I Love Chile Weekly Magazine | Page 15

FEATURE NEWS CHILE THROUGH A LENS: WHAT HAPPENS AT BAQUEDANO, STAYS AT BAQUEDANO By JAMIE FURLONG AS YOU MAY KNOW, CHILE IS HOSTING THIS YEAR’S COPA AMÉRICA, A CONTINENT-WIDE SOCCER COMPETITION THAT SEES THE BEST PLAYERS FROM THE REGION COME TOGETHER, BRINGING WITH THEM SOME PRETTY PROUD NATIONALS. SANTIAGO — Beautiful Chile, of course, takes this pride to another level. And why not, after all the country is hosting this year. The last time was in 1991 when Argentina took the trophy. Anyway. Being in Chile, and being that Chileans are quite a vocal people, things can get a little out-of-hand, or perhaps perfectly-inhand when Chile wins. On June 11,the first game of the cup, Chile vs. Ecuador, took place. I was pretty excited, not only because after a pretty huge build-up the matches would actually start, but because a little birdie told me if Chile wins, there will be a street party at Baquedano (a plaza and metro station in Santiago). It couldn’t really be that big, I thought. I mean, Baquedano is a huge round-about in the center of a fast-moving city; a mass of party-goers would cause great interruptions… Chile scored. Then they scored again. From my lounge-room, I could hear the chants and yells from neighboring bars. I could feel the ground shaking from masses of people jumping with excitement. They won 2-0. I raced to get my camera, before sprinting to Baquedano to see if the plaza-party would live up to its reputation. It did. In fact, it exceeded its reputation ten-fold. Baquedano and Plaza Italia were filled with flags, horns, people chanting, dancing, blowing whistles and just celebrating together. The game started. 15