Blog - Thursday June 2nd 2011

Location: On a bus somewhere between Buenos Aires & Santiago!

Im sitting on a bus about 2 hours from Mendoza and approx. 7 hrs into a 22hr bus trip from Buenos Aires Argentina to Santiago Chile. The movie "Inception" has just finished playing on the in-bus entertainment system and most other passengers are now preparing to sleep - its midnight. My laptop battery indicator tells me I have 35mins of power left so just enough time to blog about yeaterdays boat trip to Colonia de Sacramanto in Uruguay.

As the boat docked in the harbor of the small seaside resort the first and most obvious thing I noticed was clear skies! Having spent the best part of 3 weeks in some of South Americas smog polluted cities it was refreshing to be once again out in the open and fresh air. Colonia Del Sacramento is actually the oldest town in Uruguay and has a population of about 21,000 so its be no means small. In a lot of ways it reminded me of Newport Rhode Is where I spent a couple of months in early 2010. I took a stroll to the tourist office and inquired what was worth seeing during my 6 hour stay. Despite having not a word of english the assistant marked a couple of spots worth visiting and so map in had I headed off on a 5km trek to see something called "The Bullring". The walk itself was all along the beach and sure enough I spotted the old ruins of what must have been a huge arena in its day standing derelict with nothing nothing in it bar the glare of the midday sun. Signs in Spanish stood as warning to potential trespassers and even a police man sat in his car at its entrance although I could swear he was asleep!

Much more interestingly I found next to the Bullring an abandoned railway station which was now a "train grave yard" complete with old time carriages from a more regal time. On the map I also noticed the "Hippodrome" and it was very close to where I was standing and being the horse racing fan that I am I just had  to check it out. I have seen a lot of impressive things on my travels but the sight of this old racecourse with its wrought iron gateway, tree lined entrance avenue and even a chalk results board was like stepping back in time to the 1940s (when the track opened!). I would even say that nothing had been changed, improved or modernized since the first day a horse completed a circuit there. There were some workmen re-sanding a patch of the course just past the finishing line but they paid no attention to me as I let myself in and wondered around the paddock, the parade ring and the stands. I have been to Aintree, Cheltenham, Longchamp and even Churchill Downs (only a month ago) but this deserted racetrack in the back arse of Uruguay trumped them all at that very moment and I sat there in the stands for a good twenty minutes imagining what this place was like on a typical 1940s race day! Its the simple things in life that I like and the simplicity of this place made sitting there basking in its glory a blissful pleasure and I would have sat there in the sunshine all day but I had to hike the 5km back into town!

Back in the town center I found a nice cafe/bar on the pier and sat to have some lunch. I had no sooner bitten into my grub than I had one of those "jesus you cant go anywhere moments" as two women in their mid 30s one of which had a very recognizable Irish accent sat down at the table beside me. Now I didn't know her but I could easily place the accent to a town in south Co. Tipperary, a town I once knew well and Im sure she and I probably knew some of the same people from there. I thought about saying hello until they began a very personal conversation about relationships, sex when they were teenagers and even fears of dogs and clocks!!! It was only then that I realized that these two obviously thought (being as we were in Uruguay!) that I didn't speak a word of English and sure who was I to ruin their assumption! On and On the conversation went... I eventually learned that they were sisters and from a large family (not uncommon for this town in Tipp either!!) however one of them had an essex twang to her accent and as the conversation proceeded I learned that she had moved away and married in the UK but had recently gone through a divorce. Funny as all of this was and indeed their complete careless attitude to what they were talking about in public, what struck me as most humor-some was that typically Irish trait  possessed only by Irish women where they can have a two hour conversation with someone else without listening to a single word that person is saying!!!  Its really an art.... and these two were experts at it and completely oblivious to it at the same time. The first woman started a conversation about her boyfriends (god help the chap!) fear of dogs while her sister talked at the same time about her recent divorce... neither missed a beat however and thus produced a symphony of nonsense that any unwilling eves-dropper (ie me!)could only laugh at.... but i couldn't laugh remember as they thought I couldn't understand a word they were saying! These two had serious issues.... like who the hell has a fear of clocks???... and both were in therapy... figures! Really hope that works out for them. I could have sat there and been entertained by them for hours but the sun was setting and my boat was leaving..... I was really really tempted to say hello in my Irish accent as I was leaving but resisted - after all these two had enough problems all ready!!!

Time to get some shut-eye myself and awaken to the sights of the Andes mountains... Until tomorrow.

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