Iris is a British lady of considerable character and pluck, on a 23
week overland expedition from Quito in Ecuador to Caracas in Venezuela.
After this, she plans to do a 3-month voluntary placement in Ecuador,
and then visit Central America for another overland trip between Panama
City and Mexico City, ending up with perhaps another 2-month voluntary
placement somewhere in South America again. This amazing journey will
take Iris one year. Here is an extract from Iris’ journey notebook.
30th November: The Journey to Cuenca
I sent my last emails from Baños, was there 3 days and it was
a lovely little town but, as I say, that volcano was brooding over it,
which made things a little scary! One of our number said he had read there
are evacuation arrows in the streets showing the population the way to
run should there be an eruption but he couldn't find them which rather
concerned him! But we evacuated from Baños without any trouble,
but my, what a journey we had to Cuenca – right through the Andes at a
minimum of 2,000 metres, sometimes going up to well over 3,000 metres.
Everywhere – mountains that seemed to be almost piled one on top of the
other, with the occasional narrow valley plummeting down to the depths
with hamlets nestled in them. Scary at times as the road was just cut
out of the mountainsides and there were some really incredible hair pin
bends – looking over the side I was thankful we were going so slowly with
no danger of going over the edge because we would have all been killed
if we had crashed over the side – probably drops of at least 300 – 1,000m
in places with nothing but rock to fall on!
We saw lots of local people – mostly shepherds in the traditional Andean
garb of trilby hat, colourful (often red) shawls and brightly coloured
skirts, minding their sheep, goats, donkeys, pigs, cattle or llamas. Unfortunately,
the cloud was low and obscured what must have been some very fine views
but every so often the scene (rather than the sky) would clear and we
would see some awesome sights – steaming volcanoes, two or three of them
in a line; sheer precipices and steep mountains with their tops obscured
in cloud.
We left Baños at 0745 (yours truly being the last on the bus,
not because I got up late, I was up at 0500 exercising and showering but
the restaurant which was supposed to open at 0600 was later opening and
then the girl who waited on table had to run off to the baker's to
get bread. But by the time we were all breakfasted (and some rolled in
in the early hours of the morning so had no breakfast as they were suffering
from hangovers) and I had collected my belongings and finished my ablutions
(the obligatory cleaning of teeth), I turned out to be the last on the
bus!
We then made our way slowly out of Baños to Cuenca some 366 kms
to the south but the terrain, coupled with the weight in our bus – full
water tanks as well as petrol tanks, and with two drivers and 22 people
aboard with all their luggage – we made slow progress up hills and all
sorts of vehicles were continuously overtaking us. We were ok on the straights
and downhills but on the downhill had to go slowly again because of the
weight being hurled down steep inclines and having to negotiate some hair-raising
bends.
We stopped for lunch on the roadside – our leaders/drivers (Heather
and Martin) had bought local produce at the market in Baños and
so we helped prepare a lunch of salad (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, radishes,
avocado pear, onions) and rolls, butter, ham and cheese for us all. We
go through an elaborate process of disinfecting our hands, using a spray
disinfectant after using the toilet and then washing our hands again in
disinfectant water and rinsing them again in disinfectant water and shaking
them rather than wiping them dry. All table surfaces and pots and pans
are sterilised and then work begins at cutting up and buttering and putting
things on plates and in bowls on long trestle tables and canvas stools
are put out for us all to sit on. Meanwhile, the local dogs congregate,
sniffing out the food and looking longingly at us, as are the local shepherd
population.
In the site where we were there were a couple of shepherds (women) with
their children, and their donkeys and pigs. The children were wide-eyed
but rather suspicious urchins (suspicious of us) and refused all requests
to have their photos taken, but hanging around watching these strange
tourists in their shorts and long trousers preparing food they could only
dream about. We didn't encourage the dogs with any scraps and we certainly
did not stroke any of them (dirty little mutts), but they all seemed innocent
enough and quiet if not friendly, but after we had all finished eating,
the food over was handed out to the shepherds and their children in the
form of ham and cheese and salad rolls, and bags of lettuce and tomatoes,
and for the pigs, all the swill resulting from the lettuce and other vegetables
used in the salad. So everyone benefited, even the local hospice (just
a dirty brick building with a small shop and rather disgusting loos but
at least we were able to use them and rinse our hands under the tap, hence
the strict regime of disinfecting our hands every time we used the loos
when we stopped.
At one stage, we experienced the necessity of relieving ourselves without
the aid of modern conveniences. The men went one way in a small wooded
area and the women went the other. It is at times like these one wishes
one was a man and could just open our flies without having to strip ourselves
half naked and crouch in the undergrowth. Of course, yours truly had to
choose a place with some rather long stems of grass, which tickled my
posterior regions as I crouched so I made a rather ungainly spectacle
of myself jumping around every time something touched me in a rather intimate
place! Then the ceremony of the trowel – burying the tissue we used in
the ground so that we didn't pollute the local area of scenic beauty!
I am sure this is going to be the first of many occasions when we will
need to wander off, trowel in hand, to seek out similar places for similar
purposes.
If you’d like to contact Iris, whether to wish her luck with her
trip or to ask questions about her itinerary and places visited, I am
sure she would like to hear from you. She can be contacted on: irisej2002@yahoo.co.uk
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Sidebar area
Maggie wrote in to say: “I enjoy reading all the
stories of travelling around the world. I am planning on walking the pilgrim
route to Santiago De Compostela starting in France at the end of May 2004.
Has anybody done this journey? Any advice would be more than appreciated”.
If you can have walked all or part of the pilgrimage
route to Santiago de Compostela and can help Maggie, please e-mail her
on: mechthild@InfoAve.Net
~~~~~~~~
Gary wrote in to say: “I'm going to be touring
England and Scotland on a recumbent bike later part of May and June '03.
I'm going to stay in B&Bs' and youth hostels. I'll be
flying into Heathrow Airport. What's the best way for me to get to
Colchester from London airport? 1) Bike from airport and figure out a
way to stash my bike box. Or….
2) Catch a train from the airport and unbox my bike
in a B&B in Colchester and hopefully store my bike box their for my
return trip. My plan is to bike up through the Shetland Islands and then
return back to my bike box in late June. If there is anyone who would
like to visit with me or ride part of the way, drop me an email on: garyleffler@hotmail.com
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Need help?
Want a travelling buddy or advice about a place or country – want to share
something with us – why not visit our Mutual Aid section of the Website:
Mutual Aid
Coming up: Saturday 1st March
Seeds of Peace
is concerned with sowing the seeds of peace among children who have grown
up with the horror of war. They will be back for an encore presentation,
following their first visit to the New York branch of the Globetrotters
Club on January 4, 2003.
Speaking will be: Jeremy Goldberg and Rebecca Hankin of Seeds of Peace,
an organization that provides an opportunity for the children of war to
plant the seeds for a more secure future. The program focuses on Arab
and Israeli teenagers from ten nations in the Middle East but has also
brought youngsters from Cyprus, the war-torn Balkans, India, Pakistan,
Afghanistan and other regions of conflict to its unique coexistence program.
Seeds of Peace has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, The
Washington Post, Time Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall
Street Journal, People Magazine and on ABC, CBS & NBC network programs,
including “Nightline” (twice) with Ted Koppel, “60 Minutes”
with Morley Safer, “Sunday Morning,” “The Today Show,”
“Good Morning America” and on CNN, PBS and NPR. Jeremy Goldberg
is the Director of Corporate Relations at Seeds of Peace, Mr. Goldberg's
experience includes time spent on Capitol Hill, as well as at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington, DC-based
think tank. He is also the founder and former editor-in-chief of the Georgetown
Journal of International Affairs, a nationally distributed foreign affairs
publication. Jeremy is an honors graduate of the School of Foreign Service
at Georgetown University. Rebecca Hankin is currently Director of Media
Relations at Seeds of Peace, a position she has held since April 2002.
Since its founding, Seeds of Peace has graduated over 2,000 teenagers
representing 22 nations from its internationally recognized conflict-resolution
program.
For details of forthcoming meetings email newyork@globetrotters.co.uk
or register for email updates at click here
at our website.
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.
Another global warning on terrorism has been given to
Americans travelling abroad by the US State Department. This one is dated
7th February.
The worldwide caution replaces a similar warning made
in November and reminds people to be aware of the dangers of a terrorist
attack.
It asks travellers to remain vigilant due to a heightened
threat of terrorist actions that may target civilians, including the possibility
of attacks by non-conventional weapons. It also reminds American citizens
travelling or living overseas to avoid demonstrations.
US citizens and interests are vulnerable to attacks,
including those by groups with links to Al-Qaeda, says the government.
Terrorist actions may include, but are not limited to, suicide operations,
assassinations or kidnappings.
The State Department goes on to say that while conventional
weapons such as explosive devices pose a more immediate threat in many
areas overseas, terrorist use of non-conventional weapons, including chemical
or biological agents must be considered a growing threat.
These individuals and groups have proved that they do
not distinguish between official and civilian targets. Because security
and security awareness have been elevated within the United States, terrorists
may target US interests overseas. Private Americans should remain vigilant
with regard to their personal security and exercise caution.
Attacks on places of worship and schools, and the murders
of private American citizens and other westerners, demonstrate that as
security is increased at official US facilities, terrorists and their
sympathizers will seek softer targets.
These may include facilities where Americans or possibly
other foreigners are generally known to congregate or visit, such as residential
areas, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, hotels, outdoor
recreation events or resorts and beaches. Americans should increase their
security awareness when they are at such locations, avoid them, or switch
to other locations where Americans in large numbers generally do not congregate.
There is a possibility that American citizens may be targeted for kidnapping
or assassination.
Demonstrations in many parts of the world may have an
anti-American character. Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can
turn into confrontational situations and possibly escalate into violence.
US citizens travelling or residing abroad should avoid demonstrations
and take commonsense precautions.
The warning is due to expire on May 4.
Here’s a little Beetle quiz based on airport codes.
See how many you get right! Go on, have a guess!
Which cities are served by airports with the following
codes:
- DEN
- OSL
- SIN
- GIG
- KIN
For the answers, see at the end of the e-newsletter.
For information on Ontario meetings, please contact: Svatka Hermanek:
shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca
or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.
Meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September
and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton
Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.
A travel warning to American citizens in Zimbabwe urging
them to leave the African country has been issued by the US government.
The US State Department says that Zimbabwe's current
political, economic and humanitarian crises have serious implications
for security and it recommends that people should consider leaving.
The warning says: “All US citizens in Zimbabwe
are urged to take those measures they deem appropriate to ensure their
well being, including consideration of departure.”
The Zimbabwe government's appropriation of land
from farmers and suppression of political opposition has helped to fuel
a crisis, raising the possibility of violent protest.
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