CHILE | Thursday, 30 March 2017 | Views [281]
Estadio Monumental served as a makeshift prison in 1973 during the time dictator Augusto Pinochet ruled making it one of the most infamous sports arenas in the world. It opened in 1938 and to say it's showing its age would be an understatement. Barbed wire and plexiglass separate each section obscuring the view of the first 10 or 15 rows of seats in the entire stadium so nobody sits in them. An additional section of seating was left empty in remembrance of the thousands that were beaten, tortured and murdered by Pinochet leaving minimal seats available in the section we were quarantined. We stood the entire game catching the occasional glimpse of the action and listened to the rowdy Chilean fans sing songs and cheer for their team.