{"id":416,"date":"2002-06-27T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-06-27T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/2002\/06\/27\/london-10\/"},"modified":"2002-06-27T22:00:00","modified_gmt":"2002-06-27T22:00:00","slug":"london-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/london-10.html","title":{"rendered":"London:"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday 8th<\/sup> June 2002 – London Meeting by
\n Padmassana<\/p>\n

This Saturday we were treated to two splendid talks, about two different
\n areas of the world.<\/p>\n

The first by Peter Eltringham entitled, “The Maya World” was
\n on Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. Peter showed us temples from the Maya
\n period (300-900 AD), many of which are being reclaimed by the jungle,
\n to the extent that some even have trees growing on the top of them. We
\n saw photos of huge Maya ceramic pots found in deep caves. We saw local
\n life such as women weaving the colourful local textiles and the costumes
\n being paraded during Holy Week fiestas. Peter showed us the kind of transport
\n you can expect to have to use on a visit to the area, such as small planes,
\n high wheeled 4WD's for negotiating the jungle and the “Chicken
\n busses” used by the locals. Peter finished with some landscapes,
\n turquoise coloured rivers, Fast flowing rivers that can only be negotiated
\n using inflatable kayaks and beautiful blue coral lagoons, which are a
\n divers delight! And once Peter had emerged from the jungles having avoided
\n the deadly snakes, his last picture was of a hammock slung between tow
\n trees on a beautiful tropical beach.<\/p>\n

Our second speaker was Mary Russell, although her talk was entitled “Travelling
\n around Syria, digressing to Baghdad”, she started with a story from
\n the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. She told us that in order to get
\n an extension to your visa, you have to “fall ill” the day before
\n it runs out, but only a little bit ill! You then get a sick note from
\n a friendly doctor stating that you are too ill to travel and lo and behold
\n your visa gets a few more weeks added on!<\/p>\n

Mary showed us the Syrian capital Damascus, from the plain doorways of
\n the closely constructed buildings, the bakery with its fresh flat bread
\n and the labyrinthine souks. She showed us one super photo of a popcorn
\n seller, whose equipment was mounted to his bicycle complete with an exhaust
\n pipe for the cooking gasses. On returning home from Syria Mary found on
\n her doormat an invitation to visit Iraq. It was just after the events
\n of September 11th<\/sup>, but despite the uncertainty
\n of the time Mary flew back to Damascus and then took a taxi to the Iraqi
\n capital. Mary explained that to enter Iraq you have to have an AID's
\n certificate, if you don't as she didn't you have the choice of
\n paying US $60 to have the test or US $70 not to! Needless to say she chose
\n the latter. Mary's slides of Baghdad included Saddam Hussain's
\n Palace which he built next to the remains of what was once Babylon, Fountains,
\n the university which is reputedly fifty years older than England's
\n Oxford University, the hospitals full of smiling doctors and tragically
\n ill children. We saw one positive side to the sanctions imposed by the
\n west, Iraq now grows its own fruit and vegetables which in former years
\n it just bought using its oil wealth. Mary's talk was a fascinating
\n insight into two interesting and much misunderstood countries.<\/p>\n

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind
\n the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each
\n month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back on Saturday
\n 1st<\/sup> September. For more information, you can
\n contact the Globetrotter Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the
\n website: www.globetrotters.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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