| Author | Message | ||
     Roberto Board Administrator Username: Admin Post Number: 1519 Registered: 12-2004 |
Maurice -a member here- sent me an email in regards to the coming event. He specifically commented about the negative aspects of such race endangering natural habitats and polluting the environment. Maurice believes that the negatives -which may include people being run over and animals killed- are far more dramatic than what is being sold as a fun event... I knew nothing about it but todays newspaper has some brief information which I am posting below. --- French organizers have just announced that for security reasons the rally to Dakar has been cancelled and that next year it will happen in South America. It will be called rally to Buenos Aires and it will involve a trip to Chile and back to Buenos Aires. The estimated dates for the event are Jan. 3rd (departure) and 18th (completion) of next year. The total length of the rally is approximatey 9,000 km. Pilots will travel through patagonia and cross into Chile through the Andes to reach the Atacama desert to later drive through the andean forests back into Mendoza and then Buenos Aires. --- | ||
| AMARAGGI New member Username: Amar Post Number: 20 Registered: 12-2006 |
As I had predicted, this ecological scandal has made its first victim today. It will certainly not be the only one. This is a huge stupidity that beside not respecting the landscape and the country kills regularly and adds to polution. It has been banned from Africa it should be banned from Argentina. | ||
| WTMendoza.com Advanced Member Username: Welcometomendoza Post Number: 356 Registered: 7-2007  |
wow banned in Africa? The rally will be coming within 3 kilomteres of my house today at about 2pm, chopping through historic wine country. | ||
| movingtoargentina.typepad.com Intermediate Member Username: Sapphos Post Number: 126 Registered: 2-2006 |
It wasn't actually banned in Africa. The organizers have moved the event until the political climate and dangers in Africa have calmed down. Laura Ebook Moving to and Living in Buenos Aires, Argentina http://movingtoargentina.typepad.com | ||
| AMARAGGI New member Username: Amar Post Number: 21 Registered: 12-2006 |
The scandal of annual successions of deaths, accidents, polllution and complete disregard for local populations led to a threat against the rally. I feel that the values conveyed by this rally are the exact opposite to what is needed in Argentina. | ||
| WTMendoza.com Advanced Member Username: Welcometomendoza Post Number: 361 Registered: 7-2007 |
Yesterday the route was from San Rafael,up highway 40 through Valle de Uco, then through historic Lujan de Cuyo wine country, then to downtown Mendoza where they stayed the night at the park soccer stadium. We stood across street from the famous Nieto Senetiner winery on Guarda Vieja street, and watched racer after racer, intermixed with normal every day traffic, drive past us at a very normal speed, obviously under strict instructions to go very slow, and there were cops and spectators everywhere. Maybe it is a different scene out on open terrain, but it was a very controlled scenario here. Also, here is a story of some regard that some racers had for victims of a common automobile accident on the road from San Rafael: ===== Varios pilotos del Dakar socorrieron a dos mujeres en un accidente 15:38 | Habían volcado en una camioneta camino a San Rafael y los corredores que pasaron por el lugar no dudaron en detenerse. 08.01.2009 Una mujer de 45 años y su suegra de 72 iban esta mañana a San Rafael por la Ruta 143 cuando la camioneta en la que viajaban volcó y dio varios tumbos. Los corredores del Rally Dakar que pasaban por ahí fueron los primeros en auxiliarlas. El accidente ocurrió en la Ruta 143 entre San Carlos y San Rafael, a la altura del Divisadero de las Águilas. La mujer que conducía es Carmen Beatriz La Rosa, y su suegra Felicidad de Martínez, quienes usaban el cinturón de seguridad en el momento del impacto, por lo que sólo sufrieron politraumatismos leves y fueron trasladadas al hospital Victorino Tagarelli, de Eugenio Bustos. | ||
| WTMendoza.com Advanced Member Username: Welcometomendoza Post Number: 362 Registered: 7-2007 |
Here is probably the best source to follow the rally in Mendoza www.mdzol.com | ||
| AMARAGGI New member Username: Amar Post Number: 22 Registered: 12-2006 |
As you can imagine the aim of this rally is not to go slowly through the towns of Argentina but rather to go the fastest possible on bad roads and deserts from one point to another (in Argentina or anywhere in fact, which explains that it is not called Argentina's rally but Paris Dakar?) At that speed and under these conditions the drivers are not there to see the country. It seems the rally took four additional lives with an accident between an accompanying truck and two Chileans. We are here very far from the beautiful pictures of horses rides in the mountains of Mendoza or Patagonia. We are here in polluating air with the show of spending resources in front of people who live in poor conditions. Will they always be pure water in Mendoza and the glaciers of Patagonia will they still be there in 20 years? | ||
| AMARAGGI Junior Member Username: Amar Post Number: 38 Registered: 12-2006 |
This stupidity is back in Argentina with one death the first day of the rally. |
