The Survival Imperative

Langkawi, Koh Lipe, Koh Lanta, 'The Junk', .....

2011-12-06T20:39:00.001-08:00

Off on a new adventure travelling through NW Malaysia and SE Thailand for 4 weeks diving with the fishes, resting on beaches, drinking cocktails, testing Club Sandwiches and reading good books.

The itinerary goes something like:

Sydney to Langkawi. Living it up in The Sheraton Langkawi for a few days.

Ferry to Koh Lipe over the border in Thailand for a week or so, initially booked in to Serendipity.

Island hop to Phuket to board the live-aboard dive boat, 'The Junk'.

New Years in Phuket perhaps or one of the more quieter islands.

Island hop back to Langkawi, on to KL for two days at the Shangri La, and return home to Melbs.

Can't wait!!

:-)

Days 1-4: Langkawi

After suffering through KL Domestic, the second worst departure lounge on the planet behind Tegucigalpa, we finally arrived after a completely non-service connection to tropical Langkawi International. After negotiating the non-system outbound taxi rank to find a ride to The Sheraton I realised it had been some time since I had experienced the non-Western world.

The Sheraton Langkawi was as expected for a tropical Sheraton. Our room had nice views through the coconut palms to the sort-of blue water. On the second sunrise a troop of local monkeys dropped by the balcony to say hello looking for breakfast. Very curious little critters and just one short leap away from jumping into my bowl of fruit.

As always, a hotel can be judged by its Club Sandwich. As a reminder, a Club starts with a score of 10 and loses points for errors.

Score:
Sandwich cut into halves not quarters: -1.
Due to the above, not able to be arranged in the correct fashion. That is, quarters on side forming a cross with the fries positioned in the centre: -1.
No tooth picks holding the sandwich together: -1/2.
One extra layer of tomato: -1/2.
Above average hot crispy chips (planks) +1, but served on the side and should be thin fries: -1.
No cheese: -1.
No mayo: -1.

The Sheraton Langkawi scores a 5/10.

Overall, Langkawi is overrated and I hadn’t really rated it, which puts that in perspective. The beaches are off white compared to Bondi and powdery in places between the smashed coral and shell parts. The only place worth staying would be Pantai Cenang, which looks lively, but you need to be careful dodging the obnoxious European jet skiers running amok in the bay.

Day 5-10: Koh Lipe

Took the morning speedboat to Koh Lipe just over the border in Thailand for a real tropical island experience. Loh Lipe is yet to be overrun by hippie wannabes as the travel boards will try to convince you. It has a handful of new upmarket resorts but it’s still a ferrel dread-locked smelly backpacker haven.

I chose the non-backpacker option and booked into Serendipity. Wifey quote, ‘this is the best room I have ever stayed in.’ For a boutique small tropical island hotel I have to agree. Absolutely amazing place and highly recommended for anyone travelling through with some spare cash. A little above ferrel backpacker rates at around $200 a night.

You must visit this place!

Went diving with Castaway Divers which was recommended by the owner of Serendipity but we chose a poor day for a Thai Long Tail boat operator. There was only a relatively minor swell on the day we dived but enough to cause the little Long Tail great hardship and even greater hardship for us passengers as we were battered by the little waves smashing over the sides during the one hour thirty transit between beach and dive sites. Stay away from Long Tails in anything above glassy seas.

The diving was average compared to a Great Barrier Reef, or a Cozumel, or Red Sea, or just about anywhere else for that matter. Average visibility, ordinary corals, and very few marine life highlights apart from one gigantic Green Moray and a rare pair of friendly free swimming Lion Fish. The Divemaster did his best to bore us to death during his dive briefings and would have succeeded if not for the roller coaster swell. Probably thought he didn’t have to work us up since we were Divermasters, but just a little enthusiasm wouldn’t have hurt. I think he must have had a big night.

Diving Koh Lipe should be taken off your around-the-world must-do diving experiences.

Off to Koh Lanta......

Edinburgh to Guildford

2011-04-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

Just finished a great 2 weeks travelling from Edinburgh, Scotland down to Guildford SW of London. Has been a great 2 weeks and the Australian weather seems to have followed me.

Spent a week in Edinburgh staying at the Radisson Blu just down the road from the Castle on the Royal Mile. Great location, great hotel, awesome city. Was attending a military conference in the hotel and one of the best opportunities I've had to live it up at taxpayer expense.

Post conference I travelled with my Australian colleagues down to York where we visited a British Army unit conducting some pre-deloyment training. Amazing training and a great credit to the British Army.

It's the second time I've been to York so wasn't expecting to be too overawed by the place. But it did it to me again! Amazing city. Bit busy on the weekend but a must see on any world tour.

After York it was the longish drive to Guildford. We decided to stay down here as we wanted to be in the English countryside and stay in an old style hotel. We chose the Manor House just outside of town and I highly recommend it. Simple, but you get a great feel for the English country side. Has a very good gym and pool for being in the middle of nowhere.

We stayed in Guildford as it was recommended by an exchange officer back in Australia as a central location to explore the countryside and visit the army rehabilitation unit called Headley Court, near by. This was an outstanding visit and experience to be taken back to Australia. I don't think too many people would understand the work being done for injured military members who have been seriously injured. The number of double amputees put life into perspective for me.

Guildford is of course famous for the Guildford bombings and the resulting movie called the Guildford Four staring Daniel Day Lewis. Good movie.

There are some incredible pubs in the area and we tried a few, of course. This phot below is off the wall of my favourite that had a great menu. In case you can't read it clearly it says 'The White Horse, originally built in 1425'.... OMG!! :-)

With 2 days free after this it was time to explore and no visit to this area is complete without a visit to Stonehenge. These are some old, old, old rocks and quite incredible that they were erected around 3-4000 years ago. Amazing.

The UK scores:

Old Stuff: 8/10
Amazing history, just behind Rome and old stuff like the Pyramids and Petra.

Pubs: 9.5/10
Almost impossible to find better across the planet, except for Fitzroy in Melbourne. The White Horse est 1425 is about 350 years before Aborigines even contemplated the utility of the wheel, and the medicinal properties of alcohol.

Drivers: 8/10
Pretty good, just need to work on the indicating and some basic etiquette.

Women: 6/10
There are some very beautiful women in the UK but also, as my friend reckons, 'there are some absolutely dog ugly slappers too.' I'm with him, and there's not much in the middle by all accounts.

Club Sandwich: 6/10
Generally well done, but some poor efforts also. Usually due to the lack of egg or cheese. And, UK, remember, PRESENTATION, PRESENTATION, PRESENTATION. A Club is cut in quarters, arranged face up in a X, with the chips in the centre!! It's fundamental stuff!!

Witches Hats: 10/10
No body in the world uses as many Witches Hats to shepherd traffic like the UK.

Scotch Single Malts: 10/10
It is called Scotch for a reason.

Weather: 2/10
The UK tried to bamboozle me with some fine sunny days, but I know better! Uhuh!!!

Beaches: 1/10
Shame, UK, shame.

Overall: 8/10
Missed out on weather and beaches.
Redeemed by pubs and old stuff.

Guatemala and Honduras

2010-01-11T07:07:00.000-08:00

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I've just returned from a nice holiday in Guatemala and Honduras over the Christmas period. Interesting choice of holiday locations I feel. Guatemala is currently going through some very difficult internal security problems, particularly around Guatemala City where one person is killed every 90 minutes, and Honduras is just coming off the back of a coup. These were not the reasons for the visit, of course.

The journey:

I haven't been to Guatemala before and I was really interested to visit Antigua, which is regularly cited as the most beautiful colonial city in Central America, and Lago Atitlan which is only surpassed by Lake Como and the most beautiful lake in the world.

We arrived in Guata City on 24 December and caught a shuttle from the airport direct to Antigua just over an hour away. Antigua did not disappoint, and I can put it up there with Cartagena Old City in Columbia as my favourite colonial city in Latin America: Old cobble stone streets, original colonial buildings from the 1600s, temperate climate, and in a spectacular valley under the shadows of a mighty volcano.

Antigua was the capital of the Spanish colony covering most of Central America up till 1717 when a massive earthquake destroyed most of the city. The capital was then moved to present day Guatemala City. In retrospect this was a stroke of luck for Guatemala because present day Antigua is a tourism gem.

After Christmas we headed to San Pedro La Laguna, on Lake Atitlan for a few days.

My wife studied Spanish here for a few months years ago so it was a chance for her to catch up with any friends who still might be there and reminisce. The gringo part of town is really nice and laid back, and a bit of a hippy drug haven. Would be awesome for those wanting to kick back for a few months and learn some Spanish.

We felt pretty safe in Guatemala but didn’t stray too far off the beaten track.

It's a shame that such a beautiful country has hardly lived through a peaceful era. From pre-Colombian times to present day the people have pretty well lived in continuous conflict. It's amazing that the country has only relatively recently finished a deadly civil war.

Today, Guatemala is in the Latin American news because of the continuous attacks against the local bus system in Guatemala City. Every day a bus driver is killed because of not providing protection money to local gangs. The government has resorted to manning busses with military and heavily armed police. The route cause of this can only be poverty caused by a lack of quality education and other advanced social systems. Can it just be a stage of development, or is it a cultural thing? After 500 years of post Colombian rule and a couple of hundred of independance, have to wonder...

From Lago Atitlan we planned the major journey to The Bay Islands by bus and broke it up with an overnight stop in Copan in order to see the Mayan ruins.

The small village of Copan itself is worth a visit, sort of a mini Antigua actually with plenty of cafes and restaurants to service travelers going through. The ruins are about 2km down the road and set in a valley hidden in the jungle.

It’s a beautiful setting with lots of wild life hanging about including Macaws, one of Central and South America’s most amazing birds.

The city of Copan is the most southern of the ancient Maya world which thrived from the 5th to 9th Century. The site is best known for an amazing series of portrait stelae, which are not found at other ruins like Palenque or Chichen Itza. These were placed along processional walkways in the central plaza of the city and the adjoining complex of overlapping pyramids, plazas, and palaces. The surviving carvings are pretty well preserved and are a must see on the Maya route.

As far as ancient ruins of the world go, it is down the list behind Angkor Wat and Bayon in Cambodia, and probably comes in second behind Palenque in Mexico as my favourite Mayan site.

There were a couple of reasons for heading back to Honduras. My wife and I met on Utila about five years ago, and we thought it would be nice to return to the place where we met and do some diving. We were there for almost three months last time but failed to visit Roatan, the more beautiful of the Bay Islands, just a few hours sailing time away, so that was a must do.

So, after Copan we were on another bus to La Ceiba on the Honduran coast and caught the ferry over to Utila just in time for New Years Eve. It was a hoot being back on Utila and we made sure we stood on the same spot that we met those five years ago. Corny? Maybe, but it was pretty special for us, we’ve been together since the day we met.

Unfortunately, the weather was pretty crap over the next couple of days and the diving just OK. We ended up staying at a new and improved Underwater Vision, the same hotel as last time, and they were kind enough to give us a big discount on the accommodation and throw in the diving for free.

We then decided to catch a ride over to Roatan with Captain Verne on his 40ft catamaran and spend our last five days exploring the island and doing some more diving. We ended up diving with West End Divers after a very brief search for a good dive operation and this was a great decision. The team of instructors there were outstanding, especially their lead Dive Master, Mickey, who was leading us for most of our dives. While the weather continued to be average, the diving was still very good, with great corals and some great sea life. We were lucky enough to spot most of the great fish of the Caribbean including; Spotted Drums, Hawksbill Turtles, Spotted Eagle Rays, etc.

I have to say, even with my strong connection to Utila, Roatan is by far a superior holiday destination. It was very hard to leave.

Trujillo, Chan Chan, Huaca de la Luna (Temple of the Moon)

2009-11-06T07:54:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we took a long weekend and travelled to the north of Peru to see some of the less travelled sites not usually on the Gringo Trail of the more popular southern Peru.

We flew from Lima to Trujillo and made our way to Hotel El Golf, the only Five Star Hotel in Northern Peru (why not) and settled in.

Trujillo is the 3rd largest town in Peru, about 500km north of Lima and was the first city to declare independence from Spain in 1820. Close by are the very important archeological sites of Chan Chan, and the Temple of the Sun and the Moon. The entire region is a vast blank desert wasteland with hardly a fertile valley in site. Why any civilisation chose to live about here is a mystery to me. Some nice colonial architecture in the main square, but pretty limited.

Chan Chan covers an area of approximately 20 km², and had a dense urban center of about 6km². Chan Chan was constructed by the Chimor (the kingdom of the Chimú), a late intermediate period civilization which grew out of the remnants of the Moche civilization. The vast adobe city of Chan Chan was built by the Chimu around AD 850 and lasted until its conquest by the Inca Empire in AD 1470. It was the imperial capital of the Chimor until it was conquered in the 15th century. It is estimated that around 30,000 people lived here.

Huaca de la Luna ("Temple/Shrine of the Moon") is a large adobe brick structure built mainly by the Moche. It, with the Huaca del Sol, is part of Huacas de Moche, the remains of an ancient Moche capital city called Cerro Blanco by modern archaeologists.

The Huaca de la Luna, though it is the smaller of the two huacas at the site, yields the most archaeological information. The Huaca del Sol was partially destroyed and looted by Spanish conquistadors in the 17th century, while the Huaca de la Luna was left relatively untouched. It is believed today that the Huaca del Sol may have been more administrative, military, residential and burial mound for the Moche elite, while the Huaca de la Luna served a largely ceremonial and religious function, though it contains burials as well.

Today the Huaca de la Luna is colored the soft brown of its adobe brickwork, just after its construction it would have been an impressive site to behold. The huaca was decorated in murals which were painted in black, bright red, sky blue, white, and yellow. The sun and weather has since faded these murals away, but other murals used in earlier phases of construction can still be seen inside the Huaca. Many of these depict a deity now known as Ayapec. "Ayapec" is a pre-Quechua word translating as all knowing. "Wrinkle-Face" is the name given to another deity by the later Inca because of the deity's appearance.

The Huaca de la Luna is one of the most impressive archeological sites I have seen in Peru, mainly because it has been preserved, not reconstructed, unlike Chan Chan which seems to be an almost totally reconstructed site.

While both sites are impressive, it's still difficult for me to comprehend the act of human sacrifice that was practiced at both sites. To appease the gods countless people were sacrificed over the years to try and convince the gods to provide rain, good crops, or whatever. You can either conclude that life was of less value, or that the gods were so much more important than humans. The later is probably the case. Humans really didn't have a clue back then, and unfortunately there are many human cultures still on Earth who still believe that there is an all powerful Being (or beings) that created the Multiverses, and at the same time meddle in the day to day business of individual humans on this one particular rock. Confounding.

The reason for the fall of these civilisations is not clear, but my theory is that they may have gone through a particularly bad El Nino which destroyed crops and made water scarce, and no matter how many people were sacrificed, nothing improved. The people would have become restless, disenchantered with their religion, and eventually rebelled againsts the priestly classes and simply packed up and left for the mountains or more fertile grounds.

Trujillo is OK for a visit, and a must do if you want to see all of Peru, but on the scale of things, it doesn't rate compared to a Cuzco and it's surrounds.

Chile holiday

2009-09-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

We're on a trip from Santiago to Puerto Varas in Chile and having a great time. The weather has been perfect and the scenery of Chile is incredible.

BBQ dinner at the hostal in Pucon

Villarica Volcano as the sun goes down behind Pucon

My horse, horse riding near Pucon.

From Puerto Varas looking towards the Andes and Argentina

Volcano near Puerto Varas

Another day in Cusco

2009-09-12T15:53:00.001-07:00

One day in Cuzco

2009-09-07T00:04:00.000-07:00

Pago a la Tierra – Payment to the Earth

2009-08-31T13:01:00.000-07:00

On 30 August I participated in the Pago a la Tierra ceremony in Cuzco, or Payment to the Earth, a ceremony that Andean people hold sometime in August to celebrate the Andean New Year. During the ceremony offerings are made to Pachamama, or Mother Earth, prayers are made for family and friends, and for good fortune in the following year.

The ceremonies are normally held inside Peruvian family homes and a shaman is invited to assist in the ceremonies, but it is often just the head of the household like a grandfather who will be responsible for the ceremony.

My wife’s travel company has an office in Cusco and most of her staff are Andean, or Quechua people, (part of the Incan empire) and each year they follow all the traditional Andean indigenous religious ceremonies, alongside the Catholic ones. Often these ceremonies are combined which the Spanish engineered very early on in the conquest as a way of converting the locals. Some Incan ceremonies were abolished, such as Inti Raymi (see blog below), but thankfully there has been a resurgence in traditional ceremonies over the past 100 years. One of those, as true to the original as possible in the modern world, is Pago a la Tierra.

Since the company first opened an Office in Cuzco, one of the staff members has organised for her family to do a Pago a la Tierra for the office and staff. My wife participated in her first ceremony last year, and this year was my first. This was an important event and we flew from Lima just to take part in it.

It was with a little trepidation that I participated in the ceremony as I am a long time skeptic of any religion, believing they have originated in superstition and ignorance of the physical world, but this was an opportunity to experience an important indigenous ceremony first hand. I was curious to try and understand what people really experienced.

We arrived at the office at 9.00pm to find a ceremonial fire guarding the doorway.

We entered the office and took up seats as the fire was brought inside, reduced to a smoke and carried throughout the office spaces to cleanse them. Luckily the office smoke detectors were turned off, or didn’t work, as the ancient smoke machine bellowed clouds of the stuff until we almost couldn’t see each other. Just before dying of asphyxiation the smoke cleared and the ceremony moved on.

We then all took turns at spilling Cusquena beer (traditionally Chicha – the Andean corn brew) on the earth outside while saying a prayer to Pachamama, and we then drank a small amount of beer as a bottle of Cusquena and a glass was passed around the circle.

Surprised that the fire brigade hadn’t turned up, bags of coca leaves were brought out, (probably enough to grind to a couple of grams) and we were then asked to separate all the perfect leaves from the dodgy ones, which would then be used as offerings to Pachamama. Meanwhile, we all took a small amount of coca leaves that we chewed during the ceremony. (actually, my coca leaves lasted about 5 minutes before I had to hide the ball of green goop in a flower pot. It’s an acquired taste.)

At the same time, grandfather started arranging an offering on the altar (office desk with a blanket over it), which would later be bundled up and buried the following day. He started with arranging red and white flowers in the shape of an Andean Cross, and making a little prayer as each flower was placed down. Each time he raised the flower to the front of his face and made a soft whistling sound like he was blowing the prayer out into the spirit world. He then dipped the flower into a small pot of wine, and placed the flower down very carefully. He then asked for where each office was located around the world. One by one they were reeled off and each flower placed down represented a little prayer for that office. We then listed all the places we travelled to in South America, and each of those was given a sincere prayer. Each city softly whistled off to Pachamama in the spirit world.

(Grandfather saying a prayer)

After the flowers were laid, he dipped a small feather like brush in some wine and splashed it over each corner of the cross of flowers. Each person in the circle was then asked to go to the altar and do the same.

(splashing wine on the flowers)

While this was all going on grandad's helper was putting together a bunch of special offerings that would be laid on the top of the pile. These included; chocolates, biscuits, sweets of all kinds including what looked to be a chocolate dummy, the feathers of special birds including the Condor, and small effigies built over corn cobs with heads made of sculptured alpaca fat, looking out with little seed eyes. On their heads were four little spikes wrapped with colourful tin foil and little stars shoved into the fat. They looked like little fat Christmas trees, without branches. Well, that’s what I thought at the time.

Included in the offering was a pretty scary looking llama fetus (hopefully aborted naturally), and a small colibri, or Humming Bird, (also hopefully dying naturally), each with sculptured Alpaca fat on their heads to make them stand out. They were pretty freaky looking offerings, but obviously very important.

(Grandfathers helper with the weird offerings - the small dark figure with a white head is the llama fetus)

All the perfect coca leaves were then rounded up and grandfather began laying them over the flowers, and continued on with prays for each of the offices and the places we travel to. As with the flowers, a pray and a whistle, followed by a dunking in the wine before being laid to rest.

At this point I noticed the dogmatically secular Sean had faded away. I’m not sure if I was experiencing an important cultural event, or a religious event. Maybe they are the same thing, but I wasn’t thinking ‘this is crazy stuff’, at all. Even the scrawny fetus didn’t weird me out too much. Maybe it was just respect for the culture, but all I could think was that this was important shit.

(making a prayer and laying down her coca leafs)

Each person in the group was then asked to pick 24 perfect coca leaves in six groups of four, and we each went to the altar in turn and made a prayer to six important people in our lives, for the New Year. Each time dipping the group of four leaves in the wine and placing them down carefully with our right hands on the altar, piling them up to the centre. I hope Pachamama looks after my six most important people for me this year.

Beer was then passed around the circle again and we each toasted other members of the group with a Salud! As I drank my portion of beer I tried to avoid the lumps of chewed coca leaves now stuck to the rim of the glass. It was tricky business. What I could not help noticing at this point was the sincerity in which the Quechua family said their salud to each other, and to us foreigners living in their culture. It touched me, and put an Aussie ‘cheers mate’ to shame.

(offerings on the coca leaves)

Then it was time to lay down all the other special offerings that grandfather's helper had been putting together during the evening. The chocolates and the like were laid down first, then the feathers followed by the corn, and the scary llama fetus and the poor little colibri.

(prayer with llama fetus)

We were each then asked to go to the altar and break off some dried corn, make a prayer, and sprinkle them with our right hands around the outside of the pile of flowers, perfect coca leaves, the yummy looking chocolates, and scary dead animals.

(placing corn on the offering)

Two and half hours after starting the ceremony, we were almost finished. The offering was wrapped up carefully in an Andean blanket, we all blessed it again, and we finally passed around another beer to finish it off the six pack of Cusquena.

(wrapping the package - it would be burried tomorrow)

I’m not exactly sure what to think about this ceremony.

The dogmatically secular Sean thinks we should ditch old ceremonies to ancient gods who we now know are myth and spend our devotional time more wisely. Like to our close family and friends, not to non-existent entities floating about in the ether.

However, this particular ceremony is such a family event, a reverential event that I couldn’t help but be touched by it. I couldn’t quite grasp whether the prays were being sent to Pachamama for her to then do her business, or whether they were being sent through her to the people and spaces very important to us. Maybe she’s just a vehicle: A powerful entity or concept, which can deliver karmic like energy to others. The Andean people in the room seem to be uplifted by the thought.

But in my logical head, I know she doesn’t exist, so I am dragged back to reality.

Should Andean people ditch praying to Pachamama because science, biology and geology have now uncovered the reasons behind weather patterns, crop yields, and seismic events?

The western secular Sean says ‘yes’ as my brain is trapped in the modern world, born in 1969, the year mankind landed on the moon.

While I can understand the history behind Pago a la Tierra, I can barely understand the modern spirituality of it, even though I may have got a slight glimpse of it during the ceremony.

In the end, my respect for their culture and customs has been enhanced, and I am extremely honoured to have been able to take part in such an event, but I don’t think Gringo Sean has been converted.

(I wish I had have taken more video now as you would have got a better feel for what was going on. At this point he is asking for important places around Cuzco that should be blessed. We are telling him of places relevant for Intrepid. Sorry, it was all in Spanish, but you might get the gist...)

Inti Raymi

2009-07-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

It was Inti Raymi on 24 June, the most important day in the Andean calendar. By coincidence I was in Cuzco, and was lucky enough to actually take part in some of the festivities alongside a local community who work with my wife's travel company.

Inti Raymi is the ‘Festival of the Sun’ and is held on the Winter Solstice each year in Cuzco, and other major Andean towns. Before the Spanish conquest the Andean people (mainly Quechua and those conquered by ‘Incans’) gathered to honor the Sun God, sacrifice an animal to ensure good crops, and pay homage to the Inca, as the first born Son of the Sun. The celebrants fasted for days before the event, refrained from physical pleasures and presented gifts to the Inca, who in return put on a lavish banquet of meat, corn bread, chicha and coca tea as they prepared to sacrifice llamas to ensure good crops and fertile fields.

The ceremonies stopped in 1572 when Spanish Viceroy Toledo banned Inti Raymi celebrations as they were pagan and contrary to the Catholic faith. Following the edict, the ceremonies went underground. It wasn’t until 1944 that the ceremony was brought back to life with a reenactment of the ceremony played out by indigenous actors.

Today, it's the second largest festival in South America. Hundreds of thousands of people converge on Cuzco from other parts of the nation, South America and the world, for a week-long celebration marking the beginning of a new year.

In the days leading up to Inti Raymi the local communities surrounding Cuzco come into town and participate in parades through the streets starting from Avenida del Sol and circling the Plaza de Armas. All dressed in the traditional clothing not changed for centuries and unique to each village.

My wife's company work with several communities surrounding Cuzco who provide porters and cooks for their Inca Trail tours and these communities participated in the dances. One particular community who had done fantastic work this year invited the Cuzco staff to join them in their parade on the evening of Inti Raymi. Travelers were also able to join them and we danced through the streets surrounded by thousands of spectators dressed in their traditional ponchos and hats. What an experience!

While it is a great cultural event on one level, it’s also a little bewildering to me that some people still practice these types of celebrations post moon walk. Sacrificing animals to the Sun? Huh?

The Club Sandwich

2009-06-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

Being a long time traveler, I have happened across the most remarkable of sandwiches on more than one occasion. A sandwich you will find all over the globe. From its humble beginnings in New York, to East Africa, the Peruvian Andes, and even the place the Buddha received enlightenment.

The Club Sandwich.

I can’t remember my first Club but for some reason it gave me comfort. It is the quintessential room service item. The go-to food when I need a hit of western indulgence. And when you order it, you know what you are generally getting because the ingredients should not change. It can only be served well, or poorly. Well, that’s the theory anyway.

A bit of history:

There are various theories on the origin of the Club Sandwich. One common theory is that a man came home late one night pissed (as men do) and needed something to eat, so he just smashed together whatever was in the fridge. He enjoyed his creation so much that he spoke to his friends about it at a club they were members of the following week. They decided to have one made at the club as an experiment, and they all loved it. Thus, the ‘Club Sandwich’ was born.

It is also thought that the sandwich first appeared in 1894 at the famous Saratoga Club-House, an exclusive gentlemen only gambling house in upstate Saratoga Springs, New York, where the potato chip was born.

Whatever the case, the Club seems to have originated from the New York region in the late 19th century. I wish it hadn’t have come from the States, but oh well…

How to make a Club:

Toast three slices of bread.
Lightly butter.
On the first piece lay down some shredded chicken, fresh fried bacon, tomato, and mayo.
Lay another piece of toast down.
On top of that lay a couple of lettuce leaves, a fried egg, cheese, and a slice of ham.
Cover with the final piece of toast.
Then, place on a grill for a few seconds each side to ensure it’s all hot and crispy, and the cheese melts.
Slice the sandwich in quarters and hold each quarter together with a toothpick.

Importantly, the Club must be accompanied by fresh chips, or fries. They should be thin fries, crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

The Club is presented with the four quarters lying on their backs angled towards the centre of a dish with the fries scattered in the centre of the plate.

The Club MUST be presented hot! No cold chips, bacon, or unmelted cheese!!

Whenever I travel I rate the Club on a scale of 1 to 10. Each Club starts with 10/10 and if they miss any of the ingredients then they lose a point. If they do something poorly they will lose a half a point.

Oddly enough, both the best and worst Club Sandwich I've had presented to me were in India.

The worst was room service at a small hotel in Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha received enlightenment.

Score board:
Only two pieces of bread -1,
Not toasted -1,
No bacon -1,
No ham -1,
No lettuce -1,
No tomato -1,
No egg -1,
No mayo -1,
Not cut in quarters -1,
No fries -1,
Cold -1.

Score: minus 1 out of 10.

Shame Bodh Gaya, Shame!

The best Club Sandwich in the world, so far, goes to the Hilton in Mumbai. Presented exactly as described above in the How to make a Club, section. Glorious!

Monday in Mexico

2009-05-31T17:12:00.000-07:00

After a relatively early rise at 9.00am, I checked the emails and news and waited till Rach stirred around 10. We put on some bathers and went for our usual walk along the beach.

Leaving Playa Palms, looking down the beach

About 15 minutes up the beach there are several resorts.

On the beach

After our walk we head down the beach to Fusion, our favourite beach restaurant that does awesome fish. Quite possibly the best in the world. Maybe the universe.

Afternoon read of a book

Late afternoon we head out down 5th Avenue and brouse the shops and search for a bar to have a margarita

Surprisingly we find a flee market, selling flees

More surprisingly, we find a stall where they are making and selling cigars. Seemingly, the Mayans made very large cigars

Sean at work, late afternoon. Market is green! :) For now....
That's my boat in the background. LOL

Cozumel

2009-05-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

Cozumel is the largest island of Mexico and situated off the northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, and is part of the Caribbean. Beaches are white and fluffy, the water is warm and blue, the diving is world class due mainly to its extraordinary visibility, and unfortunately – too many Americans visit taking away its potential claim to be one of the best destinations in the world.

We’ve been here for three days and have spent most of the time talking about the meaning of life and what comes next. Do we move to Mexico, or what? At the moment, Mexico is winning, but I always seem to come back to a yearning for Melbourne, family, and friends: what I left the Army for five years ago. Damn it! Why isn’t Melbourne situated on the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula?

To fill in the time we have been eating Fajitas, hired scooters (USD$20) and drove around the island snorkeling at various beaches, and today we did a two tank dive with Eco Divers ($67). We had two great dives and saw lots of great fishies and critters: Hawksbill Turtles, Nurse Shark, Giant Crab, the largest Crayfish/Lobster I have EVER seen (could have been 1m long – not a fishing story, it was fucking enormous!), and the best fish in the sea –a Spotted Drum. It was a great day.

If quality dive equipment is important for you, go elsewhere. Our regulators leaked, my BCD self inflated regularly, and we both got blisters from the fins. A step up from me having to put rocks in my BCD for weights in Utila, but pretty average really. Divers used to Australian conditions would be shocked….

And so, we have done Cozumel again and time to move on. Tomorrow we head back to Playa del Carmen and Hotel Playa Palms, our favourite little getaway on the coast. We’re planning to stay for 5 nights, do another dive or two, walk on the beach, lie in the sun, read some books, eat fishies al a plancha, drink a little tequila, and prepare for our next move. That may be to Isla Holbox but, we have 13 days to go of this holiday, so who knows….

Some classic quotes from store owners on Cozumel (trying to survive the GEC and Pig Flu):

Please Sir, come into my store - everything almost free.
Spend some time in my shop – 30% of people say they like it in here.
Hey, want to see what I’ve got growing out the back?
Buenos dias friend, come into my store and let me rip you off. (my favourite)
Please, Honey Mooners, come into my store – sexy prices for you.
You want some real Cubans? I made them myself.
Hey, you want a moto? A jeep? Cheap accommodation? Snorkling? Diving? Taxi? Flight somewhere? A massage? Sex? (this guy was multi-talented)
Hello, what is your name? You from England? (no answer) No? From the US? (no answer - person continues to follow us down the street) No? You from France? (I have a bandana around my neck) No? How about Sweden? (my hair is going blonde due to the sun and salt water) Japan? (WTF?), Maybe New Zealand? (Close enough buddy, cheers…..)

Chichen Itza

2009-05-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we travelled from Merida to visit one of the New Wonders of the World – Chichen Itza, on my list of the must-do’s of the world, and having been to Mexico trice previously and not seeing it, missing it a third time would have been a sin. Against something or other….

Chichen Itza is a ceremonial and religious site first developed by the Maya around 800AD and later by the Toltec Culture who conquered them. The current site is a mixture of Mayan and Toltec architecture and religious beliefs, with Chuc Mool – the Mayan Rain God, and the bird headed serpent (Toltec), dominating the reliefs.

The main feature of Chichen Itza is, of course, the main pyramid you are struck with as you enter the site. The Spanish called it El Castillo (The Castle), God knows why, because it’s definitely a pyramid.

My first shock of the day was to find out that people were no longer allowed to climb the pyramid. WTF? I’d travelled quite a distance to experience this event, but it was closed for climbing, as was the tunnel running up the interior. Apparently, some people had been having heart attacks and tripping over on the way down resulting in a few broken bones, so they’ve closed it.

As a religious centre, there were very important ceremonies conducted here. Most of these involved some form of sacrifice, humans being on the shopping list for death. It seems that it was mostly defeated warriors that were used to appease the gods, but there were also many female bodies recovered around the site that seemed to have already had children, so the sacrificial virgin theory is doubtful. What we do know is that most people were laid across an alter, had their hearts cut out with an obsidian dagger, and the heart was placed on the belly of Chuc Mool while the priests and people prayed to the gods for rain, or whatever. Another form of sacrifice was to throw punters into the massive cenote (sink hole) nearby and be left to drown. There were thousands of bodies recovered from Chichen Itza, all seemingly to have been sacrificed to appease the gods.

Chichen Itza, tick.

Merida

2009-05-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

Merida is the inland hub of the Yucatan Peninsula, an ancient Mayan town and one of the first major inland developments of the Spanish.

We travelled here from Puerto Morelos today (bus to Cancun $USD2/30min, and a luxury bus to Merida with Uno USD$40/4hr – 15 degrees on the AC is crazy!) for a couple of business meetings, and will perhaps do a Chichen Itza day trip from here depending on how the business meetings go.

We’re staying at Hotel Trinidad, which is owned by a friend of ours, Mark, who is our contact here and is introducing us to his lawyer and accountant to establish the process for setting up a travel company in Mexico. Mark’s kindly put us in what I would call the ‘honeymoon suite’ at a handy discount, and it’s very comfy. Funnily enough, Rach and I checked this hotel out the last time we visited Merida about 3 years ago, but we didn’t stay for some reason. Not sure why, it’s a really cool place and seems good value.

Tomorrow we meet with the lawyer at 10am and then the accountant. It’s all in Spanish which will be interesting. As long as they stick to ‘uno mas tequila?’ I will be fine.

Merida Club Sandwich scored a 6 this afternoon, at a surprisingly local restaurant on the Plaza.

Too much lettuce (-1)
No bacon (-1)
Cut in half, not quarters (-1)
No salt on chips (-1/2)
Cheese not melted enough (-1/2)

Not bad.

The Puerto Morales Club scored a 3! Blaaah!

Puerto Morelos

2009-05-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

We very sadly bid adios to Playa Palms and donned our packs for Puerto Morelos at midday on day 7 of our quest for hedonism and Mexican business enlightenment.

Jumping on bus 19 from the ADO terminal on 5th Avenue for Puerto Morelos (30 mins - 19 Pesos/USD$2) we were dropped at the drop off point on the Federal Highway and took a taxi to downtown PM ($USD2).

This was a big change in scenery. Where were the gringos? Nada. If you want to get away from the gringo trail along the Mexican Caribbean then Puerto Morelos should be on the agenda.

I guarded the bags (probably no requirement here) while Rach wandered around the 2 or 3 streets of PM to find a good deal. There are limited options to stay in PM, and you’re looking at 30-60 USD in the current climate for a nice room with a beach view. We took USD$50 at Carmen’s which seemed to be the best deal, but not necessarily the best room.

from the balcony

Puerto Morelos is basically a local getaway by the look. Hadn’t seen a gringo until day 3 when a batch of really annoying Americans turned up at the best restaurant and started talking much louder than anyone else, as usual. Why do they do that? Embarrassing really.

On day two we went diving with Willie from Aquanaut Dive Adventures and I can highly recommend him. It was basically a private dive since the market is so low, and we asked for a couple of simple dives in 10-20m with lots of fishies. It must be extremely tough for an Instructor when two Dive Masters turn up wanting to ‘see some fish’. LOL

Anyway, we did see some fish. In the first 30 seconds of hitting the bottom we had seen a Moray, a big Stingray and a huge Hawksbill Turtle. A few minutes later Willie had found us a juvenile Spotted Drum (Rachy’s favourite) so we were very happy and could have headed back for rum right then! Interestingly (for us) on the second dive Willie found a couple of Scorpion Fish (very poisonous) and he managed to pick them up off the coral and hold them in his hands while they played dead. Nice.

The beach in PM is a big surprise. I expected a Port, and no beach, but the beach is sensational!

on the beach

Last afternoon here, and I’m now sitting in the only wifi place in town to see how much money is dripping off the screen. Life is tough.

Tomorrow, we head back to Cancun, and then to Merida for a couple of business meetings.

Then, not sure….

Maybe some more sun on a beach somewhere….

Playa del Carmen

2009-05-11T19:40:00.001-07:00

On the road again and we travelled from Isla Mujeres to Playa del Carmen today.

Ferry to Puerto Juares (20 min), chicken bus to Cancun bus terminal (20 min), comfy bus to Playa ($3, 1hr 10 min), and on foot in search of a hotel down 5th Ave - the hub of Playa.

After wandering about and finding that the hostel I had researched was $40 a night we decided to head to our favourite hotel in Playa and see if there was a good deal on. Unfortunately, not really, but 15% off was OK for us ($110), and we're booked in for two nights at Playa Palmas, which was called The Blue Parrot when we where here five years ago.

Playa Palmas Hotel

This afternoon we chilled around town, I bought some new shorts (as my previous ones were falling off me) and met a friend of a friend to talk about setting up a business in Mexico. Great help, and inspiring. Although, I must note the combination of the GEC and the pig thing is putting tremendous strain on the Mexican tourist industry. If Playa is an example, they are in real trouble short term and many businessess will go under. Even now, landlords are waving rent to keep tennents in business. The main street of Playa is normally PACKED but this afternoon it was like a ghost town. Many restaurants are bare. If things don't turn around quick here, many people will be on their knees.

Anyway, I write this to you from the balcony (in the dark), on some good strength wifi, watching the stock market go red. Looks like a down leg to me.

From the balcony - in the day time

Isla Mujeras

2009-05-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Isla Mujeres yesterday after an epic 2 days of packing, moving out of the Lima apartment at 2.30am, departing Lima at 5am, and travelling to Cancun via Panama, arriving 2pm. We flew Copa which is a Panamanian airline, and we didn’t crash, so all good.

After delaying our trip for a week due to the pig thing we found Cancun a bit quiet, but the locals very calm about things. In fact, there were more face masks in Lima airport than Cancun.

After arrival at Cancun we caught a chicken bus up the road to Puerto Juarez (15 mins, 5 pesos/USD$1) and then the fast ferry to Isla Mujeres (20 mins, 70 pesos/$5). The sun was shining 30 degrees and sea was blue, turquoise, light blue, aqua, and more blue…

We wandered through town with our backpacks heading towards Playa Norte, which is the nice beach, and where we wanted to camp. As we expected, things are pretty quiet, but not overly so. Things hadn’t seemed to change since we were last here 4 years ago. After a 30 min walk Rach was regretting her recent hybrid case/pack purchase in Cuzco, and the 6 months of clothes she surprisingly packed.

Streets of Isla Mujeres

After checking out 3 or 4 places we decided on Hotel Maria del Mar (USD$65), which is right on the beach and happens to have one of our favourite beach bars in the world; with swinging chairs, ready for a refreshing one. Or two.

From the balcony

So, yesterday afternoon we settled in, bought a cheeky bottle of Tequila ($10, OK), and sat at the bar on the swinging chairs until sun set, secretly topping up our margaritas ($4.50), until our Spanish was perfect!

Beach bar

Today we leapt out of bed early at about 12.30pm and went out for lunch to a great new café in town called Mogagua (no Spanish translation) open to the little streets and full of rustic stuff. I have an odd habit of trying out and comparing Club Sandwiches when I travel, so we decided to split the Mogagua version and have a couple of juices to recover. The Club rated 6 out of 10, which isn’t bad. Might try some local food one day.

Another day or so here, and a dive and tequila later, it’s off to Isla Holbox, a very small island retreat to the north, for a couple of days.

At the bar

The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

2009-01-04T13:32:00.000-08:00

The dawn bus rattled over the cobblestone streets of Cuzco
As we ventured towards the Inca town of Ollantaytambo
A trek to the mythical citadel of Machu Picchu was set
Day one of the Inca Trail lay ahead

By the sacred river of Urubamba we ordered our day packs
As the Quechua porters from Chinchero prepared their huge sacks
For forty five kilometers of undulating trail
Used by the Incas to pass their daily mail

Greeted by rain falling from clouds shrouding the Vilcabamba peaks
We set off on four days of endeavor with no training, eeek!
Through small villages we passed on a gentle ascent
Lulled to a false sense of security I sensed

In late afternoon we hit the first camp at Huayllabamba
Set amongst the peaks of the Sacred Valley and the tambos
Dinner was served as the day became dusk
Just how they presented such an amazing feast was discussed

The ascent to the pinnacle known as ‘Dead Women’s Pass’
Is every gringo hiker’s fear to surpass
Passing through cloud forest of unique flora and fauna
The mountains themselves seem to dispel an aura

It was with quiet relief as the pass came to sight
On a solid incline, not torturous steps to the height
We stood at the top and the cameras snapped
The highest pass conquered, to Machu Picchu we advanced

Day three was easy for the Intrepid travelers as the hard work was done
We cruised downhill through tunnels, via ruins and llama dung
Pressing on we trod down the ancient stone Inca highway
Keeping an eye out for humming birds hovering on the way

One last camp at Winay Wayna before we descended to the target
A hot shower was available and even a beer to enjoy the last sun set
We slept sound that night, with 40 kilometers behind us
A relief in some way, and no reason more to cuss

Descending we paused to catch a glimpse of what may be
But alas the clouds hung low, obscuring the majesty
At the Sun Gate we waited, but the clouds came a new
Pariacaca the weather god conspired to hide the city from view

Then, the misty clouds magically lifted and we happened a glimpse
Of Machu Picchu and the surrounding mountains
An incredible sight, and worthy to exclaim
A Wonder of the World now proclaimed

Ugarit – foundations of Canaanite religion

2008-11-12T16:56:00.000-08:00

For background read previous Blogs on The Eridu Genesis and The Enuma Elis

Throughout Mesopotamia various cults were evolving based on the cults before them, such as those mentioned in the Eridu Genesis and the Enuma Elis. Each pantheon had a similar theme with various gods having particular powers and responsibilities. As each cult developed in a different region one particular god seemed to develop as the patron of the city or region, to claim the title of supreme god over the others, even taking some of their powers, such as Marduk in the Enuma Elis. This assimilation would eventually lead to monotheism.

Before we get there however, one particular cult developed around Mesopotamia which is now seen as one of the most important in the foundations of the Cult of Abraham and eventually Judaism.

In 1928 a group of French archaeologists discovered a cemetery in the Syrian town of Ras Shamra on the shores of the Mediterranean. In the graves they discovered Egyptian and Phoenician artifacts. After further investigation they found a city, a royal palace, libraries, and further Egyptian artifacts dating to the 2nd millennium BCE.

The greatest discovery made at the site was a collection of tablets carved with (a then) unknown cuneiform script. In 1932 the identification of the site was made when some of the tablets were deciphered; the city was the ancient site of Ugarit. Ugarit was established in the Neolithic period around 6000 BCE. Over time various cultures controlled the city with the Egyptians having great influence right up to its peak around 1400 BCE.

During the excavation of Ugarit fragments of several poetic works have been identified including the Ba'al tales that detail Baal-Hadad's conflicts with Yam and Mot. These finds are of great interest in researching the history of our modern day God because this is the first time we hear descriptions of Canaanite religious beliefs during the period directly preceding the Israelite settlement to the south.

Ugaritic religion centered on the chief god, Ilu or El, the "father of mankind", "the creator of the creation". The Court of El was referred to as the 'lhm or Elohim. The most important of the great gods was Hadad, the king of Heaven, Baal, Asherah , Yam (Sea god) and Mot (Death).

For those familiar with the Old Testament you will have already noticed some interesting names popping up in Ugarit around 1400BCE.

El was the chief god at Ugarit and El is also the name of God used in many of the Psalms for Yahweh (the Hebrew name for modern day God). Many of the attributes of Yahweh are the same for which El is acclaimed in Ugarit myth. Possibly, the Psalms could actually originalte from Ugaritic hymns to El which were simply adopted by the Israelites.

Besides the chief god at Ugarit there were also lesser gods and demons. The most important of these lesser gods were Baal (commonly referred to in the Bible), Asherah (Yahweh’s consort in the Bible), Yam (the god of the sea) and Mot (the god of death). Interestingly, Yam is the Hebrew word for sea, and Mot is the Hebrew word for death. Coincidence?

In the Old Testament the Ugarit gods in El, Baal, and Asherah are popular personalities. The reason for this is simple; the people of Israel worshipped these gods along with, and sometimes instead of, Yahweh, the God of Israel. In fact, the Israelites would worship these pagan gods for centuries, even after God handed Moses the 10 Commandments at Mt Sinai.

Most importantly to the present discussion, the pantheon of gods worshipped at Ugarit were collectively known as the Elohim, a plural term.

Elohim is the third word in the Hebrew text of Genesis and is mentioned countless times through the Old Testament. Somehow, the term Elohim plural at Ugarit, morphed into the Hebrew God El, and finally into Yahweh. How this occurred is difficult to pin down.

One theory is that Yahweh was one of the Elohim in Ugarit but there is disputing evidence of Yahweh’s existence as one of the Elohim of Ugarit, until much later.

The people of Ugarit influenced by the Egyptians are the foundation of the Canaanites who march into present day Israel, taking their religion with them.

But how did we get to monotheism?

Lares Trek and Machu Picchu

2008-10-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

Over the past four days I completed part of the Inca Trail called the Lares Trek, and then visited Machu Picchu, my third fortunate visit.

The Lares Trek is some distance from Machu Picchu, and is an alternate trek for those who haven’t booked in (slack Lara!) to the more well known ‘Inca Trail’ which is the last 80 or so km's ending right at MP. The two treks are quite different with the terrain and scenery varying a great deal. Another difference is that Lares goes through some local villages so there’s the opportunity to interact with Indigenous Quechuan people living how they do every day of the week, and how they have for the last few hundred years.

The trek is usually rated as more difficult that the Inca Trail, but I will have to wait and see at Christmas when I complete the traditional 'Inca Trail' with friends from home.

Day one we bussed out of The Navel of the World early in the morning through the Andes to the town of Lares, for a brief shakeout and lunch to prepare us for the first days walk. After chomping down some soup of some type and cold pasta we set out and stomped into the Lares Valley on a four hour hike up a gentle incline to our first camping site in a local village. On the way we picked up a hitchhiker in a local dog who obviously thought a meal may have come from the friendly gringos. Advised by our guide that we shouldn't feed the little fellow, he was going to be a disappointed little mut.

Our first camp camp site was the back yard of the horseman towing the horses along with most of our gear. I much prefer to see horses carrying stuff than a porter as they do on the 'Inca Trail'....it just doesn't seem right for a human to be carrying stuff for another human. Crap really. Not really feeling good about that for the Christmas hike.

On arriving at our first camp site the rain ominously started to drip down on our dining tent and we made an offering to Pachamama (Incan Goddess – Mother Universe) that the clouds would rain themselves out during the night for our second day of walking which was supposed to be the most difficult. Our mascot stayed with us in the shelter of the tent, and we wondered how far he was going to walk for a meal.

Woken at 5.30am by our cook with a steaming cup of coca tea, we slowly unwound ourselves and surfaced to see what Pachamama had in store. It was an amazing morning, mostly clear, with a few clouds sitting on the distant mountains, now covered in a fresh layer of snow.

It was a beautiful sight.

Our second day of trekking took us about four hours uphill deep into the valley where we would reach the peak of our trek and then downhill for another 3 hours to our second camp site. On the way we met many llamas and alpacas, some local girls, and our friendly pooch keep up the pace. He must have been getting hungry.

While difficult, the hardest part of the trek was not as hard as made to be believed by some. The final one hour to the ‘pass’ or peak of the trek between two glaciers was very steep but manageable and the views on the way up kept my attention away from the pain in my legs and back, and the lack of oxygen in my lungs caused by the 4600m altitude, the highest air I had ever breathed.

The views from the top were simply spectacular.

Continuing over the other side of the pass we made our way down to our second camp site via an impossibly steep section with the rocky ground giving way causing our feet to slip site, our mascot still in tow. Set in a small forest by a babbling stream we sat around a campfire to ward off the small mosquito type biting things and drank a cheeky rum to celebrate our achievement. The rum assisted in getting to sleep a weary body with a painful back on a thin matress and no pillow. Painful memories surfaced from life as an Officer Cadet at Duntroon, where sleeping on rocky grounds in a wet sleeping back was standard. I dreamed of a king size bed in The Marriott...

Day three we rose to find another beautiful day awaiting (thank you Pachamama) and our mascot had disappeared: The pooch had a long walk back home on an empty stomach, the poor little fella. The final four hours was all downhill with the knees only just making it to the final stop, a small village in the Sacred Valley where we were picked up and shuttled to Ollantaytambo, and our train ride to Aguas Calliente at the base of Machu Picchu, to recover and prepare for our next days visit to MP.

Having written about MP before I won’t bore you, but just add a photo which speaks for itself…..

From Montevideo to Buenos Aires to Mendoza and losing passports

2008-10-07T09:06:00.000-07:00

After leaving the ranch in central Uruguay we headed down to Montevideo (second most boring capital in the world) and then quickly escaped to Colonia; a beautiful town across the bay from Buenos Aires, with cafes and restaurants on cobble stone streets shaded under sycamore trees.

After drinking them out of vino we were off again...

Arriving by fast ferry into BA was like being transported 300 years from colonial Latin America to Europe, or even a slightly older Melbourne. BA was a real surprise and for some fleeting moments under the influence I felt like I was back in the older parts of good old Melbs, sitting at an outdoor café under an old oak, but drinking slightly inferior vino.

After ticking the steak, tango, and all night piss up boxes, we boarded our overnight bus for Mendoza with good friend from home Lara and caught a little sleep before arriving in wine country at the base of the Andes.

After arriving slightly disheveled around 9.00am, the group of three headed to the most likely sounding B&B in the LP and hoped for a vacancy. Unfortunately not, and this triggered a painful chain of events that long time travelers in South America should be crucified for.

We decided that myself and Lara should go wandering the streets to find a hotel, while my much more stable half stayed with the bags on the outside of a nice plaza. While she was sitting there a gentleman walked past and accidently dropped his reading glasses as he went by. Stable half does the right thing and calls out to the man, ‘Senor! Senor!’ No response. Stable half decides to jump up off the park bench and walk the glasses to the man who has paused conveniently about 5m away. She delivers the glasses and returns to the seat. A very polite and well mannered thing to do I think.

Meanwhile, Lara and I return from our successful bed hunting expedition to grab our bags. I pick up my pack, and look down for my day bag ...... My day bag? My fucking day bag!! No day bag. Ouch, heart sinks....

Seems our glasses dropper had an accomplice and the distraction scam worked a treat.

Their booty included a very nice digital SLR, stupidly expensive Oakleys, two soft toys called Ellie and Petey :-( , an exciting book that I was on the last couple of chapters with, and a small folder containing my life including credit cards and two passports.

While we often leave one person with bags while the other searches for a bed, Harry tells me that two people on the bags may have been a little smarter, even at 9.00am in a busy plaza, and in a smallish town. Hopefully that lesson will not be learnt again.

So, on 1 Oct (Lara's birthday by the way) we were fortunate enough to spend the day with the tourist police (very nice people), on the phone cancelling credit cards, and hours trying to change bus tickets (red tape fucking nightmare to rival Peruvian immigration processes) to get back to BA earlier to get emergency passports. Insurance will cover some of it, but not the time and effort, and Ellie and Petey. RIP.

Anyway, not to be too perturbed from unenjoying Mendoza we booked ourselves on a winery tour the following day, and what a day it was! Easily the best winery tour I have been on and best value for money on the planet at about fifty bucks, which included many tastings and an incredible multi dish luncheon feast of mainly dead cow with accompanying vinos. We finished the day at least 5kg heavier than when we set out. (Not really required at this point in the cycle unfortunately.)

Mendoza redeemed!!! ... sort of...

Argentina: highly recommended, but hardly a Latin America experience.

We are now back in depressingly misty Lima, and off to Cuzco next week for 2 weeks and to attempt the Lars Trek, part of the Inca Trail, finishing at Machu Picchu. I’m not sure how this old body is going to cope ....

From Rio to Iguazu Falls and living the Gauco life in Uruguay

2008-09-26T06:37:00.000-07:00

I've just spent the last week travelling from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Montevideo, Uruguay via Iguazu Falls and a ranch in northern Uruguay, in the middle of practically nowhere.

What an awesome week it has been.

First stops were on the coast south of Rio at Ilha Grande and Paraty. Unfortunately, the weather conspired to make these incredible beach side destinations a bit of a dud. I had been to Ilha Grande about 4 years ago and rate it as one of the best islands in the world, but in pouring rain? Ho hum. Unfortunate for my fellow travellers who had not been there previously.

Paraty was a nice stop and quite a unique colonial town with streets existing as they did in the 1600s. Silly really, they obviously didn't have a spirit level invented at that point.

Just on leaving the beaches of Brazil the skies opened up and the sun shone as we headed to Foz do Iguazu.

Iguazu Falls is simply awe inspiring. While not the highest or mightiest, it's overall setting is simply spectacular. As a singlular vista, up there with the Grand Canyon I suppose. Hard to beat.

On the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, almost 300 separate falls cascade across a kilometer or so.

None of my pictures really do it justice, so one from the web, and one I took of a nice section....

After spending three days at Foz we overnight bussed it to northern Uruguay and spent three days living on a ranch (farm), with the gauchos (stockman/cowboy) rounding up cows and sheep on horseback. The ranch is named Panagea and caters for backpackers and Intrepid use it as an integral part of their Rio to BA trips. The ranch is set on about 2000 acres and is an hour and a half from the nearest town. The prairie land in this region is similar to parts of central Victoria, but green.

Check their website/blog for more detail....

Sean on a horse and assisting the drenching of a sheep...

With no television, newspapers, or internet, it was the first time I have been 'unplugged' for so long I can hardly remember - Perhaps the last liveaboard dive trip I did in May 07. We were so busy that I actually managed to forget about the stockmarket for most of the time, although the thoughts of impending doom were still somewhere in the background.

The country does something to me. My greatest early memories are of camping on the Delatite River on a family friend's farm in Merrijig (pop 15) at the base of Mt Buller. Oh the serenity!!!! They were my first experiences of country life and horse riding in the mountains and I wish I could relive them. Reminds me not to forget to live this day. Also made me wonder why we keep ourselves so wired in that we forget to appreciate the things that really matter in life. A nice reality check in the face of potential global security and financal disaster.

Currently in the capital of Uruguay - Montevideo just hanging out and drinking a few Uruguayan vinos. Much underrated....or my tastebuds have dropped off.

Next stop Colonia and Buenas Aires....

Rio and the favelas

2008-09-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

I went on an organised favela tour today and it was quite an eye opener.

Favela is a uniquely Brazilian word, taken from a Brazilian plant that grows to the north. Soldiers involved in a Civil War in the late 1800s in Bahai ended up defeating the rebels and made their camp on a hill covered in these bushes. On return to Rio (the then capital) they settled on unclaimed public land on the side of a hill called Morro da Providência, because the government failed to provide any housing that was promised to them after the war. There, the former soldiers named their new settlement Morro da Favela. Over the years, poor people migrated to the cities, especially blacks after being released from slavery, tutning these small communities into massive slums sprawling up the hills from the city lining the beaches. They are now in integral part of the Rio landscape, and the Gov has only just started to impliment projects to improve the squalid conditions.

The favelas are all controlled by gangs, with Rio now having just three main gangs controlling the drug and arms trade. At the moment, there is NO violence inside these favelas (unlike what you may have seen in the movie City of God) because the gangs have absolute full control, and they do not permit any violence, or crime, as this would bring police attention. In fact, the police donṫ even go into the favelas at the moment as there is no need, and they would probably not get out anyway. The gangs apparently have much better and well equipped armories.

The amazing thing about these places is that there are no roads running through them, just small walkways. Walkways no wider than 2 people. All the houses are quite small, mostly one bedroom and a living area, although there are much larger ones. Originally, these houses were built on government land, so it was free to build anything you liked, but now thereś some law that if you have sat on a piece of dirt for over 5 years, itś yours! So, these things can be bought, sold and rented.

We visited two favelas and a school today and one of them had a population of about 60,000. With no roads, just steps. Most of the electricity is stolen off the grid, and they have plumbing. Deep inside these rabbit warrens are stores selling everything anyone would need. Thereś even computer stores, and I saw a little shack with a plasma TV! Perhaps drug money...

Anyway, a great local experience, and highly recommended to anyone next time you pop in to Rio.

Wiki has more info for anyone interested.

Rio de Janeiro

2008-09-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Rio this morning after a stupidly early flight from Sao Paulo, requiring us to get up at 4. I had thought that when I left the Army I wouldn't need to be out of bed before the armory was open on a CFA day, ever again. (sorry, Army in joke)

It's cool here in Rio now, forgot that we were in the southern hemisphere and a fair way from the equator. Funny, but I was here in Sept last time and it was steaming hot...

This is the first time Rach has been to Rio, so on the way to our hotel in Copacabana she did the usual thing you would do in a brand new city, claimed to be one of the most beautiful in the world, and slept the whole way. lol. Rachy and busses....

I woke her up a couple of times to point out The Sugarloaf and Christ the Redeemer (one of the New Seven Wonders of the World – what a joke), but he was shrouded in clouds.

Slight drizzle at the moment, but hope it clears this afternoon so we can go for a walk along the esplanade to Ipanema beach and try not to get mugged on the way.

Rach just has a couple of days here before flying back to Quito for a 3 day conference but I am staying in Rio to .... ummm, not sure?? I’m just going to hang out for a bit, and visit some things I haven’t seen. Or, just drink myself silly for 3 days.. Option two more likely. Eeeeek!

Photos to follow, if I'm game to risk taking the camera out.... lol

South East South America Adventure

2008-09-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

.
Well, a break from God, a change of pace, and on to travel. Whoooohooo!!

For the next four weeks my wife and I are touring around the south east of South America visiting parts of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.

Journey as follows:

The leg from Rio to BA is part of an Intrepid Travel tour which is described as follows:

Venture off the tourist track on this extraordinary adventure through Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. From the buzzing hub of Rio to the vibrant city of Buenos Aires, explore the tropical beaches of southern Brazil, see the towering might of Iguazu Falls and meet the locals in Uruguay's laid-back capital Montevideo. From samba to tango and crowded steak houses, experience the exciting culture of these three fascinating countries.

Sounds OK. :-)

We've spent the past two days in Sao Paulo which has been a surprise. While it's the 3rd largest city in the world, with a reputation for danger; so far it's been easy to get around, has some great architecture, well organised traffic (if not like peak hour 24/7), an amazing underground Metro system to rival Hong Kong, and we haven't even been mugged yet.

We're staying in a great hotel while here, on the outskirts of Centro, as it's close ish to where the better half is attending a conference for 3 days.

While she's attending the conference I'm just cruising about, trying not to get mugged, and while we've already done a brief city tour, I'm joining in an organised tour tomorrow to see what I've missed. I haven't stepped in to any museums or art galleries yet, so must pencil that in for the next few days.

What is God (Part 3) - The Enuma Elis and the rise of Marduk

2008-08-31T15:24:00.000-07:00

Another early written record of the gods, which is better known and more complete, is the Babylonian creation epic: The Enuma Elis.

The Enuma Elis brings together all the Mesopotamian gods and describes their struggle for supremacy, the creation of the world, and the creation of humans. Its prime focus is on the ascension of Marduk to supreme god status, as he was the god of Babylon due probably to his association with Jupiter, and its role as an Astral body overseeing the region. This connection is important later for how each tribe within the Middle East chooses their one superior god and each creates a myth to how their god ascends to the position of supreme ruler.

(Interesting sidenote is that some scholars believe Marduk later morphs into Zeus [Latin, Jupiter] in the Greek pantheon.)

In the Enuma Elis the primeval gods are originally Apsu, the fresh water; and Tiamat, the salt water, who was somehow the mother of them both.

When in the height heaven was not named,

And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name,

And the primeval Apsu, who begat them,

And chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both

Their waters were mingled together,

And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen;

When of the gods none had been called into being,

And none bore a name, and no destinies were ordained;

Then were created the gods in the midst of heaven,

Lahmu and Lahamu were called into being...

At this point in creation, Apsu and Tiamat may be declared the father and mother of the Earth, and eventually Tiamat bears several other gods from her stomach, including Marduk, who is a very ambitious and powerful god.

Also during the creation of the gods, another important god emerged: Anu.

Then Ansar and Kisar were created, and over them....

Long were the days, then there came forth.....

Anu, their son,...

Thus were established and were...the great gods.

Anu is important because he later becomes one of the four primordial gods in Assyrian mythology. He was the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, spirits and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions. Some hierarchies of Mesopotamian gods put him above Apsu and Tiamat.

Much of the EE describes a struggle for power between the gods, with the author’s intent to put Marduk in charge. After various jockeying, Marduk leads a revolt against Tiamat, and they go into fierce battle. Marduk eventually slays Tiamat and forms the world from her corpse creating the sky and the earth. The Earth as we know it is born. Then later Marduk decides to create man:

When Marduk heard the word of the gods,

His heart prompted him and he devised a cunning plan.

He opened his mouth and unto Ea he spake

That which he had conceived in his heart he imparted unto him:

"My blood will I take and bone will I fashion...

I will make man, that man may

I will create man who shall inhabit the earth,

That the service of the gods may be established, and that their shrines may be built.

Babylon is established as the residence of the chief gods. Finally, the gods confer kingship on Marduk, hailing him with fifty names. Most noteworthy is Marduk's symbolic elevation over Enil, who was seen by earlier Mesopotamian civilizations as the king of the gods.

While the Enuma Elis is regarded at a creation myth, and would eventually lead to Genesis, it is also clearly a story developed by the Babylonians to elevate Marduk to the supreme god. By raising their god to a higher status they were in effect raising their own culture to a higher status, and power within the region.

This is important and sets the foundation to how other gods were elevated in status to suit certain tribes within the region, and eventually Yahweh.

Next: Ugarit – Stepping Stone to Yahweh’s Ascension.

What is God? - Part 2

2008-08-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

x
Gods have probably been a facet of Homo sapiens lives since we lost a lot of hair and started wondering what the stars were. Since the dawn of time humans across the globe have been looking to the heavens and at their own existence and trying to attribute meaning and cause to life’s events. Without any understanding of cause and effect, or atoms and molecules, or physics and physiology, we attributed the unknown to a superior understanding and power. The cause and meaning of all life was in the gods.

While indigenous cultures across the globe have their own creation and god myths, the modern Western idea of God developed in Mesopotamia around the period 18-13 BC. Before the monotheistic God, there were numerous ‘Pagan’ gods, all holding different powers and responsibilities. The gods were primarily attributed to the creation of the Earth, and control over its environment. They held sway over different regions and had unique powers. In the various conflicts of the gods in their struggle for supremacy some were destroyed while others increased in power to take over the mantle of the supreme god. Many changed their names, and morphed into other gods in other regions throughout Mesopotamia.

The earliest known written record of the gods, is the Sumerian creation myth found on a clay tablet in Nippur and known as the Eridu Genesis, dating to about the 18th century BC. Although incomplete, the tablet vaguely describes gods creating the Sumerians and the animals.

After An, Enlil, Enki and Ninursaĝa had fashioned the black-headed people, they also made animals multiply everywhere, and made herds of four-legged animals exist on the plains, as is befitting.

The gods of the Eridu Genesis also cause a mighty flood (the seed idea for the flood myth in Genesis perhaps) to destroy the lands and irrigate them. The god of the water instructs Atra-hasis to build an Arc and save the animals and the seed of mankind.

All the windstorms and gales arose together, and the flood swept over the ……. After the flood had swept over the land, and waves and windstorms had rocked the huge boat for seven days and seven nights, Utu the sun god came out, illuminating heaven and earth.

The detailed reason for the flood is not clear, but we can assume it is to purify the lands because of some evil deeds committed by the creatures inhabiting it.

"I will …… the perishing of my mankind; for Nintur, I will stop the annihilation of my creatures, and I will return the people from their dwelling grounds.

This is the first written account of the work of the gods, who they may be, and their purpose. Although incomplete, it shows us that the earliest understanding of god(s), and the origin of life, to be more poetic than factual or scientific.

This creation myth was made at a time when there was no understanding of the world, or it’s functioning. Life was desperate and survival was the prime objective. People would have been extremely fearful of the unknown. Unnatural or random events, such as storms, lightening, earthquakes, or even eclipses, had no meaning at this time. How did primitive people explain such events?

From the Eridu Genesis it is difficult to make any conclusion as to the significance of these gods mentioned. There are no idols or archeological evidence to suggest that they were worshiped or how wide their influence was. We can only assume that this account is the earliest attempt to guess how the earth was created and how humans came to be on the planet.

Next: The Enuma Elis

What is God? (and where did He come from anyway?) - Part 1

2008-08-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

.....
It’s only recently that I have started to get to the bottom of the whole God phenomenon, after trying to pin Him down for most of my life. I say started to get, because He’s an incredibly allusive fellow shrouded in mystery, misinformation, and ambiguity. Through the ages humans have used and abused Him to suit their own agendas, distorting what He is to make claim to moral superiority, or as a weapon of war. Some even think He actually exists….

When you ask people on the street, ‘do you believe in God?’ there are very few who categorically say ‘no!’ If you’ve never met God, or heard Him speak, or seen His work, why can’t people readily say, ‘no?’ It’s an interesting phenomenon actually, that people seem to feel that they have to prove that God does not exist, to be able to say no. Why is that? Shouldn’t the onus of proof be on those claiming something exists, than the other way about? Obviously so, but God has been thought of as a real entity for so long, and most people have been brought up indoctrinated into believing, that the onus of proof is currently on the non believer, whether that is logical, or not.

To discover if there is a God, or what God actually is, we must travel back in time to when the idea of God was first bandied about. Actually, we need to go back to before God, and analyse the foundations for why he presented Himself to Abraham and Moses in ancient Mesopotamia and Canaan.

This is a complex analysis that spans over 13 centuries, with many actors, half written and doctored records, and missing pieces probably sitting under the Vatican. Putting it all together is a difficult task and can no way be covered adequately in just a few pages, but here I go anyway….

(more to follow)

Dogs of Cuzco

2008-08-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

Peruvians LOVE dogs!

Surprised dog

White dog, wondering 'why the fuck is this gringo taking photos of me!'

Dog in the cafe door, badly silhouetted

Dog laying down, but looks like up.
Or, is it a drunk dog?

Dog in a door

Dog in front of a blue doored yellow house

Dog sleeping in Los Perros Restaurant window
(The Dogs Restaurant)

Dead dog

Contented dog.

Coco mono in Iquitos

2008-08-01T11:46:00.001-07:00

Cotopaxi

2008-06-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

We've spent the weekend in and around the Cotopaxi Reserve which has the mightily impressive volcano, Cotopaxi.

We did a mountain bike tour with the 'Biking Dutchman' yesterday, which was great fun. We were driven to the car park just below the ice sheet on Cotopaxi and then mounted our metal steeds and held on for dear life for 50km downhill while hoping that out hands didn't freeze off, and eyes not fall out of their sockets due to the bumps and bumps and the bumps. Great fun!!

Cotopaxi is located about 75 kilometres south of Quito and is the second highest summit in Ecuador, reaching 5,897 m. Cotopaxi has an almost symmetrical cone that rises from a highland plain of about 3,800 metres, with a width at its base of about 23 kilometres. It has one of the few equatorial glaciers in the world, which starts at the height of 5,000 metres.

Cotopaxi is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. There have been more than 50 eruptions since 1738 with the last one in 1975. Numerous valleys have been formed by the powerful mud and lava flows over the years (we biked down one) and it will prove a great threat in the future. A future Survival Imperative story perhaps.

(Obligatory Conquest story)

During a war between the Incas and the Spaniards in 1534, the volcano erupted and put an end to the fighting as both fled from the battlefield.

(Didn't manage to find out where that was)

The volcano is on a 120 year cycle (from the Biking Dutchman) which means the next major eruption is some time off. However, if it was to go through another significant eruption, large numbers of villages will be destroyed including the far southern suburbs of Quito. Time will tell.

Caught a chicken bus home this afternoon which was OK. No one tried to rob us.

It’s been a great weekend away, and heading back to Lima on a ridiculously early flight in the morning for a week or so before heading to Cuzco for a bit.

(Photos stolen from the net. Camera wouldn't have survived the bike ride)

Quito, Ecuador

2008-06-22T16:01:00.001-07:00

I’ve been in Quito for the past 2 weeks and have a few days left before returning to Lima and then to Cuzco for a week or so.

Quito is a great South American city. The second highest after La Paz, but more beautiful. The city runs along a valley floor overlooked by old volcanoes rising to over 5000m.

There is the standard old historical centre which has the obligatory Plaza Bolivar, cathedral and lots of old colonial stuff that the Spanish built after destroying as much of the indigenous culture as possible in the 1500s. The nicest church sits over an Incan temple, which before that was a Caras temple and before that a Quitu temple. One day the Chinese might build a temple on the same site.

During the Conquest Quito was the site of one of the best organised resistance attempts by the Incas, led by an Incan warrior named Ruminahui. After the Inca Atahualpa was executed (see previous blog) after delivering the promised ransom for his life, Ruminahui raced back to Quito, to defend it and save its treasures. When Pizzaro heard that there was significant gold in Quito he sent one of his Lieutenants, Benalcazar, and a force to capture the city. Of course, the horses and guns of the Spanish led by Benalcazar outmuscled the Incas, and for his sinful resistance Ruminahui was tortured and executed. However, before the Spanish captured Quito, Ruminahui had all the treasure from the city buried somewhere, and then had the city burned to the ground, and killed the temple virgins to preserve their purity. Nice one. However, during his torture he never revealed the whereabouts of the treasure now known as the Treasure of the Llanganatis. Wouldn’t mind knowing where it is…...

Ecuadorians commemorate Ruminahui by having a holiday on 1 December each year. He’s quite a hero here.

This weekend I travelled to a small town north of Quito called Otavalo, which is famous for its market. It's set at the base of an old volcano and is quite picturesque.

The Lonely Planet calls it the best market in South America, which might be close, depending on your tastes. If you like rows and rows of stalls all selling the same Gringo traps then maybe. Too touristy for my liking however, and I’d rate the market in Manaus, Brazil, as the best that I have seen here. A much more real experience. Lot’s of colour in Otavalo however, and they have a nice monument to Ruminahui.

Quito is a great capital city to visit, as is Ecuador as a whole. It’s a small country so it’s easy to travel around and has some amazing flora and fauna, volcanoes, The Amazon, cloud forests, colonial cities, and of course The Galapagos – which is too expensive for the locals to visit of course. With the average wage about $3 an hour, little wonder.

Oh, and by the way, yesterday on the bus on the way back to Quito I had my first attempted robbing since arriving in SA 11 months ago. I had my camera bag on the floor between my legs and a guy behind me crawled under the seat, opened it up and removed a wallet from it. Luckily, I noticed the case had moved and checked it to find the wallet missing. And luckily, he hadn’t got off the bus yet. I freaked out my wife by getting extremely angry (very unusual for me) and it was only at the last second that my fist changed into an open had before smashing into his shoulder, and not his face. He then went to the front of the bus and asked to get off….

Hate thievery, but he looked pretty poor, so understandably he’s just trying to survive……damn humans!

Cuzco and the Incas

2008-05-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

(view from the cafe I am currently sitting in)

Cuzco

I’m currently in Cuzco enjoying some very fine blue sky days in crisp mountain air. It’s such a great relief from foggy smoggy Lima and the heat of Venezuela where I almost melted away last week.

Cuzco is a beautiful city, one of my favourites in the world. Most of the centre hasn’t changed since the Spanish tore it down and rebuilt it to their colonial likes in the mid 1500s. The Plaza has two really nice monuments to JC, with the main Cathedral standing tall where an Incan Palace used to be. There’s some amazing art inside with a mandatory Last Supper, but with a nice Peruvian touch. Instead of roasted whatever there's a nice plump cuy. That’s guinea pig. Yum, yum. Just the thing I’d like for a last supper.

Potted Inca History

The Inca Empire arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in early 13th century. In a golden period of time, from 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate the majority of western South America on the western side of the Andes. The area they conquered included large parts of Ecuador, Peru, western and south central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, northern Chile, and southern Colombia. The Incas identified their king as "child of the sun", believing he was a decendant of their Sun God, Inti.

The Incas have various origin myths, each involving the first Inca King, Manco Capac. He was either sent directly to earth by Inti and emerged with a wife from Lake Titicaca one fine day, or Manco was one of four brothers who were transported to Earth and Manco eventually became the head honcho. In each case they found there way to the area of Cuzco and established the first Inca Kingdom.

Through this myth, Cusco became a sacred place and was believed to be the navel of the world. The city was divided into quarters corresponding to the four quarters of the empire. When the Incas conquered a culture they forced the princes of that culture to move to Cuzco and live in a quarter corresponding to their lands.

The conquered were required to learn Quechua, and adopt the Incan religion, which was basically worshiping Inti, the Sun God. However, they were also required to maintain their cultural dress, and intermarriage was not allowed. One third of all their agricultural produce was to be shipped to Cuzco, one third was for Inti (not sure what that meant) and they kept one third for themselves.

One amazing feature of the culture was that there was no opportunity for social mobility. Apart from the Incan nobility, everyone was on a single level of social standing. There was no form of currency, food was distributed to everyone on an equal basis, and when a man married, he was allocated a piece of land to work, with all its produce distributed to; Inti, the Inca, and his own village.

It was one of the most pure examples of despotism that you could possibly find. Incredibly, it worked for over 300 years, and the Empire lived in relative peace with absolute devotion to Inti and his son, the Inca.

While many people are horrified by colonial conquest and the travesties committed against indigenous peoples, the Incas were practically just another colonial power, doing what humans do…

There's obviously lots more to their society, but as I said, potted....

Now, how the Spanish conquered this society with just 160 men is another story……

2008-05-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

From the Amazon to the Caribbean

From 28 April to 20 May I did some research for a travel company for a new trip that runs from Belem at the start of The Amazon in Brazil, to Caracas in Venezuela.

Unfortunately, my time frame was short, so there wasn’t much time for my own sightseeing.

A shame really, perhaps it would have been a better experience.

Lima to Sao Paulo to Belem

Mental note: Never fly TACA again
9pm flight delayed to 11pm. Stop mid takeoff because water is coming into the cockpit
Probably a good idea to change planes

TACA – Not sure what the acronym stands for, but this works - Take A Chance Airlines
2 hrs sleep. I’m tired, and haven’t started the journey yet
Nice start

Belem – The mouth of the Amazon

Home of the 16 -1800’s slave trade in South America

Billions of litres of fresh water flow out to the ocean, per second.
Per second!

One third of the world’s fresh water is here
A few thousand kilometers away, a continent is turning to dust
If it was oil, there’d be a pipeline

Makes me wonder

.Santarem - Half way up the Amazon

Hotels are double the comparative rates in Peru and Ecuador

Every shop is selling 70s fashion

Every second shop sells shoes

(say that 3 times fast! lol)

The museum has an old pole with handcuffs attached to it which was used to whip slaves

No one speaks English. Heathens. Hardly any speak Spanish. Neanderthals

Trouble: my Spanguese isn’t very good
There is a place nearby where there are white sandy beaches,

and clear water on the Amazon like the Caribbean coast

I haven’t time to see it

Fuck it’s hot here

.
Manaus - The start of the ‘real’ Amazon

I see the ‘Meeting of the Waters’ from the airplane window

On the way from the airport vultures are eating a dead dog by the side of the road

Another dog stands by and watches, as do the locals

The dog seems to care more

Women wear clog like high heels and pour themselves into their clothes

They shouldn’t

Hotels are more expensive here, but cheaper by the hour

$6 Reals for 1 hour, $11 Reals for 2 hours

$1 Real cheaper if you can keep it up a bit longer
Good value

They have an opera house here,

but no opera

I eat various types of meat on a stick

The heat makes the pollution stick to my face

Polution? Aren’t I in the Amazon?

It’s too dangerous to go out at night

I don't take my camera out because I think I will be robbed

I drink too much rum on the overnight bus in order to get to sleep

.
Santa Elena - Venezuela border town, and gateway to the Gran Sabana

I get frisked and my bags are searched at the bus station on arrival

One horse town, but it was dead

Poor horse. Died a long time ago by the look

Hundreds queue at the petrol stations in their 1970s V8s. Petrol is 10c a litre

They drive it over the border and sell it in Brazil for $1.50 a litre
Why work?
They don't

The Army supervises the petrol stations and takes their cut

Official bank exchange rate is $1 USD = $2 Bolivars. Black market $1 USD = $3 Bolivars

I’m confused

Incredible countryside

Spectacular. Amazingly spectacular

I eat some local food: Rice, taro, and what might be chicken
It comes back out as liquid the next day

Ciudad Bolivar – Gateway to Canaima NP and Angel Falls

Fuck it’s hot here

I see my first white face in 5 days

My wife is waiting to meet me

A local tries to mug her in broad daylight on her first day here

Welcome to Venezuela

No USD, so taking Bolivars out of the bank effectively makes Venezuela 50% more expensive

Security guards on the doors to the shoe shops wear sawn off shotguns like pistols

No one is friendly

No one

People throw their rubbish in the street

All of it

So, why have bins?

I don't take my camera out because I think it will melt

Canaima NP and Angel Falls

We take a 6 seater Cessna to Canaima

The pilot reads the newspaper

The scenery is incredible

I walk behind the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen, and swim in a tea coloured lake

We go upstream in a motorized canoe,

through grade 2 rapids

It’s dry season so the river is low, exposing rocks, but it still pumps hard

Perhaps we shouldn’t have bought our laptops

I'm stupider than I thought

It takes 4 hrs in a boat and one hour hiking to get to Angel Falls from Canaima

Angel Falls spits water at us from 975m

The highest waterfall in the world

It lands as mist

Our guide tells us nothing,

except for the name of a strange animal that roams into our jungle camp at breakfast

But I had to ask

A 6 seater Cessna takes us back to Ciudad Bolivar

The pilot looks 12

.San Felix – Shit hole

We misjudge our timings and get stuck on the way to Tucupita in what seems like a town out of the Wild West

It’s Friday night, and people are drunk, or getting drunk, or ridiculously drunk

We walk along the road in front of the hotel for a few minutes,
but it looks like the locals want to eat us

We shelter behind locked hotel doors

.
Tucupita – Gateway to the Orinoco Delta

Fuck it’s hot here. We arrive on Saturday, nothing is open
How do we research operators for the Delta?
We eat barbecued chicken from a street stall by the river, where a little shanty town sits
Shanty town, by the river, next to the main tourist town, servicing the Orinoco Delta?

We move on before we get mugged, eaten, or melt

.
Santa Fe – In the Mochima NP on the Caribbean coast

Beautiful palm fringed coast line. Beaches could be whiter

Australia’s are

Makes me think of home. I miss white beaches and the ocean
We don’t realise how good it is

The town is a dump. Disgusting. Why don’t they care?

There are 4 stores, 3 are liquor outlets, protected with bars over everything

Late Sunday afternoon, everyone is pissed. Even the diseased dog

Our posada has bars all around it and razor wire on the back fence

Our host is friendly and tells us not to go out at night

We decide that our camera should be locked up for the rest of the trip

We risk it and sit on the beach in front of the hotel and drink rum under a starry sky

Next day we meet 4 English girls who were mugged at gun point the previous night

Apparently the islands just off the coast are spectacular,

but we haven’t got time

Internet pages won’t load. I ask if there’s broadband. I get a puzzled look

I haven’t seen any Miss Universes yet

It seems to be a myth

Merida – The Venezuelan Andes

24 hr bus ride takes its toll

I wake with icicles on my eye brows. My back screams

The bus aircon must be set at minus 5, and the seats are way too old

It’s a beautiful day. What a glorious city

I’m woken out of my negative slumber

Merida, in a valley floor with parks and plazas nestled between giant peaks

I stop melting, I can wear jeans

The people are friendly

No one looks to be trying to rob us,

or eat us

There are café’s and people serve you. And say ‘gracias’
Haven’t heard that since I left Lima

It’s too cloudy to ride the world’s longest, and highest, teleferico, at almost 5000m

We find a hotel that has wireless. I’m in shock

I drink coffee in a thimble size plastic cup, with a tiny straw for a stirrer

I miss Starbucks. I slap myself

Manaus redeems Venezuela somewhat

But not enough

Caracas – More dangerous than Bagdad

Our overnight bus stops at a security check point

We get taken off the bus, our bags are checked, and we get frisked

I know the drill

I meet a backpacker who was robbed by a taxi driver
He is left with the clothes on his back and passport

In Caracas we stick to the main roads, and carry no valuables

But our valuables are in the hotel!

What’s the greatest risk?

We do not know

We get stopped by three police officers and taken to a little tent on the side of the street

Our bags are searched, and we get frisked

The police and military seem to think tourists are a security risk

I see a policeman buying a bootleg DVD on the street

We compare prices between Peru and Venezuela

Peru is cheaper. By half

I make it to the airport without being mugged, but my bags are searched,

and I am frisked for one last time:

Just to make sure

I don’t wonder why there are hardly any tourists here

.
This country is spectacular, but it is a mess

Skip it and go to Columbia instead

.
(note that most photos are from google because I didn't want to take my $3K camera out of my bag)

Rwanda

2008-02-25T23:20:00.000-08:00

As we drove slowly down the dirt road and entered the small town of Ntarama three young children ran out from between two houses to the passenger’s side window. They spoke with our interpreter who then passed on that the children wanted us to see the town’s church just up the hill. Not much further down the road we could see the small red brick church at the top of a small hill to the right.

We got out of the vehicle and started walking towards the church. Then, about 20 meters ahead, on the ground to my right, I noticed what looked to be someone laying face down. On closer inspection it was a decomposing body, obviously still there from the time of the genocide. As we started to get closer to the church the number of bodies increased. There were possibly 20 laying about in various stages of decomposition.

Obviously, this was the sight of a massacre that had yet to be cleaned up, for whatever reason. What was to confront me in the church I will never forget.

Peering in through the main door there were hundreds of bodies, still lying strewn all about, over the pews, and each other. There was no way to walk through the church without walking over people so we just stood on the pews closer to the door to inspect the room as best as we could.

The smell is something I hope to never experience again.

Later we were to learn that this church massacre had been preserved by the local people as a reminder of what happened in Rwanda, and would be made into some type of memorial, which it now has.

The story goes that the Tutsis of the area fled to the church in the hope that they would be protected there. Unfortunately, the Priest was a Hutu, and advised the Interahamwe militia that his church was full of Tutsis and that he would keep them there. Late in the evening, the militia came, threw hand grenades into the church, and then proceeded to hack their way through the church with machetes.

Only a couple of people survived.

On 12 March this year, the priest's sentence was increased from 15 years to life in jail. On hearing the news, it brought back some painful memories. Not really of my own experience in Rwanda, but of the atrocities that were committed by human against human, neighbour against neighbour, friend against friend, doctor against patient, and priest against parishioner. The stories are almost too incredible to believe. The women were treated especially brutally prior to being killed, often in front of their husbands and children.

Another perspective

The Church: A sancuary of death

For those who have seen the movie Hotel Rwanda, it's a good way of getting a feeling for what went on, but it concentrates on a personal story, not the real violence, or history.

Putting Rwanda Genocide into Amazon will get you plenty of options for a book. I've read a few but recommend: We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families, by Philip Gourevitch, with a review here.

The lead up to the genocide is quite complex and I could not cover all the detail but for those interested, Wikipedia does a pretty good job of it here.

In 1994 I deployed to Rwanda as part of UNAMIR II, the UN mission that deployed to stabilise the country after the genocide.

I deployed as the Administration/Operations Officer of the Australian Medical Support Force based in Kigali.

While a life changing event for myself, I can still hardly imagine what both the Hutu and Tutsi has gone through over the past 200 years of continued violence and what must be incredibly deep seeded pain, and hatred.

Probably only to be repeated in the future.

I'm still not sure what I've learnt from this experience, except for how brutal people can be too each other.

East Timor

2008-02-15T09:31:00.000-08:00

In 2002 I deployed to East Timor with the United Nations as the Military Assistant to Commander Sector West. Sector West was the area covering the length of the western border of East Timor with West Timor and was manned by two army battalions and ancillary forces such as engineers and aviation. The northern area was manned by an Australian battalion while the southern sector was controlled by a New Zealand composite battalion which included troops from Fiji, Nepal, Ireland, Singapore and later Thailand, who replaced the New Zealanders. Across the border there was a mirror force from the Indonesian Army.

My job was to manage the day to day affairs of the Sector West Commander which included coordinating regular meetings with the Indonesian Army, interpreting, and his close personal protection. A requirement of the job was to be able to speak Indonesian, and I could also speak some Tetum (East Timorese), both of which I studied at the ADF School of Languages in 1997 and 1999 respectively. Having done this study and visited Indonesia many times, I already had a great interest in the country.

So, it’s with great interest that I watch the events unfold in East Timor at the moment, with the President been shot and the Prime Minister also the subject of an assassination attempt, although there are some thoughts that the rebels were attempting to abduct them only. Jose Ramos Horta is still in an induced coma in the Royal Darwin Hospital with bullet wounds to his chest and stomach.

This event is a stark reminder to Australia that we have a country teetering on the edge of disaster and if left to their own devices will almost certainly be a failed State.

However, the issues are not that simple. They are not the product of any recent political events, or even a product of the Portuguese and Indonesian occupations, but are based on long ongoing tribal feuds within the country.

In its early history Timor was populated by people migrating from the north west (Malay-Indochina) and from the south east (Papua-Australia). Due to the rugged terrain of the country the different ethnic groups were separated and rarely came into contact. This resulted in there being as many as 14 different languages spoken on the relatively small island.

As populations grew, the different tribes came into contact with each other and inevitably conflict developed. From the time of Dutch and then Portuguese occupation the development of the country both socially and politically is far too complex to detail here, but suffice to say that the ethnic differences are still in large part the basis for the social divisions within the country.

On the surface of it at the moment, it seems that it is simply political differences that are shaping the country and causing the conflict; however, looking deeper it is clear that the different political parties have been based on different ethnic and social groups. It is also clear that the divisions within the military which resulted in a large part of the Army walking out in 2006, led by Alfredo Reinado, the leader of the assassination attempt on Ramos Horta, were based on cultural divides. The people from the ‘west’ thought that they were been discriminated against in favour of those from the ‘east’.

The problem of East Timor will not be solved until the people become united themselves. This could take a century or more. In the meantime, Australia has a balancing act to perform. East Timor is a sovereign State; however, without a strong hand guiding them, they will continue to go through conflict after conflict, until they are culturally one, accept one another, are controlled by a dictator, or are divided.

Of course, building a stable economy and developing sufficient industry to increase employment should underlie the development of a ‘stable’ country.

I give it a century. And Australia will probably be there for the most of it....

Darfur

2008-02-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

I few years ago I was offered a job with International Medical Corps to deploy to Chad to act as their security and logistic coordinator. I ended up not taking the job in favour of selfishly backpacking around the world for a year….

My interest in the unfolding dilemma hasn’t ceased and it’s with some distress that I’ve witnessed the international community been paralysed due to sovereign states self interests and being incapable to provide some meaningful short term support, and a long term foundation for improved security, and life conditions for the people of the region. I’m most abhorred by China’s support to Sudan and delaying any meaningful UN Security Council resolutions due to its oil and arms interests, and the US’s lack leadership due to its oil and arms interests elsewhere.

The UN (particularly the Security Council) has proved itself yet again to be the paper tiger it is, frozen by a lack of will, leadership, and cooperation to put secular human rights above those of economic and military power.

Chad and Darfur are drifting into a proxy war fought by militias backed by each government. This has been developing for some years.

The UN estimates that the conflict has left as many as 200,000 dead from violence and disease while NGOs reckon the number could be as high at 400,000, so far. Each has their own agenda (!) in under and overestimating the deaths, so put the ‘real’ number somewhere in the middle.

While it has been horrible for the world to stand back and watch what has been described as genocide, in my opinion the problem lay in the region, not just the inaction of the west. UN peacekeeping forces, as under manned, equipped, and trained as they are (African Armies are corrupt militias in reality), are but a band aid to the long drawn out civil development of Africa, which has a long, long way to go. Apart from a few small pockets, the entire continent is living in the dark ages. But this cannot just be the responsibility of the west.

In reality, the Darfur conflict is merely a power struggle between interest groups, each using each other in convenience to promote their own agendas, and ultimately their own personal survival.

The conflict has been brought about by numerous factors, each stemming from a single source, one of human nature. The myriad of issues, none really more overwhelming than the other include; overpopulation, early British intervention in Egypt, and Sudan, Islamic versus non Islamic beliefs, and quite possibly, a result of global warming and a lack of rains to establish crops. However, these factors are but contributing factors leading us to the root cause.

This conflict, like all conflict, is about self interest. It is about personal well being; sustenance, shelter, and safety. When these factors are a struggle and life is at risk, humans gather in groups of likeminded (usually cultural) people to achieve their own personal needs. The fight for survival is manifest resulting in the demonstration of all the negative traits of the human species. This is pretty basic stuff.

Solutions?

Based on what I have said, there are no solutions to human conflict, it will always be a factor of our existence. However, we can take steps to mitigate the problems. In the West we have complex laws, judiciously applied to control behaviour, while we also encourage traits such as compassion, loyalty, forgiveness, and moral responsibility. The encouragement and admiration of these traits is a result of the underlying, almost subconscious understanding, that to do ‘good’ results in our own welfare being supported. Obviously, some peoples do not have a social environment that controls and nurtures behaviour in such a way. This takes many years of social and structural development including the understanding of sustainable population growth, secular based laws based on modern moral values, robust and regulated security apparatus, and a balance between social and liberal political and economic systems. Darfur is far from this state, of course.

For Darfur perhaps, the basis for progression must start at the most basic level. While the root cause of this conflict is the human fight for survival, the region where the people want to live should only be occupied by the number of people who are able to be self sustained on the land available. The rule of law is not applied and the people are not secure, or have access to shelter and food. While national sovereignty issues exist it has been quite clear to the world Sudan has been unwilling and/or incapable of providing this. This should have been provided four years ago.

The lessons from places like Rwanda, go unheeded.

Get your snake oil here, from Lifestyle Trader

2008-01-29T14:15:00.000-08:00

Oh dear, how very embarrassing..

http://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7517&page=3

Banos

2008-01-28T18:55:00.000-08:00

Weekend just gone I travelled with my wife and a group of friends from Quito to Banos, a small town about 400km south of Quito that sits at the base of an active volcano called Volcan Tungurahua.

Quite simply, stunning.

You can not see Banos in this photo (stolen off wiki, as my camera was stolen last week) but it sits at the bottom left of the volcano. At the moment it is errupting 30 times an hour.

Close by there are numerous beautiful waterfalls one of which we visited called Pailon del Diablo, or in English, The Devils Cauldron.

You might have seen this waterfall in the movie Proof of Life. If you weren't aware the movie was filmed in Ecuador.

This was about a 30 min quad bike ride from Banos and a 20 min down hill walk through the rainforrest. Incredible.

Couldn't recommend Banos more highly to anyone floating through the region.

Leaving Quito this week unfortunately, back to Lima.

Ecuador has been quite a surprise. When I travelled through this region about 3 years ago I didn't have Equador on the list, and thought all it had going for it was The Galapagos. I class it as a more beautiful country to visit than Peru.

The Galapagos Islands

2008-01-20T11:05:00.000-08:00

My wife and I travelled to the Galapagos Islands last week on a 5 day Intrepid Travel tour of the south eastern group. In one word, simply awesome. (or is that 2 words?)

We travelled from Quito aboard AeroGal, and landed at Isla Baltra which has the main airport but is 45 minutes by bus, boat, and bus from the main setting out place of Santa Rosa on the Island of Santa Cruz. It did not take long for us to taste our first sights of Galapagos fauna, as disembarking the plane we spotted a Land Iguana basking in the sun on the edge of the runway.

After getting our beds allocated on the Spondylus, we were met by the Naturalist, who took us on our first ‘dry landing’ tour of a Giant Land Tortoise farm about 30 minutes by bus.

The ‘farm’ in actual fact was a traditional farm for cattle, but it was used as a home by the Tortoises because of its location inland. So, the cows shared the land with the turtles, and the owners of the farm thought some tourists might want to see them. Damn right!

I had always thought the Land Tortoises were actually sea turtles that just happened to like living on the land as well, but no, these turtles came out of the see thousands of years ago and have not gone back. The oldest one at the farm was about 150 years old.

Day 2 we had to skip Floreana due to a yacht malfunction but spent the time day tripping close to Santa Rosa where we snorkeled with Sea Lions and visited one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen.

Up there with Whitsunday, I'm afraid to say.

The Iguanas were litterally covering the rocks on the point and several were basking in the sun and walking along the beach like we weren’t even there.

Count the iguanas. (less than 60 and you need your eyes tested!)

Day 3 we sailed to Isla Esanola and had a ‘dry landing’ and went for a walk around the islands to view many many more Land Iguanas and the amazing Blue Footed Booby.

They were nesting at the time and we saw many couples making their nests, while there were others who were on their eggs and even saw a few very young hatchlings.

Unfortunately, any more that one chick results in the weakest being kicked out of the nest and dies. Only one can survive.

Incredibly, the Boobies nest right on the walking trail, and visitors have to walk around them to get from A to B. The Boobies just sit there and watch you go past.

Another incredible thing is that the Boobies share this space with the Marine Iguanas, who come in very close contact with them.

The iguanas are vegetarian and eat green algae from the rocks at water level, so they and the Boobies live in harmony.

Iguanas like Boobies. Who would have thought?

:-)

Day 4 we sailed to Isla Santa Fe and visited a Sean Lion colony.

This was an incredible experience.

There were hundreds of Sea Lions basking on the most amazing fluffy white sandy beach with numerous pups all playing together.

The thing that really struck me about the Sea Lions is their affection for each other.

They were literally cuddling together on the beach enjoying each other’s warmth.

After more snorkeling with a mix of temperate and tropical fish including a flock of White Spotted Eagle Rays and more Sean Lions, we had sun set drinks on the deck to watch a fantastic sun set.

Day 5 we sailed to Isla Seymour for a dry landing to view the Land Iguanas which were far more timid than the Marine Iguanas and it was difficult to get closer than a couple of meters.

After that it was back to land and the airport and out flight back to Quito.

Of all the travelling I’ve done this rates up there with visiting the Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda for the most amazing nature based experience. I always rate diving with fishes as the most special nature experience I can have, but swimming and lazing in the sun with the Galapagos Sea Lions and getting so up close with the Giant Tortoises, and the Boobies, was very special.

Now, we have to go back to go diving with the Hammerheads and Whale Sharks scheduled for June.

Execution of Atahualpa

2007-12-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

Continued on from the Peruvians slaughtered.........

After holding the Inca Atahualpa for months while the ransom for his release was being brought into Cajamarca there were rumors being spread that the Inca was plotting for his rescue and a large force was being assembled in a town some distance away. Pizarro decided to send one of his Captains, de Soto, with a number of cavalry to the town to find out if the rumors were true so to clarify the situation.

While de Soto was away, the perceived threat of the Inca became too great and Pizarro's soldiers and some senior officers became extremely distrustful of the situation and demanded the Inca be killed. There was a general perception that the Incan was so important in controlling the empire that without his rule, the empire would crumble. This turned out to be a fair assessment.

To give his execution some legitimacy, Pizarro staged a mock trial and found Atahualpa guilty of revolting against the Spanish, practicing idolatry and murdering Huáscar, his brother. The actual charges are incredibly laughable when read in retrospect considering the Spanish did not control Peru and the ‘laws’ being applied were from Spain….

Atahualpa was sentenced to execution by burning. At the time this was not a regular method of the Spanish to execute people in their own country and it seems odd that the Conquistadors chose this extremely painful method in Peru. The Inca was particularly horrified by this as the Incas believed that the soul would not be able to go on to the afterlife if the body was burned. Friar Valverde, who had earlier tried to convert Atahualpa, intervened again, telling Atahualpa that if he agreed to convert to Christianity he would convince Pizarro to change the sentence to a more reasonable way of death. Atahualpa agreed to be baptized and was given the name Juan Santos Atahualpa and, in accordance with his request, was strangled instead of being burned.

This entire episode was critical in the history of Peru and the Spanish Conquest. It is also a blight on the Spanish people and Christianity, in that it would take such action for the sake of gold and silver. But, perhaps this is just being human.

Primal Instincts

2007-12-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

Although I do not have all the facts of the case I can safely put this story in the 'humans are fucked' box.

No jail for rape of girl, 10
Tony Koch and Padraic Murphy December 10, 2007

NINE males who pleaded guilty last month to gang-raping a 10-year-old girl at the Aurukun Aboriginal community on Cape York have escaped a prison term, with the sentencing judge saying the child victim "probably agreed" to have sex with them.

Cairns-based District Court judge Sarah Bradley ordered that the six teenage juveniles not even have a conviction recorded for the 2005 offence, and that they be placed on a 12-month probation order.

Judge Bradley sentenced three men over the age of consent of 16 - aged 17, 18 and 26 - to six months' imprisonment, with the sentence suspended for 12 months.

What is the basis for this action?
What drives men to do such a thing?

Power?
Control?
Sexual gratification?
Peer pressure?
Psychological disturbance?

All of the above?

What it tells me is that humans have a significant primal instinct that allows them to treat fellow humans with utter distain, hatred, contempt, and loathing.

I have no answer to this but to say that humans are quite clearly animals, just trying to survive on this rock.

The only thing that may put us above the animals is our ability to plan and envisage the future.

The thing that puts us below the animals is that we are one if not the only species that gets pleasures from such activity, including hunting.

What's good is survival

2007-12-07T11:51:00.000-08:00

My first couple of posts here have been dedicated to the evils associated with the survival imperative but it's clear that there is also 'good' to come from the basic human instinct as well.

'Good' on the surface anyway.

What are ‘good’ traits, values, virtues, emotions and/or actions?

Selflessness
Forgiveness
Cooperation
Generosity
Altruism
Sympathy
Empathy
Charity
Friendship
Love

The list goes on………………………….

While the vast majority will look at people who display these characteristics with great respect and admiration, they only look at a veneer of the true person. What drives people to display the above emotions and traits? Most will not have even considered this in any great detail. Most just assume a person is ‘good’ because that is their personality.

People are ‘good’ people because that is their inner nature…….

However, by only scratching the surface of this superficial façade it is easy to see that the true motivation for all ‘good’ action is, in the end, a means to satisfy the basic human survival imperative.

Let me take one example, love.

What is the point of love? Why do humans have this emotion? Why have the chemicals and deeply ingrained sociopsychocultural drives made us have this feeling of ‘love’.

Most, I dare say, consider this to be just a natural feeling we get when we really like someone. A state of mind where you give all to another human, or totally open your being to another that makes you feel naked and vulnerable. These are all superficial concepts that only just scrape the surface of what ‘love’ is.

‘Love’ is nothing more than a means by which humans are drawn to each other for the purpose of copulation. ‘Love’ holds us together long enough that we may have children, care for them, and allow them to go on their path to survival and have their own children that will allow them to survive. Pure and simple. Anyone who believes otherwise is destined for a failed and/or painful relationship. It is only by fully understanding this truth that individuals who are ‘in love’ can engineer their relationship to ensure that the love lasts for as long as possible in order to maintain the happiness of the moment.

You can discuss each of the other ‘virtues’ I listed above in the same manner and come to the same conclusion.

All any of us what to do is ultimately survive.

Realising the basic instinct of the human being that drives our every action can be life defining.

Peruvians slaughtered

2007-12-04T09:40:00.000-08:00

In 1532 the invading Spaniards led by Francisco Pizarro had made it to the town of Cajamarca in what is now northern Peru, and were making their way south in search of the grand riches that they assumed were in the country. Dramatically outnumbered Pizarro could not take the entire country by force and knew that once his real intentions were clear to the Incas his company would not survive long.

Pizarro had lured the Inca King, Atahualpa, to the town of Cajamarca, and the Inca had brought around 80,000 of his army, armed with stone clubs and spears. The Spaniards numbered about 170, but had about 60 horses, steal, and guns. At this point the Incan army had never seen a horse, or a gun.

Not truly understanding the Spaniards intentions and assuming his numbers to be too great, Atahualpa made the fatal mistake of trusting Pizarro's request to meet in the town and he left the bulk of his armed forces outside the city. The Spaniards set their ambush around the main plaza and laid in wait for the order to attack.

The massacre was initiated after Franciscan friar Vincente de Valverde approached Atahualpa and ordered him to renounce his pagan religion and accept Catholicism as faith and Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor as sovereign. The Inca was rightly insulted by this and refused, which precipitated the onslaught against the unarmed Indians.

The initial target of the Spanish was the Inca's direct protection and the nobles surrounding him. Once they were killed, the Indians had no leadership and the only thing they could think to do was run. Even after they had captured the Inca, and killed all within the plaza, the Spanish chased the unarmed down to butcher as many as they could.

The total number killed ranged between 2000 and 20000, so the answer is somewhere in the middle. No Spanish were killed.

The aim?

Ultimately, power.

The Spanish were colonising the New World with the aim of converting the indigenous to their faith, to pillage the new regions they captured, and to seek fortune for themselves.

This battle was just the start of the destruction of the Incan Empire, for the sake of Spanish power, wealth, and Catholicism.

The Incans, of course, were no golden children. They established their empire in pretty much the same way.

Seems whenever humans come into contact, in any sense, the end result is conflict.

15 days jail for naming a teddy 'Muhammad'.

2007-11-29T11:43:00.000-08:00

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The immediate response to this story, about a British teacher in Sudan being jailed for 15 days for allowing a class teddy to be named Muhammad, is that Islam is fucked. Fair enough I say.

Islam is stuck in antiquity, or at best the Middle Ages, but that is not ultimately why this women is going to jail for naming a teddy after The Schizophrenic Muhammad.

She is going to prison on the interpretation of a few old stupid men blinded by the dogma of a fairytale book that was delivered to The Schizophrenic Muhammad by Gabriel (fuck me!) at Hira in about 610.

Of course, the book was not delivered in one clean hit and was put together over years and years and a complete copy didn't even exist at the time of Muhammad's death. So, the book we have today is only heresy from the fragments pieced together at the time anyway. In reality, the book was based on the culture of the day. Nothing more, nothing less. And that culture of the day was dominated by men and they treated women like shit!

So, today we have a woman going to jail, for naming a teddy after one of the great Schizophrenic Prophets of human time.

I wonder if a male teacher would have got the same punishment. Not bloody likely.

I'm not even going to start on the Saudi rape case where the rape victim gets lashes and jail time for being gang raped. Holy fuck! Humans have got some work to do to raise themselves above the more basic of animals.