The Hand of Maradona and other things

Last night we went to the River Plate Stadium to watch Argentina play Venezuela in a world cup qualifier, their first competitive game under Maradona. The stadium seats 70,000 we were told but it is probably more. The system seems to be that you arrive, sit in the seat assigned to you on your ticket until someone comes along and claims it is their seat so you move and sit wherever you can watching whilst the new occupants of your previous seat see off (or not) challenges from further latecomers and you do the same. Whoever is sitting in the seats when the whistle blows for kick off gets to keep them! A sort of musical chairs. We were fortunate to have seats overlooking the centre circle and some protection from our guide who kept a watchful eye on us.

As you can imagine, the atmosphere was fantastic and emotional-lots of banners about Maradona ("I have come to see God, my mother bequeathed me the faith", "Maradona is an Argentinian Tango" for instance ), a band that played continuously and non-stop singing, sometimes accompanied by jumping up and down, about "the hand of Maradona". Fortunately Argentina won 4-0, admittedly against a rather dreadful Venezualan side (although you can only beat the oppostion that turns up, as I always say when City win and some smart alec points out how dreadful the other team were.) So almost everyone went home happily, since the Venezuela fans were thin on the ground. The star of the match was the Real Madrid player Lionel Messi whom it was a privilege to watch.

One reflection we had was that the stadium is incredibly run down, a bit like the city, which is full of life but, as the state of the pavements indicates, has no money. It also does not pander to the corporate lifestyle. If you want food (nuts mainly) or drink (non-alcoholic) you buy it at your seat from the guys who perform incredible acrobatics clambering up the stands. There are no bars, dining rooms nor match day programmes and all the merchandising seems to be unofficial although there are plenty of shops in the city selling the Argentinian kit and yesterday almost everyone seemed to be wearing it!

In the morning we had also gone to Museo de Bellas Artes which has a small but interesting collection of European art and, upstairs, some Argentian and Latin American art, but more of that some other time....off to wander some more.....must find some time to do our homework.....

Borges and other delights

Because we missed a day of classes on Tuesday, we are in school for five hours a day this week instead of four. The last hour each day has been devoted to reading the literature of Borges who must be one of the most difficult of Latin American writers-you can´t escape into his stories but have to read them for their profound philosophical and cultural references. Very interesting but more to my taste than Mike´s and difficult for all after four intense hours of Spanish! However, this is what we are here for. Besides, we are hoping to take in a football match on Saturday between Argentina and Venezuela-Maradona´s first competitive game as trainer so there is something for everyone and for all moods!

We continue to enjoy BA and are amazed at the number of cultural spaces here and at their enthusiastic promotion. You probably don´t know how difficult it is to buy a ticket for the theatre in Chiclana-the box office only opens two or three eveings a week and before a performance and there is no online booking-or even to find out what is going on-we were still waiting for the printed spring programme to appear. when we left. By contrast, last night we were passing a cultural centre in downtown BA and just happened to stop to look at what they were offering, whereupon a young security guard rushed out and handed us a programme each, assuring us that entrance was free! So far we have only booked for the Tango group, but hope to do more once our heads have stopped reeling from our Spanish classes. More soon.

Team Tierney on Tour, Part 2:Buenos Aires

It seems hard to believe that on Saturday we were shinning down vertical rock faces in the Atacama desert (did I really do that?) and today we are in Buenos Aires, wondering which of the many cinemas, bars, restuarants etc to choose tonight. What a fantastic city-it reminds us of Manhattan although we have seen very little yet since school started yesterday and took up most of the day. Today, however, is a national holiday in Argentina, commemorating the dead soldiers of the military dictatorships in the late 70s and 80s (very interesting how the whole Malvinas or Falklands is seen here now as being a political move by the dictators to hold on to power, pretty much as Thatcher used it to shore up her premiership) so we took the opportunity to go on an organised city tour in order to get our bearings. We have also booked to go to watch a tango group which has been recommended to us as being not a tourist spectacular-it´s in the Centro Cultural Borges, after all-and have started to make inquiries about a boat trip to Uruguay. Evidently we are finding it hard to stay in one place for very long. Tomorrow we have to present a summary of a newspaper article in class and give our thoughts on it. Apparently Spain has decided to withdraw troops from Kosovo, upsetting everyone in sight, so I may tackle that. So must go and do my homework. More to follow!

Reasons to Return

Today was our last day in Atacama. We spent it walking through the Kami canyon this morning-not a difficult walk but it did involve climbing down two vertical rock faces!- and by visiting the village where the Explora Hotel is based, San pedro de Atacama. We were pleased that we had ventured out as it would be quite possible to spend all one´s time in the hotel and the village is charming. We were pleased to find a small but well presented archaeological museum and to trace the story of continuous habitation here since 12,00 years before the present. One of the aspects of this history which is particularly interesting is that the indigenous people of this apparently remote and inaccesible region had widespread cultural, social and commercial contact with people in Bolivia, Argentina and Peru for many cneturies before the Spaniards arrived and were briefly part of the Inka Empire. So much for the simple peasants.

We love Chile and have begun to make a list of reasons to return. So far it includes:

• The people
  
• The food, especially the fish, vegetables and fruit
• The Bella Vista District in Santiago
• The fact that we never got to visit the Museo de Bellas Artes in Santiago because it was closed on the day we had available
• Cafe Haiti in Santiago, described to us as "coffee with legs". It turns out that all the staff are young women with incredibly short mini skirts and incredibly long legs-it led to a very interesting conversation with our guide about the position of women in Chilean society.
• The diversity of the landscape...........

That´s it for now. More soon.

Lunch on the Altiplano

Yesterday we had lunch at 4500 feet on the Chilean Altiplano while watching vacunas and drinking fresh raspberry juice. This is only one of the surreal elements of the day, the other being the landscape made of volcanic ash which reminded us of nothing so much as some of the more elaborate examples of Gaudi architecture, swooping curves  and recesses.  Photos as always to follow. This morning we are walking to a canyon since we need the excercise as we spent a long time yesterday in what they call the van, although this hardly does justice to the comfort within which we travel. This afternoon we are going to explore the village of San Pedro and then tonight we have an astronomy lecture in the private observatory here. Tomorrow we end our stay in Chile and leave for Buenos Aires. Although we are looking forward to this we both feel that Chile will be hard to beat. The people are lovely and the scenery. in all its diversity is incredible. Yesterday I finished Isabel Allende´s House of the Spirits and I must admit that the chapter describing the coup and the years of terror moved me to tears. It is a credit to the country that it seems to have emerged on the other side of all this.

We came to the driest place on earth......

...and it rained!

In her book Ines of My Soul, Isabel Allende describes the journey of the Spanish explorers from Peru through what is now the Atacama desert to the valley in which they founded Santiago. Although a river runs through it, along which I walked yesterday, parts of it are so dry that there is no vegetation and no fauna. She writes about how the explorers realised that they were coming to the end of this part of the journey when they began to hear bird song again. It is no surprise, therfore, that it hasn´t rained here for 31 years.....

Until yesterday. We set out to walk through the valley of the moon, so called because the landscape resembles the lunar craters. It is truely incredible and we have wonderful photos showing the contrast of colours. However, as we walked a black cloud which had been hanging ominously in the distance when we left began to grow and to gradually encircle us. We started to see lightening and hear thunder and the guide, connected to Explora through remote control radio, was ordered to bring us back. We headed off and tried one last time to see the other side of the valley which we hadn´t been able to reach but when we got out of the van there was so much electricity in the air that the van was giving off electric shocks. We beat a hasty retreat!

Must go now. Another adventure awaits.

Atacama idyll

Yesterday I spent my birthday running down sandhills, proving once and for all that 60 is the new 40 or possibly that we are completely mad. It was incredible and just about beat ,but only just,the birthday cake and champagne that Mike had arranged in the restaurant last night. How lucky can anyone be.

Today Mike went off on a bike ride, apparently beating all records so that I found him sitting in the hotel drinking coffee when I returned from my walk through the caravan valley to the Puritama springs. Trecking maybe, and the terrain was rocky, but not trecking as its been known before since we arrived at the springs to find a picnic laid out, wine, beer, fresh juice, smoked salmon, fruit, and towels and fluffy dressing gowns for anyone who wanted to bathe.

Amazing.

Hola Marga..

Espero que estes leyendo este blog porque ayer fuimos a la casa de Pablo Neruda en Valparaiso, cerca de Santiago y pensamos en ti. Es una casa pequena pero con cuatro o cinco niveles, vistas maravillosas del puerto y es llena del espiritu del poeta. Ahora estamos en el desierto/que diferencia! Mike escribe un poco en espanol cada dia, un alumno perfecto! Yo no tanto, pero besos de nosotros.

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We have loved our stay in Santiago, even though it was too short, especially as we wanted to include a trip to Valparaiso and Pablo Neruda's house there. We will write more about all this later. Just to say for now that we were up at 3.30 this morning to catch our flight to Calama in the north of Chile and are now settled in the Explora in San Pedro and trying to get our bearings. We have a meeting with the guides at 1.00 to plan the visits we want to make, so more later........  

Seen in Santiago, Chile, made in Birmingham, England...

Yesterday we made the long trek-a 10 hour journey-from Torres del Paine National Park via Punta Arenas airport to Santiago. The weather had broken so it was pouring with rain and travelling south in order to travel north made the journey seem even more bizarre, especially when we left the national park and crossed the pampas . It really did feel as though we were beginning to fall off the edge of the world, especially when we saw the sign pointing left for Tierra del Fuego and saw its landmass in the distance.

In fact Chile is a strange mixture-both influenced by Europe in the past and yet not at all European now. We have had various experiences that have brought this home to us. For instance, when we did our hike to the Base of the Towers in order to get to the starting point we had to cross over an iron bridge made in Worcestershire sometime, I would guess, in the later part of the 19th century yet none of the young guides at Explora had been to Europe or had any intention of going. Similarly, Judith, our guide today, was very adamant that Chile has no special connection with Europe and especially not with Spain, which is seen as the oppressor, even though many Chlenos must have Spanish ancestry. On the other hand, today in the Central Market in Santiago, where we had lunch in one of the fish restaurants, we discovered that the spectacular iron roof had been made in Birmingham at around the same time. It reminds us of how small the world has always been.

Tomorrow we are going to Valparaiso to see the sea (of which Chile has a great deal, although so far we have only seen it from the air)...more to follow....

Hasta la proxima

We planned this trip on the basis that we are not likely to return to South America but we are already planning what else we want to see.

For now, however, it is time to leave Patagonia and head back to Santiago for a few days and then on to Atacama and the desert. It is hard to leave. Yesterday we went to the base of the Towers, the longest hike we have made and one that the guide book describes as "challenging". It was-but we felt thrilled to have met the challenge. Nothing has tasted as good as the hot soup, cheese sandwiches and cakes and green tea that we had on the top-spread out, as is the Explora style, on a green and white tablecloth. Today has been a beautiful day. We left at 8.30 to walk up to the waterfalls on the Rio Pingo in the west of the park which is well known for being wetter and we used our wet weather gear for the first time. However, by the time we reached the falls the sun was out and we had a magical time in a grotto of mosses listening to the water cascading over the rocks. So that is Patagonia for now. We have hundreds of photographs saved on disc so we will see what we can do in Santiago.

So far...so good

Either through our own technical incompetence (highly likely) or through the speed of the internet connection here, we have failed as yet to upload a single photo to blogger. So here are a few notes to remind ourselves of some of the highlights to date. Photos to follow, we hope, when we have a better internet connection and more time to do it.

• After and early (4am) start from our hotel in Santiago, a 3 hour flight to Punta Arenas and a 5 hour drive back north, the view of the Torres del Paine from our hotel room when we arrived at the Explora Salto Chico exceeded all our expectations.
• Getting onto a catamaran from the hotel jetty at 7am, walking 12 kms along the Lake dotted with icebergs to Refugio Grey and then taking another boat up close to the glacier while drinking pisco sours made with ice from the glacier. The captain, who has apparently done the job for 25 years was not drinking fortunately so we were spared a titanic moment!
• The blueness of the glacier. Who knew?
• Walking to the Lago Amargo by way of an overhang with paintings by the Aonikenk Indians, the indigenous people of the region who were wiped out through disease, by being hunted (yes), shipped off to Europe to appear in exhibitions as living savages in the 19th century and by alcohol. No wonder they were driven to drink.
• On the same walk seeing herds of guanaco and nandues, learning about their habits and watching condors and flamingoes in flight, the latter from above-so graceful and so pink! (no pumas as yet, although we saw an Andean deer as we came back from Toro heights today-apparently one of only 50 left in the park.)
• Rising to the challenge of walking up and down very steep hills, learning how to use sticks and some of the techniques that have enabled us to walk 50k in the last 4 days.
• The enthusiasm, knowledge and professionalism of the guides.
• The hotel, its staff, the food, the views, the open air hot tubs down by the lake-and despite its lousy internet connection.

News from the end of the world

No photos yet, I am afraid. The hotel is fantastic, set on a lake of which we have a panoramic view from our bedroom window but the internet access is so slow so we will try to download tomorrow. Today we went to the Grey Glacier-two boatrides and a 12 km treck, but we sailed directly up to the glacier wall and the photos we have are amazing........Tomorrow we hope to do a longer walk to the Valee de los franceses. Hopefully we will find a way to get the photos uploaded soon. Watch this space (I hope).