Meet Me in Buenos Aires by Hobsbawm Marlene; Tomalin Claire;

Author:Hobsbawm, Marlene; Tomalin, Claire; [Marlene Hobsbawm]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 5944967
Publisher: Muswell Press
Published: 2019-03-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Sabbatical in Latin America en famille

Eric’s passion for Latin America had been ongoing for about twenty years, so when he was offered a six-month sabbatical in 1971, he jumped at it. Firstly, it was a chance to improve his Spanish and secondly, it gave him the opportunity to continue his deeper research into peasants, their rebellions and above all, agrarian reform. Since Fidel Castro in Cuba had apparently shown the way for social revolution in the region, Eric was feeling politically upbeat. And of course he (and all of us) were elated over the failed 1961 American military invasion of the Bay of Pigs. Latin America was, as Eric described in his memoir, a continent ‘bubbling with the lava of social revolutions’. But I regret to say that now, in the twenty-first century, we can see this didn’t happen the way he had hoped. Though improvements there have been plenty.

Quite soon after moving into Nassington Road, we were preparing to travel. I was kept busy liaising with the teachers at Gospel Oak School, where the children had just nicely settled in. The head teacher, Ron Lendon, was very accommodating. Not only did he give permission for the children to go away, and held their places open in the school, he went above and beyond to keep the classmates in touch. Possibly too much – while in the La Sierra in Peru, Andy received thirty letters all saying exactly the same thing: ‘We went to Camden Lock and took boats on the canal.’

Departure day arrived. We would travel to four countries: Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. At all passport controls we held our breath. Not because of communism or visas this time, but at some point Julia had drawn a blue ship in my passport and it was too late to get a new one. Reactions were unpredictable – they veered from, ‘Which child drew this?’ in a friendly manner or disappearing with the passport to check with a higher official. A defaced passport is actually invalid, so very much was at stake.

Our trip began in Mexico City, but our luggage unfortunately did not. We had to travel via Lisbon, where it remained. It turned into a rather undignified April Fool’s day arrival, extremely hot, and various academics were summoned to help us buy underwear and other essentials. When this situation lasted over a week, Eric lost his patience and announced that if our suitcases didn’t arrive within two days, we were going straight back home. Then in the Latin American way, a VIP, presumably the ambassador, was contacted and, abracadabra, all our suitcases arrived the next morning.

We stayed with a charming French couple, Jacques and Lucero, who had a big house with grounds, and the children liked it very much. There were two dogs – a Dalmatian named Joreck and an Afghan hound named Bingada, as well as two kittens. It was not all play for the children; every day they had some lessons with me, and Andy had to keep a daily diary-cum-scrapbook, which he did very well.

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