This is the first in a series of trip reports sent to the Beetle by Globetrotter Steve who is travelling around South America and Easter Island, the lucky chap! So, if you are planning trip to South America or are interested in knowing more about it, you may find Steve’s trip reports of interest.

The bus to La Serena was comfortable and the road a paved dual carriageway so the journey wasn’t bad. The countryside became slowly drier. Near Santiago roadside stalls were selling bags of oranges, lemons and avocados which looked very colourful. Nearer La Serena the countryside was very dry and the stalls were selling goat cheese.

La Serena is Chile’s second oldest city. It’s quite a small place with lots of old stone churches. They often have towers or spires that don’t match the rest of the building, a consequence of earthquakes I imagine. A mile away is a big sandy bay developing as a sea side resort with high rise buildings but it isn't the season so the beach is empty.

The weather has been cloudy and cool with a cold breeze from the sea. Yesterday I caught a local bus up the Elqui Valley to Pisco Elqui. The valley floor was covered with irrigated vineyards with the vines supported on a lattice of steel wires to keep the grapes about six foot above the ground. The leaves are fresh and green at the moment as they are just starting to grow after Winter. The steep valley sides were bare rock rising to rugged mountains. There was little vegetation and you could see the strata in the rock faces.

At Pisco Elqui the distillery was closed to visitors so I wandered round, had a lunch and caught the bus back. It filled with school children and agricultural labourers going home and I was a bit of a curiosity. Tomorrow I fly to Arica and then head for the altiplano.

Three days in Arica! It is the most Northern town in Chile and is surrounded by the Atacama Desert where it never rains. The driest place on earth.

The flight here went smoothly. After leaving La Serena I had to change in Santiago, which meant backtracking a bit. The Santiago – Arica flight called in at Iquique on the way here which made it quite a long flight. I had a window seat on the right side which meant I had views of the snow-capped Andes all the way here. On the left was the Pacific, and beneath for most of the journey was desert with occasional green valleys in the early stages of the journey. When the plane landed at Iquique I realised my reading glasses were missing. I’d worn them to look at the newspaper earlier in the flight but they had disappeared. I started to panic when they couldn’t be found but then they were recovered from about four rows in front. They had slid off the seat during the landing. It acted as an icebreaker as a group of elderly Chileans bound for Arica on holiday (The city of Permanent Spring) started to joke and chat, which was fun.

The next day in Arica, being a Sunday, everything was closed except the archaeological museum where they had an excellent display including four Chinchero mummies, the oldest ones ever found in the world. The dry conditions have also preserved textiles buried in graves and they are some of the oldest existing textiles in the world – knitting, weaving, braids and knotted items. It’s remarkable how skilful they were.

Today, Monday, turns out to be a Bank Holiday so again nothing is open. Am I ever going to be able to leave here? Having seen most things in town I’ve had time at the beach. It’s warm and sunny in the afternoon although mornings have been cool and overcast.

Arica has a lot of soldiers who stroll round town all the time in desert combat gear. If I find an army surplus store I want a pair of their desert boots. It also has a large harbour. The fishmeal plant has closed, which is a blessing, and there are several large rusting trawlers berthed at the edge of the town. When I went to the harbour there was a flock of pelicans snatching up the waste from the stalls were fish was being cleaned and in the sea were several marine mammals looking very like large sea lions, perhaps walrus. When I walked to the beach there were fish leaping in the sea. They weren't flying fish, more like mackerel, but they jumped clean out of the water. I think something below the waves was having a good feeding session.

6th November 2004 London meeting

A bumper attendance for the November London Globetrotter’s meeting, with not a chair, table or bit of floor space left. The audience included Globies from overseas including Brie Kelly from Colorado. The crowds had come to hear Globies President Janet Street-Porter’s talk on the Larapinta Trail that starts from Alice Springs and the Bay of Fires walk in Tasmania. Special mention due to Paul Robert’s who burned the midnight oil to scan Janet’s photos so that we could see them digitally. Janet did this 8 day -walk with a group and they were supported by a vehicle carrying their camping, cooking and other equipment, which left them free to enjoy the scenery and swat flies. We saw Janet in a full nylon head net to stop these annoying critters and later she explained a new use for toilet roll to stop the flies entering every orifice! It was all worth it for the great Aussie scenery, the reds and pinks of the rocks and greenery you wouldn’t normally think exists. The Bay of Fires walk in Tasmania is mainly on sand and again we saw some great pictures of her walk. Janet added on some pictures of a walk she recently did near Christchurch in New Zealand, where she stayed in some quirky buildings, one of which enjoyed an outdoor bathtub, where the water was heated by lighting a fire under the tub! The forty minutes went way too fast as we listened to Janet’s commentary.

After the break it was over to Christian Tyler who gave us another interesting talk this time on the Taklamakan Desert and Xinjiang Province in China. His five-week trip began in Dunhuang, famous for its cave paintings. Christian’s group travelled in the ubiquitous Toyota Landcruiser and trekked by camel, supported by a Chinese army lorry. Christian’s journey took him to Miran and to abandoned cities in the desert. Some of these towns have been dug out of their sand tombs, we saw parts of wooden structures which had once been homes and shops. Christian explained that the cities had been abandoned as the underground rivers had either dried up or changed course. We saw other examples such as forests that were now just tree trunks. Christian’s talk gave us a rare insight to an area well off the beaten track.

Mark your diary for forthcoming meetings:

Sat. 4 December

Amar Grover – North Pakistan – Kailash Valleys of Chitral to Gilgit via Shandur Pass

Matthew Leeming -Afghanistan OR Iraqi Marsh Arabs

Sat. 8th January – Four Mini-talks and New Year Party

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 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 Admission: Members £2.00 Non-members £4.00.

Stanley: I recently (September 2004) visited my friends in Veliky Novgorod, Russia and stayed in their flat for about a week. There is a requirement to submit a entrance document as well as an exit document upon departure. The exit document must be stamped on the back to be valid. My host in Novgorod took me to the local Russian Government office to take care of the necessary exit stamp and we were told that we must register at a local hotel where they will affix the necessary stamp on the back of my exit permit. The one night at a local hotel cost me 310 roubles for a room I did not need or use just to get the required exit stamp.

I discussed this procedure with my host who just shrugged and I understood that it does not make any sense but this is Russia! It’s best to be forewarned for tourists travelling to Russia. I had a Russian accompany me on two trips to the local government office to translate for me otherwise I would not have understood the procedure to acquire the necessary stamp on my exit permit. E-mail: Smsagara2@aol.com

Mac: Retired Military 81 year old Stanley Matachi Sagara has passed on to me these military tips and experiences. He has visited 66 countries. “I like to take capped ball point pens when I travel. It protects ink from accidentally soiling my shirt pocket (it ruined several shirts before I switched). Someone is always lacking a pen when its time to fill out arrival cards. I loan them my ball point pen but retain the cap so that I have some assurance of getting my pen returned. If not the borrower will have an ink stain in HIS shirt pocket.

Carrying buttoned and folded clothes to eliminate wrinkles in clear plastic zip lock bags makes it easy to locate an item of clothing and makes it easy to pack and repack when necessary. The air in these plastic bags kept his suitcase afloat when his suitcase onetime fell in ocean but did not sink. (In asking what travellers carry I find that zip lock bags is one item that is mentioned again and again) Sagara carries a suitcase with roller blade wheels with nylon bearings the one type that is dependable for easy movement over rough services.

He gave me a nylon bath body cloth that he likes. It is 14 inches wide and about '30 inches (l meter) long. It removes dead skin and is invigorating, comes in hard, medium and soft. He says it is long enough to scrub the back completely without having to shower with a friend. In Japan about US$6.00. In Taiwan and China for about half that price. Since it is made of nylon it can be packed damp in another one of those zip lock bags and it will not mildew.

I did not get this from Sagara but read elsewhere that some of the French policemen along Boulevard St Germain in Paris are now on rollerblades (roller skates) and that all trashcans in Paris are now plastic (zip lock?) bags.

Happy Travelling. Mac

New York meetings will resume in January – subject will be TBD.

Please contact me (Laurie) if you’re interesting in speaking or know of someone who is! 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 St and Washington St), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month at 4 pm. Admission: $8.00 for members and $10.00 for non-members.

Source:

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.

Find the answers

Globetrotter meetings have temporarily ceased until further notice due to a bereavement in Christina’s family. If you can help Christina resurrect the Texas meetings, as she would really appreciate some help, please contact Christina on texas@globetrotters.co.uk

Fly Ryanair and gamble

Ryanair’s latest potential cash generating scheme is to provide in-flight gambling. No fills Ryanair already charge for the ‘frills’ such as food, luggage and movies, and, more famously ice if they could get away with it, are now considering providing gambling on board its planes. News reports say that gambling operators have expressed interest, although there are no formal talks underway.

Ryanair’s Chief Exec warns of reduction in low cost operators

Ryanair and easyJet are widely credited to have helped transform Europe’s low cost airline industry. Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O'Leary recently warned the World Low Cost Airlines Congress that “there will a bloodbath in Europe this winter” in the budget air sector. “The bloodbath will reach all the companies,” said O'Leary, who has previously predicted that only one or two large low-fares airlines will be left flying the skies of Europe in the medium term. Competition in the low cost, no frills airline industry is intensifying. In 2000 there were just five low-cost airlines in Europe, now there are 49, according to Wolfgang Kurth, president of the European Low Fares Airline Association and chief executive of TUI's no-frills carrier Hapag-Lloyd Express. Webster told the conference that low-cost airlines could take advantage of short-haul routes likely to be neglected by the larger, established carriers.

Ryanair adopts a school

Cause related marketing is a live and well. Ryanair’s Head of Communications Paul Fitzsimmons recently said: “It’s back to school time for parents everywhere, and we’re giving people an opportunity to grab a back to school bargain with flights for ONLY 10p on many of our routes from Stansted and at the same time help our adopted school Mountfitchet High School. We will sell 200,000 seats at this fare, which means we can donate £20,000.00 to the school. It is fitting that as http://www.ryanair.com is Europe’s biggest travel website, that Mountfitchet High School is to use our donation to further upgrade their IT facilities for pupils. We would urge passengers to book quickly as demand will be huge and to remember that not only will they fly with Europe’s No.1 low fares airline, but they will also be helping school children further their computer education.”

Announcing the support for Mountfitchet High School at a photo call in the school, Mountfitchet High School Headmistress, Jo Mullis said: “We are delighted to have been chosen by Ryanair as their adopted school. Ryanair’s support comes at an important time, because with this help we can buy computer equipment for our pupils, which will help us to achieve our goal of becoming an IT merited school. We hope lots of people will buy their Ryanair flight knowing that Ryanair are donating the entire fare to our school project.” Pass the sick bag, somebody.

Ryanair told to pay back EU subsidy

No-frills Irish airline Ryanair has said that it would repay EUR4 million in subsidies it received to operate from Belgium's Charleroi Airport, pending an appeal to the European Court of Justice. In February, European Union regulators told Ryanair to repay EUR3.9 million (USD$4.97 million) to the regional government of Wallonia in southern Belgium, which had offered Ryanair cheap rates at the region's Charleroi Airport. “(Ryanair) agreed to repay EUR4 million in an escrow account until Ryanair's appeal is heard,” the airline said in a statement. The money will go into a blocked account, to which Ryanair will regain access if it wins its appeal. “We remain very confident that we will win,” Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary told a news conference in Brussels. O'Leary said the airline reserved the right to quit Charleroi if an adverse ruling raised costs, but said he intended to keep operations at their current level until then.