Tag: October 2003

Iris takes part in a barbecue in Brazil.

We went to a little town called Ouro Preto, in Brazil,
which is in the centre of a mining area, which produced gem
stones. We visited the museum which shows all the different
metals and minerals mined and they have an impressive
display of what they produce, including polished stones,
although I am convinced the diamonds on display must be
paste because they are so big and there are only teenage
boys guarding them!!!

After Ouro Preto we did a bit of travelling with a one
night stand at a place called Jacaraipe, which was by the
coast and was the first of many camp sites which, although
not on the beach, were full of sand. (How I have got to
hate sand since I’ve been on this last stretch of the trip!
It gets everywhere and one seems totally unable to get rid
of it entirely and it turns up afterwards in my day sack,
in my socks, in my shoes, in my hair, for days on end!)

Then we headed for Itaunas where we spent a couple of
nights, arriving at about mid-afternoon and immediately
arranging for a barbecue for the evening . We’d
bought some pork and beef, and lots of potatoes so that we
could roast them in the oven. We had been assured by our
leaders that the Brazilians were a barbecue nation, they
knew all about barbecuing, so when the owner of the camp
site told our revered leader, Heather, that it would be
better done on the beach as there weren’t the facilities at
the camp site, she readily agreed and at the appointed
hour, we packed up the food and also the ingredients for
what was going to be a rather lethal vodka punch and headed
for the beach.

Itaunas is an unspoilt little village at the edge of the
sea, there is no real tourism there and it made me laugh to
see those little village shops with their “Visa” and
“Mastercard” signs in the window as they weren’t selling
anything that would cost more than the odd pound or two! We
trekked all the way down the main street, which is really a
mud track, over the bridge, and along the track for some
500 metres, and then we had to turn off and start climbing
– yes some really big sand dunes with sand that literally
could come up to your neck if you trod in the wrong place!
The path was marked by the odd rubbish bin and it was quite
free of trees (this is important for later) but it was
still at least another 300 metres from the beach and the
bar we were heading for, but eventually after a half hour
walk we were there.

The beach was very narrow and the sea was in. It was
also getting dusk by the time we arrived and then Heather
had the news – the owner had not yet located the barbecue!
Still, we lived in hope. I was part of the cook team for
the evening, our actual cook being Alex, a really tall
well-built Chinese gentleman who was born in Hong Kong but
arrived in England in 1967 to take up a nursing career and
now at the age of 55 has retired from nursing (he ended up
in an important administrative post in the hospital
equivalent to the old matrons) and he is an accomplished
chef who thoroughly enjoys cooking and turns out some
really tasty meals. He has also a wicked sense of humour
and keeps us all amused with his wry remarks.

Anyway, we got on with making the vodka punch (I didn’t
participate because I’m not a spirits drinker and so stuck
to beer and the odd soft drink) but just about everything
was going into the punch. Then came the news, the barbecue
had arrived. There were 22 hungry mouths waiting for that
food and so you can imagine how many steaks, pork chops and
fish steaks we had to cook. The bad news was that our
barbecuing host provide us with a little grill which would
take 2 steaks at a time!

Out the back of the bar there was a bonfire (burning
rubbish) and so it was decided to improvise (it was quite
dark by now) and see if the bonfire could be utilised, but
the problem was we had no grills to put across it. So our
host got his workers to dig a pit and transfer some of the
bonfire into it and plus our barbecue coals it seemed that
was the way to go, except the only grill they could come up
with was the grill which would normally go across the top
of a 4-ring gas cooker! Of course it was totally inadequate
as well as being totally unsuitable and in the end we had
to abandon the idea of a barbecue altogether.

We just used the small barbecue to cook the fish steaks
(four) and then Alex set to in the kitchen and with the aid
of two big frying pans cooked the pork chops first (which
were delicious and so tender – I’ve never tasted such
succulent pork chops in my life before), but unfortunately
when the beef was cooked it turned out to have died of old
age and the cooking just made it tougher and no-one ate the
beef!

So what did most people do? They got drunk on the vodka
punch! Judith and I decided to leave quite early (around
2200) and so set out with three of the men who were also
fed up with the barbecue and just wanted to get back into
town and do a bit of drinking there, so we headed off up
the sand dunes – but it is surprising how different they
looked at night in the pitch dark with no lights to guide
us except the odd torch!

We were first of all walking, then scrambling almost on
hands and knees up and down steep sand dunes, and
continually ending up at dead ends because the other side
of the sand dunes there was scrubland and water, lots of
it! Judith and I were often left far behind by the men,
would lose sight of them and start yelling and then see
their lights heading back our way because they’d had to do
a U-turn! Eventually we found the right path, more by luck
than judgement, and found we had walked a considerable way
in the wrong direction which put at least twenty minutes on
our journey back to town. On the way we encountered the odd
car and van luckily displaying headlights, but then we
found we were among a whole crowd of cyclists with no
lights at all! It was pretty hairy trying to see and avoid
them! All those people in Itaunas must have cats’ eyes!

When we arrived in town, we thanked our men friends for
looking after us so well – it was sarcasm really as they
had left us way behind once we were on the right path and
we only saw them again when we got into town and found them
sitting at a bar and one of them, a Korean gentleman we
call Young, and who speaks very little English, insisted we
join them and have a beer before retiring.

But although we thought we had had an adventure it was
nothing that happened to all our friends who had stayed
behind to finish off the Vodka punch and other spirits and
beer. They all got plastered and every single one of them
got lost on the way back with varying effects. One of our
leaders, a chap called Martin, got himself steaming drunk,
convinced Alex he knew the way home, and promptly led him a
merry dance in the pitch dark without torches through
scrubland and bushes, so that Alex ended up losing his
shoes, his T-shirt and his truck keys, and getting his back
and arms and legs scratched by every conceivable thorn and
twig. Next day, Heather asked what on earth made them head
that way when they knew there were no trees on the path we
had originally taken! There was no answer except to admit
they were too drunk to know what they were doing! Another
of our number lost his trousers and his T-shirt and his
camera, and another of us, a lady called Alison, got a
badly grazed knee and bruised hip falling about in an
unladylike manner!

So in one way it was good we’d had the barbecue on the
day of our arrival because we only planned to stay two
nights before moving on so everyone had a day to recover
from their excesses and attempt to find their lost
possessions, but all searches were fruitless as all those
possessions were gone the next day (although it is more
than probable they were lost on the way home and therefore
extremely difficult to find) The most serious loss was of
Alex’s truck keys because they open all the padlocks on the
truck and we each are issued with a set at the start of the
trip and are told to guard them with our lives!
Unfortunately also, just prior to Itaunas we had all been
issued with new keys as the old padlocks were at the end of
their life and so all new padlocks had recently been
fitted! I dare say Alex had to pay a fine for losing his
and extra to get a new set!

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

What is Chagas disease? Also called American
trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease is an infection caused by
the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Chagas disease primarily
affects low income people living in rural areas. It is
estimated that 16-18 million people are infected with
Chagas disease; of those infected, 50,000 will die each
year. Chagas disease is locally transmitted in Argentina,
Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana,
Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru,
Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

How do I get it? Small critters called
“kissing bugs” that live in cracks and holes of
substandard housing primarily found in South and Central
America. Insects become infected after biting an animal or
person who already has Chagas disease. Infection is spread
to humans when an infected bug deposits feces on a person’s
skin, usually while the person is sleeping at night. The
person often accidently rubs the feces into the bite wound,
an open cut, the eyes, or mouth.

How do I know if I have it? There are three
stages of infection with Chagas disease; each stage has
different symptoms. Some people may be infected and never
develop symptoms. Acute symptoms only occur in about 1% of
cases and most people infected do not seek medical
attention. The most recognized symptom of acute Chagas
infection is the Romaña’s sign, or swelling of the eye on
one side of the face, usually at the bite wound or where
feces were rubbed into the eye. Other symptoms are usually
not specific for Chagas infection. These symptoms may
include fatigue, fever, enlarged liver or spleen, and
swollen lymph glands. Sometimes, a rash, loss of appetite,
diarrhea, and vomiting occur. In infants and in very young
children with acute Chagas disease, swelling of the brain
can develop in acute Chagas disease, and this can cause
death. In general, symptoms last for 4-8 weeks and then
they go away, even without treatment.

What should I do if I have Chagas disease? See
your doctor for a blood tests to determine whether there
are parasite or antibodies in your blood. Medication for
Chagas disease is usually effective when given during the
acute stage of infection. Once the disease has progressed
to later stages, medication may be less effective. In the
chronic stage, treatment involves managing symptoms
associated with the disease.

How can I prevent Chagas disease? Avoid sleeping
in thatch, mud, or adobe houses, and use insecticides to
kill insects and reduce the risk of transmission. There is
neither a vaccine nor recommended drug available to prevent
Chagas disease.

On October Saturday
4^th, our first speaker
was Globie member Roger Widdecombe who showed us
what a Raleigh International expedition is really like.
Roger’s project was in the west African country of
Ghana. These trips are no holiday: participants undergo
assessment and rigorous training in orienteering and
crossing rivers, first aid etc. Once in Ghana, there were
many projects for Roger and his group to take part in,
including building a school in a remote village, health
programmes dealing with blindness caused by cataracts and
for those who wanted to work nights, working on a project
monitoring turtles as they came in each night to lay their
eggs on the beach. Roger assured us that although the
participants do work hard, they also have a lot of fun,
including playing football in forty degree heat with the
local people and enjoying canoe expeditions on Lake
Volta.

Whilst our first speaker had talked of travelling and
doing good, our second speaker Juliet Coombes’
theme was travelling and having fun! Juliet’s talk was
about the festivals around the world. She showed us
colourful photos of the bulls at Pamplona, mad water
festivals in Thailand, The Full Moon festival in Laos, and
the colourful Venice festival held in the weeks leading up
to Lent. The Venetian festival involves lots of dressing
up, particularly in masks and in previous centuries was an
excuse for much debauchery, sorry Globies, you are 200
years too late! There are thousands of festival around the
world each year, too many for Juliet to show us, but she
did tell us about boat festivals in Cambodia and Elf
festivals in Iceland, before winding up her talk by looking
at London’s own Notting Hill carnival.

Next month, on Saturday
1^st November, Amar
Grover will talk about India – The “Hindustan Tibet”
road and on to Ladakh in which Amar looks at India’s
National Highway 22 “The Hindustan-Tibet” Road, an old
trading route that exited the Raj but never quite took off.
His talk includes the Tibetan regions of India, Spiti and
Ladakh.

After Amar and the break, Tom Freemantle will be
talking about Mexico to Manhattan with a Pack Mule, a 2,600
mile walk retracing the footsteps of his ancestor, Colonel
Arthur Fremantle, who travelled from North Mexico to New
York at the height of the American Civil War in 1863. The
swashbuckling colonel used stage coaches, paddle steamers
and steam trains to get around but nearly 140 years later
his great-great nephew used a cantankerous but heroic mule
called “Brown”

London meetings are held at The Church of
Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent
Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. There is
no London meeting in August, but we will be back in
September. For more information, you can contact the
Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit
the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

U. S. Soldiers Home, Washington: during a century
of travel (well 78 years!) both in and out of service I
have travelled to over 150 countries (I count both North
and South Dakota as countries) and for some reason have
jotted signs and happenings that I thought funny at the
time (and now wonder why). So here is the perfect
opportunity to share some of my anecdotes.

In the New Delhi, India YMCA (takes men, women, children
etc) a group of travellers travelling together from many
different countries arrived. They were part of a project to
show different nationalities could travel in peace and work
and travel together. There were people from Hawaii, the
States, Europe, Philippines etc. By the time they got to
India they had formed into cliques and some were not
talking to others, and some wanted to share room only with
their own nationality etc. None of them trusted the Indian
personnel at the front desk and when they found out I had
been in India for awhile they came to me with their
questions. They asked me if it was safe to drink the water
from faucet in courtyard. I had been drinking it with no
ill effects and there was a contraption on it that I
thought purified the water so I foolishly assured them it
was safe. They all got sick. I had been eating with the
dining room with them but from them on walked several
blocks to the YWCA to avoid their dirty looks!

A friend of mine at the Soldiers Home used to collect
business cards so I would try to collect them from all
around the world for him. I went into a gift shop in a
hotel in New Delhi, India. They had a particularly nice
card and so I told a white lie and told them I was a
director of a tour group and could I have more than one to
give to my clients. I forgot I was going to be in that
hotel five days. The next day I was asked when is your tour
group arriving? I said “What tour group” I then recovered
my self and announced that I had been fired.

An English girl who claimed she had become a Hindu in
England told me some of the Hindu temples that required you
to be a Hindu (not all) would not let her in as they did
not believe her. How do you prove you are a Hindu?

Armd Reg. In prayer that God may bless the souls of
those who laid down their lives during India Pakistan War
Dec 1971.

Mahatma (Soul) Gandhi is one of my heroes. Mother Teresa
is another one (she visited the Soldiers Home. She asked
that no collection be taken for her but I think one was.)
Gandhi is one of the few lawyers I respect. When he
travelled throughout India he often stayed in
friend’s homes. In the one he often stayed in Bombay
(now called Mumbai) the house has been made into a museum.
Along with some of his stuff they have a lending library
where you can check out some of the books he wrote. The
sign on the desk reads: “Please return out books after
reading. For we observe that though people may be very poor
accountants they are very good bookkeepers”. At the
Jain Temple there was a sign: “Women in menstrual period
may not enter”. Our guide says that Jains wear a
gauze mask over face so they will not kill any flies or
insects accidentally. At the hanging garden the guide
explained that Parsees instead of burying dead put them in
a Tower of Silence and the vultures eat the meat off the
corpse. It takes about twenty minutes. (Unless a fat
actor.) Indians like their actors fat so they will look
prosperous. (I look very prosperous!) They sometimes make
American actors’ pictures on billboards fatter than
they are. Paul Newman in one poster looked more like Orson
Wells. Back to the Tower of Silence and the vultures. The
bones then fall into a pit where lime and charcoal turns
them into ashes. I asked how often they do this and was
told: “Whenever they die” The Indians are so logical. It
was explained to me that there are so few Parsees left that
they had to feed the vultures meat in the meanwhile and she
looked directly at me or they would become a nuisance in
the neighbourhood. There is a water reservoir next door the
droppings from the vultures would fall in the water so they
covered the top of reservoir and made a hanging garden
there. The soil is not deep enough for trees, just bushes
and flowers. The Jain religion uses a swastika (a Nazi
symbol, only Indians had it first, and the Nazi reversed
the symbol) and rice in their ceremony. I will now take up
a collection for the vultures.

A rickshaw driver is trying to fix me up with a
prostitute. He said she is in the untouchable class. An
untouchable prostitute??

Another time I went into a temple and the people went
out of the way to welcome me. I asked what kind of temple
is was and was told A temple for untouchables, (although I
think this was outlawed.)

The other day in India I realized all my coats were
missing. My raincoat, nylon jacket, sweater etc. I thought
maybe I had left them on the airplane. Then when I went to
look for my shoes under the bed and there they all were. My
room was so small that I had put them under my bed to get
them out of the way.

Some Indians after talking to you when they get ready to
leave will say “May I leave now?” I always graciously
give them permission

Next month, Mac discusses India again.

If you would like to contact Mac, he can be e-mailed on:
macsan400@yahoo.com

Michael Rakower, an attorney in New York with
long-standing wanderlust gave a talk on November
1^st about his latest trip in
which he and his wife (also a lawyer) left the comfortable
confines of law jobs in exchange for a one-way ticket to
Cape Town in March 2002. They bought a car, some camping
equipment and drove around, over and through South Africa,
Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Along the way, they encountered fascinating people, went on
several safaris, worked for three months in the
Prosecutor’s Office of the United Nation’s International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and even learned a little
about auto mechanics. After a year-long journey, Michael
and his wife returned to New York with newfound inspiration
and a lifetime of memories. Michael’s latest passion
is working with the American Friends for the Kigali Public
Library to build Rwanda’s first-ever public library.
Michael is also a regular contributor to our very own
Globetrotters e-newsletter.

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

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