Aguilas - winter baseball

We've recently attended a couple of Aguilas (Eagles) games here in Santiago. The stadium is less than a mile from our house, and has proved to be quite an experience! I'll start from the beginning: before going to the game, one must first choose a dinner from one of the surrounding street-food vendors. Here is a photo of an empanada stand. They were actually rolling out the dough and stuffing the deep-fried deliciousness themselves!

I wasn't brave enough to go for the "egg empanada," so I went with the traditional cheese.

Inside the stadium. Our neighbor gave us some of her extra tickets right along the first base line.

Much of the entertainment is constituted by the team mascots. They run up and down the sideline, not only interacting with the fans, but also with the players, coaches, employees... anyone who happens to be around. Here is a picture of the opposing toro, or bull.

The aguila is quite hilarious. Here he/she is falling asleep while the opponents change pitchers.

After his woo-ing went on for quite some time, the security guard decided she'd had enough and just said "no" and walked away.

Don't worry, the food doesn't stop once you get in the stadium. Inside you can buy fried chicken, pizza (below), ice cream, noisemakers, peanuts, microwave popcorn, noisemakers, beer, and oh yes, noisemakers. The obsession with noisemakers is incredible. From the moment the game starts until the teams walk off the field, the noise is nearly deafening. The fans cheer when there is a strike, they cheer when there is a ball, an out, a hit, and even foul balls!

But the noise created by the average fan is nothing compared to the decibels created by the music troupe. They start along the left-field foul line in about the second inning, and slowly make their way to right field throughout the game. There are a couple people on long horns, many people beating drums, and a few people screaming. When they come near, it's difficult to have a conversation!

The Aguilas have had a slow start at 5-8, but the season is still early.