This might be my first Dakar but I do have experience of off road rallies. I have commentated on the Central Europe ’08, Silk Way ’09 and Produced the Estoril-Portimao-Marrakech Rally for Eurosport, but a full Dakar is a new experience, as is Argentina.
I tried to avoid too much advice, I didn’t want to start thinking about how badly or well I could achieve what the mighty Toby Moody has been doing for about 10 years. I also like to have an unbiased view on things without other people imposing their views. When I went to Marrakech, I was just thinking about the souks, as though the hustle and bustle would be mirrored about the country all thanks to some scaremongers!
We flew in from the north as the sun was setting and immediately it was clear why this area makes such a good rally venue. Baron lands for miles and miles. As the lights of Buenos Aries approached it was clear it wasn’t confined by any boundaries, the city sprawled far into the distance, the lights slowly fading to nothing. There was no high-rised intensity, and the streets seemed wide. Dotted around the expanse of sulphur yellow were dark spots, quite a few of them.
The airport was efficient and immediately stepping out you were hit by the heat. We had arrived about 10:30 and the temperature was still far above 25 degrees, sticky and slightly suffocating. Besides the temperature there was an air of calm that is very rare at airports these days, perhaps it was to do with the temperature.
I had established certain ideas in my head of what to expect, drawing on a short trip I once made to Sao Paulo, but this was polar opposite. The streets were mainly clean, everyone seemed very friendly and welcoming and although our taxi to the hotel desperately wanted to kill us zig zagging on the 5 lane highway into the city, I was calm.
The French had been welcoming too, still mainly reluctant to speak English to me so I tried with my limited French to say hi and ask how they were…. That’s about as far as it got! 3 weeks of this, Yippie!
For the first 4 days we stay in the Savoy which has been refurbished, and is very smart, a far cry from the tent we will spend the rest of the rally in. The rally is based in La Rural, a huge exhibition centre more used to housing horse power of a very different sort. The stadium is the venue for some of the best polo in the world, while the main event for the centre is a celebration of Argentinean countryside…. Can you imagine Earls Court doing that sort of thing?! They love the grass here, those dark patches I saw from the plane are large parks. I always think parks in London look odd, almost forced, whereas the huge expanses here give the city a relaxed atmosphere. Most streets are lined with trees, which limits the light, but that is good in this heat, 35 degrees yesterday!
While I was amazed at the price of a taxi (£5 for about 20minutes), eating out has rather shocked me. Argentinean beef is the best in the world and seeming everywhere but for the privilege of tasting ‘Lomo’- tenderloin, comes close to £20 without any ‘sides’! Ok I am not complaining, the style of cooking the beef means you start with a crispy, salty outer edge, but once the knife has broken the crust it slowly starts to glide through the meat, the centre warmed but barely cooked. The taste was incredible, an absolute dream.
We were eating in Rjo Alba on the outskirts of Palmero and Soho, the party districts. Every bar was overflowing with enthusiastic, young Argentineans, all with smiles, really enjoying life. There were a few easily spotted tourists; like us wandering aimlessly, gawping at the life of the place. We settled on a small bar, with walls painted red with psychedelic pictures, I think, depicting alien people having sex! Whatever they were, it was cool, and unlike the Soho of the UK, there was space to breath, spread your arms and soak up the atmosphere without getting a lout with a few pints bumping into you and pouring them down your back! I love this place, now to find someone who speaks English!
I have noticed something a little odd, cars seem to be cross-pollinating: Almost all ‘Corsas’ are actually Chevrolet badged, VW’s most popular car is the Gol, no ‘f’ and this morning I saw a Honda Jazz cleverly disguised as Honda Fit! Talking of fit, I have been slight disappointed by the Argentinean girls…. In general not as drop dead as I had been led to believe, but at least my good friend Joe from Monster has imported some nice ones to stand in front of the new Mini Countryman!
Got a day off tomorrow so will endeavor to blog about the what I am doing here, and how it will work….thats if I get told!
Over the rally I will be blogging on this site and on my new website www.benconstanduros.com where I will give you an in depth look into the workings of the rally and also keep up to date on the race itself at Dakar.com, I am at twitter to @Benconsty
No comments:
Post a Comment