Southern Summer, Argentina, Chile and Y Wladfa Gymreig 2nd Feb

The last post! We have the morning and up till 4pm in the afternoon when we must leave for the airport. Mariano tells us that the road we took yesterday is closed until further notice because one of the bridges has collapsed, so we were just a bit lucky! Its another lovely day so, on Mariano's recommendation we go for a walk in the park nearby. It is large and features lots of sporting activities all of which were being enthusiastically enjoyed by people of all ages. We saw rowing, swimming, jogging, cycling, many different ball games, serious training and exercising.
Have a look at some of the activities in the park.

 This gives an idea of the park and its background. There is a large outdoor swimming pool by the sunshades and the building behind is a large sports hall which had activities going on in every room.

Above and below shows a superb Art Deco building which sits at the end of the lake where it looks like the bridge of an ocean liner. It houses a natural history and anthropology museum. 

At last we got the chance to photograph and talk to a professional dog walker.  His father came from Plymouth and his dearest wish is to visit England. As well as walking dogs, he grooms them, trains them and prepares them for shows.

Above and below some of the wildlife in the park.  You will recognise the Neotropic Cormorant but the other is a bit more tricky. We think Rufous-tailed Plantcutter, but we are open to suggestions.

What's a day in the park without an ice cream?

The luxurious hotel bedroom with the bed we could only have one hour's sleep in. But that's another story, see "one crisis to another". We caught the 06.55 plane to Buenos Aires, Newberry Airport where we were able to report the phone loss to the police.
One last bus ride took us to Buenos Aires International Airport. Seat allocation usually favours the wealthy or business sponsored but we managed to get the best seats in economy class. These are immediately after the business class with loads of leg room. (They are usually reserved for parents travelling with infants and a cot is attached to the bulkhead in front of the seats ). This made for a much more comfortable flight to Rome.
The last flight was to London City Airport so the view below is not the Andes but the Alps just North of Italy.

The Docklands Light Railway serves the City Airport and links with the Northern line to get us to Kings Cross. The fast Virgin train links to Peterborough thence the branch line to Spalding. With Catherine acting as taxi driver again, we make it home.

Southern Summer, Argentina, Chile and Y Wladfa Gymreig 1st Feb

Two problems loomed the evening before we set out for our final long bus ride, namely the email telling us that the road was closed due to a landslide and the fact that I only had two copies of my bus ticket and none for Helen. If you have read "from one crisis to another",  you will know that we eventually got away on what is one of the classic road journeys in the world.
The road from Santiago to Mendoza goes via the a pass called Los Libertadores, from the Chilean side and Uspallata Pass from the Argentinian side. It follows the historic pack horse route, which was also the route chosen by the Anglo-Chilean Clarke brothers who were responsible for the building of the railway line that opened in 1910. The line completed the coast to coast railway connection of South America. It closed in 1989 but there's still plenty of evidence of it, as you will see. There's talk of it reopening but there will need to be more money and goodwill than presently exists. What a train ride if it were ever to reopen.
Back to the road which climbs gently out of Santiago passing through the industrial region. The climbing gradually gets steeper and the road down to two lane single carriageway. The scenery also becomes more dramatic as we climb.

 The road takes a left turn and lurches upwards. It goes in a series of 28 hairpin bends. This part is 7kms long and takes about 45 minutes  The view looking back down gives you some idea, but as ever the picture doesn't do justice to the view. The picture was taken from about half way up the hairpins looking down to the start . You wonder how the road gets up to here. We then enter the Christ Redeemer Tunnel which is 3 kms long and not long after this is the border crossing. There is good cooperation between the two countries, at least as far as leaving Chile and entering Argentina where immigration works side by side in one large shed.

 Avalanches are a constant risk on this road so these concrete sheds reduce the dangers.

For you railway buffs here are some pictures of what remains. 

You can see the somewhat decrepit avalanche sheds below.

Although you can't actually see it as it is covered by cloud, the mountain in the centre of the picture below is Aconcagua which is the highest mountain outside the Himalayas at 22,838 feet.

After the most dramatic of scenery, the mountains become less precipitous and a softer stone which is a brown colour as we enter the Mendoza valley.

Beyond the mountains the Mendoza valley becomes a desert. The famous vineyards and olive groves are purely the result of irrigating. We arrived in Mendoza half an hour early, helped by our swift border crossing. On to the Hotel Mallorca and to meet Mariano our helpful host. The evening saw us go out for another wonderful Argentinian steak.

One crisis to another 1st 2nd and 3rd Feb

This is going to be bullet points only because a lot is happening at present .

●31/1 7pm I manage to print out the upgraded bus tickets but instead of sending the two tickets they have sent mine twice over.

●31/1  8pm We get an email from our hotel in Mendoza to say that there has been a landslide and the road over the Andes is closed.

●1/2 6am email from Mendoza. Road expected to open 8am

● 1/2 8.30 Catch taxi to bus station  (the ticket doesn't say which of 5 the bus goes from) LP guide says Los Heros station, taxi driver confirms.

●1/2 8.50 Wrong bus station. Taxi gone. Bus leaves 9.30 We still have ticket problem.

●1/2 9.10 Right station I check at office re. ticket. He checks computer it's OK.

●1/2 9.30 Bus arrives, driver won't let Helen in. No ticket! I point to manifest, her name is included, I show her passport, no,can't board, no ticket!  A Spanish speaking American lady tries to help and we go back to office. I get new ticket printed.  Meanwhile the American's luggage is stolen.

●1/2 10.00-4pm excellent scenic journey. American lady hysterical for full journey see full blog.

●2/2 Bridge down on the road we travelled yesterday. Could be closed for some time.

●2/2 Arrive airport at 4.30 for 6.30 flight, 7.30 board plane, 8.30 leave plane, technical problem, 10.30 flight abandoned. 11.00 recover luggage, 11.30 collect tickets for tomorrow's flight, 00.00 taxi to Huentala Hotel, 00.30 check in arrangements 04.00 alarm call for 05.00 pick up. 00.45 Helen discovered that she has left her phone on charge at the airport, 00.50 we get reception to phone the airport to report the phone loss, 01.00 go down to dinner, 02.30 go to bed

● Got up,showered,downto reception by 04.50. 05.15 still no sign of the taxi so we share another with two girls. 5.40 check the luggage with LAN enquire about the phone, no response. 6.20 queue for rebate on expenses for "last night ", no help on phone, ask police, buffet staff, no English and apparently no system for lost property. We are last to board the aircraft and its good bye Mendoza and good bye phone.

●Managed to report phone lost to the police station at BuenosAires Newberry Airport.  Crisies over.

Southern Summer, Argentina, Chile and Y Wladfa Gymreig 31st Jan

The top thing to do in Santiago according to Tripadviser is, by far, the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. This is a museum dedicated to telling the complete truth about what happened during the Military Junta led by General Pinochet between the years of 1973 and 1990. The site is four subway stops down the tunnel from our apartment. Santiago has a very clean and user friendly system and we soon arrive at the museum

This interesting museum is on four levels and makes much use of multimedia presentation. Contemporary video recording and the recorded voice telling of personal experiences is both compelling and shocking. The thing that always strikes me when experiencing this kind of thing is "it happened in my lifetime" Did I realise? What did I do about it? Better renew my membership to Amnesty International.  Of course it's the same old story all over the world. The Right wing dictators doing "what's best for the country" crushing the "communist" opposition with detention, torture, and murder. The people of the country are repressed and denied human rights. Meanwhile the leaders bleed the country for their own ends, nepotism is the order of the day and the only future planning for the country is how to keep the leaders in power. OK rant over. This museum is important because it's very rare to see such openness and honesty in the way a state records its own history, warts especially. To think that the UK offered Pinochet sanctuary from extradition for some time beggars belief. As you know, I am not normally kind to religion but the Catholic Church amongst others were prime movers in the resistance to Pinochet and in trying to restore rights to the people.  Photography is not allowed within the museum  (strange irony?) so I have imported an image from the website which shows the entrance area. 

The symbolic map of the world is made up from images of systematic  human rights abuse from 30 different countries round the world. The room is entitled "Human rights Universal challenge". The museum quickly took up three hours and could easily have been more. Time for a bit of outdoor.  We headed for Santa Lucia Hill another viewpoint with garden and religious paraphernalia. The gardens are themed to countries or personalities, there is for example a Darwin garden. It was hot and slopey but good fun.

 I think the reflections that glass buildings offer now are terrific, they do, of course rely on the sunshine.

Our apartment block is the one above the tree. This little chap was sitting on the wall having a good look at us.

 Back to the flat to eat and to discover two events that could radically affect what happens to us tomorrow. Read tomorrow's blog to find out what they are, and if we survive on plan.