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.
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