Barilo, Barilo, we goin' to Barilo (part 2)

Okay, so as promised, here's part two of my trip...

After arriving to Bariloche, after the longest bus ride of my life (at least until the return trip...), we checked into the hotel, cleaned up, and headed out to see the town. A group of about 25 young women decked out in River Plate gear is hardly inconspicuous in any circumstance, and even less so in a relatively small town like San Carlos de Bariloche.

As we walked through the city center, we could feel everybody's eyes on us. The cars driving by honked at us either out of malice, if the driver was a bostero (depreciative term used by Argentines to refer to fans of Boca Juniors), or out of pride, if the driver was of the millionario (River Plate's fan base). People along the sidewalk stopped to ask us which sport we played; some even asked us if we played basketball... despite the average height of our team being below 5' 5'' (1.65 m)... A few groups of teenagers, who were in Bariloche for their high school graduation trip, started singing River chants while others had the nerve to sing anti-River cheers. All those responses were fun, but the most memorable reaction as we went through town was when people would ask for a picture with us.

Perhaps the men's first team players get tired of having to stop for photos everywhere they go, but for us, as females athletes in a country which doesn't give much attention to women's soccer, it was a pretty cool experience. Obviously, they weren't necessarily fans of our team in particular but of the club as a whole. Outside of Buenos Aires, in the towns throughout the interior of the country, seeing a team from a club as important as River Plate is a big deal, and even the city and province government treated our appearance as such.

The second day, we ate breakfast while reading the local newspaper which had a group photo of our team on the front page, announcing our arrival to Bariloche and our two games scheduled for the next day at the municipal stadium. We then made our way to the town hall for a press conference held by the municipality, which was attended by all the local media outlets, both print and digital. Two players, along with our head coach, a local government official, and the secretary of sport were interviewed before we went for a walk along the lake to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

The view from town hall

The hometown star (our only player from Bariloche)

Our defense is made up principally of Charlie's Angels... 

 The same afternoon, we took a bus to the Cerro Catedral, Bariloche's ski resort. On our way, a local radio station called to do a live interview with our coach and with our player from Bariloche. In one day in Bariloche, River women's soccer received more press coverage than in my six months with the team so far... (okay, so I may be exaggerating slightly, but it was still impressive and encouraging to see the city supporting women's soccer).

As we pulled up to the resort, the girls' faces lit up as they saw snow covering the ground. For many of them, it was the first time they'd ever seen snow. Eager to feel it, the girls ran off the bus, a few almost slipping on the frozen ground, to the closest pile of snow. We had been hoping to build snowmen at the top of the mountain where there was much more snow to play with, but, unfortunately, due to cost issues, we were unable to take the gondola to the top. However, we did make the most of the afternoon by having a massive snowball fight with the snow we were able to scrounge up at the base of the slope. Except for the occasional ball of ice to the face, both sides ended up without any major injuries.

Instead of writing a few thousand words about what we saw that day, I'll share a few pictures:

 Finally, the next day, we played two back-to-back friendlies, the main reason for which we had traveled so far. Both games were against all-star teams (more or less) from the region. The games themselves were not exactly thrilling (we won 5-0 and 4-2, respectively), but the atmosphere and the time shared with the opposing teams and the fans afterward were quite special.

Since the games had been announced for a couple days running in all the local media outlets, the fan turn-out was pretty good, there was even a group of River fanatics, the Banda de Bariloche, which travel to all of the men's games they can, who came to cheer us on from behind our goal. After the game, all three teams and many of the fans made their way onto the field. I can't even remember how many times I was asked for a photo and even asked for autographs. Our opponents seemed almost starstruck; they were the ones who were most excited to take pictures with us. For the girls on the local teams, having the opportunity to play against River Plate, one of the top teams in Argentine women's soccer, was a completely new and exciting experience. The fans in general were mainly just thrilled to see a team representing River Plate in their town. One of the members of the Banda de Bariloche even gave me his red and white winter cap in exchange for a photo (Don't misinterpret this. I didn't ask for the hat...). It was one of the first times I wasn't in a hurry to leave the field after a game in the cold. As a team we wanted to enjoy the moment and the time shared with the other teams and the fans who had come to support us.

Even on cold, cloudy days Bariloche is stunning

The day after the game, after an all-around amazing trip, it was finally time to head back to Buenos Aires, and another 28 or 29 hours later, we were back at River. Our bus was led into the city by an escort of honking horns, angry drivers, crazy traffic, and smog, a slight contrast to the natural beauty and calm of Bariloche. Needless to say, I have to go back. Who wants to come with me?

*no photos were edited, each photo came straight from my camera or from one of my teammates'.

"Barilo, Barilo, we goin' to Barilo..."

I don't want to hear another Nene Malo song for the rest of my life...

This past week, River Plate Fútbol Femenino took an unforgettable trip to Bariloche, Río Negro, in the south of Argentina, about 1600 kilometers from the city of Buenos Aires. We left directly from our league game on Sunday (which we narrowly won 13-0 against Platense... I was drinking mates in the goal box ...) at around 6:30 p.m. and arrived in Bariloche at 4:30 p.m. the next day, only stopping once or twice to get gas – though no one was allowed off the bus in order to save time. Needless to say, after almost 24 hours on board, we were all thankful when the door finally opened and we were able to walk somewhere other than the aisle separating the rows of seats.

Traveling through Argentina by bus is an interesting experience, especially when one lives in Buenos Aires, a city with block after block after block of building after building filled with people, people, and people (and lots of dogs too) with streets filled with cars, buses, motorcycles, scooters, and bikes all fighting to get past the next guy to get to work, school, a meeting, church, a party, soccer, etc. As soon as you get about two hours west of the capital, life starts to slow down. There is more and more space between houses, cars, and people. Rarely does one hear a honking horn; (in my case all I heard was cumbia by the oh-so-wonderfully terrible Nene Malo...) the only sound is overwhelming silence interrupted by the occasional whoosh of a passing truck or car. For almost 1000 kilometers all one sees is wide open plains and fields populated mainly by livestock and soy (as well as a few humans).

La Pampa

We pass out of the province of Buenos Aires and into La Pampa without even noticing. The plains continue and the two-lane highway appears to extend infinitely into the horizon. Observing the vast, almost uninhabited landscape, one can't help but wonder why the population is so heavily concentrated in the city of Buenos Aires and the surrounding areas. Buenos Aires is not only the seat of political power in Argentina but is also home to the majority of private business and industries, many of which could be located without a problem in another less-densely populated province to promote decentralization of power. However, due to laws and subsidies which encourage centralization of power and industry in the capital, almost half of Argentina continues to reside within an area covering under 2 percent of the nation's total surface area.

Living in Buenos Aires, it's easy to forget there is more to Argentina than the city and its suburbs. In any urban setting, it's also easy to get caught up in the "fast and furious" (sorry, we just watched the fifth movie of the series on the bus...) lifestyle of the city. One of my teammates wisely observed, "Porteños are so busy going from here to there, running to work, running to workout, running to school, running to catch the bus or the subway, they forget why they are even running in the first place. If you were to stop and ask most of them why they are living, most would probably be left speechless. That's what's so great about living in the country. We live at a different pace. Even though we may not have the material wealth or comforts that come with living in the capital, we learn to enjoy our time with family and friends. We have more time to pause and think about the reasons behind why we do what we do during the day. We work to live, to support our families; we don't live to work... The city is cold and uninviting. There are so many people yet each person is isolated in his own world. If we as humans are all equal, why do we treat each other with such distrust, like strangers, like what we need to do each day is more important than what the person next to us on the bus needs to do...?"

Finally, around 2 p.m. the landscape began to change. The flat plains began to rise into rolling hills which grew gradually higher and more impressive as we drove along the winding road. We began to see small piles of snow on the shady side of bushes. Quick glimpses of the snowy peaks of the Andes Mountains began to appear as we made our way through the foothills. At one point, we found ourselves above the clouds, a view which was truly unforgettable. As we came around a bend, we saw what appeared at first to be a lake covered by fog, with snow-covered mountains in the background, but soon we realized the lake was actually clouds which had settled in the valley. Everyone rushed to grab their camera or phone to try to capture the stunning panorama, but even the best devices couldn't capture the beauty of the moment.

My attempt to capture the panorama

The remaining two hours to Bariloche were filled with oohs and ahhs as the landscape became more and more stunning. I could try to describe the views, but I think pictures are more effective.

Upon arriving to Bariloche, we were received by the municipality's Minister of Sports who took us to our hotels and helped us get settled in – though it was not easy to pull us away from the spectacular views of Lake Nahuel Huapi which greeted us as we got off the bus.

As for the rest of the trip, it'll have to wait until the next blog post because this one is quickly getting too long...

To be continued...