The line of people can be seen as soon as the car takes the last curve off Puente Pueyrredón, right on the limit between Buenos Aires City and its neighboring district, Avellaneda. 

Among the crowd are flags bearing the insignia of Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota and other Argentine rock bands. As they walk along, passing motorists and bus drivers sound their horns, an acknowledgment of a quest that is just beginning. 

The people trudging along were Carlos Indio Solari fans standing in line to pay their final respects to the rock icon who passed away last Friday. 

The line would eventually enter the viewing room with the casket at the Polideportivo José María Gatica, the sports stadium Solari’s family picked as the venue to host the public wake. 

Patience, however, would be of the essence. It would take them over 4 hours to cover the more than 6 kilometers that separated them from the entrance. 

These figures are just a couple of indicators that help describe the massive outpouring Buenos Aires saw starting in the early hours of Sunday to bid farewell to the popular rock star. 

Scheduled to start at 11 a.m., people started arriving around 3 a.m. and set up tents to try and save a place.   

At a peak moment in the afternoon, the queue to enter the stadium was reportedly close to 8 kilometers long, snaking all the way into Buenos Aires City. And the people standing in line were only a fraction of the total attendance. 

At least ten surrounding city blocks closed off to traffic were packed with fans. While people could be seen gathered in circles singing and dancing in the areas further away, the crowd gathered around the access point was pushed up one against another, with scarce room to move.  

A screen posted on the entrance to the stadium alternated footage of fans showering the coffin with flowers and t-shirts with a public service announcement. The message stated that more than 15,000 per hour were walking past the casket. 

According to these figures, at least 180,000 people had passed through the viewing room by the time the Herald left the scene. If that number remained constant until the end of the wake on Monday........

© Buenos Aires Herald