¡Fútbol, Madrileño style!

We book it out of the cooking school for several metro line changes and many stops to get to the stadium. Emerging from the underground we are impressed by the litter of beer bottles on the ground for many blocks to the stadium.

The game has just started and the streets are a MESS! These folks like to tank up for their soccer! We had worked hard to get 21 tickets to this game, and ours were about mid way up the stadium, above a corner of the field.All together, they cost around $1000. But when we reached our seats, people were already sitting in them and they refused to move, because there were no other seats available. Raquel summons the bouncer, who tries to evict a couple of spectators from our seats, but quickly realizes that this effort for 21 seats is not going to work and he throws up his hands. About five of us take seats and the rest sit on the steps. The crowd is wild. This is a semi-final match in the league that is one level below Real Madrid. There is a group of fans behind the goal called "Los Radicales" that constantly chant, sing and play instruments. The rest of the stadium follows suit. Madrid wins 4-2 and the atmosphere is boiling