Globetrotters meeting 6^th September 2003 by Padmassana

We had a very special guest join us at the September Globetrotters meeting, despite not being announced, we were honoured that Mary-Jane Sweet from the Texas Globetrotter branch popped in to say hello (and enjoyed a pint or two at our local pub!) on her way back from a solo trip to Prague. Great to see you Mary-Jane, and thanks for coming to say hello!

If you are coming to London and have time on the first Saturday of every month, contact the Beetle, and she will arrange to meet you and bring you to a London Globetrotters meeting.

John Gimlette was our first speaker who introduced us to the South American country of Paraguay. He told us that 60% of cars in the country are actually stolen, usually from Argentina and Brazil and that many of the people live by selling goods on the streets, anything from oranges to goldfish in plastic bags. John showed us a photo of the Legislate building in Ascunsion that has a hole in its façade, this is due to a tank that was supposed to be starting a coup, however nobody else turned up and the tank ran out of petrol! John’s slides showed us other aspects of Paraguay including a British built railway that was closed in 2000 after a girl was killed and the Mennonites of German descent that live alongside the native Paraguayans but still speak a 16^th Century Germanic dialect. We also saw the two Italian built gunboats of the Paraguayan navy dating from 1928, not to mention the fact that Paraguay is a landlocked country! To read more about Johns adventures in Paraguay read his book entitled “At the tomb of the inflatable pig”.

Our second speaker was ex Globetrotters President Richard Snailham who last spoke to Globetrotters 33 years ago. (Padmassana was 6 at the time and needless to say was not present!) Along with intrepid explorer John Blashford Snell, Richard took part in an expedition using read boats on the rivers of Bolivia and Paraguay. Like John before him, Richard gave us a few facts about Bolivia, such as the country is named after Simon Bolivar and that the Bolivians have a poor record of going to war which currently leaves them at 0-7. Like Paraguay, Bolivia has a navy despite being landlocked, he showed us pictures of two warships that were originally British. The expedition aimed to follow the rivers using a traditionally built reed boat and with the help of the Bolivian navy’s low loader they got to their starting point. However not without having to chop bits off the boat to get it under road bridges and giving La Paz a power cut when trying to get under electric cables. John showed us photos of the boats progress down river which was slow, mainly due to the low water level, which meant they had to portage the boats on lorries to find water deep enough and at one point having to push the reed boat with a dinghy with an outboard motor in order to not be pushed back from where they had come! Part of the expedition was medical, this included two dentists who removed over 1000 teeth during the trip! Eventually they ran out of navigable river so one boat was given to the Bolivian navy, one to a children’s park and the third, they burned! To read more about Richards’s journey pick up a copy of his book “Kota Mama”.

Coming up on Saturday ^th October, Roger Widdecombe will talk about: “It ain’t a Holiday,” his experiences on taking part in Raleigh International expeditions Ghana W Africa. Roger took part in three Raleigh International expeditions to Ghana from September 2001 to September 2002. Acting as a volunteer member of staff, he undertook the roles of expedition photographer and fundraiser and also staged the first sponsored Abseil Challenge event to be held in that country.

Following Roger, Juliet Coombe will be telling us all about Great Festivals around the World. This is Juliet's latest publication – how to party your way around the World while discovering the origins of each fiesta.

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

Etna burst into our view as we explored Taormina’s Teatro Greco early one April morning. The day’s clear skies allowed us to look out across from this large amphitheatre and notice how the volcano formed a marvellous and deliberate backdrop through the semi ruined red brick stage walls. The Greek colonists certainly a had sense of place and made the most of the peak and its domination of eastern Sicily’s skyline. Two thousand years later its presence also acted as beacon – this time in fulfilling our day’s aim of appreciating a major reason for visiting the island.

Driving anti-clockwise around the Parco d. Etna allowed a plan of seeing how far we could actually get into the heart of Etna to be hatched. As our steady passage along a somewhat haphazard route succeeded in drawing us closer towards Etna, all seemed to bode well as we strained our necks along unhindered views of the still snow caped peak. But more and more we bumped into the consistent problems of vague road signs & our poor navigational skills and as such we found ourselves failing to penetrate very far into the park at all, apart from a few impassable trails near Bronte. Even at this point our first lava flows, whether hundreds of years old or more recent, looked impressive as their long since cooled remains lie amid the trails of destruction wrought across the surrounding countryside. Walking on top of these flows felt like walking out onto the remains of a burnt out BBQ – the crunching steps sounded much like the point where the charcoal can be crumbled into nothing and lacks any density.

Time and lack of progress soon concluded that heading inward from the north west was going to fail and as an alternative we struggled round to the southern entrance at Belpasso. Finally, after passing through a number of grey, industrial communities we started to get drawn in towards the dwarfing centre. We moved up through kilometres of ever switching roads, across grander lava flows and on past a more disturbed countryside. Our road finished at Cantoniera d’Etna (a mere 1881 m above sea level) and we crossed up on to a landscape that looked like a cross between the moon and a war hardened battlefield. Varying craters from previous eruptions littered the scenery, whilst the main peak stood away up another 1500 meters. Even at this level heat and steam still rose, whilst swirling winds and eerie silences added to the atmosphere and only machines being used to repair the most recently damaged roads broke the spell.

Etna’s continual eruptions have generated huge outpouring of ash, which over time has settled as dust into everywhere. We noticed that it covered the remainder of the winter’s snow and formed much of a crater we clambered up to get a better view of the quickly clouding over peak. Walking up such dusty surroundings made staggering across a sandy beach in heavy boots seem easier, as each step gained cost us half a stride backwards. Our calf muscles ached for a respite by the time we reached our wind blown crater rim…

Once back in breath there was time to enjoy the stunning views – south through the hazy sunshine towards the eastern coast of Sicily and round behind ourselves and up to towards the now almost shrouded summit. Our photographic urges found us trying to capture the surrounding colours of a fired furnace contrasted reds, yellows & deep charcoals and across the horizon toward the remnants of a chairlift which had been left upright, like hairs on the back of a hand. Down below many of the restaurants and administration buildings had either been completely brushed aside or remained semi submerged within the lava flows! These sights left me wondering how such a natural force can discharge so much power and toss aside all human activities with disdain!

Such was the magnetism of Etna and its surroundings that it was with some reluctance and much lateness that we found ourselves moving on from this step of our Mediterranean tour. However when looking to fulfil the ever present needs of food and accommodation, even Etna’s charms could only sway for so long…

If you’d like to contact Matt, to ask him any questions or ask advice, please e-mail him on: matt

Stop press, the NY October meeting has been cancelled.

For details of forthcoming meetings email newyork@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates, click here at our website.

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

This beautiful cottage that dates from 1614 has been converted to a Youth Hostel. Thanks to fellow Globetrotters Jeanie Copland’s organisation, we met in the middle of National Trust land with Polesden Lacey estate in front of us. Those who arrived on time had the pleasure of starting the weekend at the Pilgrim pub in Dorking. The two who were late put up their tents in the dark, having a spot of trouble when the tents kept sliding down the steep slope.

The Youth Hostel might be a good half an hour walk away from the nearest means of transport but that didn’t mean a quiet and relaxing night: the owls seemed to be in the biggest chat room ever above us, and Elvis the pedigree Dorking cockerel (who does not deserve to have his photo shown here) kept us awake for the most of the night. The green woodpeckers were not wasting their time either and you could see them just in front of the place.

An arduous walk on Saturday got me and our party to the top of Box Hill after which I retreated gracefully with John back to the camp whilst the more energetic people in our group decided to add another 5 miles to do the shopping. Yummy dinner followed in the evening.

On Sunday there was a 1936 reproduction of Lady Greville house parties. Can you imagine! We witnessed 1930's Mercs and Bentleys which all in all seemed a bit too posh for an average Globie so we moved on for a long walk.

Brilliant weekend. Thanks Jeanie and Tracey for getting it so well organized.

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 Streetin downtown Torontoat 8.00 p.m.