Category Archives: archive

New Incan Site Found

A team of explorers acting on a tip from a mule-handler have discovered the ruins of a lost city, Cota Coca, some 50 kilometres southwest of Machu Picchu in the Andes. Cota Coca is likely one of the places to which fleeing Incas retreated from the Spanish in 1532, before their total defeat about 40 years later. The team believe that the site has remained untouched for more than 500 years. British writer and explorer Hugh Thomson said the site, more of a settlement than what we would understand as a city, was in a “remarkable state of preservation”.

Mr Thomson, a co-leader of the expedition, said: “You're only going to find a new Inca site once in your life.”

Britain's Royal Geographical Society says Cota Coca's “constructed area” is more than twice as large as any found at the other Incan ruin whose discovery was announced just a few months ago. “This is an important discovery, because it is a sizeable centre of good — quality late — Inca masonry,” said John Hemming, a well — known Inca expert and former director of the Royal Geographical Society.

Use Euros in Cuba!

Over half of Cuba's 2 million visitors come from Europe, so it perhaps makes sense that tourists visiting Cuba's biggest tourist beach resort, Varadero, some 3 hours east of Havana can now use the European currency, the euro. Of course, you are still welcome to pay for good and services in US $ or Cuban pesos. News reports say that even small Cuban children have started to ask for euros!

London:

Saturday 8th June 2002 – London Meeting by Padmassana

This Saturday we were treated to two splendid talks, about two different areas of the world.

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

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

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

London 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. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back on Saturday 1st September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotter Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

Buddha's Teeth

You may have read recently about one of Buddha's fingers being brought from Thailand to Taipei in Taiwan. This got the Beetle wondering about other parts of Buddha and where you can see them. It is possible to see the casket containing the left incisor of the Buddha in the sacred temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The Beetle queued up for some time to walk past this sacred relic — it was certainly an experience! It seems that there are three of Buddha's teeth in existence: one in Sri Lanka, one in China and one in Thailand.

Buddhists in Sri Lanka celebrate “Buddha Tooth Festival” which begins on 1st of August every year and lasts for twelve days. Every night during the festival, grand parades can be seen starting from 8:00pm until 11:00pm. The Chinese tooth was found by a monk in 475AD and hidden in what is today Nanking, in China. In times of war, it was taken to Beijing and placed in a stupa. In 1900 when Beijing was invaded, the stupa was destroyed, and monks found the tooth in the rubble. In 1964, the stupa was rebuilt and the tooth placed in the pagoda of Beijing. The third tooth is alleged to have passed into Tibet and transferred to India during the Cultural Revolution before its final resting place in Thailand.

Baksheesh!

Ever wondered who were the most corrupt countries in the world?

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) lists those countries which are perceived by suppliers as requiring the most bribes of businesses. The countries that currently do worst on this score are Russia, China, Taiwan and South Korea, with Sweden and Australia faring the best.

New York:

Jason Florio gave us some fabulous insights into life in Afghanistan and entertained us with some amazing stories of his time there.

We will NOT have a July meeting due to all of our summer travel plans and the July 4th holiday. Hope to see you August 3rd.

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theater, 154 Christopher Street (btw Greenwich St and Washington St), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month at 4 pm.

Tea in Pasadena!

Janice from L.A. suggests the Rose Tree Cottage in Pasadena for that great English cup of tea. The owners, Mary and Edmund Fry, (her husband Edmund dressed like Jeeves) run a delightful teashop in Pasadena and also organise tours. Including a trip to Kenya for tea and safari. Members of royalty and visiting dignities have all visited (and been photographed with the owners). The Rose Tree Cottage has also been named by Los Angeles Magazine as one of the best teashops in Southern California and was again featured in USA Today.

Britain's Jubilee Party

At the end of May, beginning of June, the UK was in party mode to celebrate 50 years of the Queen on the throne. Two public holidays added to the weekend lead to four days of celebrations. Street parties were held across the UK and thousands went to Buckingham Palace in the evenings for massive rock and classical concerts.

The English Tourist Council predicted that around one third of Britons took part in a Golden Jubilee event of some kind over the long bank holiday weekend. Also to celebrate the event there was almost 2,000 beacons lit across the UK and many more in all of the Commonwealth countries. The fact that the jubilee coincided with the start of the World Cup gave an extra boost to the festivities and resulted in far fewer (about 1.5 million people) people going abroad to take advantage of the 4 day holiday.

Ontario:

The annual Toronto & Ontario GT picnic on Georgian Bay (in Meaford) is upon us, and will be held on Saturday, July 13th, 2002. As usual, our host will be Vera Blowers, and the address is:

228 Eliza Street, Meaford, Ontario tel. 519-538-5729 Program: Arrive on Saturday around noon, bring some barbecuables/munchies/salads/deserts of your choice to share with others. There will be BBQ in the afternoon, a game of croquet or horseshoes (if that's your thing), a swim in Georgian Bay or you can just sit around and talk travel. The hardy types can pitch a tent and stay overnight, watch the sun rise from the lake, go for another swim, walk through Meaford or do whatever else you might wish to. If you would like to bring and show some new and interesting slides we'll have a slide projector & a carousel available. Directions: From Collingwood: Go West along Hwy 26 to Meaford. On the first lights turn right/north/towards the lake and down the hill to a school that is at the corner of Eliza Street. West on Eliza to #228. From Orangeville : North along Hwy10 to Flesherton (there is a little “jog” West on #10 between Primrose to Shelburne), in “downtown” Flesherton turn right on Hwy 4 and after about 4-5km left/North on #13 to Kimberley and from there on #7 all the way to Meaford. In Meaford on the lights (Hwy 26 & #7) go straight down the hill towards the lake etc. If you can give a ride to someone or you need a ride to get there, please contact me (Svatka Hermanek) by email by Friday, June 28 (I will be away from my computer from that date on) or by phone before July 3 (416-503-2933). I will try to arrange car pools. After this date call Vera Blowers at the above number. Hope to see you there.

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

.

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.

Not to be Seen Dead In?

India and Pakistan. Due to the risk of conflict between India and Pakistan, the FCO's advice is that they still recommend against all but essential travel to India. British nationals already in India should consider their need to remain in the country, but we no longer advise they should leave. Our advice for Pakistan also no longer recommends against all travel. But we continue to advise against all but essential travel. Because of the continuing high level of security threat internally in Pakistan, those who decide they must still travel should have confidence in the security arrangements made for the entire visit. We further advise all British nationals in Pakistan to leave unless they have a compelling reason to stay, and similarly have confidence in their security arrangements. The situation is likely to remain uncertain for some time. We will keep our travel advice under constant review and will not hesitate to change it if necessary.