China to Chile: Colo-Colo

A couple of weekends ago some friends and I attended our first soccer match here in Santiago. Of the two possible games to attend that day, we chose the one that was easier to get tickets for, the Colo-Colo vs. Universidad de Concepcion. Colo-Colo, named after a Mapuche Indian chief, is one of the teams in the Primera Division. This day closed out the second half of the season, and a new round will be starting up again sometime in January after a short break.
There is a ton of hype around Santiago for 3 teams, Colo-Colo, Universidad de Chile, and Universidad Catolica. You can even see the fans camped out near the metro stations with their team's flag on the ground, asking you to contribute coins so that they can buy a ticket for the upcoming game to support their team.
On this particular day, the Universidad Catolica game happening on the other side of the city was deemed the championship game. (unless they were to lose and Colo-Colo was to win, then they would have been locked at an even number of points and a 1 game tie-breaker would have been needed.)
When I told people that I was going to the game, a lot of them looked at me with a quizzical expression, since a gringa like me should proceed with a certain amount of caution and respect for the Colo-Colo. The games and fans are notoriously rowdy, and I went into it knowing that anything that wasn't a part of my body could disappear, but feeling confident that I would be with a group of friends and that we would stay far from the mayhem. Thanks to S and A for being brave enough to bring their camera and take the shots below. I'm already down one camera and wasn't willing to risk losing another.
Our adventure was suddenly all the more interesting when the subway line that goes in the direction of the stadium was closed that day due to a Metro strike. That meant we either had to take a cab or get on the micro (bus) with all of the fans. Because we were pressed for time, we opted for the cab down there and braved the micro on the way back. We were actually befriended by one of the fans who asked us when we were getting on the bus if we were sure that we "didn't want to go get something to eat at the mall first and wait a little while..." Yikes, I think that sums up what I was explaining above!