The Last Crusade: Chile V Bolivia, Santiago

2014 FIFA WC Qualifier

Estadio Nacional, Nunoa,

Santiago de Chile

11 June 2013

Encounters between Chile and Bolivia are a common occurrence. The teams have played one another 39 times with with Chile winning 26, drawing 7 and losing only 6 times. Bolivia have only recorded a single victory in Chile; a 2:1 victory in a friendly on 21 Sep 94

Now acquiring tickets for any Chile home game, when the national team is playing is an absolute nightmare. It isn't so much to do with demand, but more to do with the fact that you have to have a Chilean national insurance number in order to obtain an E ticket. Once you have the E-ticket you simply print it out and use the bar code to gain access. I must admit I was struggling for options so I posted on a website that I was looking for someone to act as my guide for the Chile v Bolivia game in June. A few weeks later I received a reply from an Australian chap called Daniel Boyle who lives and works in Santiago, he explained that he was starting up his own 'football tourism' business and agreed to help me. The trouble was that he did not have his own business account or website, so all money transfers would have to be via paypal to his personal account. I decided he was a good guy, so transferred 110,000 Chilean pesos to his account and waited...and prayed a little too! I didn't hear anything back for quite some time so had almost put it down to a bad experience and then one morning whilst having breakfast in Colonia, Uruguay I flipped open my iPad to be greeted with an Email plus attachment from Daniel. The attachment was the E-tickets and a really nice Email. This restored my faith in the human race after being nearly mugged in Rio and robbed in Buenos Aires, so cheers Daniel!

Estadio Nacional, Nunoa, Santiago de Chile

The Estadio Nacional is located in the district of Nunoa which is accessible from Santiago Centro via the metro system, just get on at Plaza de Armas on the green line and hop off at Nuble and it's a brisk walk down Avenue Carlos Dittborn, then up Avenue Marathon. The stadium design is in the old bowl style, but it has a very interesting history. It is a former world cup final venue from 1962 and later in the late 70's/ early 80's it was a prison where political prisoners were tortured by the Pinochet dictatorship.

Chile 3 Bolivia 1

Attendance: 45000

The view of the Andes on our flight from

Buenos Aires to Santiago was spectacular.

Day 1 - We arrive at the Hotel Loreto in the neighbourhood

of Bellavista and explore the centre of Santiago. San Cristabal Hill (Cerro San Cristobal) can be seeing the background.

Teatro Municipal still standing after surviving a devastating

earthquake (1906) and a serious fire (1927).

Basilica De La Merced constructed in 1795.

Chess on the Parade ground

Plaza de Armas (Parade ground) in Santiago De Chile.

This was a military training ground during the period of Spanish colonialism in 1541.

Catedral de Santiago (1747) on the west side of the square. 4 different churches have stood in this spot and all have been devastated by events throughout history.

Mercado Central (Central Market) is a colonial market constructed in 1872. It has a cast Iron roof which was constructed in England and shipped over to Santiago. The market is sub divided into a traditional fish/meat market and many restaurants within its centre and on the outskirts.

Razor clams with grilled Parmesan cheese

washed down with Pisco Sours - unbelievable!

The cat that got the cream

This monument is know colloquially as the 'Green Lighthouse'. It commemorates the crew of the "Esmeralda" and is officially known as "The monument to the Heroes of Iquique". The Battle of Iquique took place on May 21, 1879 and was part of the 'War of the Pacific' between Chile and Bolivia/Peru. The Captain of the "Esmeralda" was Arturo Prat and when the Esmeralda was hit and began to sink he led his crew to leap to the deck of the enemy ship "Huascar". This battle was important because it help shape the modern nation of Chile.

The Mapocho River

Day 2 - Matchday at the Estadio Nacional, Nunoa
and Cerro Santa Lucia

The stadium was constructed in 1937 and the architecture is based on the Olympic stadium in Berlin. At the FIFA WC in 1962 it hosted all matches in Chile's Group 2, one QF, one SF, the 3rd/4th place PO and the final of the FIFA WC in 1962 where Brazil beat Czechoslovakia 3:1

An Olympic athlete holding a discus

The stadium has a dark past. After the US backed military coup d'état on 11 Sep 1973, the military junta under General Pinochet ousted President Salvador Allende and the stadium was used as a huge detention centre with some being tortured and even executed. At it's peak it housed 7000 political prisoners. Official records show that 41 people died there

In 2010 following some renovation work the stadium re-opened and Chile had set aside a section of the old wooden bleachers in the North Tribune as a memorial known as 'Escotilla 8' to honour those who were detained there. It is surrounded by a barbed wire fence. 'Escotilla 8' is the gate through which the political prisoners were led into the detention/torture centre. Pinochet stayed in power until 1990.

The stadium now paints a peaceful picture with the Andes in the distance

A fish market in Nunoa

Back in Plaza De Armas for lunchtime.

The entrance to Cerro Santa Lucia (Santa Lucia Hill).

One of the fortified gates leading to
Castle Hilgado atop Cerro Santa Lucia

Sue on the summit of old Santiago

I expect that the view that was seen by Charles Darwin in 1833 was a bit less smoggy than the one I got.

Castle Hildago

Entrance

The game was an interesting affair, with a resurgent Chilean team fresh from a vital 2:1 away victory against Paraguay and a Bolivian team that simply had to get something from the match. We decided that we were going to have an early dinner washed down with copious amounts of Pisco sours to get us in the mood, so we went to a traditional café opposite our hotel in Bellavista, dressed to kill with our Chilean kit on!

On arrival at the ground we both managed to negotiate

the 3 or 4 security checks armed only with our passports
and photocopied e-tickets.

There was a party atmosphere inside the security cordon with rock music blaring out, entertainment stands (beat the goalie, paint balling, play pens, etc...)

I was quick to spot Miss Chile and so hastily pushed

my way to the front of the queue to get a happy snap!

The Big Red One!

Concourse

Chile's biggest fan -
"Chi, Chi, Chi, Lay, Lay, Lay, viva Chile".

The view from the Andes Bajo. Bolivia are taking an

early pounding and go 2:0 down in the first 20 minutes.

We have great seats in the Andes stand (courtesy of Daniel), the only problem was holding on to them as quite a few locals were attempting to move in on them.

The final score is a resounding 3:1 victory for La Roja. Bolivia managed to pull a goal back before half time, but it was against the run of play and a dominant Chile 'steam rolled' them into submission in the second half. It should have been a lot more, but for some dogged defending. Nevertheless, 45,000 Chileans and 2 English went home satisfied.

Day 3 - "La Chascona", Cerro San Cristobal, Museum of Human Rights and Barrios Brasil. Pablo Neruda is the world famous Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971 and his house in Santiago is known as "La Chascona".

La Chascona was one of his 3 houses,
the others being in Isla Negra and Valparaiso.

La Chascona is located in the Barrios of Bellavista, just around the corner from our hotel. It is built on a nautical theme and is dedicated to his secret lover, Matilde Urrutia, whose curly red hair inspired the name.

Matilde Urrutia became Neruda's 3rd wife and following his death in 1973 she took on the task of restoring the house , when it suffered damage during Pinochet's military coup.

The Bellavista funicular to the summit of Cerro San Cristobal.

The summit at 880m, a meagre 300m higher
than the rest of Santiago.

The statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary dominates
the hill and can be seen for miles.

The view from the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Through the smog and pollution you can just see

the Estadio Nacional to the South East of the hill

Funicular entrance to Cerro San Cristobal.

The Museum of Memory and Human Rights located next to the Metro station at Quinta Normal commemorates the victims of human rights violations during the Pinochet regime, 1973-90.

Throughout the Pinochet regime 3185 political
executions and disappearances took place.

Tens of thousands were tortured.

On returning to Plaza De Armas the Police are getting on parade, we were to discover why a little later!

A monument to the Indigenous People on Plaza de Armas,to celebrate their heroism and courage

Musicians are preparing for a big student rally.

We head out to Plaza Brasil in the pleasant Barrio of Brasil.

Great murials

Budget hotel !

On returning to the centre of Santiago we discover the reason behind the large Police presence. It appears that the University (Universidad De Chile) has been taken over by students, who are protesting over the fees for higher education.

Estacion Mapocho is a disused railway station on the banks of the river Mapocho. It was commissioned in 1905 and was once the main hub serving Valparaiso, Argentina and Northern Chile. It was abandoned in 1987 to become a cultural centre.