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Meeting news from our branches around the world.

The next meeting will be on January 18th at the the Woodsworth
Co-op : Ann Dohler will talk about her recent trip to Peru,
the Galapagos and the Amazon.

For further information on Ontario meetings, please contact: Svatka
Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel.
416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

Toronto GT Meetings are held on the third Friday of January,
March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth
Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in
downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

Iona, the tiny island off Mull, off the west coast of Scotland, is
known as being the island where St. Columba and his 12 disciples
landed from Ireland in AD 563 and spread the word of Christianity
to Scotland and beyond. As such, it is an important centre for
pilgrims who flock to Iona once a year. In fact, many Kings of
Scotland, Norway and Ireland are buried on Iona.

It is unbelievably small and picturesque and runs 3 miles from
north to south and 1½ miles from east to west. Whilst cars
are not allowed on Iona, it is possible to visit by ferry from
Mull. There are two hotels which can be contacted by internet: the
Argyll Hotel reception@argyllhoteliona.co.uk
and the St Columba Hotel columba@btconnect.com.

Iona is very green and peaceful; it has a wonderfully serene feel
to the island, one of calm. There is an Abbey and a Nunnery that
hold what is believed to be some of the most complete collection of
Christian carved stones in Scotland, ranging in age from 600AD to
the 1600s.

To see: there is St Columbus' restored monastery, shops, a post
office, hotels, a golf course, an old marble quarry, gorgeous sandy
beaches, walking paths and plenty of wild life to see.

The winner of last months' Fiji Quiz is Arthur Carmichael from
the United States. We have another travel guide to give away this
month, called Climbing in New Zealand by the repressible Alastair
Lee who was a fantastic speaker at the January London Globetrotter
meeting.

We had a great crowd to kick off the New Year! Matt Link was
our speaker and he did a fabulous job telling us all about Ghana!
His pictures were amazing, and he also played Ghanaian music to get
us all in the mood. Matt truly immersed us in the country and its
people, who are peace loving and warm. Some highlights: Ghana is
30% Muslim, and they are very pro-American. They spoke sadly of the
9/11 attacks. Ghanaians place huge importance on education, for
boys and girls. Everything gets carried on their heads, even a
refrigerator!! Matt showed us highlights from villages, mosques and
a real voodoo ceremony!

The 2^nd of February's speaker will be
Helga Smith, who will be speaking and presenting a slide
show to us about SERVAS. SERVAS began more than 50 years ago, and
has expanded worldwide. It is now a network of over 14,000 hosts
and travellers, present in 132 countries. Helga will briefly cover
the history of SERVAS, its international status as an UN accredited
NGO, and explain how SERVAS works. Helga has been a host in New
York for more than 15 years and a traveler for at least 10 years as
well as participant at national and international conferences. She
has met hundreds of SERVAS people and will talk about what the
SERVAS experience means to her. Helga grew up in what used to be
East Germany and left that country after the Berlin Wall was built.
She has been in NYC for the last 35 years.

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

In January 2002, we had 30 people attending our Texas
Globetrotter's meeting! More than 50 different people have
attended since the first meeting back in July 2001. Ron
Woguus shared some of his travel preparation wisdom he has
acquired after hundreds of trips. We all shared our travel goals
for 2002 by saying them out loud and writing them down, which will
definitely help make them happen!

The eighth meeting of the Globetrotters Texas branch will start
promptly at 3 p.m. on Saturday, February 9 at the New Braunfels
Public Library. We might have a slide show, we will definitely have
time to share common vacation goals, and we will talk about a
Globies group trip.

Meetings are held at 3pm at the New Braunfels Public Library,
700 E. Common Street in New Braunfels, Texas. The meeting ends at 5
p.m. If you would like to continue travel talk on a more informal
basis, we plan to adjourn to the Hoity-Toit, a local New Braunfels
establishment. If anybody would like to enquire about meetings or
help Christina, please contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk

Spitalfields market is the Beetle's favourite London market. It
has the advantage of not being fantastically busy, like Portobello
Rd market or Petticoat Lane, and it offers a surprising range of
products to buy and things to look at.

It is less than 10 minutes walk from Liverpool Street tube station
(get out at the Broadgate exit and just follow everyone else, or
ask). It is open on Sundays from around 8am to 3pm. It dates back
to 1682 and was once the largest fruit and veg market in London,
before it moved location to East London.

Old Spitalfields Market on Commercial Street was the location of a
medieval hospital and priory of St. Mary Spital founded in 1197.
Back then, this was the outside boundary of London, and the
hospital is reputed to have provided shelter to travellers, hence
the name `Spital fields'. The area remained fields until
Charles II founded the fruit, flower and vegetable market in 1682.
Another claim to fame is that Spitalfields was the site of Jack the
Ripper's first victim!

Today, you can buy organic meat, vegetables, bread and patisserie,
second hand books and records, vintage clothes, gemstones,
jewellery, candles, pictures, kites – all sorts! There are a couple
of cafes and pubs close by if you are in need of sustenance after a
hard few hours seeing what the market has to offer.

Want to tell us about your local market? Contact the Beetle: the Beetle

Next month: Borough Market, London, as featured in Bridget
Jones' Diary

Hola, mis amigos, here's another instalment of my Peruvian
adventure in southern Peru. As I write this I am in La Paz,
Bolivia, and the headache I have is directly due to the altitude.
When in doubt, blame it on the altitude! It was amazing to arrive
in the afternoon yesterday and see the city spread before us in to
the crater in which it has grown. So many buildings and so packed
in, the mountain of Illimani towering beyond the rim and the
slowing more narrow and car clogged streets as we descended into to
the melee. Today has been most relaxing, with five letters at the
poste restante (muchos graçias Robyn & Peter, Jan, Anne
and John Dillon, Mum and Dad), money changed, the new Harry Potter
movie to look forward to and lots of interesting things in the
streets to see and potentially buy. After this we head to Potosi
and the silver mine, to Sucre and its colonial splendour, and then
across the salt and mud flats of the Atacama before crossing into
Chile for Christmas in San Pedro de Atacama.

So, between Lima and now, we have been travelling pretty well.
South of Lima we visited the area near Paracas called the
Ballestras Islands (or ´Poor man's Galapagos´).
Lots of sea lions, gannets, guanu, and cormorants. There were a few
penguins, and a carving into the coast line that has the same time
date as the Nazca lines that was very impressive. A good
mornings´ outing! Next we camped for a couple of nights near
some Inca ruins in Puerta Inca, the original port for Cusco. It is
hundreds of miles from the Inca capital and had the most
consistently strong pounding waves that I have ever heard. There I
felt the earth move…yes, it was an earthquake, about 4 on the
Richter scale (as we found out the next day) and the cause of the
landslide that delayed our departure by a few hours. Quite exciting
really but nice to know that no-one was hurt.

On to Arequipa and the colonial beauty that is being preserved
there, along with the mummies found on the peaks of surrounding
mountains that date from Inca times and show researchers more about
the Inca´s, their life, religion and death.
´Juanita´ is the most famous mummy and it was quite
macabre to stand and look at this young girl who died so long ago
and which the frozen mountain top has preserved so well. The Santa
Catalina Convent was another highlight. I simply could not stop
taking photos as around every corner was another lovely vista. It
is still a working convent for the enclosed order that has been
there since the 1600s. From Arequipa, we crossed the pampas to get
to Colca canyon, passing llama, alpaca and vicuña camelids
on the way. After a night camped on the rim of the canyon, we
waited patiently for the condors to bless up with their presence.
One eventually came in response to a badly played rendition of
´El Condor Pasa´, and we all have the photos to prove
we have seen one. It was truly magnificent and worth the wait as
the one condor that rose on the thermal currents was a real showman
and he swooped and glided right at and around us before vanishing
into the far blue yonder.

Cusco was the next city of note and there everyone took the chance
to relax and roam. I had even more time than most as I had decided
not to risk my ankle on the Camino Inca, in order to see Machu
Picchu. So an extra couple of days in Cusco, and then the train to
Aguas Calientes. Machu Picchu may be further enhanced by having
hiked towards it for three days but I still thought that it was
magic and did not want to leave even after eight hours. The trip
back to Cusco was prolonged due to a landslide, but this was Peru
so getting stressed about it was a little pointless. And yes,
drinks at the CrossKeys were had! Puno was a bit of a non-event and
the boat trip to see the Uros Islands a glorified shopping trip,
but Lake Titicaca was in her best garb and looked beautiful. So,
here I am in La Paz and have received another letter and am headed
back to the hotel to relax after a heavy day shopping and
sightseeing. We did not get to see Harry Potter yesterday as it was
completely dubbed in Spanish. That‘s life!

Thanks Jacqui and keep us posted! If anyone would like to contact
Jacqui, her e-mail is: jacquitrotter@yahoo.com

What have you seen on your travels? Drop a line to the Beetle! the Beetle

Globetrotting Kiwis, Christine and Malcolm Clark are a little over
18 months and 8,759 miles into their epic cycling journey, from
England to New Zealand. Their trip is entirely self-funded and they
are also helping to raise money for the Gray Cancer Institute, a UK
based cancer research organization.

Our route took us across France where we received much
encouragement from the French, hyped up by the recent Tour de
France. Picking up the Danube cycle path, we crossed Germany,
Austria, Slovakia and Hungary before leaving the river in Budapest.
Romania gave us a warm welcome and throughout our stay we received
honest hospitality and friendliness. This was in stark contrast to
the warnings we had received before entering the country. Bulgaria
was a totally different place to our experiences 13 years
previously. The two weeks there provided the opportunity to meet
many people and again be on the receiving end of much generosity.

As we made our way through the city walls and down into the
backpacker settlement of Sultanahmet, Istanbul, the strains of
Crowded House blended in with the calls to prayer and the clink of
a cold bottle of beer contrasted with scarf clad ladies scuttling
along buying vegetables. The East of Turkey again showed wonderful
hospitality but also large packs of marauding dogs. These caused
many anxious moments but the Dog Dazer, an electronic device, saved
us from any serious maulings. It was with great trepidation that we
entered Iran and, for Christine, a whole new way of dressing. With
preconceptions of fundamentalism and chador clad women in our minds
we found instead a country struggling with its identity: desperate
to become more developed with a loathing of America idealism but
still coveting the American icons and materialism. However, the
people were welcoming and friendly, the hotels clean and the food
tasty and hygienic. The dual pricing system of all hotels and
tourist attractions was wearying but did not detract from the
stunning natural beauty of the country.

It was a great co-incidence to cross into Pakistan on the same day
of the first cricket test between Pakistan and New Zealand. There
was more ribbing about the test results than any concerns about
border formalities. The ride across the Great Sandy Desert of
Baluchistan was stunning, isolated and contrary to what most guide
books say about the area – safe. With the right frame of mind and
appropriate dress code Pakistan is a truly enthralling destination.
A detour up the Karakoram Highway to the market town of Kashgar,
China turned out to be more complicated than we expected. The
events of the 11/09 closed the borders back to Pakistan and we set
off across Western Tibet towards the Nepalese border. Crossing
passes of over 4,500 metres with temperatures often below freezing,
it was the most challenging cycling we had ever done. Nepal however
welcomed us with friendly faces and calls of 'Namaste' rang
in our ears and we braved the rickshaws and tuk tuks of Thamel to
find our hotel. We are watching the events in India and Pakistan
carefully before we head down onto the plains.

We are now using our journey to help raise money for a UK based
cancer research organisation, the Gray Cancer Institute. For more
details please see our website www.kiwisonbikes.net brought to
you with the tireless efforts of Guildford based Mike Fisher.

Wow! The Beetle is truly humbled – this is so inspiring! If you
would like to contact the Kiwis on Bikes, visit their web site:
http://www.kiwisonbikes.net