Ryan's Historic Start for Mar del Plata

Ryan, preparing to throw a lineout during an Universitario club match

Ante la Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires, se produjo un hecho inédito en el rugby local, ya que un jugador neocelandés formó parte del equipo de Menores de 20 años. Se trata de Ryan Kerby, quien se encuentra en el país realizando un intercambio cultural propiciado por el Holly Trinity College y a la vez, como buen amante del rugby, practica este deporte representando a Universitario. Por primera vez, un originario de esas islas se colocó la casaca del trébol en un partido, que si bien era amistoso, quedará en la historia.

Before playing against URBA (Buenos Aires Rugby Union), there was an unusual happening in local rugby; a New Zealander formed part of the Mar del Plata Under 20 team. They trialed Ryan Kerby, who was found in the country involved in a cultural exchange sponsored by Holy Trinity College and at the time, as a keen rugby follower, was playing for Club Universitario. For the first time, a native from these islands donned a 'clover jersey' in a match. Even though it was friendly, it will go down in history.

Source: http://www.desdeeltouch.com.ar/

Things that New Zealanders Should Appreciate

1. A virtual absence of strikes in our schooling system.
In Argentina's public education system, strikes have reached almost unprecedented levels this year. In the last year there have been 173 teacher strikes according to information gathered by the Centro de Estudios Nueva Mayoría. In some provinces the schools failed remain open for the 180 days required by law. Our English friend Camilla who worked in a public school was frustrated by the fact that over a period of three months she failed to work a single five day school week.


2. Nuts.
It is unbelievable the lack of nuts in this country (even in the courage sense - 'to have nuts' is literally 'tener huevos' or eggs). The typical supermarket shelf here contains walnuts (still in their shells), almonds (in no way blanched, let alone roasted or salted), maybe a hazelnut or two and a bag of salted peanuts. With the exception of peanuts these will all set you back about 10 pesos a tiny bag (remember - 1 kg of eye fillet costs 9 pesos). What ever happened to honey roasted peanuts, pine nuts, chopped or walnut pieces, pistachio nuts, chestnuts, cashew nuts or even just the humble Brasil nut - I mean we are just across the border! I could understand the chefs going on strike here because already I've had enough of smashing walnuts with the knife handle...

3. Traffic Laws.
Despite any claims of greater efficiency or tradition I believe there is a place for traffic laws. In Argentina, as in many developing countries, chaos reigns in the side streets and motorways, roundabouts and alley ways. It is all to common to be hurtling along in a taxi, pulling out in front of tour buses or trucks or over-passed on the motorway at night while doing 150km/h by a road bike doing 250km/h as you are passing a combine harvester in the wet...They say that accidents aren't that common, but you only have to look as far as the state of the cars (and not just cheap old ones) to see that this is a lie. We may say our left hand rule is a bad one but hey, at least we have rules!



4. Modern Electrical Appliances.
This has been more of a challenge for Ryan than it has been for me, I think. He drolls over the prospect of a 42' plasma screen TV, Playstation II, ccmputer, surround sound system, dvd and video player, microwave, vacuum cleaner, toaster, toasted sandwich maker, a thermostatically controlled electric oven, electric heaters with more than one bar that don't shock you every time you turn them on, an electric blanket, underfloor heating, reliable pressurised electric water heating, washing machine, clothes drier, even maybe a hair drier to maintain his new look. Needless to say, we have none of that and for the most part survive by reading books, wrapping up in blankets and using unpredictable gas appliances. At least they are reasonable well ventilated so we haven't been gassed in our sleep. There is little consolation in knowing that with the high price of electricity we could never afford to run these things even if we had them.

5. Exposure to other cultures.
Already I've had a bit of a rant about food. All manner of Mexican, Greek, Asian food is extremely difficult to prepare due to the availability of necessary ingredients, or if not, they sell for exboritant prices in shops on the other side of town. Forget about Indian or Middle Eastern options. In general, outside of Mar del Plata there is little ethnic diversity other than in the European sense. Chinese restaurants are beginning to infiltrate, but the case of MacDonalds (worms used in preparing hamburger patties caused national horror) shows how tenuous their hold is on the nation's diet.

6. Clean Streets
It was interesting to read an Act letter care of Trent the other day that criticised the Labour government's instigation of increased dog control measures. After spending the last six months dodging dog turds (of all colours, consistencies and volumes) while walking the streets of Mar del Plata I pleased to say you can never have enough. If any more evidence is required, take the case of our good friend Fausto, he went running along the coast one lovely Saturday morning and came back followed by 10 dogs - an that's not unusual. However the cleaniness of the streets is not only an issue of canine anarchy. It is commonplace to leave any amount (and I mean ANY amount) of garden waste in the street; to the point that it may divide the way for over a weekbefore someone gets rid of it. One final note, flat concrete footpaths are a dream for runners. Try the uneven stone type here and you'll soon understand why.

7. A Low Crime Rate

In New Zealand, many people gripe that as little as 10 years ago they could go out leave their front doors open, and now they can't. In Mar del Plata the residents have a little more to worry about than an opportunist pinching the TV or maybe the video. Despite the 2.5m high gates and fences, and the three locked doors between the thief and the home, they still manage to get through. Both the directors of the lower and middle school have had to face people robbing their houses in the last few months. The gardener had his horse stolen from his farm one night about a month ago. The Australian sixth form student we have befriended was mugged at gunpoint at 10pm, one block from his house a week after the July holidays. Other students tell of being mugged on the way to their homes for their shoes - over 3 times in 6 months. During a trip to Buenos Aires, a husband of one of the teachers was ambushed at the door to his apartment, gagged and tied to a chair while they made off with all the contents of the place. A friend from the gym left his car outside a friend's place, locked with a steering wheel lock and when he came back literally 3 minutes later it was gone! My experience with my mountain bike brought it all home - give me a country where a decent lock is a guarantee of security any day!

8. Reliable Air Travel

While air travel would appear to be the quickest and most efficient way to get across a country the size of Argentina, our experience has shown otherwise. During the course of the winter holidays we made an number of domestic and short international flights on LAN. In every flight we suffered at least one problem. Firstly, we were put on a later flight to Santiago despite there being no problem with the original and having booked 3 months in advance. This made us two hours late to meet the Kerbys. The return trip was relatively uneventful, however Ryan was about 8 kgs over the baggage limit. A bit of juggling between my bags and hand luggage and we were fine. The flight to Bariloche almost didn't happen for Ryan's grandmother as the security got spooked by her wine kit, then was delayed about an hour and a half because 'they had to clean the plane.' The return flight was the killer however, as the plane left 2 and a half hourse early without notifying us. We were stranded in Bariloche for the night and while LAN did the right thing and paid for food and accomodation, Ryan missed training for his rep rugby team and the Kerbys missed a day in Mar del Plata. However, flying LAN we were insulated from major problems apparently - the day we left for Santiago, all the Aerolineas Argentinas flights out of Ezeiza were cancelled due to striking. Even when the staff are working, they protest their pay at times by assigning everybody to random seats on the plane - parents and children, couples, sports groups, all scattered throughout. Air New Zealand Express Check-in - gotta love it!

Mendoza

Carinae Vineyard – very dry with delicious wine

Taking a nice warming shot of…olive oil!

Unsatisfied by mere tasting, Ryan took matters into his own hands…

Approaching Estadio de Las Malvinas (note Jandro wearing the blue Huffer NZ Map hoody in the bottom right – respect!)

Holes in the footpath were a potential hazard after big nights on the town…

‘La Cordillera del Los Andes,’ enigmatic as if it was a mirage

Mendoza is a beautiful city, situated at the foot of the Andes near the border to Chile. It is a very old city, and the region is renowned for its wine and produce. Almost any gourmet product you can find here will have Made in Mendoza marked somewhere. While Ryan and I were in the area we thought it should be a priority to do a wine tour. It was very informative: apparently the unique grape of the region is Malbec and the best climatic conditions are found in a valley called Maipu (the guide was obsessed with finding a way to say it so it didn't like 'my pooh'). The two vineyards we visited were called Lopez and Carinae. The first was a traditional winery, one of the largest and most popular in Argentina. The Lopez guide taking the tour gave a very good explanation in Spanish but I felt sorry for the Israeli in our company as her English explanation was basically limited to statements such as "the wine is left is the barrels for 3 years." The second was a very small boutique winery owned by a French man with a great sense of humour. As the guide provided by our hostel worked there she organised us a tasting with him and there was a bit of pre-match banter considering the NZ under 21 rugby team was playing France for 3rd place the following day. The day was capped off by a visit to an olive oil factory where a very strange guy gave us a slightly comical explanation of the simple process of production. The guy had this cheeky smile and tone of voice that suggested he was always on the verge of making a big joke and was chatting up the guide the whole time! That night the pasta dinner that was supposed to turn up at 10pm was served at 12.30pm, consisting of noquis - probably our least favourite type - and the wine was called Viejo Tomba ('old tomb') and Nuestra Viña ('our vine'). Our guess was that they weighed in at about a peso each and the consensus was "worst wines ever tasted." However, they succeed in lifting our spirits to the point where pool was played -eventually for money- and we checked out a mad club that had non-stop strobe lights from 2am until after 7am (when I left).

The next day, the effects of the bad wine were felt a little by all and it was fairly lazy times before the match in the avo. We took a taxi to the game and managed to make it in reasonable time despite the traffic. The Mendozans really got behind the championship and there was a really good turnout - even though in true Argentine fashion most of them turned up at half time. They were not so impressed by the blatant NZ flag waving and shouting for the team with calls of ''¡ya basta!" (enough already) by the second match. The haka duely silenced the crowd however - the only moment I have ever been in a full stadium where absolute silence was observed without a national tragedy. Moment of the match was definitely when Jandro, short on pesos shouted 'bonbon helados' (ice-creams) at the shouting ice-cream man confusing him completely. The scores were the best we could have asked for - a win to NZ and a loss to Australia. We certainly got a lot of satisfaction in reminding our new Aussie friend from the hostel who remarked before we left for the game "I only support the winning team!" The stadium is a long way out from the city and we overlooked organising a taxi back. As is to be expected, there were none anywhere so we had to walk almost all the way back to the hostel hungry, thirsty, with the urge to use a real bathroom but otherwise in good spirits.

That night we had the pleasure of joining the NZ team for their end of tour party. The NZRFU had footed the bill for a bar for the night and thanks to Paul 'Topless' Swenney we managed to get into the invitation only affair. As the free drinks were downed ever faster by the huge players and team officials, many took a turn for the worst on the slippery floor falling on bottles and even one poor local girl! Ryan and I made ourselves useful in ordering the drinks and helping the boys with Spanish phrases to use with the ladies. A highlight was definitely hanging out with Hose Gear - winger for the Hurricanes, really cool, down to earth guy (shame he was just too drunk for me to manage to hook him up). The night ended at the hostel as I managed to mediate a wee dispute between our Aussie friend and one of the hostel staff as he tried to bring half of Mendoza into the rec. room. After that I played a little table tennis with the staff, practicing a wee bit of Spanish and winning every game - got to bed around 8.30am

By 1pm that day we were back in the bus to Mar del Plata and ready for sleep. The day was nice and clear with great views to the mountains and seemingly never-ending tundra. All in all, a great trip and I look forward to returning and exploring the mountains in October.

Llamas

Llamas in Santiago - am yet to see any in the wild...

This post is for Aunty Mick, who rang me up before I left purely to wish me luck and recite a delightful poem she had found about llamas. I don't think she has internet access but it would be great if someone could contact her or pass on her phone number so I could post it here. Hopefully in October, in Peru I'll see some wild llamas but for now this is as close as I have got. Such graceful animals...

Chile

The founder of the city of Valparaiso - General O'Brien, nice chops

Sunset over Viña del Mar - was featured in the film 'Motorcycle Diaries'

Relaxing with the Kerbys over lunch in Santiago

The South Americans love their statues (and their heroes)...

Santiago, air pollution, and a run that soaked it all up

Where to start...it truly is a great country. Amazing landscape, ever developing government, humble friendly people, and after months of hardly getting 3+ a day in Argentina, the hoardes of fresh produce. Much like NZ in many ways. To the amazement of Argentinians I found some great buys in Chile. While figuring out the actual price was difficult (1 NZ dollar buys 200 Chilean pesos) I managed to find two great pairs of jeans for NZ$25 each and a snowboarding jacket for NZ$50! Fast food with avocado was a nice change and the local beer proved more than tolerable. Ryan ensured we have a pisco supply in the flat, purchasing a bottle for me as a belated birthday present.

The major excursion we took was to Viña del Mar and Valparaiso. After a brief stop in the country side to try some chicha (corn wine) and huge local empanadas (a bit like pies) we made it to the coast. The mayor's former mansion was the first stop. It's situated amidst a garden that could be a botanical gardens from any major city in the world, and the guide said it contains a whole lot of art of national and international interest. However, there was a fee to enter - gutted for you Dad but he wanted to move on so I didn't get to see even one piece! The site was also home to the amphitheatre that gave birth to such stars as Shakira - it was a sweet set-up, state of the art and right in the middle of the gardens. We then passed by an Easter Island museum that also contained the Chilean mummies and a cool collection of butterflies. The view at the beach was rocky and reasonable - nothing to rave about. We have sealions in Mar del Plata too...However at the markets there was this amazing fur hat (similar to a pasa montaña - traditional mountain hat). It was huge, well made and really warm but at US$60 with no guarantee it would make it back into NZ I gave it a miss.

The following day I went for an early run to do a bit of reconnoissance and after jogging up a steep hill of 600m elevation I decided I don't care much for the air pollution. The view was amazing however (the photo above is one of a panoramic series of about 8) and all of Santiago and the surrounding mountains. At the top of the hill is a huge white statue of the Virgin Mary and as I stretched by it old men would run up (it was a sunday) breathing heavily, imitating condors as they ran back and forth then kneeled to pray that next sunday they would be able to do the same. A very tranquil, affirming site - I hope I can return to do the same when I am 65! Later in the I returned to the spot with the Kerbys (this time via funicular) and it was swarming with mountain bikers - an equally heartwarming sight. The street filled with people, markets and street performers that night and in the dusk and early evening it was hard not to soak up the atmosphere. I found everything from celtic runes (for budding celt Jandro) to finger puppets (they just appeal to me, don't ask me why).

I left Chile feeling great, to me it provided everything (except a night on the town - Ryan, fea actitud mi amigo, que pecho frio tenes) adventure, good food, some hills for a change and a reprieve from corruption

Buenos Aires
'sniffing the air of greatness...'

The famous obelisc marking the centre of Buenos Aires

The Casa Rosada or 'Pink House,' home of the Argentine President Nestor Kirchner

The Plaza de Congreso, a beautiful park often the scence of protests

El Caminito de Boca is a neighbourhood known around the world for its vibrant colours

The cemetery in Recoleta is home to many famous Argentines including Evita Peron

After a number of trips with the students and a few days while on holiday, I'm becoming fairly well acquainted with the capital of Argentina - Buenos Aires. The city is huge, extending over 50km from the obelisc in every direction. Quaint 'village' suburbs such as Pilar are interspersed with villas or slums. Due to its size and importance politically and economically Argentine people consider there to be only two main parts of the country - Buenos Aires, and everywhere else.

The buzz in BsAs is leather and parrilla. The leather is some of the best, and cheapest in the world - they have to do something with all the hides of the millions of cows slaughtered every year - and the streets are filled with hawkers trying to lure you into their leather factories. The traditional parrillada or barbecue of the Pampas is know by many New Zealanders by The Amazing Race challenge that defeated a number of competitors. The meal includes brains, intestines, kidneys, liver, tongue, morsilla (sausage made of blood) and chorizo (spiced pork sausage). With the Kerby's at a traditional place called La Estancia ('the station') we managed to completely finish one, a feat that impressed the waiter who wondered if we might prefer the tamed tourist version when we asked for it.

Recoleta is a beautiful suburb full of parks, museums and huge old trees. There are plenty of delicious, relatively cheap restaurants covering all tastes - the only drawback for the kiwi being that dinner is served from 10pm until 2am. Even better, the combination of Argentina and Italian heritage of the place has provided plenty of icecream shops selling icecream by the quarter litre with more than 40 flavours in all including 15 different types of caramel or dulce de leche.

Boca is a word that no Argentine takes lightly. The poor suburb is home of CABJ - Boca Junior Football Club, one of the two major clubs in the country. Either you support Boca, or you support River Plate - out of interest, we support River. The stadium is known for its atmopshere, for better and for worse - a loss by Boca often results in riots and thus injury or even death. Going to a match there was named in Time Magazine as one of the ten things to do before you die. We tried to get tickets earlier in the year, however they were fully booked months in advance and we missed out. In November the traditional matchup is at River Plate Stadium (often used to host the All Blacks) and we are making the necessary preparations so as not to miss this one. Another attraction in Boca is the Caminito - brightly coloured neighbourhood full of history. When I visited it with Alejandro we were mobbed by all manner of people soliciting tango shows, food, and donations for volunteer firefighters. The decrepid state of the firetruck of the volunteers and the cool cap they were offering eventually swayed me into parting with 30 pesos. We almost need the help of the crew a couple of weeks later when Jandro threw his pillow into the heater in his sleep, filling his room with thick smoke - waking just in time to prevent the place from burning down!

The city is often disrupted by protests. Everybody is underpaid or over-worked, and with such high unemployment this state is easy to sustain. The main roads are frequently blocked by protest action and on the walk to Boca, Jandro and I witnessed two demonstrations. From memory they concerned angry drum beating bus drivers and placard wielding university staff. Flying into the domestic airport after the trip to Bariloche to engineers and baggage handlers were conducting a loud, disruptive protest outside the airport. They had airhorns and little explosive flares and there were about 12 riot police by our departure gate!

Puerto Madero is one of the best places to visit by night. It is the place where cruise ships dock and a casinos and top hotels are centered. The area is bounded by a great big wooden boardwalk, and is full of restaurants, many specialising in fresh seafood and parrilla. They are lit up as is a new white sculptural bridge designed like a mast. I apologise for the lack of photos to show you this.

(by the way, if you want to have the photos the right way up, rightclick on them, save then view in Windows Fax and Image viewer where you can rotate them)

Haro Escape 8.2

Nov 2003 - Aug 2005
R.I.P.

Ready for some villero bashing

Those were the days...

After a year and a half of adventures, races, crazy downhills and correspondingly ridiculous crashes my mountain bike is gone. It will be sorely missed. Stolen in broad daylight, in the centre of Mar del Plata despite being locked to a lamp-post. The only one of its kind in the city, maybe the country, I hope the thief appreciates the ride or at least eats well off the profits. To the insurance company - in the words of Reg Reagan: I fed that , gave it me all, it's given me nothing, get stuffed! As a memorial, I have posted the photo of my last great ride and the reaction to the theft.

Snowboarding in the Andes

Looking quite steep up there

Sea of clouds - 'mar de nubes'

Always wanted to go snowboarding in the trees...

Nothing like the view from the top!

Nerves before the big ride down

These are photos from the two days snowboarding I had during July holidays. The skifield is called Cerro Bayo and located just outside the cosy village of Villa la Angostura, near the border with Chile in the south of Argentina (just beyond the mountains in the view from the top pic is Chile) . The snow and weather were perfect, as is evident from the images. What is not so obvious is the state of the chairlifts. Two days later they fell injuring over 50 (otherwise happy) skiers and snowboarders. Discounting all of that it was a great experience and worth every centavo of the 200 pesos per day it cost me (just over NZ$100 in real currency).