en domingos

Sunday was a quintessentially Latin/Buenos Aires day - a crosstown futbol rivalry in the afternoon and a Verdi opera in the evening. Firstly, the Boca Juniors vs. River Plate played a qualifying match for the Copa Libertadores tourney. Every time these two teams play it's like the world series: cafes, bars, restaurants, ice cream parlors - any place with a TV has dozens of portenos huddled around it. I sat at a cafe in the city center to watch the game, or what could be seen in my 1 ft x 1 ft line-of-sight. This is kind of like the Red Sox and Yankee's; folks say these games bring out class rivalries but I found it hard to predict who might be a River fan and who roots for Boca: River Plate used to have a stadium in the Boca neighborhood, well-to-do's root for Boca, there isn't necessarily a rhyme or reason to it.. What seems to be consistent, however, is that if you come from a Boca family, you root for Boca, same going for River. It was an exhausting, scrappy match ending 1-1, no overtime. One last note on the soccer: I learned today that Latin America draws out it's World Cup selection process over two years (most other countries take less than a month to qualify teams) so there's sure to be some good national games between here and South Africa 2010.







I had to stay till the end of the game, thus showing up at the opera house late. I was shown a temporary seat till the set break, or intermission I guess it is called. What an enchanting evening! The voices of the performers filled the hall, all five floors of it. The sets and costumes incredible, simple yet effectively transporting players and audience to 16th Century Europe. Intermission left me rubbing elbows with the B.A. elite set, or at least older folks with sharp-looking suits, pearls, and talk-of-the-town scene-stering. Following intermission, I sat closer to the stage and was whisked away again for the last hour. The show ended and the audience ushered out into a warm, gentle Fall evening in the city.