Montevideo, Uruguay. Thursday 30th November 2006.

The Plaza Zabala is a beautiful formal square which you can imagine would have been very grand when it was originally laid out.There are some stunning pieces of architecture down in this part of the city, albeit that many of the grand 19th century mansions of the beef boom are now multi-occupancy conventillos.

My first port of call is to be Casa Garibaldi, a museum that was once the home of the Italian nationalist Guiseppe Garibaldi. Although it is meant to be open, this is South America and it is closed!

There are though some stunningly well preserved pieces as I walk around the neighbouring streets. These tend to be government buildings or offices and banks like Bank Boston or BBVA. There are also some real attempts being made to renovate and gentrify this area.

Whilst Montevideo certainly has the young professional class to support such an initiative it is questionable whether the city has the "artistic" community necessary to make such initiatives viable. We are after all just across the water from the cultural hub that is Buenos Aires.

I go on to Casa Lavalleja, another museum I find closed. Although, from the peak I get through the keyhole it looks to be a very well-preserved piece of colonial architecture.

At last I find a museum open. The Casa Rivera is a jumble (in the sense of connectivity) of colonial artefacts. There is an interesting landscape of Montevideo in 1794 looking like most colonial ports with tall ships in the harbour, farms outside the city walls and the colonial town protected by a city wall. In this case the city is dominated by the Iglesia Matriz, the cities oldest public building.

In this museum it is your typical collection of colonial furniture, religious and aristocratic paintings, old chests, porcelain, silver etc. In many ways it is yet another testament to the power of the church and the nobility in creating wealth and subjugating the masses.

Symbolism is not lost even in historical paintings like Vista De La Ciudad De Montevideo with the Iglesia Matriz under construction and the population flocking in one long line. The foreground is a further political statement with the strong city wall and garrison serving to remind the viewer of the power of the Spanish Crown.

An interesting little piece is a study of the facial characteristics of the negro and the link I see with the nearby saddle bags used by slaves for gathering crops in the field. You can only subjugate a people for so long, and indeed when you are enslaving them and making them do all the hard work you are infact building their bodies both mentally and certainly physically to challenge the status quo...I am sure there is a thesis in there somewhere!

The British get a mention too, particularly with the portraits and scenes relating to the assault on Montevideo.

Artigas, as you would guess, is well represented here and there is also a basic attempt made by the museum to cover areas of prehistory and geology.

What I find strange in South America, although I shouldn't given the continents history, are all the anglo-spanish names (particularly in Argentina and Chile) like Juan Brown, and also the Spanish flag flying over some many old paintings.

To be fair, the more I explore the Ciudad Vieja the more I realise that there are a large number of well preserved old buildings (particularly those used as commercial centres).

The Museo Romántico gives you a taste of the opulence of Montevideo's 19th century elite. I am always struck by how small the beds were in the past and the ladies vanity case on display would test the greatest of airport security today. There is an interesting display of Masonic regalia here that serves to remind that in Catholic countries this powerful organisation was anything but anti-Catholic.

What I do find amazing in Montevideo is the way the guards follow you around in all the museums.

All museumed out I head for the Mercado del Puerto. This is, as the name suggests, the old city market by the port. Today this railway station like building is a gaggle of restaurants from the authentic side counters with the locals to the tourist outlets to the yuppie venues. Outside in the sun sit even more restaurants and all around are the obligatory art galleries that make the area trendy.

There really is not a great deal to see in Montevideo. Unless you are a beach person there are only really a few days worth of cultural exploration here. But one thing to recommend the city is its people; they are so warm and friendly.

I dined this afternoon at El Peregrino in the Mercado del Puerto where they give you a glass of Medio y Medio (the traditional Uruguayan drink of half white wine and half champagne) on the house.

I was hoping beyond hope that this sirloin would be nice as I really want to write something positive about Uruguayan meat...and it is. I am however concerned by the panchant they have in this country for giving you those mini breaded potato balls that you find in the M&S Christmas food collection or in school canteens that are low on cash!

I know that South America is meant to be good value but really I have the biggest expresso double today...it is a mug filled with expresso, so no sleep tonight!

The experiences I have had here in South America have been muy differente. I have gone from the brutality of the attack to the wonders of discovering unknown treasures. These past four months have been life changing and an education for all involved. This afternoon is one of those treasures.

On my way into the Mercado del Puerto I passed a little artists studio with some stunning works in the window. I was particularly drawn to the seascapes and the artists name Ana Baxter. As the afternoon wears on I am to make a fascinating new friend.

I enter the workshop to take a closer look and intend only to stay a short time, and not, as was the case the whole afternoon.

Ana is a treasure. Part Irish, part English, part Welsh, a big part Argentinian...oh and some Italian in there too...with a Scottish name, she is truly Uruguayan. This lady has sold works all over the world and exhibited in Europe, South America and the United States; but more importantly she is a cultural treasure.

I pass wonderfully informative hours in her workshop learning all about the Uruguayan carnival and the spirit of the local negro community.

Indeed, despite being skint, I made use of my flexible friend, and bought my own piece of cultural history. A true environmentalist, Ana wastes nothing and my painting has as its base the left over leather of a carnival drum and it is backed by the wood used for stretching the said leather.

They say you should buy leather goods in South America as they represent good value. This particular leather good represents so much more. It is a depiction of the Mama Vieja (the 'old lady' of the negro community and the highest authority in that community, and the Gramillero or herbal doctor). It is also a simply beautiful piece of Ana's talent.

In our afternoon of sharing we are joined by Ana's friend Ana Maria Herrera, the local Mama Vieja and a delightfully friendly and happy lady.

I got some lovely pictures in the studio and Mama Vieja took one of Ana and I together. The dear lady shook so much each time she tried to take the photo that it turned out a little hazy...but hey in its own right it is a work of art. Check it out in the photobucket.

You cannot buy experiences like this, sometimes your karma is just right and life sends you its rays of wonder.

There were so many of Ana's pieces I would have treasured; one or two in particular. But I walk away with a little oil I will love forever and the memory of an unforgettable experience of local colour.

Ana's website is available at www.anabaxter.com and its great!!

Montevideo, Uruguay. Wednesday 29th November 2006.

My drive into town this morning takes me along the beach. The closer you get to the Ciudad Vieja the poorer the scene becomes.

In someways this area is classic South America being a blend of old colonial and 19th/early 20th century architecture alongside 60's concrete that was both ill conceived and badly constructed. You get a clear vibe of why they say that this area is unsafe at night.

Here I am in the centre of the city in the Plaza Independencia where my first stop is the mausoleum of Uruguay's greatest national hero, General Jose Artigas.

Artigas was born on June 19th 1764 and died on September 23rd 1850. His mausoleum is a large concrete tomb that sings the General's praises from its walls. It is an obviously 70's construction and was indeed inaugurated on June 19th 1977 on the 213th anniversary of the General's birth.

The monument to Artigas in the plaza above was inaugurated on February 28th 1923.

Basically the mausoleum is a huge floodlit urn guarded by two soldiers in ceremonial dress.

A nice Swedish couple ask if I speak English and if I can interpret what it says on the walls for them. Luckily I find reading basic Spanish easier than speaking it. They then ask me about my country and are surprised when I tell them that I am not Uruguayan.

From here I enter the Palacio Salvo which was once the tallest building in South America but it is not open to the public as it is a mainly residential building. If you needed evidence that this area is in decline you simply need to look up at the washing hanging from windows on this great building that if it was on 5th Avenue and not in the central square of Montevideo would be valued at some ridiculous price.

Also on the Plaza is the beautiful Palacio Estévez which until 1985 was the Casa de Gobierno.

In one corner of the Plaza you will find the Teatro Solis which is another pretty building with a very modern lobby.

The colonial Puerto de la Ciudadela is nowadays supported by a breeze block wall. Originally a gate in the City Wall this monument marks the edge of the Ciudad Vieja and the beginnings of the Ciudad Nueva which was basically constructed as the city expanded in the first half of the twentieth century. The original limit of the new city was Calle Ejido. Ejido being a Spanish word that refers to the length of flight of a canon-ball and such a distance marks the boundary of the new city. In the second half of the twentieth century the city grew again to create the Ciudad Novissima i.e. the third planned growth of Montevideo.

Taking a stroll along Sarandi you come via the market stalls to Plaza Constitución, or as the locals refer to it Plaza Matriz with its stalls and cafes. Here you will find Montevideo Cathedral or as it is known Iglesia Matriz. This is yet another stunning South American church, and like Santiago Cathedral it is reminiscent of a great public building, although not quite as grand as in Santiago.

The Main Altar is mystically dark in greens, burgandy's, reds and golds that evoke the Archangel. There are beautiful marble statues, pleasant stained glass windows and Stations of the Cross that remind me of St Patrick's in Dumbarton. The baptismal font and its side chapel are like the entrance to an opera house in miniature and the side altars are all stunning works of craftsmanship. In many ways this building could be the Central Hall of a great university. It is a gem and I am glad I discovered it.

The Plaza Constitución is a very pleasant site with its marble central fountain and it throngs this lunchtime with office workers as do the surrounding restaurants. You can only imagine though what this area must be like at night when the office workers have headed out to the suburbs.

The Ciudad Vieja was the colonial centre of town and it is populated today by the remains of the great 19th century mansions built in the beef boom that have today been converted into Conventillos i.e. large multi-occupancy slums filled with the rural poor who have come to the city in search of a better life. In this way Montevideo is comparable to many big cities the world over.

I head back to the Calle Bacacay and enjoy a healthy lunch of mediterranean vegetables and oils at Roma Amor.

My afternoon stop will be the Museo Torres Garcia, a must visit if you are in Montevideo. Joaquin Torres Garcia is Uruguay's most celebrated artist (although he spent most of his working life in France).

This is a great little museum as there is such a contrast in his work from works like the fresco La filosofia (1913)to the impressionist influenced Calle de Barcelona (1917) through Picassoesque Construcción con triángulos (1929) to the traditional Indian design and South American influence of Formas entrelazadas sobre fondo rojo (1938).

Again in his portrait work you go from the conservative young artist (one expects in need of commissions) in works like Academia (1892) and Santiago Piña (1906) to angry old man with works like Sócrates (1945).

His choice of subjects is also interesting from contemporaries like Cezanne to historical figures like da Vinci, Bach and Felipe II. I must say though that his sketches are amongst his best works. This little museum is a treasure trove.

Back in the Plaza Independencia and yet another school group are heading for the Mausoleo Artigas. Since there is so little to see in there I am hoping this visit is the culmination of curriculum study and not the whole story.

Montevideo is sedate and the Argentine custom of Mate has certainly crossed the Rio de la Plata. That said this is the second time in South America that someone has demanded my watch. The first was a few days before I was assaulted in Ecuador, so lets hope history does not repeat itself. Oh, and by the way, I still have my watch; I simply explained to the guy where in life he could get off.

The school groups are back out of the Mausoleo Artigas and it is muy calor here in the Plaza as I scribble about life. I am to be cooled though by the output of a man's sneeze as he passes my bench and the fallout hits me right in the flip flop.

Just like Ecuador the taxi driver rips me off this afternoon when I pay my bill and he claims to have no change...No more similarities please!!

Tonight I dine at the swanky Montecristo Restaurant near my hotel.
There is no comparison between Uruguayan wine and beef and that of Argentina and Chile. It is like comparing a bottle of supermarket plonk and a Chateau Ausone 1955 1ere Grand Cru Classe St Emilion. That said, I have the nicest paté I have tasted anywhere in the world and this is quite the place set as it is in an old house that is a fake German castle in miniature.

Montevideo. First Day. Tuesday 28th November 2006.

What I see of Montevideo as I drive in from the airport is modern, tranquil and the houses have lovely gardens just like at home.

After a well deserved bath I decide to take a walk around the local neighbourhood. It is a very pleasant area and I visit the local bank and the church and on my way back to my hotel I am stopped by the only begger I have thus far seen.

He is a street urchin for want of a better phrase. Marcelo is nineteen he tells me and he wants some food. We head to McDonalds and I feed him. He is a sorry state and he could do with a good wash and some new togs. His shoes are falling apart.

I think I always would have helped, the teacher in me; but after the effect of Jose (my good samaritan in Ecuador) I really want to help everyone I meet.

Anyway, the heart of the story is that Marcelo's shoes are falling off his feet so I agree to give him my tennis shoes...he needs them more than me. Seeing how hungry he was I offer him 100 Pesos to feed himself again today and maybe even for breakfast. I think this is about $5 US, but I am not too sure.

The problem is that he gets gready. He wants more money than I am kindly offering. Luckily I am outside my hotel and simply threaten him with the police if he gets aggressive. Also he leaves with nothing as I am more than happy to help but I don't want to be taken for a ride.

Tonight I meet a nice chap Dave from London in the internet shop. He is a retired man who always travels in South America in November. I discover that he always travels in this continent with cash as he goes, like I had intended, to remote areas where they will simply not take a travellers cheque. In a way it gives me more confidence in knowing that I am not the only fool travelling here with cash. Indeed, Dave tells me he is carrying $2000 US as he is travelling for six weeks and he is just about to head into Patagonia.

That aside we dine together tonight at Pizzeria Trouville just around the corner from our hotel.

From Santiago, Chile to Montevideo, Uruguay.

I have always had a weird life and tonight is no different. It is Monday evening and I am about to take the flight combination I dreaded.

I fly tonight to Buenos Aires and then have a scheduled ten hour lay-over until tomorrow morning and my connection to Montevideo.

On arriving at the airport I dined at Gatsby's and then spent over an hour sitting at my departure gate before my flight disappeared from the screen.

I decided to go and ask for help and there is no one from my airline around so I take myself to their VIP club just to enquire.

The lady seems to think I am a member and invites me in to the Pacific Club. She tells me my flight is delayed at least one and a half hours and my connection tomorrow is two hours delayed.

She says she will tell me when it is time for my flight. I am not sure she understands and so I sneak out every so often without her seeing just to check the flight departure board; I don't want to offend her but I cannot afford to miss my flight either.

Anyway I am writing to you from first class drinking my complimentary coke and waiting to be thrown out at anytime as I don't fit the bill. Everyone else is in a suit and I am in hiking boots and a carrying a big backpack.

From a night flight perspective you get a clear view of the huge valley and the massive urban sprawl that is Santiago.

It is pitch black, its approaching midnight and I am sitting here reading a cultural history of South America on a flight from Chile to Argentina enroute to Uruguay; how middle-class can you get?

I realise that I am so lucky to have been given the intellectual joys life has afforded me and yet I am struggling with why my God - a kind, forgiving and loving God has brought me such torment.

I wanted to ask the two Mormens at the airport the question that if God is all knowing and loving, why then does he torment the human soul so?

Yet as I look around at the businessman on his lap-top and the academic with his papers I realise that I inhabit a world of great privilege and that I am getting to journey and to experience in a way most people never get the opportunity to do.

It is equally amazing flying in on a night flight to Buenos Aires you get a sense from a city bathed in light of just how collosal these South American cities can be.

I told you my life was weird and I am in the weird position of landing in Buenos Aires with my luggage past the immigration counters.

I was assured in Santiago that even though they could only check my bags to Buenos Aires that the transit desk would then check my luggage through to Montevideo.

Of course, the transit desk is closed and all the Aerolineas Argentinas staff have gone home for the night. In my best Spanglish I communicate with the immigration staff (none of whom speak any English) to explain that I cannot enter Argentina and collect my baggage as I do not have enough money to pay the taxes to leave again and come back into transit.

Finally I talk with freight who assure me that they will check my bags through to Uruguay and so I settle in for the night in the departure lounge, and you can take it from me it is not the most comfortable bench seating at Buenos Aires airport.

Tuesday 28th, Late Morning...
It really is epic travel when you are on cheap tickets. I have now been here at Buenos Aires airport for twelve hours going no-where.

Santiago, Chile. Monday 27th November 2006.

Chile I am told has arguably the most educated population in South America. There are very strict education laws outsetting a national curriculum that is truly national and leading to a high proportion of university-educated professionals and a literacy rate above 95%.

Such education levels translate quite clearly into lifestyle, social aspirations and the palpable feeling of modernity one gets in Chile. Santiaguinos are rightly proud of their city.

Today I am at Inacap with Laurie Henderson. Inacap is a private non-profit educational institution with very strong links to the business world having started life as a technical college.

This is yet another inventive approach to education that I have witnessed first hand here in South America. To study at Inacap you do not need to have passed the PSU (the Chilean university entrance qualification akin to the SAT in the United States), however you do need to have completed your secondary education.

The courses offered are directed to the working world and as such there is a great deal of consultancy with the practicing business world to ensure that the skills/competencies taught are relevant to the needs of business.

In total there are 26 Inacap campuses, 19 of which are outside of Santiago and 1 of which is a virtual campus. These campuses run the length of the country and offer 2 year technical qualifications or 4 year professional qualifications.

Inacap also oversee the Chilean Technological University (UTC). This hands on approach to education offers over 130 courses from car mechanics to computer programming; from engineering to business consultancy and hotel and catering.

90% of the students are first time consumers of higher education being the children of maids, porters etc and most students come from the municipal and state system. As such fees are held as low as they possibly can be.

The philosophy is simple. There are many ways to climb a mountain, with a view that everyone is educable and the system simply needs to provide different routes to the same standardised goal.

With 54,000 students nationwide standards are high such that all students must complete 1 year of English, a basic mathematics, a computer skills course and a Spanish course. The point is simple. To be effective in any job you must be able to communicate.

I am really impressed by this approach to education that brings together the needs of the student and business leaders in providing the skills base necessary for economic development for the country and security of future for the employee.

This afternoon I am working in the Deputy Headmistresses office at Bradford School with the naughty boys. It just feels like home when one young chap appears at the door to ask "please sir can I go to the toilet".

Santiago, Chile. Sunday 26th November 2006.

Sunday morning and I am driving through the sun drenched streets of Santiago listening to big band music on my way to the Palacio Cousiño.

Santiago is a beautiful modern city and there is real wealth here. There are very rich people, but unlike Brazil there are not the same extremes in that sense Chile is more like the UK. The majority of the population are comfortably middle-class and sharing, however limited this may be on a personal level, in the countries prosperity.

They seem to be fitness crazy here from aerobics in the parks to cyclists everywhere.

In Chile a few elite families have dominated historically and one of the most important is the Cousiño family. The Palacio Cousiño was built by the family in the late 19th century. The family wealth came from mining and vineyard interests mainly and the Palacio was a demonstration of the family's power and prestige when it was built.

The Palacio was constructed in the French rococo style both beacause the family spent half the year in Santiago and the other half in Paris and becuase the fashion of the day was for all things European, especially French.

Built like a grand European house, although in miniature; as you enter this casa you are welcomed by four painted panels reflecting the European seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Like all the great European houses there is a small reception room which then leads on to the public rooms of the house such as the Ballroom (although this is very small and would only really be of use for intimate gatherings).

The family claimed this room was a mini Versailles with all its mirrors, and it is certainly a lovely gilt room. Throughout the house mirrors are put to good use to create a feeling of both depth and space.

The ballroom does contain a lovely example of the indiscrete chair. Such chairs (for three) were where courting couples could sit and discuss in the company of a chaperone.

Rich families copied the European style right down to the tearoom where ladies would take English tea in the mid-afternoon. A symbol of this families wealth is that all the curtains in the house were hand embroidered by nuns in France.

Houses were a reflection of the social conditions of the time and so from the formal dining room one can access the tearoom (for the ladies); the games room (for the gentlemen) and the winter garden or conservatory.

The structure of society was enforced by architecture and like all great houses there are secret doors such that guests need only see the servants for the minimum of time with food etc brought from the kitchens by servants passages only entering the main house in the appropriate room.

Buildings would cater for every social need from the large formal dining room to the discrete and intimate family dining room.

The games room is a wonderful example of the Moorish style, a reflection of the origins of smoking and games of chance in Turkey.

Art as always plays its part in social conformity and there are two wonderful sculptures in the music room reflecting summer and winter. Summer with all the opportunity it brings is naturally represented as a boy. Boys, after all were thought to bring good fortune, and with this a continuance of the family name. The cold reality of winter on the other hand is represented by a girl who will be a cost and a burden to the family until they can marry her off.

A further sign of this families wealth is the fact that all the furniture for the house was made in France in the style of Louis XVI, as was the fashion at the time.

The main hall is in Moorish and neo-classical style with handpainted tiles from Italy. The main chandelier is of Bohemian crystal and weighs half a ton. The superb marble staircase is actually constructed from at least twenty different types of marble.

The staircase is dominated by ten paintings; five of Santiago scenes and five of Parisien scenes.

In 1938 the third generation of the family to live in the Palacio donated the building to the Chilean government who used it for sometime as a hotel for visiting dignitaries such as Charles de Gaulle, Indira Gandhi and HM The Queen.

The second floor of the Palacio had to be reconstructed following an electrical fire in 1968. Despite this you get a true sense of what life was like for the inhabitants. In the mistresses bedroom for example you even get a moulded set of arms on which to store and thus preserve your gloves.

The house was a major talking point in Santiago when it was constructed. Not just for its luxury but also for its technological advance. The house contained the first elevator in Santiago and the first elevator built in a Chilean factory. The elevator worked on a hydraulic system with the weights filled with water. It looks like a fore-runner of the stairlift, i.e. only for one person seated to ascend to the second floor.

The second major advance of the house was the underfloor central heating.

One of the most interesting facts though has got to be the importance of social convention and fashion that link this house to the great houses of the world. The family were so wealthy and so concerned with the style of the time that they even sent silver from their own mines in Chile over to Sheffield in England to be formed into the cutlery for the house (with the family crest as visible throughout the house and its ornamentation of course).

From the Palacio I make my way to the Iglesia de San Francisco. This is the oldest church in Santiago and it has wonderfully aged white-washed walls.

The church has a beauty in that simple way of the traveller who on arriving at his destination begins building both a life and a memorial to home and familiarity.
You get the sense of all the resources of the early settlers being poured into the church as not only the most important building in early Santiago, but also the centre of life.
However, as time moves on and settlements get wealthier so new churches are built and social division sets in.

Whilst I am sitting here during the mass a very strange event occurs. An older man comes along and sets about moving all the candles at the base of the Calvary altar placing them around the altars centre. He then proceeds to strip off. He is then escorted out.

On exploring the church you find at the back an interesting display of small paintings of the Stations of the Cross all set in the early colonial period in South America.

At the other side there is the strangest thing I have ever seen in a church. There is a great deal of vandalism on the ancient walls where people have been encouraged to write. All the vandalism is related in some way to God.

Also I get the feeling that this is the parish for those who are non-traditional as I watch a lady and her poddle (resplendent in a pink bow) enjoy the service and take full part.

This is a lovely church, but like almost all churches I have seen on this continent it has that kitsch Latin American thing going on of statues surrounded by lightbulbs.

I've had a busy day and so I head next door to the Hotel Plaza San Francisco to the Cascada Bistro for a well earned and enjoyable lunch of Chilean beef.

Tonight I have a wonderful last meal in Chile back where I began dining in the restaurant here at The Atton. The food and the service were exquisite.

Santiago, Chile. Saturday November 25th 2006.

This morning I decide to head out to the Parque Metropolitano, the largest open space in the city. I am going to take the funicular up Cerro San Cristóbal to the Virgin that towers over the city.

My driver Ramόn is busy telling me about himself. It turns out that his son was the victim of a violent attack when on vacation two years ago which left him with brain damage. This story is horrific, but not a story of horror in South America rather the venue is Canada.

Ramόn is explaining that his son was in a coma for fourteen days and then in hospital for four months. As such he had to sell everything he had worked for all his life to meet the costs. As he said, you will do anything to help your children. Now, in his late fifties he is back where he started thirty years ago with house payments, car payments, furniture payments etc. By the time I leave the car the story has brought more than one or two tears to my eyes. The simple fact is that his son is alive and as he says he thanks God for this every day.

I decide to take the funicular to the summit of San Cristόbal passing the zoo where we actually make a stop to let off and to collect passengers. The two trains that ply this route pass about two thirds of the way up on a narrow section of track.

As we climb you get a true sense of the expanse that is Santiago, though you can barely make out the Andes because of the smog.

The virgin representing the immaculate conception is a stunning sight. In the base there is a small chapel just as was the case under the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio. The chapel, currently dedicated to the memory of Pope John Paul II is surrounded by buckets of flowers.

From up here the Andes are slightly clearer, but only slightly. I pass a lovely hour watching and listening to the open air youth mass in the plaza. There is also a beautiful Capilla or Chapel up here where there is a less enjoyable 'adult' mass being conducted. Inside the chapel the Stations of the Cross are magnificent carved as they are into the walls.

The complex at the top of St Christopher's Hill is actually much more than the tourist attraction of the Virgin Mary. There is a retreat house, a monument to Calvary, the main outdoor altar where the youth mass is being conducted and the chapel.

The youth mass proves for me to be a very moving experience with the banners blowing and so many young people enjopying themselves it actually does bring more than a few tears to my eyes. I am not particularly religious but this is a truly spiritual experience and the first mass I have known with applause and cheers.

To get the full experience I will descend via the teleférico. This teleférico is some 2000 metres long and has 94 cabins capable of transporting 960 people per hour, and what a view over the park and the city.

Its lovely looking down and seeing families picnicing in the sun, people cycling, people treking and at points the carriage only just skims the trees.

Today is a beautiful sunny day in Santiago and I head for the centre of town and the Plaza de Armas. Like almost every Plaza de Armas I have seen, this central square is the architecturally stunning centre of the city and the grand style of downtown Santiago does not disappoint.

This city square feels very European with men sitting around playing chess in the shade of a tree or in the bandstand. I walk through the arcades that surround the square and find huge numbers of people dining at the plethora of booths.

I decide however to take the weight off my feet and head out of the sun to dine at Marco Polo on the square.

My key destination today is the world renowned Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino. This is where I will reaquaint myself with the Chavín culture that I first encountered in Peru. Like all the Chavín art I have seen the emphasis remains on the texture and the contrast between the bright and opaque sections.

This is a truly fantastic museum and it is amazing as I traverse the globe to see the similarities that exist between ancient cultures that knew nothing of each other...the elaborate furnishings that accompanied death, the importance of the animal kingdom, the role of symbolism etc.

In this museum I learn that the origins of civilisation in Mesoamerica lie with the Olmec.

As one could argue with regard to modern society; civilisation reaches its peak when the social, economic and political conditions favour the rise of strong hierarchical societies able to control large contingents of populations.

As is the case today, the Olmec culture achieved this through urbanisation, architecture and the arts. The development of such a wide field of artistic endeavour including astronomy and mathematics is symbolic of the high levels of civilisation that existed in Mesoamerica long before European conquest.

What is very interesting is the importance and political power of art throughout history and the use of art and architecture to reinforce class division within society as portrayed in iconography.

A fascinating fact I learned today is that the artifical mummification of the Chinchorro culture is actually 2,000 years older than Egyptian mummification.

The Inka empire which ran from Ecuador to central Chile was achieved not only by warfare but also by annexation agreements. An interesting and far-sighted development was that whilst Inka shapes and recording methods were adopted, local cultures were actively preserved by use of local indigenous designs.

Also at the museum from October until May 2007 is an exhibition about the importance of headwear in conveying non-verbally social, political, economic, ethnic and gender messages. The Gorros Del Desierto exhibition serves to remind of the symbolic importance of clothing. Clothing remains a key identifier with a group and in the Andes the most distinctive symbol has been headdress.

Santiago Cathedral is next stop on my list for today and I get there in time for Saturday evening mass. Situated on the Plaza de Armas I really was stunned by this building.

As you enter the cathedral you are drawn to the exquisite side chapel dedicated to Our Blessed Mother. It is both formal and inviting at one and the same time with painted ceilings reminiscent of an English country house. This is a beautiful cathedral and so different to all the others I have seen across the continent. It is really like a grand European museum building in style and it has a most welcoming air.

The crypt containing the tombs of previous Archbishops has an ultra modern feel like the entrance lobby of a major office building.

Tonight I am heading to the trendy restaurant district of Bellavista to dine at Azul Profundo. The restaurant has a very intimate atmosphere and they really have tried to create a feel of the sea. The service is a bit slow initially and it does not really get any better. It is a seafood delight according to the menu and I order a Cousiño-Macul Don Luis Sauvignon Blanc 2006 because I intend on making the Palacio Cousiño my first port of call tomorrow.

The mussels are interesting, set as they are in some form of congealed cheese. I have got to be honest the food here is nothing to write home about, but I do further my Santiago connections by drinking mineral water (Por Venir) from the Casablanca Valley where I was yesterday.

I have to say that the best food I have had in Santiago in terms of quality and price has been right here at The Atton in my hotel restaurant.

Santiago, Chile. Friday November 24th 2006.

This morning I head out in a taxi driving through the rush hour traffic (and this city certainly has traffic) to the bus station at Pajaritos. From here I will take the intercity Tur Bus in the direction of Viña del Mar to make my appointment at Colegio Caernarfon near Casablanca.

When I do my own arranging things prove to be so much better and I am lucky to be once again staying in a very good hotel with its own fleet of cars and drivers. The Atton Santiago is a very nice place to stay if you are ever in town.

Francisco, my driver this morning took me across the road at the bus station to make sure I was going the right way. He was a very nice man who spoke almost no English, but I did learn that his two brothers, his mother and grandmother were all teachers.

The boy at the bus station also proved to be very helpful and even came out of his office to see me on to the bus; and talk about luxury travel, this bus has airline style service right down to the pillows and blankets.

You have hardly left Santiago and you are in the Andes, it is such a brilliant contrast. And so I find myself out in wine country as we enter the Casablanca Valley.

Now it might seem strange for someone that was so violently attacked at the beginning of this project, but I am once again in one of those situations that could be described as slightly nutty.

I get the joy of standing upfront with the driver and the conductor for the last section of my journey, as we look for the underpass where I am to be dropped off to wait for John Eason, the Headmaster of Caernarfon College.

Here I am. The bus has departed and I stand on the hard shoulder of a motorway waiting for someone I don't know to collect me and take me to their school. I have no telephone, I am standing on a motorway and I have no means of returning to the city if this all goes wrong. I start to think how this must seem with me thousands of miles from home on a magical mystery tour.

Well this is a real adventure and the day proves to be magical.
John arrives, driving along the hard shoulder in the opposite direction to the oncoming traffic. This is a common sight that I have seen repeated time and again as I stand here at the road side.

Caernarfon proves to be a really lovely school with a genuine committment to education and not one of those exam factories that are becoming so common in education worldwide. As a result it achieves real progress in its students whom I find to be a welcoming, confident and inquiring group of young men and women.

The school has exceptionally small class sizes and the small nature of the school size gives the whole complex the atmosphere of a family setting.

I spend the morning talking to the students about the Building Blocks project and find them to be genuinely interested. The presentation is so successful that lunch has to be postponed until the later sitting.

In the early afternoon John takes me to visit the vineyard next door.

Viña Mar is a beautiful place with a very modern factory, all stainless steel vats, located on site producing some 2,400,000 litres of wine per year.

I learn that it takes 1kg of grape to produce 1 bottle of wine and that 1 hectare will generate between 8,000 and 10,000 kg of grapes.

Between March and April the white wine grapes are harvested by hand and in the early morning to preserve the aroma.

Between April and May the red wine grapes are harvested, again by hand. The key difference in white and red wine production is that with the reds all the grape, skin etc is used.

The wines here ferment in oak casks made only from French or American oak. The casks are used only for four years and then sold on to whisky producers.

After our tour John and I explore the main house and enjoy a wonderful glass of Sauvingnon Blanc Special Reserve 2006.

Back to school and its sports lesson time. I finish my day both in pedagogical discussion with John and in meeting with the kids, and the school present me with a lovely bottle of Viña Mar Sauvingnon Blanc Special Reserve 2006 as a gift.

www.caernarfon.cl

Then its a dash back to Santiago where Friday night awaits and cocktails on the terrace of the Club Principe de Gales.

On my way back into town I decide that I better not try the subte in case I get it wrong. Instead I take what looks like a taxi and I am shocked when 3 other people also get in. Without saying anything I just move across the seat and we head off, but not in the direction I want to go.

I later learn that I am in a colectivo, basically a bus in disguise.

No-one speaks English, but I learn that this bus is not going my way. The group all find this very funny and kindly take me back to where I began, at the bus station, and I head off for the tube.

I start again on what proves to be a very easy to negotiate subway.

Its that time of year when expats across the globe celebrate St Andrew's Day with a vigour unknown in Scotland. I arrive at the Prince of Wales Country Club in Las Arañas for the Junior Caledonian Ball.

It feels so much like home as I sit here on the terrace enjoying cocktails and canapes with the Headmistress and Deputy Headmistress of Bradford School, the Head of the Junior School at St Gabriel's and the Deputy Headmistress of The Grange.

Before the dancing gets under way the official welcomes are made. I am surprised to be included in the group and I am welcomed as William Glover of Glasgow.

The dance displays are very good and I even have the joy of partnering Jocelyn in the Gay Gordons.

I have had another fascinating day and again I am getting to see all sides of life here in South America.

Santiago, Chile. Thursday November 23rd 2006.

Today I spent the most wonderful day at Bradford School with Maire McNamara and her staff.

I greatly enjoy visiting schools, particularly those that are on the move. Bradford has the air of a school that is going places, a school that is being well directed and that is innovating rather than waiting around for change to happen to it.

I really must thank Maire and all her staff for the opportunity to visit the school and to learn that not all British schools abroad teach in English. Indeed, Bradford teaches in the medium of Spanish with English immersion in the kindergarten and early years and English as an intensive subject in the upper school curriculum.

I greatly enjoyed delivering a workshop on the use of interactive smartboards to the kindergarten and junior school staff and I am greatful for their warm and complimentary reponse to my presentation.

Driving home from school you get a sense of the true contrast that is unique to Santiago. Here you are in the busy streets of a metropolis that is home to millions of people sitting amongst the gleeming skyscrapers of commerce, and there almost within touching distance lie the mountains of the Andes. The two world's collide beautifully and present a stunning vista.

Tonight I headed out taking a walk to the nearby Parque Arauco. If having a Laura Ashley at the mall is the mark of civilisation then Santiago is there. But seriously, this is one wealthy and developed city. Luxury cars abound and the mall could be anywhere in North America or the UK.

I dine tonight at Asian Bistro on the Boulevard Parque Arauco. It is one of those trendy joints with all the waiters and waitresses in black. The food is OK, but very over-priced and the staff spend so much time preening themselves that there is little time left for the customers.

Back to my hotel for a nightcap before a new day in Santiago.

Wednesday November 22nd 2006. Buenos Aires to Santiago, Chile.

Making the most of my final day in Buenos Aires I head out for Plaza Mariano Moreno and the Palacio del Congreso which lies just ahead in the Plaza del Congreso. The Palacio was completed in 1906 and it is modelled on the Capitol Building in DC.

The Monumento a los Dos Congresos (currently under renovation) has granite steps which are said to symbolise the Andes.

I spend a delightful and informative morning, again in the company of Carlos, before heading for the airport and my return to Chile.

I must admit that on my travels I have met some of the dirtiest people. The old git next to me spends most of the flight picking his nose and flicking the residue in my direction.

On arriving in Santiago I take a taxi into the city with Stuart whom I met at the airport. He is another Scot, from Dundee, and he is travelling for two weeks in South America whilst on leave from the army. Stuart is a cool dude and he has just returned from Afghanistan where he will return in January. I SALUTE WITH PRIDE OUR PROUD BRITISH MEN AND WOMEN WHO WEAR THE UNIFORM OF HER MAJESTY!!!!

It is a hot day and you can see the smog settled over the city as you drive in from the airport.

As I don't know Santiago at all I decide its too late to explore and so I settle into a lovely bath before heading downstairs to the hotel restaurant to dine on Chilean beef, Chilean wine (my waiter Jose Luis suggests the Gran Tarapaca Cabernet Sauvignon...a good choice) and to be entertained by the lounge room singer.

Tomorrow I join Bradford School so a good nights sleep is in order.

Santiago by the way is the fifth largest city in South America and it sits at some 543 metres above sea level. The city is divided into 32 counties and each is run by its own town council.

Buenos Aires. Tuesday 21st November 2006.

This morning the first stop was a tour of the Teatro Colón, one of the most famous concert venues in the world.

The Teatro Colón is actually a replacement for the original opera house that was situated in the Plaza de Mayo where the Bank of the Nacion now stands.

The Teatro Colón was completed in 1908 and inaugurated with a performance of Aida; a fact that will be recreated on 25th May 2008 when the theatre re-opens after renovations with an inaugural performance of Aida.

This is one stunning building and highly ornate. Sadly, photographs are only allowed in the entrance lobby.

The painted ceilings and stained glass of the Golden Hall are bonito. This hall was inspired by the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles and it is used mainly for chamber concerts and also for press conferences.

The White Room is the venue for official receptions held by the President on both May 25th and on the Argentine independence day of July 9th. However, not even the President can sit on the Louis XV inspired seats which are original to the theatre.

Some quick theatre facts...

The Colón holds 3000 people, 500 of them standing.
The auditorium has 7 levels.
The boxes all have seating for 6 people, except the official box which is much larger.
At the base of the theatre lie the Widow's Boxes. The reason for this is that in the early 20th Century widows were not allowed to attend social functions for at least two years following their husbands death and so they could only attend performances if hidden from public view.
The Teatro Colón is considered to be the best theatre in the world in terms of acoustics.
The central chandelier is seven metres wide and has more than 600 lightbulbs.
The central chandelier is made of bronze and inside there is a corridor that holds 15 musicians and this is used in some productions to simulate the hidden sound of the heavens.
The theatre holds more than 90,000 costumes that are lent out around the world and 22,000 pairs of shoes.

Desending under the theatre it is like a whole subterranean city and the massive complex extents under the Avenida 9 de Julio, the world's widest street. This extension to the theatre was built in 1972 during the last enlargement of Avenida 9 de Julio. It reminds me of the Bodleian Library in Oxford which has its own railroad system under the Broad for moving books.

The rehersal room 9th July is the largest in the complex and it is the full size of the stage plus the orchestra pit to allow for full rehersal.

After my visit to the theatre lunch is served at the Café Del Teatro to the sound of an opera singing waitress; who on a number of occassions sang at our table whilst I ate smoked salmon.

My thoughts turn to my dear friend Ann who would simply have loved this experience, right down to the café character in the corner teaching the staff card tricks.

After lunch, Carlos and I head out to Recoleta with the intention of spending the afternoon at MALBA (the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires) which is unfortunately closed. So we take in the Plaza Grecia and I enjoy walking the streets of Recoleta which are reminiscent of St John's Wood...this is upscale Buenos Aires!

We finish our lazy afternoon in the Plaza de Mayo and visit the stunning Catedral Metropolitana where the highlight is the tomb of José de San Martin the leader of Argentine independence and the liberator of Chile, Peru and Ecuador.

Triunfo En San Lorenzo 1813
Afirmo La Independencia Argentina 1816
Paso Los Andes 1817
Llevo Su Bandera Emancipadora Á Chile, Al Peru y Al Ecuador 1817 -1822

The cathedral is a stunning work of art and I was blinded by the light through yonder window breaking as I studied the stained glass of the central dome.

Tonight me intention was to dine at Cabaña Las Lilas which it is claimed has the best meat in Argentina. However, I am not posh enough and so there is no room at the inn for me. So I head next door to La Caballeriza .

Sitting here it is so civilised. It is my last night and I am having my last vino tinto in Argentina. Bob will be disappointed that it is only a half bottle...no-one to share it with you see; though it is a cabernet-merlot and that would meet his approval.

It feels like London dining by the river in full view of a floodlit historic ship set amongst docklands style wharfs.

I decide on a menu of Argentine delights and dine on blood sausage followed by beef steak.

My last meal in Argentina though proves to be a disappointment coupled with very poor service.

That said, I love this country. It has proved to be the most developed and best policed country I have seen in all of South America, and remember I have tasted all the joys bueno and mal that the continent musters.

A cute footnote though is this Argentine hire charge that you pay in restaurants to use the cutlery provided??

Buenos Aires. Monday 20th November 2006.

This morning we head out for the city Zoo, which it is claimed is the second best in the world...not sure how they work these things out? Anyway, it is closed and so we simply head across the road and into the beauty of the Botanical Gardens.

Buenos Aires seems to be a city of cats and I see them lazying here and there in the shade of the big old trees. The Elm trees prove to be particularly popular.

The Jardin Botánico Carlos Thays is not the grandest botanical gardens I have ever seen but still very cute.

We then head from Palermo on the subte and Carlos asks a man for directions. He is Frankenstein's monster...by this I mean that he is obviously recovering from a facelift visible both from his windblown appearance that defies his age and the staples on show.

In the Plaza San Martin there is an open air art exhibit of giant plastic hearts (based on the concept of the Chicago Cow that swept the art world in the 1990´s).

We head off for ice-creams at the Florida Garden Café before having that British staple of Tarde Té at the Plaza Hotel. The Plaza is the work of the architect Alfred Zucker, well-known for his work on St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York and it was inaugurated in 1909.

It is an interesting afternoon tea with that South American staple of the ham and cheese sandwich coming toasted as a course all on its own.

Back at my hotel I decide to try out the Baños Turcos again...after all, it's free.
I discover today that not all the cubicles have names, it is only those of the central aisle and today I am in number 8.

I really love Buenos Aires, it genuinely is the Paris of the south!

A footnote today is that my e-mail is cut off making project work impossible. I anxiously write to yahoo so lets hope things get sorted soon.

Buenos Aires. Sunday November 19th 2006.

Sunday and its the bus to La Boca with Carlos taking in the sights of the city including the Sunday football game on waste ground. We are going along listening to Brazilian music on the MP3 player such as Traicion by Miranda.

In Caminito we hit the markets. We also see an art exhibit by Roberto Jofre and I treat myself to a CD of tango music in the home of tango.

You can't describe the atmosphere, it is electric as the sun beats down and a steel band (whom I find myself playing tamborine for) make their way through the streets as couples dance the tango defrente i.e. straight ahead of us as we luncheon at Filiberro.

La Boca is the football mad home of the Boca Juniors which sits along the port at the mouth of Rio Riachuelo and it was built by the Italian immigrant population from Genoa and it is still very much an Italian neighbourhood today.

We then take the bus to Retiro Station from where we will take a train out of town to Tigre.

They even pass the Mate on the train and I love the sights onboard as we are entertained by windpipe and guitar players.

The train though quickly becomes very overcrowded particularly after we pass the exclusive tennis clubs and the race track as we head out of the city.

Carlos is very concerned that I might die if I lean too much against the doors...Morir is his cry every time the doors look like opening.

Tigre, a favoured weekend destination of the Porteño, is well worth the visit. Along with thousands of others we spend the afternoon strolling its river bank.

Situated just off the Rio de la Plata it is time to take to the water and explore the Delta del Paraná.

Our cruise will take us on the Rio Lujan, the Rio Carapachay, along the ARR Angostura, the Rio Espera and the Rio Sarmiento.

This could easily be Putney with all the rowers of the Buenos Aires Rowing Club out on the river.

After another successful day in Buenos Aires, its back home by train and tube.

Buenos Aires. Saturday 18th November 2006.

This morning I met up again with Carlos Roberto Da Silva Almeida and after checking in to my new hotel, the Castelar Hotel and Spa we headed off on the subway for Buenos Aires most upscale neighbourhood, Recoleta.

We take the subte and then stroll through this barrio's streets stopping off first at Plaza Rodríguez Peña. I get my first sight of a paseaperros the famous dog-walkers of Recoleta (people here are too posh to walk their own dogs!!).

The highlight of any visit to Buenos Aires though has to be the cemetery. By this I mean the Cementerio de la Recoleta, arguably the most exclusive real estate in the city.

I have never seen anything like it. Once inside the high walls that surround the cemetery you are transported to a miniture city where the elite of Buenos Aires come to rest.

It is strange to think that in a city where so many are homeless these small buildings could infact house living, rather than dead, families quite easily. Some mausoleums have stained glass windows. Looking inside you see coffins and caskets on display, staircases down to vaults, and in the well maintained mausoleums there are silver candle sticks, small altars and even chairs.

I am fascinated to discover that, unlike most cemeteries in the world you find that most tombs here are well maintained despite the obvious age of some of them. This is due to the fact that many are maintained by family trusts of investments that generate annual incomes solely for the purpose of mausoleum maintenance. So even when a family has "died out" so to speak their tomb will continue to be maintained.

Other tombs have fallen into poor repair simply because they do not benefit from such trusts. Maybe their inhabitants spent all their wealth to by a place with the elite in death; maybe the family members are all dead or simply no longer care...who knows?

It was wierd looking down steps on to coffins, but even more real when I witnessed a funeral currently in progress. This cemetery is alive and not simply a museum.

Quite simply this cemetery is a town in its own right with tombs like small houses and streets laid out on a grid plan.

The highlight though is the visit to the tomb of Evita, and possibly the many stray cats that make the cemetery their home.

After the cemetery we visited the neighbouring Basilica Nuestra Señora Del Pilar. This church was inaugurated in 1732 and it was built by the Jesuit monk Jesus Andres Blaqui who followed the principles of classicism in his construction of the facade. The Basilica has the only double belfry in Buenos Aires.

This is another stunning colonial church, yet the gilt here does not seem so over done, set, as it is, in a pure white classical framework. We visited the cloisters which house an interesting museum, but more interestingly they afford a fascinating overview of the cemetery.

Out into the Plaza Alvear we explore the market stalls and I bought my Mum a tango magnet for her fridge, before heading over to lunch at Frappé.

I love Buenos Aires. It has that wonderful cultured air of the continent. I love the whole café society atmosphere.

This afternoon I get another treat when I take a local bus back to my hotel.

An interesting twist is that this is not the hotel I originally booked. It was a replacement for a previous booking, but it is proving to be a treasure trove. In terms of its furnishings, it is stuck in a 1930´s timewarp and it could easily serve as a set for Thoroughly Modern Millie (drama departments take note).
At any moment, you expect Humphrey Bogart to walk through the door.

It is the sort of place that should never change, the 1970's bathroom is a testimony to this fact.

An even greater treasure is the hotels Baños Turcos, where I will sample my first ever Turkish Bath. Not only is the complex an architectural monument to the past, but so are the relics of fat old men who lounge on the day beds or sit at the bar reading the newspaper and smoking cigars.

It is appropriate that my changing room (number 58) is named after Pascual Peréz; who like my paternal grandfather, was a professional boxer.

Its Saturday night in Buenos Aires, so it must be Tango. I am heading out with Bob & Di and Paul & Viv for one last fling before they leave town.

Mark & Beanie are on their way back to London, but not before taking care of me. People can be so kind and they are so concerned that I am not robbed again that Mark leaves a special wallet with wire construction that I can hide and that will hopefully prove more difficult for attackers to steal.

Our destination is to be Bar Sur located in the centre of the two foundations of the city in the area of San Telmo, a hub of cultural and artistic acitivity.

This bar sits on the site of the mythical Union Bar and developed as one of the first Café Concert venues back in 1967. Bar Sur promotes Argentine culture and thus it is a treasure to the Porteña's (city inhabitants).

The Bar is particularly intimate. Whilst it is obviously a "fake" of small café life as was, and whilst it is designed for tourists, it still has the atmosphere partly due to the building itself but mainly because of the characters like the decrepit old man in the corner and the almost drag queen like singer who is most certainly mutton dressed as lamb!

We finish our night with dinner at La Casa de Esteban de Luca named for the Argentine poet and soldier born on August 2nd 1786. An outstanding scholar at San Carlos College he excelled in literature and language and graduated aged 21. In 1806 he carried the flag of the patricios regiment during the British invasions of Buenos Aires and he was appointed Director of the first arms foundry in 1816 where guns were manufactured that were used by General José de San Martin during his South America independence campaign.

In the field of literature he wrote the lyrics of Marcha patriótica the first Argentine national anthem. As a founding member of the literary society he wrote for newspapers for sometime before dying on March 24th 1824 the victim of a shipwreck in the Rio de la Plata.

Oh and the wine tonight was a Septima Malbec-Cabernet Sauvignon in Mark's honour!

My time back in South America has restored my faith in human nature and made me realise that whilst there are bad bastards out there, they are infact more than outweighed by the good.

I have particularly enjoyed Buenos Aires and I have had a fantastic day today, with fantastic people and I have made some real good amigos on my trip through Argentina and Chile.

Ushuaia to Buenos Aires. Friday 17th November 2006.

I spent this morning working on the project, before heading out in to town with Mark and Beanie for a last tour of Ushuaia. We headed for lunch at the wonderful Bodegón Fueguino where we were joined by Bob and Di.

This afternoon was a different type of flight as the group headed back to Buenos Aires before our evening in Puerto Madero dining at Bahia Madero.

Examples of Student Work.

Dear Will,

After reading your blog we noticed that you had visited a national park in Chile. We decided to do a comparison with one in Scotland.

Sean Lowson

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs
Size...1,865 sq km (720 sq miles).
Wildlife...Summer = birds Winter = swans and geese.
Location...West Scotland.
Facilities...Water sports, fishing and hillwalking.

Torres del Paine
Size...450,000 acres.
Wildlife...Llamas and many species of bird.
Location...2500km south of Santiago.
Facilities...Hillwalking – especially on Paine Massif. Kayaking, rafting and glacier crossing are also very popular.


We compared our favourite national parks, and think you should swing by them!! =]
Louise Hoban.

SOMETHING OF INTEREST ABOUT CHILE’S NATIONAL PARKS

Laja Lagoon National Park.
Location...The eighth region of Bío-Bío, 212 km (132 mi) east of Concepción. 86 km (54 mi) east of Los Ángeles.
Activities...Fishing, swimming, skiing, mountaineering, trekking, wildlife observation, photography, sea kayak.
Climate...From June to September there is snow and rain, with an annual average rainfall of 2,170 mm (85 in.). The average temperature in January is 13.6°C (57°F) and the minimum in July is -0.3°C (31°F).
When to go...Year round.

Los Flamencos National Reserve.
Location...Antofagasta Region, the ‘Tambillo’ sector is 27 kilometers (17 mi) south of San Pedro de Atacama.
Activities...Photography, wildlife observation, trekking.
Climate...Given the size of the reserve, in its different sectors there are important climatic differences. The rainy season occurs between the months of December and March, and during these months there are frequent electric storms.
When to go...Year round.

Humboldt Penguin National Reserve.
Location...Atacama and Coquimbo regions, Los Choros is 120 km (75 mi) northeast of La Serena.
Activities...Photography, wildlife observation, diving.
Climate...The climate is temperate with abundant morning fog which disappears by midday, and in the summer gives way to an intense sun. The annual rainfall is 30mm (1.1 in) and the average annual temperature is 18°C
When to go...Year round.

Villarrica National Park.
Location...La Araucanía region, 8 km (5 mi) southeast of Pucón. 120 km (75 mi) to the northeast is Temuco.
Activities...Fishing, sea kayak, white water kayak, rafting, skiing, mountaineering, trekking, wildlife observation, horseback riding, photography.
Climate...Rain between March and August, which varies between 2,500 and 3,500 mm (98 and 137 in.), and there is the possibility of up to 2m (6.5 ft) of snowfall. Between January and March, the minimum temperature can be 9°C (48ºF) and the maximum fluctuating between 20° and 23°C (68º and 73ºF), the lowest average temperature registered between May and August is 4°C (39ºF).
When to go...Year round.

Ushuaia. Tierra del Fuego. Argentina. Thursday 16th November 2006.

After a morning spent working on the project, Di and I head out to have lunch at Bodegon Fueguino on San Martin.

I then head over to the Ushuaia Aeroclub via the Evita memorial on Maipu.

I am to take a private flight over the Beagle Channel in a Piper Cherokee.

This plane is like a car inside, with a very small back seat. It has dual controls and is used for flying lessons. Inside there is a pungent smell of sick from a previous passanger.

Sitting on the runway we go through the pre-flight checklist and then its off...I feel like a true pioneer as we bounce along the runway. What an amazing place to take such a flight...and then we are up, up and away leaving Ushuaia heading out toward the national park to Lago Roca.

The view of the islands of the Beagle Channel is spectacular. I am very lucky and the break in the weather means that I have crystal clear views.

Flying down the Beagle Channel along the border between Argentina and Chile it is a perfect day for flying. The wind is from the South West (and so the prevailing wind in this area) and at 30 knots it is a little bumpy, but we got clearance from the tower and I didn't need to think twice about this excursion.

Crossing over into Chilean airspace we get a close up view of the Murray Channel in Chile where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet and which leads out to Cape Horn.

Pablo, my pilot was born here in Ushuaia and he has been flying for 11 years, since he was seventeen. He is a commercial pilot and he hands me the controls over the Beagle Channel and I get my very first shot of flying a plane. I am told you need to treat flying like a good woman...you always need to turn and pull up or descend slowly. I don't think I was any good, but then again, we didn't crash!

We fly very close to the Andes as the tower has directed us to make clearance for an Aerolineas Argentinas flight that is coming into land at the main airport.

The mountain valleys of Tierra Mayor and Andorra make a stunning W shape on the horizon.

It is very bumpy as we fly very close to Mount Olivia and then we sit above the city and watch the jumbo come into land.

Another highlight of my flight is the view of Luis Le Martial glacier (the water source for the city) before we come into land at the original city airport.

My thanks go to Pablo Jofre for a wonderful afternoon.

On to the towns' Falklands memorial set in a beautiful plaza on Maipu. The plaza is dominated by a sculpture in outline of the islands flown over by a huge Argentinian flag. This monument serves as a reminder of man's continuing inhumanity to man. We never learn the lessons of history and generation after generation we continue to destroy. The raised names of the dead on the memorial that I rub as I study the monument are a poignant reminder that every casualty is some mothers son.

Tonight on our way to supper we passed a protest on San Martin held by residents of the barrio districts of the city protesting about their economic exclusion from the wealth of Ushuaia.

The local view, from those who grew up here when the city had a population of only 5,000 roughly ten/fifteen years ago is that the protesters came south looking for steets paved with gold and found that there is also depression in this area...somewhere in the middle I am sure lies the truth!

We dine tonight at La Casa De Los Mariscos.

Ushuaia, Argentina. Wednesday 15th November 2006.

This morning we head down to the port for our sail out into the Beagle Channel and visits to Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse, Bird Island, Sea Lion Island and an onshore hike on Bridges Island.

Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse was built in the 1880's to facilitate the local exploration of the area and its resource base by Europeans. It was originally lit by sealion oil. Today, in a much more environmentally friendly manner, it is fuelled by a solar panel.

Here in Ushuaia, we are only 85km from Cape Horn and only 960 km from Antartica.

As we sail out into the channel we get our first sight of the gliding wonder that is the Albatross. We are to see a great deal of wildlife today from flightless steamer ducks, to rock, royal and imperial cormorants; and we are to experience the full force of the weather here in Tierra Del Fuego.

The winds in the Ushuaia area come mainly from the South West and are at their strongest between November and the end of February; and let me tell you it can feel really cold here. During our trip the wind changed direction and the Northwesterly brought with it driving snow that blinded our view as we returned to port.

Our day is to be a wonderous mix of rain, sun, wind and snow.

20,000 years ago the Beagle Channel was a huge glacier with only the mountain tops over 1,000 metres, such as Mount Olivia projecting above. As the glaciers advanced the weight of the ice crushed and grinded the rock sculpting mountains, excavating valleys and dragging debris over huge distances.

As temperatures rose around 18,000 years ago the glaciers began to melt and the Beagle Channel began to retreat westwards sedimenting the crushed materials. Between 12,000 and 10,000 years ago there was actually a land bridge between Patagonia and Tierra Del Fuego allowing the migration of mammals and humans with the sea level at 60 metres lower than today. As the sea levels rose, so the Magellan Strait became flooded.

Initially, as the glaciers melted, the Beagle Channel had been a fresh water lake. However, some 8,000 years ago the area was flooded by the sea as sea levels rose around the world. This flooding was to provide the resource base necessary for human survival in this area, i.e. fish, seals etc. Roughly 7,000 years ago the ancestors of the Yamana arrived and made use of the local resource base of the newly forested areas basing their lives around their canoes.

It is appropriate that Tierra Del Fuego, the end of the earth, was the last land-mass in the world to be inhabited; and, of course, it was the southernmost area to be populated with the first humans arriving here only 11,000 years ago (probably crossing the Magellan Strait when it was still a glacier).

However, like so much of human existence what appears on the surface to be advance is so often a step backwards in human development in the long-term.

The introduction of the white man to this area brought with it the hunting of whales and seals - removing the main source of the Yamana food supply. Indeed, the well-meaning, though misguided, missionary zeal of the Europeans removed for ever the harmony between the Yamana people and their environment.

The Yamana had adapted over 100's of generations to the harsh environment of Tierra Del Fuego and the hardy people lived naked here in this harsh environment with body masses that had adapted to survival. Like the North American Indian they hunted only for survival, not for fun or commercial gain; and like their North American cousins they used all parts of the animal. The grease of seals provided both energy and oil in which to coat one's body against the environment...in reality, a natural wet suit.

The traditional way of life meant that the Yamana spent a great deal of their time immobile squatting over fire in their canoes. The arrival of European missionaries driven by organisations such as The South American Missionary Society, which was formed in Britain in the mid 19th century; brought with it such marks of civilisation as clothing. The problem with wearing clothes is that when they get wet they stay wet and so they are bad for the health of a people living a traditional hunter gather lifestyle such as the Yamana.

The white man also brought with him his diseases. Tuberculosis, measles and whooping cough to name a few. In 1860 the Yamana population had been 2,500 people by 1893 only 300 Yamana were left.

Even as late as the last quarter of the 19th century there were four aboriginal tribes in Tierra Del Fuego and all were nomadic hunter-gatherers. The Shelknam, Yamana, Manekenk and Kaweskar.

One could argue that rather than civilising the Yamana, the Europeans could have learned from them. The Yamana society was based on principles of equality with no chiefs and women and men possessing the same rights. Food was divided equally amongst all present regardless of who had hunted/gathered it; and all this long before Susan B. Anthony or the Suffragettes.

Throughout history trade between diverse nations such as China, India and the Europeans had been conducted through 'middle-men' i.e. the countries that lay between these powers. However, technological advance from the late 15th and 16th centuries was to allow greater ease in voyages of discovery overseas. Such advance had been fuelled by economics and the demand for raw materials. Technological advance eliminated the role of the 'middle-man' and in the long term, I would argue brought social annihilation because the effect was to eliminate the buffer zones that had previously preserved the strength and integrity of individual cultures.

Believing in the superiority of their way of life and culture, the Europeans had the conviction to sieze the initiative. You could argue that the modern United States is taking the same approach globally. Modern conquest is also driven by economic and commercial interests with the spreading of religion and culture secondary considerations.

Tribes like the Yamana had been ignored for a long time simply because they did not possess the raw material base or goods necessary for early commerce. However, as economics progressed non-profit organisations such as The South American Missionary Society were inaugurated to evangelise and educate native peoples in preparation for the European way of life.

It was in 1869 that the first successful Anglican mission was established in Ushuaia, with the city formally founded in 1884. Whaling and fur seal hunting in Tierra Del Fuego had begun by Europeans in 1791 and an early sign of the destruction wrought is the fact that by the late 19th century such animals were almost extinct.

The Yamana Museum in Ushuaia is a must for any visitor!!!

Before heading to the museum, and just off the boat I visited the very friendly and very informative tourist information centre, and then it was off to Tante Sara for lunch. This cafe/bar has the cool motto of Date El Gusto, Es El Fin Del Mundo...Enjoy yourself, it is the end of the world!

After the museum, we head for a little shopping and coffes at Cafeteria Ushuaia. Today has been a day of sun and snow and I am not sure if it is the cold, but I constantly need to pee. Anyway, I decide to have a black beer, my first such drink...it turns out to be a stout.

Tonight we dine as a group at Saint Christopher on wonderful Argentinian beef.

From Chile back to Argentina and Ushuaia, the world's southern most city. Tuesday 14th November 2006.

Such a cool sight as we drive towards Argentina on the bus this morning is watching the driver (whom I am seated directly behind) and his sidekick passing Mate as we go along.

The highlight of this bus ride from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia is to be the opportunity to cross the Magellan Strait on a car ferry...not much bigger than that which crosses the River Dart in Devon.

The bus toilets are not the best and so I took my chances on the boat...no better, but it was touristy to take a leak on the strait and I had to get rid of the coffee somehow! The Magellan crossing takes place at Punta Delgada and we are to enter the Argentine province of Tierra Del Fuego here in the Southern Atlantic at San Sebastian.

The first sign you see as you enter Argentina here proclaims the Falkland Islands for Argentina...feelings still run deep in this country over the Malvinas.

As we continue our drive along the coast of the Southern Atlantic Ocean toward Rio Grande we pass many small drilling operations. This area feels like home in Scotland, with green rolling hills and a driving mix of sleat and snow; but unlike Scotland, I am not sure they get any nice days here. This is a land of lonely plains populated mainly by sheep as we journey to the End of the World.

Patagonia and the southern regions of Argentina and Chile remain far from the horizon of most of mankind, and if it were not for the Falkland´s War most people in the UK would not even know of the regions existence.

As you enter Rio Grande you are welcomed by a monument to the countries naval airmen closely followed by a huge memorial to the Falkland's War. Being so close geographically to the Falkland Islands, I imagine that this area was greatly affected by the war.

I get my answer to the nice days question on leaving Rio Grande, the weather affects another dramatic change, this time to sunshine.

We stop for snacks at La Union in Tolhuin and Argentina just gets better and better as we pass along lakes past snow capped mountains...this is one beautiful country!!!

As we climb up through Paso Garibaldi the scenery gets more and more like Canada.

In Ushuaia we are staying at the Mustapic Hotel, which was founded in 1972, the year of my birth!

Tonight we dine on wonderful Argentinian beef at Chicho's Restaurant and I enjoy calafate berry ice-cream.

Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas. Monday 13th November 2006.

Today we are off early on the bus from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas. After checking into the hostel I set about checking out the town.

First stop is lunch at El Quijote. The waterfront is not so pretty in this port, but the sea has obviously brought wealth and changing fortunes to this port over its history.

During our shopping this afternoon I have 10,000 pesos stolen from my bag. It is not a great deal of money, thank goodness, but it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

After our shopping expedition we head for coffee at Chocolatta where Kathrin and I also enjoy a waltz in the cafe atmosphere.

In the late afternoon we drive out along the Magellan Strait to the Otway Sound Penguin Colony. It is very very cold here, but well worth the visit.

The Magellan Penguins arrive from the southern coast of Brazil and the Falkland Islands between September 10th and 15th and then for the rest of the month they are preparing their nests. The first half of October is mating season and the resulting laying of eggs. Then until mid-November the Penguins brood and protect their eggs with the offspring born from mid-November to mid-December. By January/February the young are changing their feathers and beginning to swim and then from mid-March the Penguins will leave their nests and move to coastal Brazil and the Atlantic Islands.

On average, Penguins live between 25 and 30 years and they always come back to the place of their birth for the mating season. Normally they will produce 1 or 2 offspring and both males and females will take turns to watch and feed the young.

Penguins swim for food every 8 hours and they dive to depths of 30 to 35 metres. Penguins are monogomous and they come back to the colony only for the reproductive season.

Seeing the March of the Penguins in reality is a true wonder of nature.

Even though it is the beginning of the summer season here in Patagonia it can be bloody cold as demonstrated here at the Penguin Colony. These penguins must be hardy. I am really glad for the warm gloves muumy bought for me before this trip.

Tonight we dine as a group at Arco Iris.

REMEMBRANCE. November 11th 2006

For The Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,

England mourns for her dead across the sea.

Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,

Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal

Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,

There is music in the midst of desolation

And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;

They sit no more at familiar tables of home;

They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;

They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,

Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,

To the innermost heart of their own land they are known

As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,

Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;

As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,

To the end, to the end, they remain.

Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)




In Flanders Fields


In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

John McCrae, May 1915


The Soldier


If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England.
There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Rupert Brooke


As a serving Royal Naval Reserve Officer this became my favourite hymn and I can tell you that it is sung with no greater pride that at Chapel in Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth where my heart burst with pride in the uniform of the Senior Service of HM Forces.

Eternal Father, Strong to Save

Eternal Father, strong to save, Whose arm does bind the restless wave, Who bids the mighty ocean deep Its own appointed limits keep; O hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea.

O Savior, whose almighty word The winds and waves submissive heard, Who walked upon the foaming deep, And calm amid the rage did sleep; O hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea.

O Holy Spirit, who did brood Upon the waters dark and rude, And bid their angry tumult cease, And give for wild confusion peace; O hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea.

O Trinity of love and pow'r, Your children shiled in danger's hour; From rock and tempest, firs, and foe, Protect them wheresoe'er they go; Thus, evermore shall rise to Thee Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

John Bacchus Dykes, 1861


I VOW TO THEE MY COUNTRY

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love:

the love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
that lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;

the love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
the love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

And there’s another country, I’ve heard of long ago,
most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;

we may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;

and soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
and her ways are ways of gentleness and all her paths are PEACE.

Cecil Spring-Rice (1859-1918)

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.

Off into the Torres del Paine National Park. Chile, Friday November 10th 2006.

Friday 10th November 2006.

As we drive out to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine I realise that there are many more sheep here than people.

The Paine range is a spectacular sight as it unfolds across our vista as we drive deeper into the park. There is something majestic about snow capped craggy peaks that awakens both fear and freedom in equal measure.

In that wonderfully South American way they have a shop here at the park entrance full of stock that you can see, touch and smell...but the assistant won't sell you anything. You can hold it, but not buy it.

Nothing in Chile can be sold without a written receipt, and the shop, though full of stock, has no reciept book. It was lovely though to at least see and smell the food...handing it back was tough though!

Today we embark on a 16km climb to the base of Las Torres and along the way see a hanging glacier at Almirante Nieto.

What a genuine treat to have your photograph taken with the torres that give the region its name. Climbing up here you feel at one with nature!

On my return I reward myself with a Pisco Sour or two. Chile is also claiming Pisco as its national drink as it was Chile, and not Peru, who made Pisco commercially successful...I must say though, that Peru does Pisco Sour better!
Along with the drinks I enjoy the largest chicken sandwich I have ever seen at Hosteria Las Torres and then it is off to our campsite for my first night of camping in Patagonia.

Tonight I will sample Hierba Buena, a local tea, made from mint that grows wild in this region.

Our local guide, Eduardo is excellent, as the local guides have generally been on all the trips I have taken. He is highly professional and efficient in judging a pace relevant to the whole group.

Saturday 11th November 2006.

After a full breakfast at the campsite its off to Pudeto to sail across Lake Pehoe to the tiny settlement of Pehoe (which means hidden in the local language).

We learn a great deal today about rock formation and get to see the clear difference between glacier and rain water lakes. The rain water lakes have that bright electric blue colour, whilst glacier water gets its colour from the sediment present. Because there is only limited photosynthesis, life is limited in glacier lakes.

Today will be much more of a trek as we make the 19km journey from our camp at Paine Grande to Campamento Italiano and up through Valle Del Frances (where once again we encounter the rocky terrain of the Morrena). Morrena refers to the sediment and rocks that are left behind as a glacier retreats.

At precisely 11am, I stopped along with Mark (a fellow British climber) to observe the two minutes silence as a mark of respect to all the brave men and women who gave so much for so many.

The Parque Nacional Torres Del Paine is one of 11 states of the Sistema Nacional de Areas Silvestres Protegidas del Estado de Chile de la Duodecima Region which consists of 5 national parks, 3 national reserves and 3 natural monuments. This park was founded on the 13th of May 1959 and was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO on April 28th 1978.

The park has a varied environment from mountains and valleys, to lakes, glaciers, rivers and waterfalls. It is home to the impressive geological structures of the Paine range and the Southern Patagonian Ice-Field, which is the third largest ice-field on the plant after Antartica and Greenland.

In terms of flora and fauna I loved seeing the Notro Firebush which blooms only twice a year, fortunately one of those occassions is in November.

With my knees and ankles bandaged and my feet cut to shreds I am having the time of my life. Eduardo turns into George Clooney today to attend to three peoples feet and I am very grateful for the treatment I receive here at Bedrock Hospital.

Our hike today has taken us along Lago Skottsberg enroute to the spectacular view of Paine Grande and the Glaciar del Frances, that can only be seen here in the French Valley.

In terms of flora and fauna, the parks micro-climate provides a diverse range of vegetation from bushes to pre-Andean forests, step vegetation and Andes desert. The park is also home to the puma, the fox (which we are lucky enough to see), many many guanaco's, the Chilean deer and a wide variety of birds...including swans and flamingos.

In the summer months temperatures range from a maximum of 15c to a minimum of 3c and in the winter the maximum is 8c and the minimum -2.5c. However, whatever the time of year, with wind gusts up to 120km per hour it often feels much colder.

Its time to head back for tea and medals before a true night of Patagonian weather when the wind howls and the rain lashes our tents...yet, next morning at sunrise it is to be another beautiful Patagonian day.

Sunday 12th November 2006.

Today is to be a day to relax and let my poor old feet recover. That said I do visit the Salto Grande Waterfall before heading back to Puerto Natales.

I cannot stress enough the value of a good guide and Eduardo Sobarzo has been excellent. Highly knowledgeable, always professional, sensitive to the needs of all the group and genuinely caring. He manages to combine all this with an outgoing and cool personality. If you are a school group interested in coming to Patagonia I would suggest you could not do better than working locally with a local guide of the quality of Eduardo. I took the liberty of getting his contact details

eduardo.patagonia@gmail.com

and remember, as Eduardo told us...never pack your pack to more than 20% of your body weight.

Dinner tonight is at La Casa de Pepe with after dinner drinks at Aqua Terra.

Traveller's tip...I would recommend that when you are in Chile you try wine from the Carménère grape...the Santa Emiliana takes a lot of beating.

Interesting Scottish Facts...The first lady of Patagonian tourism is recognised to be Lady Florence Dixie. She is widely recognised to be the first tourist to visit Torres del Paine. Whilst there had been many expeditions to Patagonia in the 19th century, Lady Florence made the first purely pleasure trip. She was the author of Across Patagonia (published in 1880)which was both a travel journal and a log of her hunting expedition. Florence was fascinated by the towers that lend the region its name and she likened them to Cleopatra´s Neddle in London.
Today the island in the middle of Laguna Azul is named in her honour.

Oh, the Scotland Link...

Florence was born and is buried in Scotland. Her final resting place though is an unmarked plot on her family's estate. She was the daughter of the Marquis of Queensberry, the family that famously became embroiled in the scandal and court case surrounding Oscar Wilde. They were not a lucky family. Her father committed suicide when she was only 3 years old and one of her brothers was killed in a climbing accident when she was eight.

Her twin brother Jim, who had accompanied her to Patagonia was later to commit suicide and it was her other brother who took Wilde to court.

Because of her husbands addiction to gambling and alcohol she lost her home due to debts and she was to die at only 50 crippled with arthritis.

Patagonia has had it all. Drenching rain, scorching hot sun and blasting winds!