What am I doing here, travel diary, day 19: the big difference between full subway and full subway

It was new to me, at least since I’ve been here in Qatar: travel by subway to follow a match in Argentina. And the truth is that the round trip, after two in the morning, was a rewarding experience. Especially since the first and hasty conclusion is that In the Qatar metro you always travel better than in Buenos Aires. It doesn’t matter when you say it.

We had already gone from place to place on the subway. A little to know and see how this means of transport worked and a little to avoid traffic jamswhich here in Doha are few, but when you meet a big one you do pretty bad because you enter Pan American or General Paz mode Sunday afternoon. And this is not pleasant.

For this reason and also to avoid leaving your car too far away, as happens in most stadiums when FIFA doesn’t give you access to the press car park, we decided to make the underground journey to get to 974.

It’s true that we left very early, four hours before the start of the match, and that the journey was quite straightforward. You didn’t have to make combinations but go to Ras Abu Aboud station which is one of the terminus of the Gold Line.

There were no seats left when we got on at Joaan, our station, and carriages were full when we arrived at Msheireb, the North Diagonal of the Dohano Metros, where it can be combined with the Red Line and Green Line, seen that I told you once.

The subway was full. It is a fact to take into account that it is nothing secondary. At that time, sometime sooner or later, some 40,000 people were about to converge on the same path. The nobility obliges, because, it is insisted, it was full. But it has never ceased to be comfortable for travelling.

That means, the subway collapsed over the terms of the dohanos. But not for us. Any of the thousands of security officers and volunteers in this city would have a heart attack if they saw how we usually travel on the C line during rush hour. Or anytime. Impossible to compare. Impossible to narrate. Although many of you, dear readers, especially those in Buenos Aires and those in the Buenos Aires suburbs, need no further description.

It is that full has another connotation in Argentina. Full is going like cattle (indeed, lost, quack), sometimes with no space to take out the cell phone from the pocket or take a small bottle of water from the backpack. Here the fuel must be stopped, but without the need to have involuntary contact with a stranger as also happens on the Roca or Sarmiento train.

A similar scenario was repeated upon return. If it is true that we stayed at the 974 stadium for a long time to take testimonies in the mixed area and at the press conference, the fans also took their time to return.

First of all because this time Scaleneta left everyone happy and many continued to sing in the stands for about 45 minutes. And then because in the suburbs of the stadiums there are always shows to see and enjoy after our best moment at the World Cup.

Once again the subway was full, but it was okay to get back. One of us even made the tour – pretty much like going from Retiro to Constitución – sitting comfortably. So the experience was totally recommended.

We will be back, we will be back…

The only drawback of the Metro, I say this because there is no heaven without criticism, are the snakes and the fences inside and outside the stations. It is the world of snakes and fences. Bah, it’s a problem that repeats itself wherever there is activity. We understand that they are places to organize entrances and exits, but sometimes it is incomprehensible to walk 500 steps to reach a place five meters away when I am the only person who wants to pass. It’s like an extension of the highways of hell. They fill the patience of even the calmest person in the universe.

Doha, Qatar. Special delivery.