Monday, November 06, 2006

A football tour through Argentina


I came back to Buenos Aires a few days ago after my 3-week trip through Argentina, and now I sit here willing share with you one particular aspect I thought you might find interesting.

Throughout my trip, I’ve been to a rain forest in the North East with the gorgeous Iguazú Falls as the main attraction there. I’ve also been to the desert in the North West with a 90-square kms salt basin which was a pre-historic sea.

Then to the mountains that separate our country from Chile. Impressive views with 7-colours hills in the north and our continent’s top height (the Aconcagua -6.692 mts) a little bit down south in the beautiful Mendoza province, the land of wine and sunshine and the 7-lakes circuit in the provinces of Neuquen and Rio Negro.

Finally, we’ve got to the Atlantic coast and the whales were dancing in the bay, waiting for us to visit them.

I’ve got some pictures of every single place we’ve been but this time, those that I would like to share with you, were taken in some of my country's poorest regions. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the North, South, West or East, there is always one common link between the people in Argentina.

There is one thing that don’t care if you’re rich or you’re poor. If you’re catholic or you’re muslim. If you vote for left or right political parties.

Football is ever-present in Argentina and here you can see my very tiny little photo gallery of the diversity of pitches, surfaces and places you’ll see kids or grown-ups running like crazy behind the ball.
Picture index (from top to bottom)
1. A view through the wall in a local football club located in the outskirts of Cafayate, a little town near the province capital of Salta. Boca Juniors were facing Newell's at the same time, hence the empty pitch as everybody was watching the television.
2. A football match in a very irregular field in Tilcara, Jujuy. I was having trouble breathing because of the high-altitude and these guys were chasing the ball like mad people!
3-4. Some kids kicking it in Cafayate, Salta. I can tell you the one with the multi-coloured top sure has great reflexes on goal! Amazing stuff!
5. A chicken walking by as the kids play some footy. Cafayate, Salta.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Seba,

Thanks for sharing with us these beautiful pictures that you have taken.

I must agree with you that football or sports in that particular manner is a universal language. It gets people from different background involve in the name of team spirit towards a common goal.

It is amazing to know in some part of Argentina despite of being poverty, many kids who came from this background went on to become great players of their generation.

John
Malaysia