Friday night, after 9 p.m. Motorists traveling on the Ezeiza-Cañuelas highway, people from areas surrounding Carlos Spegazzini, San Vicente and Cañuelas who are having dinner or choosing a movie to watch with family or friends. From above, a flight makes the approach movements to land at the Ministerio Pistarini airport. Pure routine.
Suddenly, a roar shakes the Carlos Spegazzini Industrial Park. Several explosions, but they all stand out especially the first one. Due to the surprise, the noise and the aftermath of the shock wave: many, several kilometers away, suffered broken glass in their homes. At that time, in Cañuelas, four of the best polo players in the world, who are also family, were at the last team meeting, The Nativity La Dolfinafinalizing the details for this Saturday’s game, at 4:30 p.m., corresponding to Argentine Open Championship of this sport. The most important polo tournament in the world, in which they face Los Machitos on court 1 in Palermo.
They are Adolfo Cambiaso, his son Poroto and the brothers Camilo and Bartolomé Castagnola (h.), all 10 handicap. A group that was put together for this season with the merger of the two main organizations, whose properties are separated by a street, in Cañuelas. Just a kilometer and a half from the highway. And they have done very well: they won the two tournaments prior to Palermo, that is, the Hurlingham and Tortugas Opens, they are undefeated in 8 matches and if they win the Argentine Open they will also win the Triple Crown.
Team meetings are common the day before games. They talk about the rival on duty, the state of the horses, how to approach the match, what is appropriate, what is not advisable, the details to take care of, the order of the horse lists. In the case of this alignment, many times they even exchange horses: “This one is going to work better for you. Try it tomorrow.” Everything was normal, until the roar came…
The windows shook and everything was a surprise. They looked at each other, with the logical uncertainty of not knowing what had happened. And strictly speaking, they did not know it until the first media reports began to emerge.
“Incredible, everything moved”was the first reaction, on Friday night, of Adolfito Cambiaso50 years old, with 18 Palermo Open wins and a legend of world polo. At that time, the star of La Natividad La Dolfina admitted that he had no idea what had happened a short distance away. Yes, hours later, it came to his attention that “There was a strange smell.”
By morning, the smell and smoke had dissipated. There was a general inspection of the stables to check how the animals were doing, which had no problems. “You can see that the wind moved everything to the other side, it didn’t affect this area of Cañuelas that much,” explained Cambiaso.
He immediately relived those seconds of the explosion, which occurred, for reference, about 13.5 kilometers from La Dolfina and La Natividad, at the Alejandro Pettión exit of the Ezeiza-Cañuelas highway, at kilometer 55. “We were scared because the entire window moved. At one point we thought a plane had gone down.. We associate that because we are close to the Ezeiza area. I said ‘a plane has gone down, it can’t be another’. Then it started to appear on the news that it was in a factory. Then there were other explosions, but not like the first. “That was tremendous.”
His brother-in-law said something similar, Bartolomé Castagnolafather of Life y Learnwho the first morning was looking at the logistics of the trucks to transport the horses to Palermo, since they normally take the highway. “A barbaric explosion last night. We were all inside. There is a little smoke, but everything is fine and the horses have no problems. Seeing where to get to Palermo, we will have to take another route, but nothing more.”
A different night in Cañuelas, in the run-up to a new commitment for the Palermo Open. And that first sensation that is relived in each story.
