Foreign - Familiar - Farewell

As the sliding doors of the Santiago Metro opened at La Moneda, I stepped onto the platform and was struck with recognition. Directly in front of me was Volcan Licancabur as seen from San Pedro de Atacama. To the left, the vineyards of Valle de Elqui. Across the tracks, Volcan Osorno and Lago Llanquihue and an aerial view of the Andes, such as is witnessed on a flight to Buenos Aires.

These enormous paintings have accompanied me on an almost daily basis. I have passed them without thinking since I first set eyes on their unfamiliar landscapes. Filled with trepidation, I marvelled at their beauty as they loomed over me - unknown worlds in a foreign country.

But suddenly, they have become familiar. I feel a rush of memory as I recall the terrain and I feel a little more a part of the world around me.

This is my farewell to Chile; the discovery that a world so alien - that left me without language, without culture, without identity - can become normal. It's been a struggle, I did not have the easiest of starts, and there are things I still find hard to deal with. But my Chilean adventure has taught me that from nothing, new ways of communicating can be learnt, new careers can be forged and wonderful new friends can be made.

And above all, outside of the smoggy metropolis of Santiago, Chile is one astonishingly beautiful country. Of the spectacular landscapes that have provided the backdrop to my daily commute, we are so incredibly lucky to have set eyes on their wonders.

Final observations

Or blog posts that didn't quite make it to fruition

With just 48 hours left of our time in Chile, it's a sure-fire fact that there are a million and one things that I still want to write about. Here's a selection of snippets of observations that have been floating around my brain but as yet haven't made it on to paper.

Traffic

Traffic in Santiago drives Carlos and I completely round the bend (excuse the pun). Beeping the horn is as obligatory as gear changes and takes the place of a dawn chorus in the early morning rush hour. While traffic lights here signify the following actions:

• Green light - zoom through as fast as you can, beeping the horn at anyone who happens to slow down or stop for any reason, be that for congestion, red traffic lights up ahead, a stray pedestrian or because they've crashed into a fence (yep, we watched this happen).
  
  
• Amber light - speed up even more to make sure you get through before the lights 'change' (no preparing to stop here).
  
  
• Red light - only takes effect after the first 5 or 6 cars have gone though the red light. Likewise, traffic starts moving again from around 30 seconds before the lights change to green (or the driver's patience is at an end, whichever is the shortest).

"Mani, mani, cuchufli"*

Chileans are an industrious and resourceful nation. Whenever there is an occasion to sell something, you can guarantee there's a vendor right there. Roaming sellers are ubiquitous; whether on the street, at the Metro entrance or in the micro, you can pick up everything from Super Ochos, to tights, to plasters, to sewing thread.

Of course there is a serious side to this, as this on-the-hoof selling is how many, many Chileans make a living. But the funniest thing (at least to us) is the appropriateness of the goods. If it's a hot day - it's ice-creams, a chance of rain - umbrellas, new year - yellow underwear, football match - vuvuzelas and silly hats. And the best I've seen so far is a kid selling lemons in the middle of a demonstration, to help participants counteract the effects of tear gas!

You will also never go hungry in Chile as "catering" (pronounced as cat not Kate) is rife. Concerts, beaches and parks all ring with the sound of "mani, mani, cuchufli". It's become a running joke between us now, that even in the most isolated spots like the Tatio geysers, there will probably be someone with a cardboard box full of goodies.

*Mani = peanuts; Cuchufli = a tube of pastry filled with manjar and covered in chocolate; Manjar = sweetened condensed milk boiled to a caramel-like consistency; Super Ocho = a chocolate covered wafer bar


Car alarms

Car alarms are musical here in Chile. My first jetlagged experience was trying to sleep while a flypast went low overhead as part of the Fiestas Patrias celebrations continually setting off a cacophony of alarms. Eventually, it reached the point that Carlos and I could sing along. Something like:

Ner - nir - ner - nir, nuuuurgh - nuuuurgh, woo woo woo woo woo woo woo woo wooo, ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne, mwik miwk miwk miwk.

You get the picture.


Isabel Allende

Going all serious for the moment, I never had the opportunity to follow up on my New Heroes post and write about Isabel Allende. I read her excellent book The House of the Spirits, which is basically the history of Chile in fictional form, which deals with everything from post-colonial feudalism to state torture under the dictatorship. I like her for her presentation of strong women in her novels, within a society that is very male dominated.


On being a giant

This is the mirror that every other woman checks their
hair and make-up in on the way to the Metro

Right back at the beginning of my stay here in Chile I observed how freakishly tall I am in this country and how it leads to a lot of eyes turning in my direction. Sadly for me, this hasn't got any better. I still have to endure the entire Metro carriage looking at me with curiosity as I stand there trying not to get too flustered. I still get in the way in department stores and bash into things (nothing new there then) and I still find myself able to see over the top of toilet doors. And I still terrify the occasional child.

While I may have learnt the hard way the value of ducking my head, I'm looking forward to only being slighter taller than average and not a startling object of wonder.


Yo Hablo Chileno

It's hugely well documented that coming to Chile will supposedly ruin your Spanish. Or that if you can understand Spanish here, you can do it anywhere. Now, I'm not one to judge, but I will agree that there is a great deal of slang and that the pace and pronunciation make navigating conversations a challenge at times. But despite my consciousness that I would eventually be speaking Spanish with Spaniards, I hadn't realised quite how 'Chileno' was my vocabulary until Carlos and I sat today making a list of all the words that I know that are not used in Spain. Oh, and when we tried to buy slices of ham in the supermarket last weekend and it was me that the assistant could understand and not Carlos! Here's to the very strange combination of a Brit speaking Chileno with family from northern Spain on my next visit to Zaragoza...

Places I didn't get to write about

Valparaíso

Oh Valparaíso, I believe you to be an enchanting city by the sea and I was so excited to discover you. But we caught each other on a bad day: fog and rain, wandering around one of your run-down sides, everything shut because it was a public holiday and then the incident with the vicious dog. I'm sorry, perhaps another time I will fall under your spell.


Isla Negra

Home of Chile's most famous poet, Pablo Neruda, and you can see where he drew his inspiration. Perched on a cliff-top with the most fantastic view of the Pacific, Isla Negra is a dream house for anyone with an artistic soul. What a site to make your home and your final resting place.


Pukará de Quitor

700 year old ruins of a fort built by the Atacameñan people a couple of kilometres bike ride from San Pedro de Atacama. An historic defensive spot with a magnificent view.

La Serena

Lying at the mouth of the Elqui valley, architecturally beautiful La Serena boasts several churches, beaches, tranquil Japanese gardens and an archaeological museum with none other than a Moai statue, direct from Easter Island. La Sereñan president, Gabriel González Videla made sure his home received the best during his time in office.


La Moneda

Chile's presidential palace where the work of government is conducted and right in our barrio (neighbourhood). Tours take place daily and give you an interesting look at some of the working rooms of the building and its chequered history.


Museo Arte de la Luz

An innovative open air museum in the Bellavista/Recoleta neighbourhoods that projects paintings of Chile onto the (usually not very fast flowing) waters of the River Mapoche. It's an interesting idea, and the images are eye-catching, but the lack of water for the majority of the year means you don't really get to experience its full impact.


Precolumbine Museum


Housed in a former mansion close to Santiago's Plaza de Armas, this museum includes various South American artefacts dating from the eras before the arrival of Columbus to the continent. Mainly pottery and stone for functional, decorative and ceremonial uses, along with an extremely interesting textile room.


Sculpture Park


A fun Sunday afternoon meander along the Mapoche river in the Pedro de Valdivia area of Santiago, with sculptures of wood, metal and other materials by a range of local artists.

Hiking the cordillera

With the Andes as such a magnificent backdrop to the everyday city of Santiago (below is the view from my office, just to rub it in), we have often wondered if it was possible to get out and enjoy a day amongst them, without the need for loads of mountaineering equipment or being particularly in shape.

Delightfully, the answer is yes! There are 5 or 6 national parks dotted along the east of the city which are easily accessible, including via public transport.

Meeting our criteria of:

1. An easy to follow waymarked route without the need for a map;
2. A fairly easy-going hike that wouldn't see us hanging onto craggy outcrops for dear life; and,
3. Not requiring a succession of ever complicated bus routes (especially those scary-looking orange micros)

was a park to the east of Ñuñoa, the details for which have now disappeared off the Park Association's website. But here's what we did:

• From the Alameda, we took bus number 403 east - staying on it almost to the end after Vicuña Mackenna, Irarrázabal and Larraín
• We alighted a few moments after the aerodrome and military hospital, when the bus makes a right turn
• Back onto Larraín, we started walking towards the mountains - a slow incline that was a little tiring on the legs, for about 15 minutes until we reached the entrance to the park

The entrance fee to the park was 600 Chilean pesos each and we had to leave our details with the security hut at the entrance. From there (alongside various adventurous looking outdoor activities) were a series of trails going up into the mountains.

Our plotted route took us on paths labelled as senderismo and trekking; the first supposedly being just normal walking, while the second would have some pretty steep parts. Exhaustingly, we did nothing but go up and up and up (although I suppose we should have figured that out, it being a mountain range and all).

The first part of the walk took us through a picnic area and then onto an access road which wound its way up the mountain. Then the second part, which was trekking, involved more climbing than we were expecting. It was a dry day so scrambling in between rocks wasn't too bad, but it meant we didn't get as far as we'd hoped.

What we did get though was an awesome view of the Santiago smog in all its glory! Although I think I would have preferred to be in the thick of it and not know...

Return to the '80s

Here's something I hadn't expected to find in Chile (picture below):

A slightly famous wedding dress

The fashion conscious or royalists amongst you will know that this is Princess Diana's wedding dress. Not the actual gown, but one of the versions that went into designing the final ensemble, worn by the late princess for her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981.

But what on earth is it doing in Chile?

Well, a couple of weeks ago I made my second visit to the fantastic Museo de la Moda (fashion museum) in Vitacura, Santiago. I first went on my birthday, way, way back in October when I knew nothing about Chile, was feeling extremely alienated and homesick and really needed to do something to cheer myself up. This time I found myself strolling up without getting lost, chewing on a Super 8 (it's a Chilean chocolate biscuit bar) and buying my ticket in Spanish with ease. No guided tour in English for me this time! How things change...

Back to the Future

I was visiting the second instalment of the museum's Return to the '80s exhibition (Volver a los '80s II) which has its centre piece the car/time machine from the film Back to the Future along with protagonist Marty McFly's jacket. Pretty cool, but of course I was there for the fashion.

A new room has been added with an exhibition about Body Map, London-based designers that were highly influential in the fashion world of the era, dressing the likes of Boy George.

The other rooms followed the same format as before - street fashion, celebrities, designer and couture. It was in the celebrity room that I stumbled across Princess Diana's dress, along with a pink full-length shoulder-padded gown belonging to Joan Collins and items from Madonna and Duran Duran.

Chanel in the 'disco' room

The designer section continued to dazzle, with cases from Jean-Paul Gautier (more conical bras), John Galliano, Armani, Issey Miyake, Thierry Muglar and Vivienne Westwood. Then downstairs in the 'disco' room (with very loud music and so dark I could hardly read the notes) was what I've labelled 'couture', beautiful, beautiful, beautiful tailoring from the likes of Chanel and Yves Saint Lauren, as well as a Chilean designer, Ruben Campos.

What I found most interesting this time, was my greater appreciation of the context of the exhibition. I watched for the second time a video that explains the making of the exhibition and which includes various famous Chileans from the decade talking about their experiences of the fashion and culture of the '80s and Chilean society at the time.

For a start, I recognised a lot more of the faces and many of the cultural references were no longer alien to me. But I also felt like I understood what they were saying a little more, and not just in terms of the language.

Chile has an odd affair with the '80s. The entire decade was lived through the dictatorship, with curfews and repression and very little exposure to outside influences. And yet today there exists a massive nostalgia for the music and fashion. Whether it's because people feel they missed out, or because the world being lived by New York and London was such a polarity to what was permitted in Chile at the time, I don't know and I'm in no place to speculate. But it was insightful to realise that mutually, Chile and I have got under each other's skin.

Truly winter... in August

Yesterday it snowed in Santiago which apparently is a BIG DEAL. For those of you who know the city, it was snowing as far west as Tobalaba, which I'm told very rarely happens. Sadly, the weather wasn't freakish enough to be snowing downtown at La Moneda, but it was nonetheless pouring with rain; unusual enough, in that I had to root around in the back of the wardrobe for my umbrella while Carlos dusted off his waterproofs.

So as today dawned with the sun shining brightly, clear blue skies and the snow-covered Andes strikingly visible thanks to an absence of smog, what better day to enjoy our final sojourn into the mountains, with another trip to Cajon del Maipo.

The Andes, as seen from metro line 4

Attentive readers will remember we last went to the Cajon at the start of autumn. The first snows had just fallen and the leaves were beginning to turn gold. This time around, we arrived in San Jose de Maipo to a backdrop of blanketed hills and dripping water.

San Jose de Maipo

San Jose is the main village in the valley - a cute place to hang out but not loads to do. So after an empanada and an amble, we jumped back on the micro to go a little further into the valley to San Alfonso and the resort of Cascadas de las Animas (cascades of the spirits).

Cascadas de las Animas is a really pretty complex of campsites, cabañas (cabins) and land to explore. We paid the 4000 pesos fee for a two hour-ish walk to the waterfalls and back and set-off accompanied by one of the local dogs, who we nicknamed Ginger once we realised she was in it for the long-haul and we weren't going to shake her off, despite forcibly leaving her outside the gate.

The walk took us along the river and up through the forest to the site of two waterfalls. It was the closest we'd ever been to a waterfall and made us feel like we were in a Robin Hood film. The view looking back at the snow-covered Andes was also, of course, spectacular.

It was a perfectly romantic end to our last chance at sightseeing in Chile before we return to the UK. Well it was, until the slight drama of me taking a rather heavy tumble on our way back down the mountain from the waterfalls. Despite bashing my elbow badly on a rock (which hurts a lots - I wouldn't recommend it), somehow I managed not to break my arm. And so in true Jayne-style, we ending our final day of sightseeing. At least it was memorable!

The Maipo river

Cascadas de las animas

Tatio geysers

Tatio geysers are one of the 'must-sees' while in the Atacama. Situated right next to the border with Bolivia at a height of 4200 metres above sea-level, Tatio is the third biggest geyser field in the world, with over 80 active geysers (according to Wikipedia).

Tours from San Pedro set out at around 4am to arrive at the geysers just before dawn - the time when there is the greatest difference in temperature between the cold morning air and the hot molten rock below.

Just before dawn

One of the oldest geysers

We arrived as the sun was just starting to come up, with an outside temperature of minus 8 degrees centigrade.

Our guide took us to see different types of geysers - some of the oldest with mini volcanoes around them, others that had become covered and so were trying to find new ways of breaking through the earth's crust.

A surprise for me, was that I had expected to see fountains of water shooting up into the air. While it wasn't that dramatic, it was nonetheless a very surreal landscape, of cracks in the earth's surface, steam and sulphuric smoke and water bubbling up out of the ground.

Bubbling geyser

After a brief stroll, we had breakfast; hard boiled eggs and warm milk - both prepared in the steam of one of the geysers. Refreshed, and with the sun now flooding the valley, we moved onto another part of the field where there was a hot spring pool. Carlos took a dip while I ambled slowly around, finding it difficult to breath with the altitude and the cold.

The sun flooded the steam-filled valley

Vicuñas

At around 9.30am, we began our way back down the mountain, this time in full sunlight so we could take in our surroundings. Our first stop on the journey was to see vicuñas - similar to a llama. We saw 36 animals in total made up of two packs - a very rare sight. They were fighting as we drew close, before our bus and the vicuñas entered into a staring match.

Continuing on a wildlife theme, next we tried to spot a large greenish rabbit, which camouflages itself brilliantly amongst the rocky cliffs. Typically, I was the only person on the bus who couldn't spot one, but I've since seen a photo! Then a little further along the valley, we visited some wetlands, with giant coots among other birds.

The village church

Still at around 4000 metres above sea level, we made our final stop at a tiny village that had about 6 houses and an asado (barbecue) on the go for the tourists. Its speciality was llama anticuchos, that's kebab skewers, which were seriously delicious, although that did bring a rather abrupt end to our nature watching!

Flamingos and moonscapes

Returning now to our desert trip, after a brief jaunt to the Elqui Valley (in a literary sense that is).

Sightseeing in the Atacama Desert requires booking tours, of which there are hundreds. That is, there are hundreds of companies (or at least it feels that way) but the tour content of each is much of a muchness. Going by a recommendation, we opted for Desert Adventure and reserved everything before we left Santiago.

Our first tour of the trip was to the Salar de Atacama to see some flamingos. But we were left dangling tantalised for a while; first we were taken to a nearby river oasis, where fruit grows in the middle of the arid wasteland; second, to the village of Toconao, with an interesting church and bell tower and a handicraft shop. Finally, as the sun began to set, we were taken to the Salar.

The Salar de Atacama is a vast salt flat, formed when rivers coming down from the mountains simply dry up in the desert heat. We were surprised to discover that the Chilean flats aren't the dazzling white expanses we were expecting; instead, the wind and the sand of the desert churns them up into a brown, knobbly texture - a little like the top of a crumble!

It's a stunning view, with salt and sand as far as the eye can see on one side, and volcanoes on the other. And plonked right in the middle, are a series of lagoons created by underground water sources, on which live the flamingos. 

Showing a surprising lack of timidity, the flamingos continued eating, drinking and roosting as flocks of cooing tourists snapped photo after photo of a sunset flushed with pink.

On the second afternoon, we travelled out to the Valle de la Muerte (Valley of Death) and Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley). Both are unreal landscapes, carved into the stone and sand by the constantly eroding force of the wind. In Valle de la Luna, we saw the obligatory Tres Marias rock formation, which is sadly now only two Marias after an unknown culprit knocked part of it down. We also saw an old salt mine and miners refuge now returned to the sands.

The afternoon culminated in another breathtaking sunset, the dry rock awash with soft pinks and oranges and long shadows sliding up the sides of the mountains. We had to be dragged away by our tour guide, or we would have been tumbling back down the sand dunes in the dark.

Stargazing

This weekend took us to the Elqui Valle (or Valle de Elqui) and the extremely relaxed town of Vicuña; a San Pedro in the making but less touristy and more Chilean.

Having spent the morning in La Serena, we hopped on a micro headed up the valley and were soon treated to some lush green mountainsides under a sparkling clear blue sky. Signs were promising for our evening plans...

We relaxed for a while in our delightful hostel, Donde Rita, run by a German lady with perfect Spanish. A slightly disorientating experience, but in a good way, as the lodging was decorated in a very similar vein to my parents' house and it felt like being back in England! Batteries recharged, we left in search of our night time entertainment as a full moon popped up over the mountains.

Enough teasing, as the title suggests, we were of course headed for an observatory. Chile is famed for its clear skies and Vicuña is blessed with 300 totally clear days (and nights) per year. The Elqui Valley is also somewhat infamous for its high volume of UFO sightings, but maybe that's down to the pisco (more on that to come).

The municipality of Vicuña operates an accessible observatory for anyone interested in learning about the stars. It costs 3500 Chilean pesos to enter plus 1500 for transport if you don't have your own. Tours run every day at 6.30pm and 8.30pm in the winter time and a minibus will take you up to the Mamalluca observatory, located around 9km from Vicuña. There are also tours available in English if you remember to ask (we didn't).

The evening started with a 15 minute or so lecture on the universe. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't understand a thing due to a mixture of terrible sound quality and the presenter's very strong Chilean accent. Neither could Carlos though which made me feel better.

Thankfully, things improved when we were split into a group of around 20 and assigned our very own astronomer who took us to have a look at the telescopes. Felipe, our extremely knowledgeable but easy-to-understand guide, pointed out some of the principle constellations visible to the naked eye - including the Southern Cross (which obviously we don't get to see in the northern hemisphere), the Southern Triangle (probably a dreadful translation of mine but you get the idea) and most excitingly of all, the Scorpio constellation, right above our heads. I was pretty over-the-moon, if you'll excuse the pun, to see my own star sign up there in the sky.

Next, we were allowed to have a go on the telescope to look at a dim, yellow-ish star just above the horizon - which turned out to be Saturn. Although it was tiny, with the assistance of the telescope, it was easy to make out the distinctive rings that characterise the sixth planet from the sun.

As it was a full moon, our astronomy expert explained, we weren't able to see as much of the sky as at other times due to the amount of light. However, what we were able to do was have a good old look at the surface of the moon through the telescope. A real privilege, as we observed alien seas and mountain ranges, along with having the opportunity to take a spectacular photo.

After this, we were taken to the strongest telescope on the site, housed in one of those circular-roofed buildings which opens and turns depending on where you want to look. Here we were shown a series of very distant stars, one of which was the Jewel Box, a young constellation that has three superbly bright stars in different colours that resemble precious stones. The second constellation was very old, accompanied by the dizzying fact that because it is so far away, the star has probably already died, and what we see today is how it looked many years ago.

San Pedro de Atacama

The desert oasis of San Pedro de Atacama is located some 24 hours by road from Chile's capital Santiago. Feeling this was a little too long a bus journey for us, we flew to the nearby city of Calama. The flight takes just under two hours, with several connecting transfers via taxi or minibus into San Pedro. All very slick and professional, the transfer takes between one hour and an hour and a half depending on where your hostel is located on the route. We were last to be dropped off, as we were staying at the Sumaj Jallpa - a cute, clean and cosy hostel on the outskirts of the village, but just a 10 minute walk from the centre.

San Pedro itself is tiny and can be walked around in about half an hour. It's a real tourist trap, full of backpackers of all nationalities (although a lot of Brazilians, French and Spanish at this time of year) and its dusty streets are littered with tour operators, souvenir shops and cafes. Despite this, it didn't feel annoyingly touristy like Pucón; it has a nice relaxed feel about it with everyone (including the stray dogs) reposing in the sun and getting along.

The church of San Pedro

Main sightseeing points include the church, a sparkling white national monument with beautifully adorned statues inside. Also fascinating is the archaeological museum Gustavo Le Paige ($2000 CLP / $1500 CLP for students) which covers the history of the first settlers in the region, through the arrival of the Incan empire and later the Spanish conquistadors, although occasionally in a little too much detail. The museum houses lots of interesting artefacts, including early stone tools, pottery and even textiles, all of which were kept preserved by the desert sands.

Spending a morning mooching around San Pedro's plentiful souvenir shops was fun, although you'll find that most stock the same items and that (we suspect) the majority are made in China and are not the wares of local artisans. That said, we found a really interesting jewellery shop that had some unique and reasonable priced pieces, such as a copper bangle I picked up for $10000 CLP. Our favourite souvenir shop (which we visited three or four times in our indecisiveness over gifts) turned out to be located within the oldest building in San Pedro, dating from the arrival of conquistador Pedro de Valdivia in the early 16th century. Both shops are on Taconao.

San Pedro's oldest building (now a souvenir shop)

Following the advice of the Rough Guide to Chile, we hunted around the edges of the village for cheaper eats, which was definitely the right thing to do. We frequented a restaurant on Tocopilla with Licanbur, near to the bus terminal, which offered three course meals with lots of choice for just $3500 CLP (that's about a fiver).

Chorillana

Ticking another dish off our 'to eat' list, we shared a chorillana in a bar at the eastern end of Caracoles. Dubbed a 'heart attack on a plate', chorillana consists of chips topped with sausage, beef, chicken, onions and a fried egg. Man it was goood...

Breakfasts were a little overpriced for what you got, but there are various places that offer tea/coffee/chocolate with toast and a glass of juice for an average of $2000 CLP, going up to nearer $3500 if you want eggs, ham or cheese too.

Finally, the best thing of all about San Pedro is that it's surrounded by this view, with unbeatable rosy sunsets on the backdrop of Volcán Licancabur every day.

The view during the walk back to our hostel

Just when I thought Chile couldn't get any more amazing

...it went and did just that

Of course I expected amazing things from the Atacama desert. The place has geysers, volcanoes, ancient ruins, salt flats and flamingos. But I wasn't prepared for how breathtakingly beautiful this extremely arid and almost barren part of the world actually is.

I'll be blogging about the different places we visited, but for now, here's a sneak photo preview:

Flamingos at sunset in the Salar de Atacama

Sunset in Valle de la Luna

Geysers de Tatio

Quitor ruins

San Pedro de Atacama

Evita

As one of the reasons my interest in Buenos Aires was piqued all those years ago was Evita the musical, we decided to pay a visit to the Evita museum. I realised as I entered, that my knowledge of one of Argentina's most famous figures was based almost entirely on the musical - a portrait which, during the two hours I spent in the museum, I came to understand was neither that accurate nor did it do her justice.

The museum is located in a spectacular building on Lafinur, just on the edge of the upmarket Recoleta district. Originally a hotel dating from the turn of the 20th century, the building was taken over by the María Eva Duarte de Perón Social Aid Foundation in 1948 as a temporary home for women and children. The entrance hall boasts parquet flooring, a grand sweeping staircase and huge chandeliers. I felt like a princess when I descended the stairs to leave the building.

The exhibition is organised into moments of Eva Perón's life; which in a way was our over-riding criticism, as it was difficult to get a full idea of the pattern of events without a chronology. But for me, a minor point.

Starting with an introduction to the myths surrounding Evita - the rather predictable saintly mother figure versus power-hungry strumpet - the first stop was her death: a wall-sized projection of the scenes from her wake and funeral, with the abundant throwing of flowers and outpouring of public grief somewhat reminiscent of Princess Diana.

Next, we started to unlock her past: a look at her childhood brought up out of wedlock, her move to the city with her mother and subsequent minor success as an actress, before an earthquake relief event crossed her path with Perón's.

Upstairs focused on her relationship and marriage to the future president as well as her political career. The room of her good will tour immediately caught my attention. Here's why:

Throughout the museum were numerous outfits, many accompanied by photographs of them in use. Exquisite 1940s tailoring and design and a very interesting spotlight on the era's fashion.

The next rooms were what really took me by surprise: Eva Perón's political career. I had (wrongly) assumed that she was simply famous for being the wife of an important man - albeit she from very low birth who rose to one of the most powerful positions in the country. What I didn't know was how active she had been in social issues in her country. Her charitable foundation built schools, housing for workers, holiday camps for poor children and health clinics. It ran temporary shelters for women and children, orphanages, homes for senior citizens, nursing schools and a plan for agrarian reform. Need I go on? Well yes, she was a leading voice in the campaign for suffrage, helping to secure the vote for women in Argentina.

To me this was a perfect testimony; that aside from the myths, the speculations around her death and the slurs on her character, she was a woman who achieved, and who used her new found position and power to help other women, and those most in need in her society. Stripping everything else away, for this, Eva Perón deserves to be recognised and applauded.

"I seize this opportunity to tell all Peronist fellow workers ("compañeros") that in the women's party we are organizing there are no divisions, we are trying to collaborate [...] I want you to see in General Perón's wife not an old-style feminist, but a modern, constructive one aware of men's importance and women's potential. We are not struggling for group domination. We are struggling to leave a greater, fairer and merrier Motherland than the one we encountered in the past." Eva Perón, 'The Reason for my Life' (Chap. 53)