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You may care to see the
attached photos taken during a trip to Argentina when we spent
some time in Buenos Aires. The big regret was that we were not there whilst a match was
on. The visit was in January, 1998.
The Boca Juniors ground is situated in one of the poorest parts of Buenos Aires, where
there are many illegal immigrants living, mainly Paraguayans. This used to be the docks
area and much like it's counterpart in London is now a dead area as far as work etc is
concerned. Very near the ground is the area known as Caminita. This is one of the most
photographed areas in Buenos Aires. The local council in an effort to stop the area
becoming a complete slum offers a prize to the prettiest house.
The ground itself is ok but like most of our top grounds a few years ago well past the
'sell by date'. One is left to imagine those terraces during a night match with fire
crackers and streamers etc. Boca Juniors are the working man's team whereas River Plate is
the upper class club. We didn't have time to visit River Plate. As you can imagine there
is much animosity between them. We asked how you decide which to support
and were told 'you don't pick your team it picks you'. And we thought England was class
ridden!
During the same trip we visited the Stadium Nacional in Santiago, Chile. We could get no
pictures as 'U2' were in concert that night and they wouldn't let us in. We also watched
the England v Chile game at Wembley in Chile TV in a bar in downtown Santiago. We got a
lot of stick, as you would imagine, although nothing nasty.
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