off El Diablo’s tank which was about a third full. Its funny how quickly our plans can change because we were informed that not only did the only pump in town not have any gasoline to dispense, but he couldn’t tell us when the next truck would arrive to replenish the supply. “No problem” we thought, we’ll just head to Tres Lagos, a town about 100 km east and top up there.
“Tres Lagos doesn’t have any gasoline either” he further informed us.
Fabulous! A quick study of the map would confirm that there wasn’t a single gas station before the east coast about 400 kms away.
“El Calafate has gasoline…its only 220 kms away,” the gas man stated.
This would mean that we would have to drive ONLY 220 km back to the south in order to buy gas to drive northeast…makes perfect sense to me.
To put it into a big of perspective, imagine packing up your car in Philadelphia to drive south to Florida. First you want to fill up your tank before you jump on Route I-95 but the Exxon is fresh out. No problem, you can top up in Delaware on the way, you would think.
“Actually, they’re all out in Delaware as well, not to mention that Maryland and Virginia have run dry, but not to worry, you can fill up in New York City ONLY 150 miles northeast of here” the friendly Exxon attendant quips.
So we took the long detour back to El Calafate again where we filled our tank and decided to spend the night in a campsite before hitting the road bright and early. The mountains were quickly in our rear view mirrors and the road quickly went from paved to gravel paths. Here we go again. The long drive east gave us time to research the towns and other sites up the coast through the Patagonia Steppe towards Buenos Aires. The one thing you won’t read about in the guide book is the ridiculous wind that blows incessantly. Not a good thing with a car that is shaped like a box and can only go 50mph without wind. The other thing is how quickly the temperature rises as you move east. An ugly demon began to rear its head again in El Diablo’s underbelly and the temperature gage began to rise again. We had all but forgot about this problem as we were driving for so long in the cold of the Andes. The first overheating stop was perhaps the scariest as we were at least 100 km from the closest “town” in either direction and hadn’t seen a car in over an hour. We stopped and turned the ignition off to let our girl cool down as we normally would (this should never be a “normal” occurrence). When I went to start her up again, I got nothing. One more time…nothing. Our hearts stopped. A panicked glance under the hood and a quick rundown of the essentials and I found that the positive lead on the battery had rattled loose during the drive – pheeew. She started right back up but the overheating didn’t stop. Every 30 kms or so we’d take a 5 minute power break and let the powerful winds cool our baby down…as Buenos Aires was still close to 2000 miles away, this was shaping up to be a loooooong drive. It is never a good feeling waking up every morning and thinking, will today be the day that the car fails us for good?? Jo was pretty much over it by this point, and already looking up bus timetables and preparing to hitchhike.
Our first stop along the coast was a short sidetrack off the main road to Parque Nacional Monte Leon where we read of brilliant coastline and abundant penguins roaming about. The park ranger added pumas to the list of things that roam this park. We camped at an estancia (ranch) on the water and hoped to do the short 2 km trek to see some penguins early the next morning before continuing north. What we didn’t read in the guide book was that this trek was closed until 10am due to the pumas hunting in that area in the morning and that the penguins are only worth seeing at high tide which fell at noon on that day. Our host at the estancia promised us we wouldn’t regret giving the penguins a miss as our next stop would put this place to shame. We enjoyed the setting we camped in and the beautiful coastline before rising at dawn to head out.
The temperature was really starting to rise as we headed up the coast and El Diablo was really suffering. 40 kms between overheating stints turned into 15 kms and we thought we should really have her examined. The closest town of any size was 30 miles behind us and we thought it wise to double back before she gave out all together before the next town 200 kms further north. Trying to find a mechanic in these towns is never easy as they work out of little garages with no signs. We were escorted to one by an oil change guy and were told he’d be open in 3 hours again after siesta – typical. We grabbed lunch and went back to him to see if he had any magical insight. He confirmed what we had been thinking for quite some time that the problem was with the radiator and advised us to have it cleaned. He recommended a place nearby to get this done and it was “only” 360 kms to the north. The good thing about Argentine mechanics is that if they can not help us, they wouldn’t think of charging us for their diagnosis and would often offer us their matte as well. We thanked our new friend and limped along to the north.
Puerto Deseado, which our previous host and the Lonely Planet raved about, was a bit underwhelming, we thought. The major attraction that prompted us to drive the 150 kms out of our way to see was the quirky Rock Hopper penguins. These are the penguins that the character Lovelace in the movie Happy Feet is caricatured from, with the bright orange wispy eyebrows. Apparently this was the only place outside of Antartica where they reside. Three different tour companies take daily trips out to the island where they live so we figured it would be no problem to arrange a tour for the following day. We arrived into town late as usual as with our overheating stops and the fact that we can only go about 80 km/h on a 120km/h highway turned a 6 hr drive into 15 hours to get there. We would camp that night then head into town to arrange our tour. First stop was the tourist office. The nice lady called around to all three tour companies for us before giving us the news: two of the companies had a minimum of 8 to go out on the tour and currently had 0 signed up and the third company, which required only 6 per tour had two others. So with the other two and Jo and I, we would only need two more people to sign up over the course of the day and we could head out on the tour the next day. Now once again, this isn’t some never heard of tour that we stumbled on. This is well advertised in all the neighboring park and towns and you can’t go anywhere in this town without seeing a Rock Hopper penguin emblazoned on a hotel sign or mini-market window so we thought it wouldn’t be a problem for two other people to rock up to join us on this adventure.
Wrong as usual. We left the port town without as much as a sniff of a penguin and were really starting to get annoyed. We made the long drive back out to the highway and headed towards the town where we could get our radiator cleaned. We reached Commodora Rivadavia about an hour before everything shuts down. We were able to locate a reputable radiator specialist who told us he’d be glad to clean out our radiator… in the morning. This was not an attractive option as our tour through this town thus far had convinced us we’d rather deal with the overheating than stay here a single night. The radiator guy was able to determine that our radiator cap was not holding pressure properly and sold us a new one. The new radiator cap “seemed” to be just the trick as we sped away north. We drove a good two hours in the dark without a single overheating incident and foolishly thought all the ails had been cured. The morning sun would quickly sour our good mood as we would realized the cloak of the brisk night air was the only cure.
No reason to be moody on this day, however as we would finally get to stroll along with penguins that day. Ponto Tombo is located down a bumpy dusty road about an hour from the main highway and for $7 each we were able to stroll through about 3kms of the penguins’ rookery. These Magellanic penguins stood about a foot tall and for the most part were just trying to stay cool in the shade. Hundreds of penguins were scattered throughout the park and we decided that it was definitely worth all the driving to be able to get this close to the cute little guys. It was definitely a once in a lifetime kind of experience.
The temperature was really starting to rise as we headed up the coast and El Diablo was really suffering. 40 kms between overheating stints turned into 15 kms and we thought we should really have her examined. The closest town of any size was 30 miles behind us and we thought it wise to double back before she gave out all together before the next town 200 kms further north. Trying to find a mechanic in these towns is never easy as they work out of little garages with no signs. We were escorted to one by an oil change guy and were told he’d be open in 3 hours again after siesta – typical. We grabbed lunch and went back to him to see if he had any magical insight. He confirmed what we had been thinking for quite some time that the problem was with the radiator and advised us to have it cleaned. He recommended a place nearby to get this done and it was “only” 360 kms to the north. The good thing about Argentine mechanics is that if they can not help us, they wouldn’t think of charging us for their diagnosis and would often offer us their matte as well. We thanked our new friend and limped along to the north.
Puerto Deseado, which our previous host and the Lonely Planet raved about, was a bit underwhelming, we thought. The major attraction that prompted us to drive the 150 kms out of our way to see was the quirky Rock Hopper penguins. These are the penguins that the character Lovelace in the movie Happy Feet is caricatured from, with the bright orange wispy eyebrows. Apparently this was the only place outside of Antartica where they reside. Three different tour companies take daily trips out to the island where they live so we figured it would be no problem to arrange a tour for the following day. We arrived into town late as usual as with our overheating stops and the fact that we can only go about 80 km/h on a 120km/h highway turned a 6 hr drive into 15 hours to get there. We would camp that night then head into town to arrange our tour. First stop was the tourist office. The nice lady called around to all three tour companies for us before giving us the news: two of the companies had a minimum of 8 to go out on the tour and currently had 0 signed up and the third company, which required only 6 per tour had two others. So with the other two and Jo and I, we would only need two more people to sign up over the course of the day and we could head out on the tour the next day. Now once again, this isn’t some never heard of tour that we stumbled on. This is well advertised in all the neighboring park and towns and you can’t go anywhere in this town without seeing a Rock Hopper penguin emblazoned on a hotel sign or mini-market window so we thought it wouldn’t be a problem for two other people to rock up to join us on this adventure.
Wrong as usual. We left the port town without as much as a sniff of a penguin and were really starting to get annoyed. We made the long drive back out to the highway and headed towards the town where we could get our radiator cleaned. We reached Commodora Rivadavia about an hour before everything shuts down. We were able to locate a reputable radiator specialist who told us he’d be glad to clean out our radiator… in the morning. This was not an attractive option as our tour through this town thus far had convinced us we’d rather deal with the overheating than stay here a single night. The radiator guy was able to determine that our radiator cap was not holding pressure properly and sold us a new one. The new radiator cap “seemed” to be just the trick as we sped away north. We drove a good two hours in the dark without a single overheating incident and foolishly thought all the ails had been cured. The morning sun would quickly sour our good mood as we would realized the cloak of the brisk night air was the only cure.
No reason to be moody on this day, however as we would finally get to stroll along with penguins that day. Ponto Tombo is located down a bumpy dusty road about an hour from the main highway and for $7 each we were able to stroll through about 3kms of the penguins’ rookery. These Magellanic penguins stood about a foot tall and for the most part were just trying to stay cool in the shade. Hundreds of penguins were scattered throughout the park and we decided that it was definitely worth all the driving to be able to get this close to the cute little guys. It was definitely a once in a lifetime kind of experience.
We thought we would be able to camp at this park but when we viewed the sole parking lot that we were able to sleep in, we thought we’d carry on north. A good start to the day again gave way to a long annoying day dealing with the overheating engine. It was getting real old by this point and we were seriously considering torching it and continuing the trip via plane and bus. We arrived in Puerto Madryn, a vacation spot on the beach, just as the sun was setting. Now, when you are living out of your car you never like to arrive to places after dark as everything is made more difficult – finding a place to park the car for the night, cooking and eating dinner, etc. We settled for a gravel campsite on the outskirts of town for the night and called it a night.
We eventually found Radiadores Carlos the next morning after several botched navigating attempts taking directions from locals…derecha (right) and derecho (straight) sound way too similar especially when they are used in succession very rapidly. Carlos was the guy that would finally set Diablo straight. He told us that he could remove the radiator from the car, remove the tanks from the radiator exposing the core and clean out all the tiny tubes that water should be passing through all within 24 hours. We were obviously skeptical as all the car forums we were on basically said that once a radiator gets clogged, there’s basically no way to unclog it…just need to replace it. Replacing a 1990 Isuzu Trooper radiator in southeastern Argentina is never a possibility so these guys really master their trades here. We spent the day with honestly our first bit of relaxation in about 3 weeks as we strolled the empty beaches and enjoyed cold beers watching the sun set…this is what we envisioned our trip to be like the entire time. We spent that night getting Argentine Asado cooking lessons from our host at the HI Hostel. I definitely think I’ll have to build an outdoor Asado at our next place.
Carlos was good to his word and we left the beach behind us and planned to drive the next 1400 kms over the course of the next two and a half days. A mammoth feat considering the most we had ever driven in single day to this point was about 560 kms and that was a 15 hr. day. Carlos’ work was truly magical as the temperature gage rarely strayed from the beloved “C” for cold. In addition, we could now actually drive 100 km/h for the first time all trip. Just imagine – we could actually look at a map, see the next town was 200 km away and actually arrive there two hours later, this was a novel concept to us. The thing that would work against us in this part of the drive was the awful wind. 50 mph winds constantly blowing straight at us. This didn’t bother most of the aerodynamic smaller cars on the road, but with our flat, vertical windshield, it’s like constantly climbing a mountain. Fortunately, the freshly cleaned radiator was up to the challenge of keeping the old engine cool as a cucumber. The two nights we spent on the road were accompanied by torrential rains and thunderous lightning bolts that prevented us from getting our much needed sleep. I thought a corrugated tin roof was bad during rain storms, but having a metal roof not two feet above your head is 10 times worse.
We passed the days playing stupid games as the landscapes around us were flat and dull. The last two days we saw the gas prices skyrocket as we finally exited Patagonia – the government here subsidizes the fuel prices in the south. We left ourselves a short 300 kms to tackle on the final morning and that allowed us to roll into Buenos Aires around lunchtime. Without a map of the city, Jo skillfully guided us to our hotel using a preloaded map on the iphone. It’s a good thing too because drivers here are absolutely crazy. Dotted white lines are merely a suggestion, as are red lights. Cab drivers fancy themselves as race car drivers as they weave between cars, bikes and motorcycles without regard for either their car or their passengers lives….but they do reach their destination in record time.
We eventually found Radiadores Carlos the next morning after several botched navigating attempts taking directions from locals…derecha (right) and derecho (straight) sound way too similar especially when they are used in succession very rapidly. Carlos was the guy that would finally set Diablo straight. He told us that he could remove the radiator from the car, remove the tanks from the radiator exposing the core and clean out all the tiny tubes that water should be passing through all within 24 hours. We were obviously skeptical as all the car forums we were on basically said that once a radiator gets clogged, there’s basically no way to unclog it…just need to replace it. Replacing a 1990 Isuzu Trooper radiator in southeastern Argentina is never a possibility so these guys really master their trades here. We spent the day with honestly our first bit of relaxation in about 3 weeks as we strolled the empty beaches and enjoyed cold beers watching the sun set…this is what we envisioned our trip to be like the entire time. We spent that night getting Argentine Asado cooking lessons from our host at the HI Hostel. I definitely think I’ll have to build an outdoor Asado at our next place.
Carlos was good to his word and we left the beach behind us and planned to drive the next 1400 kms over the course of the next two and a half days. A mammoth feat considering the most we had ever driven in single day to this point was about 560 kms and that was a 15 hr. day. Carlos’ work was truly magical as the temperature gage rarely strayed from the beloved “C” for cold. In addition, we could now actually drive 100 km/h for the first time all trip. Just imagine – we could actually look at a map, see the next town was 200 km away and actually arrive there two hours later, this was a novel concept to us. The thing that would work against us in this part of the drive was the awful wind. 50 mph winds constantly blowing straight at us. This didn’t bother most of the aerodynamic smaller cars on the road, but with our flat, vertical windshield, it’s like constantly climbing a mountain. Fortunately, the freshly cleaned radiator was up to the challenge of keeping the old engine cool as a cucumber. The two nights we spent on the road were accompanied by torrential rains and thunderous lightning bolts that prevented us from getting our much needed sleep. I thought a corrugated tin roof was bad during rain storms, but having a metal roof not two feet above your head is 10 times worse.
We passed the days playing stupid games as the landscapes around us were flat and dull. The last two days we saw the gas prices skyrocket as we finally exited Patagonia – the government here subsidizes the fuel prices in the south. We left ourselves a short 300 kms to tackle on the final morning and that allowed us to roll into Buenos Aires around lunchtime. Without a map of the city, Jo skillfully guided us to our hotel using a preloaded map on the iphone. It’s a good thing too because drivers here are absolutely crazy. Dotted white lines are merely a suggestion, as are red lights. Cab drivers fancy themselves as race car drivers as they weave between cars, bikes and motorcycles without regard for either their car or their passengers lives….but they do reach their destination in record time.
We booked into a cute brand new boutique hotel nestled in a quiet corner of the San Telmo neighborhood. This was the perfect area for our first planned tourist site – the San Telmo Sunday Antique Fair & Market. Thousands of tourists and locals alike come to explore the hundreds of stalls set up on the closed off streets in the area. If you so desired, you could walk away from this fair wearing any countless dodgy soccer jerseys, any jewelry you could imagine, a holster complete with antique gun, spurs, with an antique camera around your neck. We spent the afternoon perusing the craft and antiques. Jo helped herself to some choice earrings and I got kitted out with a Boca Juniors Jersey for our next activity that night – the Boca Juniors hosting Indepentiente.
We had arranged tickets in advance as our previous attempt to attend a match 4 years ago had a few slip ups that caused us to miss it altogether. Tickets are very hard to come by as all the tickets are sold to season ticket holders. To some of the lesser matches, we’ve read that it is possible to show up at the stadium and purchase tickets the day of the match. We also read that gringo’s should definitely not attempt to do this as the stadium is in the La Boca neighborhood where locals do not take kindly to tourists. The online company we purchased tickets from provide transport to and from the stadium so we were on the lookout for a mini-van of some sort to pick us up. When a guy came knocking while on foot we knew this would be interesting. He handed us tickets and hailed a taxi for us. There was no way I was about to pay this guy until we were safely in our seats at the stadium. There was one other taxi load of tourists in our group and we were dropped off about 4 blocks from the stadium. Our tour guide come bodyguard escorted us into the stadium through 4 different armed security checkpoints. A few hiccups on the way through but we finally made it to our seats just above the section of crazies the stand behind the home goal. Now I have camped out for and attended Eagles playoff games in Philly, I’ve seen the Flyers play a home game in the Stanley Cup Finals, I’ve even been to see Manchester United play at Old Trafford, but this was an experience like NO other. The fans here are passionate to say the least. The singing, chanting and dancing began hours before the teams were even introduced and when the Boca Juniors came out of the tunnel, confetti littered the field, fireworks went off and flares were lit. The crew had to use leaf blowers to somewhat clean off the field before the starting kick. Boca was first in the league going into the game and Independiente was dead last, so everyone was shocked when the visiting team scored just 30 seconds into the match and quickly added a second 8 minutes later. The fans didn’t quiet down one bit though and if anything they just sang louder to get their team going. 9 goals were scored in all during what our guide stated without hesitation was no doubt the game of the year. The Boca Juniors were down 3-2 at the half but came out at a blistery pace and were cruising to a 4-3 victory as time was running out. In the 89th minute, Independiente netted the equalizer and much to the home fans chagrin tallied the winning goal in the 4th minute of injury time. The result wasn’t what we were hoping for but not being from Boca, we were just excited we got to witness such a thrilling match. A great start to our time in Buenos Aires…
We had arranged tickets in advance as our previous attempt to attend a match 4 years ago had a few slip ups that caused us to miss it altogether. Tickets are very hard to come by as all the tickets are sold to season ticket holders. To some of the lesser matches, we’ve read that it is possible to show up at the stadium and purchase tickets the day of the match. We also read that gringo’s should definitely not attempt to do this as the stadium is in the La Boca neighborhood where locals do not take kindly to tourists. The online company we purchased tickets from provide transport to and from the stadium so we were on the lookout for a mini-van of some sort to pick us up. When a guy came knocking while on foot we knew this would be interesting. He handed us tickets and hailed a taxi for us. There was no way I was about to pay this guy until we were safely in our seats at the stadium. There was one other taxi load of tourists in our group and we were dropped off about 4 blocks from the stadium. Our tour guide come bodyguard escorted us into the stadium through 4 different armed security checkpoints. A few hiccups on the way through but we finally made it to our seats just above the section of crazies the stand behind the home goal. Now I have camped out for and attended Eagles playoff games in Philly, I’ve seen the Flyers play a home game in the Stanley Cup Finals, I’ve even been to see Manchester United play at Old Trafford, but this was an experience like NO other. The fans here are passionate to say the least. The singing, chanting and dancing began hours before the teams were even introduced and when the Boca Juniors came out of the tunnel, confetti littered the field, fireworks went off and flares were lit. The crew had to use leaf blowers to somewhat clean off the field before the starting kick. Boca was first in the league going into the game and Independiente was dead last, so everyone was shocked when the visiting team scored just 30 seconds into the match and quickly added a second 8 minutes later. The fans didn’t quiet down one bit though and if anything they just sang louder to get their team going. 9 goals were scored in all during what our guide stated without hesitation was no doubt the game of the year. The Boca Juniors were down 3-2 at the half but came out at a blistery pace and were cruising to a 4-3 victory as time was running out. In the 89th minute, Independiente netted the equalizer and much to the home fans chagrin tallied the winning goal in the 4th minute of injury time. The result wasn’t what we were hoping for but not being from Boca, we were just excited we got to witness such a thrilling match. A great start to our time in Buenos Aires…
click on the photo below to see gallery
