Hello all,

In this summer edition I’ve got quite a few things for you to mull over whilst you enjoy Europe and North America’s holiday season…

What has been happening lately across the club & the wider world ?

• Ed Stafford & Cho his guide have completed their epic walk along the length of the Amazon river – see http://www.edstafford.org/ for more up to date details
•  A report on July’s meeting at the London branch
• A report on July’s meeting at the Chester branch

What is coming up soon for the club & friends ?

Hot off the press : the London branch meeting programme from September onward is starting to be booked up by the Committee and this is what we have for you thus far:-

• September 4th 2010
  • Julia Massey-Stewart — Photography and travelling
  • Philip Koniotes — Cycling along the Danube from Germany to Hungary
• October 2nd 2010
  • The club’s AGM at 1.30 then at 2.30
  • Paul Watkins — Welcome to Arcadia: Travels in good company
  • Marion Bull — In search of the ‘Dunedin Star’ – Namibian Skeleton Coast wreck

And the September Chester branch meeting programme from September onward is also starting to come together with two lectures in place:-

• The Emperor’s River by Liam D’Arcy-Brown who traces the Grand Canal of China – the world’s longest and oldest manmade waterway – from Hangzhou to Beijing
• A sailing journey through Europe from Scillies-Scotland-S.Coast-Netherlands&Scandinavia-French Canals-Mallorca by Brian Burnett

Mark Annis, son of long term London member Tony is exhibiting his latest work at the Rubens Gallery, Rosebury Road, London in September…more details can requested for at

 London’s last festival of the season, the Thames Festival, will be entertaining many of us along the south side of the river on the 11 & 12 September and as these details show it promises to be as enjoyable as previous years – http://www.thamesfestival.org/

And finally…

We’ve got an article from new author Jeff Houle about an historic indigenous people of Bolivia he recently visited

An update about the club’s travel award and the web site’s legacy page as well – hopefully helping to inspire more applicants !

That’s all for now and keep enjoying the summer & your trips…and then tell us about them J

The Ant

theant@globetrotters.co.uk

The end of season meeting for London means its members slide time – this year we enjoyed nine good speakers who took us to a variety of destinations around the world and for a whole host of reasons !

Zara Taylor : The face of Bangladesh. Zara headed out to Bangladesh over Christmas 2009 and was immediately struck how unlike India the country is, despite being nearly landlocked by its larger neighbour. Her tour took her to the national park near Mongia NOT to see any Bengal Tigers, to the alleged longest beach in the world at Cox’s Bazaar and into contact with the hill tribes near Chittagong. Summing up, Zara noted that the rivers of Bangladesh are its commercial lifeblood, its roads, its way of life…

Andrew Redwood : North Korea. Andrew started off talking about his twin drivers in going to North Korea – dread & curiosity ! To the chagrin of independent travellers like Andres, there is no solo travels – all tourism & visits are through strictly licensed companies and guides. As you might expect the country is virulent in its anti US propaganda and the masses & the army are always drilling in preparation… However there are brighter sights – particular aboard the train from Beijing, whereas the constant vigilance eases & time to view is more free flowing.

David Shamesh :Mediterranean cruise. David whistled us around some of the Mediterranean’s more renowned ports of call…Cadiz, Gibraltar, Sardina & Rome being his photographic highlights.

John & Roz Williams : Iceland. Entertaining duo John & Roz showed us some good photos of Iceland in June. Their itinerary treated us to the highlights of Husavik for whale watching, numerous waterfalls, Fumaroles near Myvatn bubbling sulphur laden warm waters and then across to the Western Fjords. You could almost smell the distaste as John described the locally delicacy of fermented shark ! All in all a top talk and where next for John & Roz I wonder…

Sue Baker : Hunting for Erica ! Two years ago in Capetown Sue shared time with her son & a travelling friend enjoying the landscapes & diversity of South Africa – Robben Island, mountain walking, wine tours in the Stellenbosch locality before searching for Erica… Only up in the Cederberg Mountains did the audience understand who/what Erica was…after we’d been spoilt by the Maltese Cross & ancient cave paintings along Sue’s journey.

Picture courtesy of PlantzAfrica.com : Erica plukenetii

Phil Ferguson : Assam & Nagaland. Phil’s travels were again well highlighted – this time he was off in the less well exposed north east Indian states of Assam & Nagaland…

Dan Bachmann : Albania & Kosovo. Dan continues on one of his quests – to visit every country in Europe ! This time it was Albania & Kosovo, as he sought beaches & whether there was any truth in the perception that he was supposedly heading into a land of thieves & murderers. Dan found a more relaxed nation, working through to a modern world of Italian tourists & businessmen, what to do with Enver Hoxha’s bunkers and taking excellent evening sunshine photos.

Liz Cooper :The Galungan Festival in Bali. Knowledgeable travellers Liz headed off to the Galungan Festival, where the many Indonesian peoples thank god for his creations on earth and all its content. As you might expect it was a presentation of colour, noise and fascinating people…

Jacqui Trotter : New York. Our very hardworking committee member Jacqui zipped off to NYC to help celebrate a friend’s birthday and relaxed by spending a whole day walking around Central Park and getting lost, whilst wandering around one of the busiest cities on the planet !!

Details of the London branch’s forthcoming meetings will soon be detailed at https://globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/lon10it.html

The London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend. There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh in September. For more information, contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 7193 2586, or visit the web site: www.globetrotters.co.uk.

After the break for something completely different, Holidays at Home, Wales and Cumbria by Travel writer David Atkinson. This was a practical advice driven talk, highlighting some insider tips for visiting Wales and Cumbria. David Atkinson was talking about his Guidebook about Cumbria, especially to include children and introduce them to the pleasure of travel.

We all had a good time in the break as well, meeting others again, some had really good tips to go by, e.g. visit Poland for £2 with Easy Jet. We finished the biscuits again and by about 4.30pm we started for home again, a great day !

The next meeting is on the Saturday 18 September at the Grosvenor Museum at the usual time of 1.0pm meeting for a 1.30pm start.

Tickets £2 including refreshments.

Contact Angela or Hanna for further information of this & future events at Chester via email at chesterbranch@globetrotters.co.uk

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

The Ontario branch meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

For a moment I understood why some would think that aliens had constructed these commanding ancient walls. Not even my site brochure would fit into the mortarless joints that separated the monstrous monoliths, whose journey to their resting place is not easily explained.

I was in Tiwanaku in western Bolivia, 44 kilometers west of La Paz and close to the border with Peru. The city was occupied between 500 and 950 AD before a drought pushed the population out of the region[1]. The residents of what would have been then an imposing city left no written record of their story, leaving the majority of their history to the conjecture of modern archaeologists and science fiction enthusiasts.

The site sits 13,000 feet above sea level in the dry, flesh-colored Andes Mountains[2]. It is believed by archaeologists that Tiwanaku was originally inhabited by up to 30,000 people at its peak, and was sprawled out over 2.6 square kilometers[3]. Although there are other Tiwanaku sites in the area, such as Lukurmata, a ceremonial center, Tiwanaku itself was the most important, serving as a religious and administrative capital of a vast empire that pre-dated the famed Incas[4].

All that now remains for tourists to visit are the walls and foundations of a few buildings, as well as a few standing gateways, on a patch of land that occupies only a small fraction of the original expanse. The most important of these is arguably the cracked Gateway of the Sun, which has become something of an icon in Bolivia. It symbolizes the importance of the culture through images of “Staffed Gods,” anthropomorphic figures bearing staffs that were most likely ritual practitioners, according to archaeologists[5].

Although much of the city has not stood strong against the test of time, what still exists and what is known of what existed is more than enough to stir up questions about the mystery of the place.

Staring up at the walls that dwarf my 5’ 10’’ frame, my first question is: How did the enormous stones get to Tiwanaku? Great feats of strength must explain how the red sandstone blocks, which can weigh up to 130 tons each and were used for the buildings and walls, traveled 10 kilometers from the nearest quarry[6]. It is also difficult to explain how a culture without 18-wheelers could manage the transport of andesite, green stones that were used for the intricate decorative carvings. Each weighed up to 40 tons and was brought to Tiwanaku from the other side of Lake Titicaca, a distance of 90 kilometers over water and another ten over land[7].

Pointing to the remains of what appeared to be ancient canals, my Bolivian tour guide explains the popular theory, which says the blocks were transported by reed rafts on rivers and canals to Tiwanaku after being hauled on logs from their original sites. Small pools of water rest in these canals now, showing that they were once capable of holding liquid, but imagining them as them as the great tools of movement that they once were requires a stretch of my imagination.

Assuming that my tour guide is correct, and that the transportation was indeed possible, the mysteries of Tiwanaku are still far from solved. Once the giant stones arrived, how did the buildings’ architects find a way to stack these blocks with perfect precision? No mortar was used, and nor was it needed, because alone the joints seem perfectly crafted, even to a modern eye.

A creative few have clung to an imaginative theory that claims such achievements could have only been accomplished by technical advancements not known to mankind at the time. These theorists say the precision of the joints and the magnitude of the structure must have been the result of aliens and their extraterrestrial techniques.

One such theorist, Erich von Daniken, included Tiwanaku in his book, “Chariots of the Gods,” which he published in 1968. In it, he claims that many of the famous ancient structures that have fascinated the world for centuries were only possible through the technology given to these cultures by visitors from other planets who were seen as gods[8]. My guide mentioned an angular rock structure on the site, which adherents of the alien theory claim was a launching pad for spacecraft.

Von Daniken also includes the nearby Nazca lines in his theory, as well as Stonehenge and the Egyptian Pyramids[9]. The aliens, he believes, were globally influential.

Another theory came from an early 20^th century Austrian astronomer, H.S. Bellamy, who didn’t believe that advanced civilizations could exist at such altitude and posited that the city was a result of the collision of the Earth with one of its former moons[10].

Even the Incas, who discovered Tiwanaku hundreds of years after it had been abandoned, had their own theories to relieve their discomfort with the idea that an advanced culture could have existed before their own. They claimed that the first Incas were created with clay from area by the deity Viracocha, and that the monoliths stand as a solemn reminder of the act[11].

I remain skeptical of the more extreme theories, though I can admit it is easier to explain the mysteries with tales of visitors from space than to imagine all of the blood, sweat, tears and probably lives that went into the construction of this amazing city.

Places like Tiwanaku remind travelers what incredible work mankind is capable of. This is one of the reasons people travel, after all; to see up close what remains of this world’s history so that we might know how we got to where we are and provide insights to where we are going.

I leave Tiwanaku still pondering my questions, but also feeling uniquely privileged to experience such a remarkable, and little understood, period of human history.

*****

Interested in making the trip yourself?

I traveled in November of 2009 and used a local guide named Rene Jaldin Andrade, who was based out of La Paz. If you decide to hire a local guide on your own rather than through a travel agency, it’s always good to make sure he or she is certified by ASOGUIATUR, the local association of tour guides.

How to get there:

Most visitors come for the day from La Paz. For the cheapest travel option, catch a bus outside of the main cemetery (“cementerio” in Spanish). The trip takes between one and one and a half hours and costs less than $2. You can also ride on a tour bus service for about $1.50. Try Transportes Tiwanaku (Tel. 7191-4889). Another option is to hire a taxi from La Paz to take you for a round trip journey. Including wait time, this will cost around $30 – $40, and most hotels can help you find a safe driver. The last option, and perhaps the most popular, is to arrange a tour with a bilingual guide from a travel agency in La Paz. Most travel agencies will offer half day or full day tours. Try Transporte Turistico Bolivia (Tel. 231-6971, http://www.transporteturisticobolivia.com/).

Getting in:

The main site costs $10 and is open from 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. The onsite museum, Museo Litico Monumental, also costs $10 and is open from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Where to stay:

Most travelers choose to visit Tiwanaku on a day trip from La Paz, but if you would like to stay the night, there is a small village next to the site. Try the Gran Hotel Tiwanaku (Tel. 289-8548, Bolivar 903), the nicest hotel in town, and at $30 – $40 a night per person, also a good deal. They also have a restaurant.

Previously my predecessor The Beetle requested readers help with naming her cheese, as produced on her farm in the Yorkshire Dales. Here are a couple of replies that might help other suggestions along and any marketing campaigns J

Audrey from Florida says “I vote for Dales Select. Anywhere I can buy it here ?”

Mac, our regular contributor writes that “Ribblesdale Goat is a modern vegetarian (I had never heard the vegetarian angle) hard cheese created in 1982 by Iain and Christine Hill. Ribblesdale goat is highly valued for its fresh simple flavor with its suggestion of chicory, almonds, and wild herbs from the misty Yorkshire hills. Ribblesdale Goat won a Bronze Award in the 1996 British Cheese Awards. Although normally a goats cheese it is also available from ewes milk and a smoked cheese . Ribblesdale cheese can be served as a table cheese or for grated toppings. All Ribblesdale Cheeses supplied are handmade and waxed coated giving the cheese a long shelf time of approximately 80 days. Sadly Iain Hill passed away in November 2006 but is succeeded by his niece Iona Hill who maintains the family tradition. Suitable for vegetarians, suitable for freezing…”

Mac also jokes “Groups of Americans were traveling by tour bus through Holland .. As they stopped at a cheese farm, a young guide led them through the process of cheese making, explaining that goat’s milk was used. She showed the group a lovely hillside where many goats were grazing. ‘These’ she explained, ‘Are the older goats put out to pasture when they no longer produce.’ She then asked, ‘What do you do in America with your old goats?’ A spry old gentleman answered, ‘They send us on bus tours’

Mac writes even more – “George stopped me in the hallway all excited and said Hey Mac I tasted your friends Ribblesdale cheese in Meknes Morocco in about 2003 or 2004. He said he was on a tour bus and an English lady invited him to join him for a spot of tea on the beach. He said the lady had a little wicker basket and in it some Ribblesdale Cheese.

He said he remembered it first because of its unique name, then its unique flavor and that it was made from goats milk. He liked it. Maybe you should keep the name Ripplesdale since it made such an impression on him. I do think adding Yorkshire to word Dale would add more sophistication and not have some of us ignorant Americans think it is referring to a man’s name.

He thought the cheese was in a green wrapper. Maybe the English woman just put it in a green wrapper.”

George is quoted as saying “I Summit Your Friend New International Cheese Name Is : ” World Famous Yorkshire Dales Ribblesdale Cheese ” And Below A Picture Of A Bearded Goat, And In Smaller Lettering ” The Ribblesdale Goats Do It “

“Also Had Visions Of This Cheese In Eye Catching, Wrapped Green, With White Circle, With The Black Lettering Divided By A Golden Bearded Goat Head Figure.

Your Friend Will Become A Million Pounder !!!!”