Mendoza to BA Train

Sunday 8th May 1988

I didn’t wake up until 10:00 hrs. when I got up and went for a short walk around the town. Everywhere appeared to be closed. I went up to the railway station and found out that the ticket office would be open at 14:00 hrs. and returned to collect my rucksack to check it in at the Left Luggage Office.

Back at the railway station I got talking to an excitable friendly Chilean, who I will call Juan, who gave me all the information that I needed about train ticket buying. I walked around the town window shopping, as all of the shops were closed, looking at fashion clothes, leather goods and luxury sweets, including a massive Easter egg.

At 12:30 hrs. the Nevada Restaurant on the corner of Las Heras and Chile opened for business. They offered three courses plus a pudding for ₳7 Australes. I chomped my way through chicken soup, ravioli, chicken and salad and finally a bunch of grapes, served up by a pleasant smiling waitress. Great stuff and great value!

I wandered down to the main square which was fairly boring. A large flat area surrounded by trees. The museums of Art and Natural History in the centre were closed. A fire and earthquake in 1861 and another earthquake in 1985 ensured that all the buildings in Mendoza are low and new. All of the old colonial buildings were devastated long ago.

The 1985 Mendoza earthquake occurred with medium intensity in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. It took place 7 minutes after midnight on 26th January 1985 and had a magnitude of 6.2 in the Richter scale. Its epicenter was located about 45 km southwest of Mendoza, the provincial capital, at the southern end of the region's pre-Andes range, and at a depth of 5 km. It was felt as grade VIII in the Mercalli intensity scale.

The earthquake caused 6 deaths and about 100 injuries. In the affected Greater Mendoza area, where most of the provincial population is concentrated, one third of the buildings were built of adobe. Some 23,000 homes were destroyed or condemned, though the actual number might have been larger. Estimates vary between 50,000 and 100,000 people left homeless.

A report released soon afterwards stated that the main reason why the event did not produce thousands of casualties was its short duration (less than 10 seconds). In addition, the fact that it was a summer Friday night might have led many people to be sitting outside their homes, chatting with their neighbours, rather than sleeping inside.

I strolled back to the Railway Station and found Juan agitated and scampering about. He was looking for me as he was convinced that the train to Buenos Aires was about to leave, almost an hour early. I paid ₳6 Australes to reclaim my baggage from storage and jumped aboard the train, although dubious that it was even the right train.

We were shunted in and out of the station, but we didn’t leave until 15 minutes late, at 16:10 hrs. Juan was delighted that we were travelling “juntos” (together) and jabbered away regardless of the fact that I couldn’t understand much of it.

He also talked loudly to the other passengers further down the carriage and yelled banal comments out of the window, such as “clean it good,” to a man washing his car. He eventually quietened down as the afternoon lapsed into the evening.

On both sides of the railway track the pampas spread flat and featureless into the distance. There was solid low vegetation comprising of grass and low scrub bushes. Occasionally we crossed a winding river, but it was so flat that I wondered how they could flow anywhere.

Dust blew in through the chinks where the windows didn’t quite seal. It was very dry terrain. The evening passed dozing fitfully on the upright seats with only the kids squealing and jumping up and down in boredom. One particularly cute one had her hair tied up like a palm tree on top of her head and peered at us over the back of her seat.

We stopped at several stations overnight including San Luis. National Route 7 connects San Luis to Mendoza, 255 kilometres (158 miles) to the west, and Buenos Aires, 791 kilometres (492 miles) to the east.

San Luis was founded on 25th August 1594, by Luis Jufré de Loaysa y Meneses. The settlement was later abandoned and was re-established in 1632 by Martín García Oñez de Loyola as San Luis de Loyola Nueva Medina de Río Seco.

By the end of the 19th century, San Luis had 7,000 inhabitants, and in 1882 the Argentine Great Western Railway reached the city on its way to Chile.

CHI-AR

Saturday 7th May 1988

I was up and ready to go at 07:15 hrs. The others reluctantly got up and came with me to the Bus Terminal. The Metro was cheap, quick and efficient as usual, whisking us to the west of the city. I checked in at the CHI-AR INTERNACIONAL (Agencia De Viajes en Mendoza) desk and we went out into the bus bays.

Behind the rows of gleaming modern buses we found an old but sturdy Mercedes with the CHI-AR logo painted on the battered sides. I hugged Karin and Kathy and shook hands with Preston and we all waved until out of sight when the bus departed at 09:00 hrs.

We motored out of the smoggy outskirts of the city and headed towards the mountains. The scenery was very scenic. Green grass, leaves on the trees turning to autumn yellows and browns, turbulent mountain streams and a cold clear blue sky.

We passed the NASA Space Observatory Station bristling with aerials and radar dishes. We stopped at a Bus Terminal after a few hours and I tried in vain to find somewhere to have a free piss as I didn’t have the 15 Chilean Pesos required to use the bog (toilet) in the station.

I didn’t get relief until we got to Chilean Customs at about 13:00 hrs. I changed up some money into Argentinian Australes, at a rate of 340 Australes to $50 US dollars, and got my exit stamp on my passport. The Argentine austral (Spanish: austral argentino; symbol: ₳; code: ARA) was the currency of Argentina from 15th June 1985 to 31st December 1991. It was subdivided into 100 centavos. The austral symbol, an uppercase "A" with an extra horizontal line, was featured on all coins issued in the currency to distinguish them from those of earlier Argentine currencies.

We then drove through a couple of long tunnels alongside a derelict railway line to Argentinian Customs. These were quick and efficient and we were soon underway again, following a wide, square-sided valley with a meandering river.

The conductor handed out spam rolls and extremely sweet black coffee. We hacked along a winding road, downhill now, to Mendoza, officially the City of Mendoza (Spanish: Ciudad de Mendoza) which is the capital of the province of Mendoza in Argentina. It is located in the northern-central part of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, on the eastern side of the Andes.

Ruta Nacional 7, the major road running between Buenos Aires and Santiago, runs through Mendoza. Two of the main industries of the Mendoza area are olive oil production and Argentine wine. The region around Greater Mendoza is now the largest wine-producing area in South America.

I got off the bus and walked across the town, which was very modern clean and European, trying to decide which of the many recommended hotels to stay in. I ended up at the Hotel España at Perú 1525 where I got a grubby room with two beds for ₳20 Australes.

The receptionist proudly pointed out the sink and two cracked mirrors in the room. I went out and found a town bristling with modern shops selling all manner of luxury goods, including gunsmiths, which could have been in London.

I stopped for a steak in a bar and grill and had my first bottle of Argentinian beer, called Andes and was billed as the leading beer of the Argentinian province of Mendoza. The steak was massive, an inch thick and covering the entire plate and served with another huge plate of chips. I was to learn that it was steak with everything in Argentina.

A walk around the Casa de Cambio area showed me that the official exchange rate was about ₳7.5 Australes to the $US dollar but due to the high inflation rate is was not wise to change up too much at a time. I realised that I had been stitched up with the rate given at the border.

I went back to my room, having to fiddle with the dodgy lock to gain access, for an early night at 21:00 hrs. I read “Chariots of the Gods” for a short while before nodding off.

All over the world there are fantastic ruins and improbable objects which cannot be explained by conventional theories of history, archaeology, and religion. Why, for instance, do the world's sacred books describe Gods who came down from the sky in fiery chariots and always promised to return? How could an ancient Sanskrit text contain an account which could only be of a journey in an alien craft? Compare photographs of American space centre launch sites to the constructions on the plains of Nazca in Peru. In order to understand the mysteries which Erich Von Daniken has cataloqued we must go back to these ancient relics with an open mind. We must call in the resources and experience of sciences other than archaeology. Read Von Daniken's classic work, first published in 1968, and make up your own mind.

Chez Henri

Above: Plaza de Armas in Santiago de Chile.

Friday 6th May 1988

I went out to photocopy my map of Mendoza in the Lonely Planet Guide to South America book before meeting the others outside “Chez Henri’s” on the plaza. Police in flack jackets stood by fortified armoured vans as the busy crowds went about their business.

We took bus 50B for 55 Chilean Pesos out to the east side of town to Los Dominicos to visit the artisan barrio. Pueblito Los Dominicos (Los Dominicos Village) is a crafts market and popular tourist shopping destination in a heritage zone of Santiago, Chile. It is located at the end of Avenida Apoquindo in Los Dominicos Park, to the side of San Vicente Ferrer Church (also known as Los Dominicos Church).

A succession of vendors and beggars with monotonous sales pitches jumped aboard the bus en route. At the craft village we found a collection of thatched roof huts from which artists sold pottery, jewellery and carvings in wood and stone. There were tropical birds, including a fantastic toucan, just like the one in the Guinness advert, and fish.

None of us were tempted to buy anything and we bussed back to the centre and our hotel. As the others sprawled on their beds, I went down to the Bus Terminal to buy a ticket to Mendoza, across the Andes in Argentina. Allegedly the 181-kilometre (112 miles) bus ride through the Andes Mountains to Mendoza was one of the best in the world.

I got to the University of Chile station on the Metro and entered the hall of bus offices. A swarm of ticket touts tried to steer me to the offices selling tickets for about 4,000 Chilean Pesos for the ten-hour bus trip, but I found one that offered a promotional price of 2,500 Chilean Pesos. I got a ticket for tomorrow at 08:45 hrs. and headed back to the hotel munching peanuts.

The others were still dozing in our dimly lit room. I joined in the mass nap until 19:00 hrs. when we all went out to get something to eat. We went into “Chez Henri’s” after stocking up with wine from the Bandera Azul Supermarket where we had to go through the rigmarole of getting one guy to serve you, another to wrap it up and then paying a third person at the till before returning to pick up your shopping.

Once back in our room we were all too tired and apathetic to go out for the evening. I helped Kathy to eat her lasagne and we opened a bottle of Champagne. In the flickering candlelight we went on to polish off a litre of Gato Negro red wine, sitting on our beds talking and trying to stay awake.

At midnight we called it a day. There was a party on in a strip club around the corner (after business hours), but we were too tired to bother. Everyone was asleep immediately their heads touched their pillows.

Palacio de La Moneda

Thursday 5th May 1988

We got up surprisingly early thanks to the alcohol-free evening and at 09:00 hrs. we were off to watch the Changing of the Guard at the Presidential Palace. La Moneda Palace Guard (Spanish: Guardia de Palacio de la Moneda) is the ceremonial escort to the President of Chile and also assists with physical security at La Moneda Palace. It is an operational component of the Carabineros de Chile.

A changing of the guard ceremony occurs every 48 hours at 10:00 hrs. During it, two Carabineros mounted units and the Central Band of the Carabineros escort the incoming guard detachment to La Moneda, and the outgoing detachment from it. The current drill for the changing of the guard was instituted in 1936. Both the old and new guard detachments have an infantry company and a cavalry platoon, with two buglers, while the old guard detachment has a drummer attached.

Each Monday since its inception the Guard has provided two, ten-man squads, a drummer and a bugler to form a cordon of honor for the entrance of the President of Chile into La Moneda at the start of the work week. If the President is outside the capital, the drill is performed instead for the Vice President. The guard of honor platoon is made up of infantrymen from the Guard's infantry component.

Palacio de La Moneda (Palace of the Mint), or simply La Moneda, is the seat of the President of the Republic of Chile. It also houses the offices of three cabinet ministers: Interior, General Secretariat of the Presidency and General Secretariat of the Government. It occupies an entire block in downtown Santiago, in the area known as Civic District between Moneda (North Side), Morandé (East), Alameda del Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins (South) and Teatinos street (West).

La Moneda, originally a colonial mint house, was designed by Italian architect Joaquín Toesca. Construction began in 1784 and was opened in 1805, while still under construction. The production of coins in Chile took place at La Moneda from 1814 to 1929.

In June, 1845 during president Manuel Bulnes's administration, the palace became the seat of government and presidential residence. In 1930, a public square, named Plaza de la Constitución ("Constitution Square") was built in front of the palace. After the presidency of Gabriel González Videla it ceased to serve as a presidential residence.

During the military coup d'état on September 11, 1973, the Chilean Air Force bombed the palace at the request of the army. The president Salvador Allende committed suicide in the palace at this time. Reconstruction and restoration projects of the damage caused were completed in March 1981, although some bullet marks have been preserved and can still be seen today. During the 1973–1980 restorations, an underground office complex (the so-called "bunker") was built under the front square to provide a safe escape for General Augusto Pinochet in case of an attack.

I got a tub of oily cerviche for breakfast, and we watched the army clicking their polished jack boots as a military band played modern music. The whole affair took about an hour and got a bit tedious.

Next, we browsed through the second-hand book stalls on San Diego and picked up some goodies from the supermarket, including wine boxes (a relatively new innovation) of Gato Negro (Black Cat) Chilean wine.

Back at the hotel Kathy and I couldn’t be bothered to walk to another of the city parks so we let Preston and Karin go off while we lounged about reading and writing on our beds. Gerrard, the Irishman came to call and as I had some letters to post I walked with him to the Plaza de Armas.

We joined an international crowd outside the Marco Polo Restaurant on the square drinking beer on the tables under umbrellas as it got colder and colder. At 20:00 hrs. I went back to get a coat and meet the others. They were out getting another Chinese meal so I chatted to the Dutch bloke and his Chilean girlfriend with an American accent until they reappeared at 21:00 hrs.

Preston and I made hot chocolate drinks on the stove downstairs in the hotel and we all sat around candles stuck in empty Pisco Sour bottles (Capel pisco sour en limón, born in the Elqui Valley and produced by mixing the authentic Chilean pisco, lemon and a touch of egg white.), chatting until midnight.

Parque O’Higgins

Wednesday 4th May 1988

We were all feeling pretty wretched when we got up at about midday. A wash, a shave and a cheese roll made me feel marginally better and ready for the day. Kathy stayed in bed to catch up on the sleep that she had been deprived of last night, while Karin, Preston and I went off to see the Parque O’Higgins.

O'Higgins Park (Spanish: Parque O'Higgins, formerly known as Parque Cousiño), with an area of around 75 hectares (190 acres), is Santiago, Chile's second largest public park after Metropolitan Park. It is located in the centre of the capital, in the Santiago Commune.

The park, named after Bernardo O'Higgins (one of Chile's founding fathers), is a popular place for families to visit during weekends and holidays, especially during the national holiday on 18th September, when a number of fondas and ramadas (traditional places for dancing, eating and drinking) are open to the public for a few days.

We took the Metro and walked through an area of very European-looking apartments to the huge park. There was a very wide “road” in the centre which looked like it was a racetrack of some description.

We had some soft drinks at a hexagonal wooden kiosk and then walked around the lake. There was a nice-looking Chinese garden on the island in the middle, but it was closed. We sat on the grassy bank and chatted for a couple of hours. Swans cruised the lake and a football team trained nearby.

We took the Metro back, travelling initially on the cheaper second line to the centre (23 Chilean Pesos!), eating churros (extruded doughnuts) in a cloud of icing sugar. The others went to see a Swedish film while I went to see Arnold Schwartzeneggar on the run in “The Running Man”.

This was an enjoyable, violent gauntlet-run set in an Orwellian future. The Running Man is a 1987 American dystopian action film directed by Paul Michael Glaser and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In a dystopian America, a falsely convicted policeman gets his shot at freedom when he must forcibly participate in a TV game show where convicts, runners, must battle killers for their freedom.

By 2017, the United States has become a totalitarian police state following a worldwide economic collapse! The film's story about a television show where convicted criminal "runners" must escape death at the hands of professional killers is very loosely based on the 1982 novel of the same name written by Stephen King and published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.

I met the others who said that their film was good despite being in Swedish with Spanish subtitles. We walked down to the Plaza Brasil (Brasil Square) which is located in Barrio Brasil, a neighbourhood of Santiago, Chile known for its strong artistic and cultural scene.

The square is bordered by Avenida Brasil to the east, Huérfanos street to the south, Compañía de Jesús street to the north and Maturana street to the west. The construction of the square dates to the beginning of the 20th Century, when the Municipality of Santiago bought some buildings in the sector to form the square. It was inaugurated on 20th January 1902.

We had a Chinese set meal in the huge “Pobres Ricos” Restaurant and returned to our room where we indulged in tea and mineral water and resisted our usual alcoholic debauchery.

Kathy drew a frog on Karin’s foot as we all exchanged home addresses, and despite the lack of alcohol we talked bollocks and buggered about until midnight.

Japanese Garden

Above: Preston Clarke Edwards, Karin Brann and Kathy McQuillan at the Hotel Nuevo in Santiago de Chile.

Tuesday 3rd May 1988

We woke up when New Zealander David came to call at 10:00 hrs. Karin and Kathy bravely attacked the debris of empty bottles and overfull ash trays with a broom. We got rid of three boxes of rubbish but the room smelt of stale beer and fag (cigarette) smoke.

Eventually, after a letter writing session, we got motivated and went out to find the artists barrio. This was a posh modern area of the city with arty bookshops, small museums and art galleries. Tired, we went for a nap in the Japanese Garden.

This garden was built in 1978 by architect Tadashi Asahi and funded by the Chilean Japanese Chamber of Commerce. We were unimpressed, describing it as a two-bob affair with a concrete mini pagoda and a post with Japanese writing on it.

We were not aware that the garden takes you back to the year 1300 in ancient Japan and reinterprets the various elements of nature which are represented symbolically and among the plants on view are cherry blossoms, bamboo, Japanese maples, creeping cotoneaster, azaleas and lotus flowers.

At 15:30 hrs. we went to see the movie “Nuts” in a plush modern mini cinema. We enjoyed “Nuts” which is a 1987 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring Barbra Streisand and Richard Dreyfuss.

Charged with killing a client, call girl Claudia Draper is awaiting her trial. While Claudia's parents seek to have her declared insane so that she can avoid a likely guilty verdict and serve time for manslaughter, she rejects this approach because she doesn't want to be put in a mental institution. Lawyer Aaron Levinsky reluctantly takes on Claudia's case and tries to prove that she's not crazy, but the volatile prostitute doesn't make his task easy.

We got a Chinese set meal for 4 in in one of the Chinese restaurants on Merced and chatted about travelling in China where the “grubby wee bastards” (according to Jackie) made public display of spitting and nose blowing. It seemed to be prevalent in India too.

Back at the hotel we had a quiet night in with just the four of us for a change. I started on the left over beer from last night, which was mainly Pilsener Escudo which was brewed in Santiago. Before long we were all starting on the residual wine.

Kathy went to bed and tried, futilely to sleep while the rest of us lounged about on Preston’s single bed surrounded by candles and pouring boxed wine into each other’s mouths. The radio played and we giggled and chatted our way through two boxes and a bottle of assorted wine and four big bottles of beer.

At 04:00 hrs. I chundered (vomited) into the sink and slumped into oblivion on my bed, fully dressed.

Plaza Brazil

Monday 2nd May 1988

Once again, we slept right through until about midday. When we finally got up we went on an expedition to the big Cosmos Supermarket to stock up with goodies. The Metro whisked us across town to Estación Central and we rushed around the shelves like kiddies in a sweet shop, picking up favourite items of food and drink.

Loaded up with edible treats we went back on the Metro lurching back and forth with the rapid acceleration and deceleration of the French-made train. We dumped our groceries at the hotel and went to sit in the sun in the Plaza de Armas and catch up with writing letters and diaries. We discovered that it was more fun to write to each other’s parents, each of us writing a paragraph on each other’s aerogrammes.

In the evening we joined a Dutch bloke to celebrate his birthday today with a Chinese meal. We sat at a huge table in a big restaurant by the Plaza Brazil and enthusiastically assaulted the myriad dishes set before us.

At 20:00 hrs. it was party time in our room, celebrating Dutch New Year with clog dancing and traditional boxed wine! Before long we had a collection of guests from all nations including Argentinians. The Dutch guy carried in boxes full of beer and wine and I used my little transistor radio to provide the music.

At about midnight I went with Karin and Preston to walk Evelyn down to the bus stop. On the way back Karin took a photo of a dilapidated old car and we were pounced upon by two policemen who were very suspicious of our motives for photographing this old wreck. We had to show our passports before we were reluctantly allowed to proceed.

Back in the Hotel Nuevo the party was in full swing. Gerrard was getting well steamed up. At a dare from Preston, he drank the best part of a bottle of wine in one go. At 03:00 hrs. when we declared that the party was at an end Gerrard was very aggressive, but the other guests managed to lead him out of the hotel without incident.

The room was quiet with just us four residents and we sat around chatting until 04:00 hrs.