Before I start this story, I want to be clear on something. I’ve gone to a lot of soccer games here. Most of the time we yell and cheer and we go home. No problems. Certainly no getting mashed up against a chainlink fence or getting caught in the middle of a riot.

Having said that…here’s how the night unfolded…

We arrived at the stadium at around 4:30, Sunday afternoon. The game started at six, so of course the place was already pretty packed. There were some dark clouds off to the south, but that’s happened before, and I’ve never been to a game yet that’s been rained out. We bought our customary squares of Styrofoam to sit on (the cement bleachers are a bit tough on the backside after four hours of sitting) for twenty cents, and settled in to wait for the beginning of the game. This being a “Classico” (a game between the two rival teams of Santa Cruz) the fans were already chanting and singing and jumping and generally having a good time. Then the wind started to blow and it started to spit a bit. We all had high hopes that it would blow over quickly…what’s a little rain after all…this was a classico!

Then the heavens opened and a torrent that would have made Noah proud started to fall. We were instantly soaked. The wind blew sheets of rain across us, and every time the crowd would yell…let me just say, that water was cold! Lots of people ran for the gates to try and get under shelter, but the reality was, 35,000 people couldn’t fit under the bleachers. Most people knew that, and didn’t bother trying. Besides, there was honour at stake. We were there to support our respective teams, and a little rain shouldn’t be able to deter us!

And for the most part it didn’t. The 8,000 on my side of the stands (Blooming) just kept jumping and cheering and whistling. So did the 8,000 on Oriente’s side. Flags waved, people sang, shirts came off (kind of a Bolivian guy thing), banners were ripped off the fence by the wind…and the party raged on.

And the lady selling cheap, plastic rain coats for three dollars a pop continued to make a killing.

Twice the officials came out to see if the game could start….and twice the rain decided to start up again and send them scurrying off the field. I can’t even describe to you how wet we were. It was incredible. There were waterfalls off each level of the stands where you normally sit. The drains around the field backed up and started flowing the wrong direction. My shoes blew bubbles every time I wiggled my toes.

Finally the rain seemed about finished (after an hour and a half) and the worst of it seemed over.

Then the riot started…

At first I wasn’t sure what was going on. All I knew was that the crowd suddenly surged away from the centre section of our area and people started running past us. I figured maybe a fight or something had broken out (that happens occasionally…usually some of the hard-core fans are somewhat lubricated before arriving at the stadium). Usually any fights are over quickly and amount to nothing more than a few shoves and yells before the jumping and singing starts up again.

This seemed more serious, however. I could see some sort of confrontation taking place (although it was still kind of tough to figure out exactly what was going on), but the more worrying part were the crowds of people running to get out of the way. Hundreds were climbing over the fences separating us from the next section. Then they continued to run across that section towards the exits. The police once again came barrelling out onto the field, but it took them a while to get the big gate open between the field and the stands.

Jimmy was standing next to me, and I turned to say something to the three other guys who were with us…only to discover that they were long gone.

Cowards.

I’ll be the first to admit that I occasionally have more curiosity than common sense. This would definitely be one of those moments. I kind of wanted to see how the whole thing played out. =) There were other people still standing around (so I wasn’t the only one) and Jimmy seemed calm enough, so…

As it turned out, two different groups of fans started brawling over something or other. The police eventually waded in (they finally got the gate open), and chased everyone out. Jimmy and I just tried to stay out of the way. There were a few dicey moments, but for the most part it was fine.

When we got back to the truck, we had a fun time mocking the other guys for their cowardice.  I told them that real men don’t run when the fighting starts.  We stand our ground!  They laughed and asked me if I was William Wallace (of Braveheart fame).  I replied that, yes…yes I was…nice call. 

All in all it was a pretty fun night. We ended up finding a pretty decent pizza place and introduced a couple of the guys to restaurant pizza (I’ve made my version a few times). Then, still soaking wet, we headed off to the movie theatre for the new James Bond movie. The only bad moment was when the theatre’s air conditioning kicked in and it felt like a Saskatchewan winter in there. Pretty sure I’ve got frostbite now…

One comment on the movie before I go. The last half took place in Bolivia! And they talked about Canada! When was the last time Bolivia and Canada were mentioned in the same movie? The scenes in Bolivia were supposed to be filmed here, but there was some political tension at the time (go figure) and so they filmed in Chile. They did an okay job making it look like Bolivia, although there was one funny moment. James Bond gets pulled over by the police at one point. The cops actually had real Bolivian police uniforms on, but they also had these hilarious white motorcycle helmets and sunglasses on. The whole theatre started laughing. It was pretty entertaining…

Like I said, it was a fun evening. That’s one of the things I like about life here. You never quite know what the day will hold. =)

UPDATE: So the game was held the next night. Out of the five tickets we had, we managed to find three that hadn’t been ruined by the rain. We had to go to the game two and a half hours early and security was crazy. The game was great though. The teams are actually pretty evenly matched. There was some tension and like I said…lots of security. Even the teams were feeling it, and twice fights broke out on the field and the police had to come out to calm things down. I was pretty sure Blooming was going to lose, as it was 3-1 going into the final few minutes. All those goals had been hard fought for, so it seemed like things were over. Then, miracle of miracles, Blooming came back with two more goals in less than five minutes, to tie it up.

Blooming fans went crazy. You’d have thought we’d won some kind of championship game, rather than just tying a not-really-important game. Fans were singing Blooming songs for blocks as they left! All I know is that I didn’t have to…ahem…listen to anyone talk about their team beating my team. That was nice.