Chazfest 2004 Bolivia and Argentina (Julien de Chazal)

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

            I  am going to write in English as I think many people might read it and I want  to show what a fantastic reception we have received from the Bolivian and Argentine cousins and the disappointment (specially from the Bolivians) about the low turnout.

My trip down South America took me to La Paz , Sucre and Santa Cruze in Bolivia and Tucuman and Buenos Aires in Argentina. I thought I knew what to expect of those 2 countries but it was an eye opener.

 Bolivia.

 La Paz, the capital,  is built over the 2 sides of a V with the center at the bottom of that V. The place is poor, very much the appreciated city of the indigenous people who seem to live the same way of their forefathers at the time of the conquistadors.  Due to its altitude, 4,000 meters, it is very cold at night and quite warm during the day and it takes time to adjust like not too much alcohol intake, nose bleeding and breathing difficulties.

From the hotel bar, in the early evening, on the top floor one appreciate the glittering of the residences lights with the glacier in the background.

Sucre, the legal capital, is a city that was built in the 16 and 17 teen century and nothing was done to it since.  Spanish architecture of the time with entry to a house courtyard and all the rooms give on that courtyard or some other courtyard depending on the wealth of the builder in the 16/17 teen century. Very interesting history.

Santa Cruze is like an American farwest city of time past. It is very much a place of opportunity and by far the wealthiest city in Bolivia and the wealth has made it the largest with some 1,1 million inhabitants It has a rich soil conducive to large cultivation of sugar cane, rice, cotton and soybean plantations. Big oil and gas reserves have been and still being discovered in the province.

 The reunion of the de Chazal cousins.

The least I can say is that the Bolivian cousins, due to their good upbringing, did not show any open sign of their disappointment of the low turnout.

One could see the Bolivians went out of their way in the planning and time spent to make sure that their cousins from the far distant places of this globe have the warmest and unforgetful  stay with a very great agenda of activities. They all welcome us and participate in the activities. Some would get out of their busy working activities to make sure that we were very  welcome and that they appreciate very much that we made such a long trip to have such a big and dispersed  family maintain contact.

Just some samples of  their thorough planning were: 1) Coat of arms pin for the tie or coat. 2) Napkins with the coat of arms and the writing “ Chazfest  Bolivia 2004 3rd de Chazal’s world reunion”. 3) Tee shirts with the coat of arms embroidered (not printed in the cheap way). So was the cap.

4) Writing paper with the letter head  Chazfest Bolivia in the middle, the de Chazal coat of arms on the left and the Bolivian flag on the right. More important the paper had a big coat of arms as background. 5) A folder  with a welcome cover sheet, one sheet resume of the Bolivian ancestor Guy de Chazal and  a genealogical tree of the Bolivian cousins.

6) Gift of a book from Guido and family on the history of Santa Cruze as well as one on the missions of the Chiquitos.

7) A DVD recording of the whole reunion as a souvenir of the memorable time we all had.

8) Coat of arms chisel into a wooden block.

9) Pictures and articles were to be found in the 2 city newspapers, El Beber and El Dia, everyday during the reunion. 

The agenda consisted of:

Wednesday July 21.             Welcoming cocktail for all the Bolivians and visitors with the Mayor of Santa Cruze making a presence and a speech. A great gathering  with welcoming speeches and one speech, specially appreciated, from the doyen of the Bolivian group, Carlos de Chazal. He talked of the values  in life passed down by his father, the first de Chazal, Guy or Guido.

Thursday July 22.

            Sightseeing of Santa Cruze and  a fantastic open lunch with local music at Carlos de Chazal’s (jr) retreat, Porongo, just outside the city. Everybody was at the lunch including those who run their own business. Excellent buffet where everybody could mix and did mix  and later  a group of local musicians brought in some local atmosphere.

            In the evening we went to a diner and fashion show appreciated by all. Monserrat Masanes  is a fashion designer and very good at it. It was full house for the occasion  (some people were standing). Montserrat certainly has abilities.

Friday July 23 Sightseeing of the city of Santa Cruze and a great lunch at Dolly. No expense spare to make sure that we enjoy ourselves. An excellent beef on the spit . A local musical group to liven the lunch. As the day  before it was a full participation. The Bolivian cousins, like all good South Americans, could not avoid dancing to the South American tunes and that contagions spread to the overseas cousins.             In the evening we had a full dress diner with an excellent open buffet, live show and a musical band. The show was  performed by local Bolivian dancers and their cultural dances. Later everyone was on the dance floor to the tune of Bolivian music. Great enjoyment by all.

Saturday July 24.

            Visit to an ecological park, archeological ruins, waterfalls and lunch at a resort. Beautiful countryside and sceneries.

            The evening was an open visit of the city center  with drinks, food etc. The South Americans like their cafes/restaurants particularly in the open air on Saturdays. Santa Cruze is warm in winter and hot in summer.

Sunday July 25             Visit to a park where the young people could swing from tree to tree with the use of a cable connection. But this was more enjoyed by the older generation.             The evening and the reunion  was concluded with a diner and music at the tennis club where everyone seemed to have had a very enjoyable time to the accompaniment of a very good local band.

Monday July 26             Visit to the “missions de Chiquitos” or  commonly called the Jesuit Missions. Those missions have a long history and are now protected by UNESCO as a world heritage. Not part of the reunion but an option for the visitors which was not missed by the latter. There are some 9 missions still in existence but due to time we visited only 2 which are San Xavier and Conception. Fascinating trip but one has to know a bit of the history and visit those places to have any appreciation. In Conception we had a presentation by the president and the councilors of the municipality.

In closing I have to say that all  the visiting cousins from all parts of the world do thank all our very friendly Bolivian cousins for such a great reunion and the time they spent to make that reunion such a very memorable one. A very special thank you to Oscar Suarez (more de Chazal than the de Chazals) and his lovely wife Chachi, Sonia, Monica, Renato,  Dolly, Guido and his wife Ana Maria and Carlos de Chazal (jr).

 Argentina

After a flight from Santa Cruze we landed in Salta (Argentina) to be welcome by Lucio de Chazal who had arranged for a private bus to take us to Tucuman  which we reached around 9:00 pm (no direct flight from Santa Cruze to Tucuman). There to welcome us were Lucio (Sr), wife Genie and their 2 daughters Silvana and Maria Eugenia. After a warm exchange by all parties we all sat down for a nice meal.

The reunion of the de Chazal cousins.  We, the tourists, were lodged at 2 different good hotels not far from each other. As for the Bolivian cousins, there was a bit of disappointment from the Argentine cousins about the turnout. But this did not prevent  the reunion from being a great success.  A fair few Bolivian cousins, after an exhausting trip of some 36 hours by bus, with the intrusion of the immigration officers at the border, Richard who would not give out the chocolates, finally made it at around 6:00 am on the opening day. As in Bolivia the cousins have arranged the hiring of one large bus so as everyone could fit in for the sightseeing tours.

Thursday July 29.

            The morning was an open day which many of us put to good use by having a stroll in the city center. A good way of having a feeling of the people of Tucuman and  how they live .

At mid-day we took the hired bus, with a tour guide, for a sightseeing tour of the surrounding hills of Tucuman . We had a lunch on the way where we were able to get to know more of our cousins. We took the whole restaurant, everybody moved around during the lunch and to accompany the meal we had red/white wine with the de Chazal label (the wine came from Juan de Chazal vineyard). Lucio de Chazal brought a genealogical map of the de Chazals and this caused a lot of conversations about where each one decent from. Jump on the bus soon after lunch  for the continuation of the trip and to stop later for an afternoon tea (South Americans have very late diners). We were back at the hotel late evening tired and not hungry for diner (not being South Americans we have the good or bad habit of having diner early and be in bed before midnight).

Friday July 30.             In the morning we all hoped into the bus and were shown the city and given a brief history by the guide. We visited such places the church Inglesia San Francisco  with its ceiling covered of military paintings or frescos. Tucuman was a city at the center of the history of Argentina as well as South America as the boundaries between countries, at the beginning,  were blurred. We also visited the  Museo Nacional Casa Historica de la Independencia.

By early afternoon the group split and some of us went to a very good Argentinian restaurant where traditional beef was on the menu and of course, not to forget, a bit  of Argentinian red to down the good lunch.

            In the evening we had an official private diner at the club Guillermina which was packed. It was the occasion to meet the rest of the cousins and make friends. After diner there was a disco of both South American and European music which lasted until around 1:00 am.

Saturday July 31.             This was the grand tour of the mountains surrounding Tucuman. A very interesting trip. Tucuman is flat with its agricultural land. As we start climbing the area is tropical with the respective vegetation. As we get higher the plant and trees disappeared to show virtually barren landscape. The latter is due to the wind blowing from the artic and the height. The place we eventually got to is called Tafi del valle Ruinas de Quilmes. There all the cousins, who came by bus or their own means, had a fantastic sit down lunch. As usual we took the whole restaurant and everybody moved around during the lunch. Do not have to say that the lunch ended quite late.

After getting back to the hotel there was not much time to get ready for the opera at Teatro Alberdi. Very interesting piece which lasted  a bit over an hour without a brake. At the end there was some very long ovations and among the producers was Maria Eugenia de Chazal who was in charge of the back ground singers.

Sunday August 1.

            This was the very big gathering at Silvana de Chazal’s place on the outskirt of Tucuman. There everyone went out of their way to be present. It was  beef on the spit, run by a caterer,  with all the  trimmings and a very good wine to down the meat (cook to one’s taste as long a you talk to the chef). For entertainment there was a singer but he was pushed aside by a couple, professional dancers, showing us the art of the tango as well as teaching us the intricacies of the dance.           In the evening we went through what was left over and some wine. The party ended quite late with everybody happy of the day. The farewell was not easy.

The Argentenian cousins gave us a very nice souvenir of the music of Argentina on dvd. It comprises a mixture of folklore and tango with the cover showing Chazfest 2004, Tucuman  Argentina with the family crest. I would like to thank all our cousins from Argentina specifically Lucio, Genie, Silvana, Maria Eugenia and Augusto for going out of their way in the organization and the warmth of their welcome . We all, I believe I can  talk for the other cousins as well, had a very enjoyable and memorable time as guests of our Argentinian cousins and we all thank them very much.

Conclusion  

            ??????????Paris, New York, South Africa, Mauritius, Australia next next next!!!!!