Bart's Travel Blog : The never ending process of discovering Latin America.

Part 4 - Colombia in a 1968 Volvo Amazon

2011-09-28T12:29:00.003-03:00

South America Road-trip in an old-timer

A summer breeze warms my face as I look out from the oldfortified city wall across the skyline of the new part of town. Cartagena deIndias, can you think of a better name for the place where we were to end thisfantastic trip? A great finish to a great tour, but also a confirmation of myfeelings about a country that has been longing to be discovered for over fourdecades. I visited Colombia for the first time in 1991 and was instantly wonover; the nature, the colonial cities and the people... especially the people.

The next day we left our hotel at 10am for a 400km drive toMedellin. We had already heard that the first part would be relatively flat,then more or less sloping up until Manizales, and from there a final pass of3,000masl just before Medellin. The road started out perfectly smooth, eventurning into a four-lane highway of sorts after the first 25km. Intervals oftwo and four-lane roads, and road-works kept us on our toes, and it becameclear that by next year this entire stretch would probably be much faster totraverse. We reached Pereira and entered the famous coffee region of Colombia,one of the more prosperous parts of the country. The region is one beautifullygreen and fertile land filled with coffee plantations doubling as hotels. Onecan spend a good time here between the picturesque towns of Pereira and Armenia,relaxing at the haciendas, learning all there is to know about coffee and enjoyingthe splendid natural surroundings. We sadly did not have much time to stop, butluckily I had been here before (see a few blog entries back).

We pushed on toward Medellin, which was still quite a long way off.We were experiencing some minor problems with the car. The passenger window hadsunk into the door and decided it did not want to come up again, whilst darkclouds were gathering in the sky above us. The “Amp” light was on again,meaning we were once more driving without charging the battery, and the Volvo’sloyal engine was having difficulties adjusting to the climate and had startedto heat up. We stopped at a gas station upon leaving Pereira, filled up ourtank and provisionally sealed the window using an old raincoat and a lot ofduct tape. As the rain started pouring out of the sky, we ordered and devouredone of the best hamburgers on our trip in the station’s cafeteria. Thiscombined with really great service and one of the most impeccable toilets everseen anywhere, let alone in a gas station, caused Johan to officially baptizethe place as one of the very best pit-stops along the entire South AmericanPan-American Highway. And I think he was right!

Stomachs filled and window temporarily closed we drove on. Thoughhalf of our challenges were taken care of, the battery and overheating problemspersisted. However, anyone who has driven an older car before knows that anoverheating engine can be dealt with, at least temporarily, by turning on thecar’s heater. That said, the fans that transport the hot air from the engine tothe passenger compartment do so by means of electricity, so when your engineproblem is combined with a battery charging issue, then you are kind ofscrewed. On the road to Manizales we were stopped by another one of thoseunexpectedly friendly police officers, who wished to see our papers. We killedthe engine and did as we were asked. After a nice conversation we were told wecould move on, but of course our battery was as dead as could be. Without muchado the police officer stopped another car and ordered the driver to help usjumpstart the Volvo, which was taken care of without questions and with muchfriendliness and ease. As we stood there with our heads under the hood of our1968 travel companion, I had a closer look at the electrical wiring. I followedone of the wires that seemed to come from the alternator to one of thefuse-boxes and opened it. It seemed like one of the fuses was kind of dirty andnot plugged in as tightly as it should be, but that was nothing a Swiss armyknife and a band-aid from our first aid kit could not resolve. I have never beenmuch of a McGiver, but the “Amp” light did not bother us anymore after that.

What with all the pit-stops we had kind of fallen behind scheduleand had to make haste. Around 5pm, dusk set in just as we were headed back intothe mountains. We had one last pass to conquer before we would be able todescend into Medellin. With the day fading, we found ourselves on a meanderingmountain road littered with heavy trucks, slowing us down quite a bit. The carwas not happy with this at all, and as well as having the now perfectlyfunctioning heater at full blast, I had to resort to hitting the clutch, brakeand gas pedals at regular 20-50m intervals to make sure the engine ran enoughrpm’s to keep itself from boiling over. The last 25km were kind of tormenting,the temperature inside the car was around that of an over-eager Swedish sauna,and there was no way for us to escape the huge traffic jam slowly creeping downthe hill into Medellin. We eventually reached the city limits around 8pm, butdue to the maze of one-way streets that managed not to match with our map atall, it was another hour and a half before we finally found our hotel in theold city center. Old indeed, as our hotel, built in the 1940s, seemed not thehave been touched since. We didn’t even bother to have dinner, but located ourcopper grandma beds and crashed straight away.

We checked out one early Sunday morning, and without having seen onebit of the much-heralded city of Medellin we hit the highway at 6am and madeour way towards Cartagena de Indias. We had been informed about yet another3000m pass we would have to cross 200km after leaving our hotel, and withanother 500km to go after that, so we did not take any risks this time. Theearly bird factor, and the fact that it was Sunday and this is still a catholiccountry, made for sparse traffic (apart from many sinning cyclists) and weconquered the pass around 11am. After this point we descended easily into thenext valley, which would be our stomping ground until reaching Cartagena thatnight. We made good time and even though we had left the mountains behind usthe landscape was attractive and varied. We encountered very little trafficthroughout most of the rest of the trip, and sometime around 4.30pm we only had150km to go before Cartagena. Here we encountered a little more traffic and sawthe damage done by the high waters of the past weeks. Colombia is graced bythree Andean mountain ranges, intersected by three large rivers, all of which endin the Caribbean Sea near Cartagena. As all three of them had been processingmuch more water than normal, they had simultaneously overflowed, flooding manyvillages in the area. We passed numerous houses under water and crossed variousbridges on the verge of being inundated by the huge mass of water surroundingus. Parts of some of the bridges had already given in, but we managed to crossthem and drove into Cartagena through little back streets around 6pm. Of coursewe got neatly entangled in the evening peak traffic, but we did not care. Cartagenais a beautiful city, and we were happy to slowly finish the last part of our journey,savoring the salty air of the Caribbean after 10 days of hard driving all theway north from Lima. We eventually made it to the Hilton, our hotel for thatnight, located in the new part of town and looking out over the Caribbean Sea.A feeling of euphoria came over us and we lost very little time parking thecar, stuffing our luggage in our rooms and cleaning up just enough to beallowed into the Café del Mar in the old part of town. A nice and cool placelocated on top of the fortified wall surrounding the old city, with spectacularviews of both the city and the sea. Nothing could taste better than a couple ofice-cold beers to finish off yet another unforgettable trip.

The next day, December 20^th, Johan took the Volvo to theharbor from where it would be shipped back to Europe. Just before he left wesaid our goodbyes, as I would fly back to Lima that same afternoon and fromthere to Buenos Aires the next day. I was going to arrive in Peru around 1amand had arranged for a room in the Ramada Hotel at Lima Airport to catch asmuch sleep as possible before my 10am ongoing flight to BA. Of course my lifewould not be what it is if it had not thrown me one last little curve ball inthe form of my old fried Guillermo Gomez, a pal from the early days in Peru,who had moved to Venezuela a long time ago, but who happened to be in Lima anddecided it was time to pay me a short visit, even in the middle of the night.This is how I ended up in the hotel lobby drinking double pisco sours with agreat friend until the wee hours of the night, missing my flight that nextmorning and almost arriving too late for Karin’s birthday the next day… Luckilyeverything was planned well ahead, so when I finally touched down at EzeizaAirport at 7am on the 22^nd, my father was there to pick me up, whilemy visiting sister and my daughters had already arranged a beautiful breakfastin our garden. Karin just walked down the stairs when I entered the front door.“Ah, you’re back,” she said, “just in time!” We hugged and life was simplygreat.

Ecuador to Colombia in a 1968 Volvo Amazon

2011-09-20T15:31:00.002-03:00

South America Road-trip in an old-timer

After leaving Ecuador at Ipiales we entered Colombia, and when the torrential rain had subsided, we continued along the road to Pasto. We were not sure how the road conditions would be, but we needn’t have worried; it was in mint condition, recently asphalted and smooth as silk. We traversed through a spectacular, green and mountainous landscape, regularly passing waterfalls and enjoying views of fertile valleys. Both Johan and I have seen quite a bit of South America, but this was one of those moments when you are simply struck silent, taking in the awe and savoring it. Probably it also had something to do with the fact that we were driving into a country that until recently was considered too dangerous to visit, let alone drive through, and we were entering one of the areas still marked “grey” on the safety map of Colombia. The overwhelming natural beauty, and the peace and calm that the countryside beamed back at us simply did not marry with that cautious warning, or with the enormous road signs showing Colombian Special Forces with heavy weaponry and futuristic war-helicopters, which were, supposedly, protecting the area. We never saw anything even remotely resembling military, apart from a couple days later when we saw troops helping people out in the flooded areas to the north. The road was as safe as any we’d driven down already.

We reached Pasto at nightfall; a relatively small town in the mountains (150k inhabitants). We arrived at our hotel after an easy cruise through the town, parked our car in the garage and went for a short walk. During our walk we stumbled upon an impressive and surreal Christmas garden; an enormous stable with figurines belonging to the Christmas story, some of them higher than the actual buildings surrounding the park, and most of them decked out in rainbow neon lights. Large amounts of people roamed the park, stopping to buy things at stalls selling food, beverages and a wide array of religious objects. Again an unexpected and beautiful moment, enhanced by the warmth of the people we would learn to enjoy Colombia for.

The next morning we left for Cali. The sun was already beaming in the sky and before we knew it we were out of town and on the Pan-Americana Highway again. According to the owner of the hotel we just left, the road to Cali would be more mountainous and in some parts would be of worse quality, mainly due to the fact that lately this part of the country had seen a lot of rain and there had been several landslides. Still the entire stretch for today was only 380km, so we felt that making it to Cali before 5pm should not be too much of a challenge. The first part of the trip was mountainous indeed, sloping down from Pasto at 2500masl to more tropical surroundings at 700masl. Colombia seemed to be much more densely populated than the other countries we had passed through thus far and the road was busy with all kinds of traffic. Especially the large amount and great variety of trucks brought our traveling tempo down significantly. The scenery was pretty and we took our time, stopping to take pictures and enjoy the views whenever we felt like it. Even so, the road was in good shape and we expected to make it to beautiful Popayan around 1pm for lunch, but that turned out differently…

Closing in on Popayan the road got hillier, and while we were cruising along the winding tarmac, all of a sudden we ran into a long line of vehicles. This of course happens from time to time, when roadwork is being done and one lane is closed off. During regular intervals traffic from one direction and then the other is given priority to take the lane left open. This was a different situation however, as we saw no traffic coming down the mountain and could not see where the jam started. Eventually we turned off our engine and got out of the car, just like everybody else. Our Volvo drew attention as usual, and several people came walking along for a friendly chat. Johan got talking to the owner of one of the cars in front of us, who was also en route to Cali, and meanwhile I went for a walk to find out what was causing this unexpected stall. I walked for a good 20 minutes and still hadn’t reached a point where I could see what was going on. What I did see were a couple of empty sand trucks coming down the hill looking like they had just unloaded. After some asking around I figured out that there had been a large landslide uphill and that the entire road had disappeared. The trucks coming down were the first of a series that had been commissioned from higher in the mountains to bring sand and rocks to fill in the missing part of road. Apparently these had already managed to cross the gap, so I started walking back to Johan and our car. When I arrived Johan was standing with a Colombian baby on his arm, salsa music blaring from the Volvo’s powerful speakers (the Xplod car stereo was definitely no old timer) and people smiling, dancing and taking pictures all around. Nice stop! We shared some snacks and water with other drivers and finally the first cars and motorcycles started coming down the mountain.

It still took a long time before we were could start driving again and in the end the whole episode took four hours out of our driving day. Lunch in Popayan was not an option anymore and we pushed on straight to Cali. During the wait we were approached by an elderly gentleman, also on his way to Cali, but by bus. He was on his way to visit his family there, but the bus ride would take him through Popayan where he would have to change vehicles and lose many precious hours, so he asked if we needed a guide to get us into Cali city in exchange for a ride. We said ‘no problem’ and that turned out to be a lucky move. Cali has over 2m inhabitants and we had no clue how to find our hotel. Funny enough our passenger happened to live very close to the hotel and as he knew the town like the back of his hand. It took us about 10 minutes to traverse the myriad of highways and little streets to arrive around 8pm to the front door of our hotel. We said goodbye to our passenger and ran into the bar for a few cold beers before retreating to our room with two super king-size beds for a good night’s sleep. Another day full of warm, spontaneous, exuberant and friendly Colombians and their beautiful country with spectacular landscapes, managed to send us to the land of dreams in a matter of seconds.

Part 2 - Ecuador to Colombia in a 1968 Volvo Amazon

2011-09-08T11:36:00.002-03:00

South America Road-trip in an old-timer

Ecuador is a nice country to drivethrough in your own car. After having made it without problems to Loja and onto Cuenca, we were headed to Quito, the capital of the country. In Quito weplanned to stop and take a rest, but before that we had to cross 450km alongthe ‘avenue of volcanoes’, a route that promised some spectacular views.

We wanted to leave Cuenca on time to makesure we’d have enough time to take the drive easy and stop for some picturetaking. However, we were confronted with a slight electrical challenge. The carbattery was not charging and after checking the fuse-box and wiring we decidedit had to be the dynamo/generator. We asked one of the hotel’s drivers to giveus a jump-start and for directions before we drove to a near-by garagespecializing in car-related electricity issues. The owner took one look at ourbeautiful Amazon and decided that he would help. It took him about 15 minutesto disconnect and take out the dynamo, another 15 minutes to completely take itapart, clean it up and find a small part being worn out to the bone, for whichhe of course happened to have an Eastern-European-made generic spare. Puttingit all back together whilst charging our battery to the max took another 30minutes, and the total operation cost us about 15 USD. Even so, we did notleave Cuenca before 1pm and so we prepared for a late arrival in Quito.

The first part of the route was veryhilly, full of hairpin bends and in bad condition. On top of that, a thick fog confirmedour feeling that this would become a long day, but after passing the town ofAlausi, just like a couple of days before, the mist disappeared as we droveinto a wide valley and onto a beautiful 4-lane highway. The odds had changed toour favor. During the last part of the journey we hit the Volcano Avenue, andthe landscape was indeed spectacular. We managed to get a glimpse ofsnow-capped Chimborazo; the highest active volcano in the world, and we sawclouds and gasses rise from the Tunguragua Volcano. Sadly, around these partsthe sun sets around 6pm, so we missed the perfectly cone-shaped point of theCotopaxi. We eventually made it to Hotel Quito at 8pm, which given the hecticride into the city, wasn’t bad going at all.

Hotel Quito is situated in the LaFloresta neighborhood, a nice part of town from where one enjoys a beautifulview over the city. The next day was our allocated resting day, so we took iteasy and both decided to visit our local business partners.

Thursday we made our way towardColombia, crossing the equator en route. We left at 9am with the sun high in thesky and it promised to be a beautiful drive. From our hotel we made itrelatively quickly to the highway, taking us out of town before we knew it.Whilst driving further north and away from Quito the landscape turned dry androcky around us, completely different to what we had seen before in Ecuador. Wepassed some of the many rose-nurseries this region of the country is famous for,and in which the Dutch have made some heavy investments, and after about 40kmreached the equator. First we made a stop at the ‘previous equator’, initiallyindicated by the Inca people as the line where the earth is at its widest.However, correct GPS measurements indicate that the ‘real equator’ lies about30m further north, so we were obliged to make another stop at the officialmonument placed there a couple of years ago. We did not spend too much timehere (I lived in Ecuador for half a year in 1994 and have been to this spotmany times before) and drove on. We had a long way to go still and had no ideahow much time we would need to get to the Colombian border.

On our way we passed through the townsof Otovalo and Ibarra. Otavalo is famous for its textiles and the huge Saturdaymarket. The indigenous people are proud of their legacy, much stronger than manyother indigenous people elsewhere in Latin America. They are happy todemonstrate where they come from through their costumes; this is one of the fewplaces where one still finds men as well as women fully dressed according tothe local codes. We drove on and passed a beautiful green valley, a lot lower downand warmer. Sugarcane was the main crop here, planted by the Europeans soon aftertheir arrival. The Europeans brought many African slaves to work theplantations and therefore this still is a mainly black region, which issomething one would not expect driving through the Andes with its typicalindigenous people. The sun was strong and we enjoyed our trip to the Colombianborder, arriving there at around 3pm. Without warning, the 2-lane road we weredriving on turned one-way leaving us no way out of an enormous traffic jam; itseems there were other people wanting to get into Colombia…

After about an hour in the queue theweather changed; clouds appeared in the sky and slowly but surely it started torain harder and harder. At some point it felt like there was no space betweenthe huge drops anymore. For some reason our car was not washed of the road andwe slowly crept toward the border facilities where we had to get out of the carand were soaked in a matter of seconds. Paperwork went smooth, helped by thelaughs and giggles we caused running from window to window, leaving puddleseverywhere we went. Colombians like a good laugh and we realized we would havea good time in this new country.

The Amazon was not prepared for theamount of water we brought back in and her fans did not manage to clear ourwindscreens, forcing us to drive on while constantly polishing the glass on theinside, with our windows open, allowing more rain in. One of the customs officers,between great outbursts of laughter about our appearance, had given us a goldentip; when your windshield wipers cannot process the amount of water falling outof the sky anymore, put on your darkest sunglasses; for some reason, they breakthe light filtering through the film of water on your windscreen, creating analmost perfect view again. Sounds odd, but we tried it and it works… kind of.Only do this when nothing else helps and you really have to push forward, andthen only at a very low speed, as the images are distorted enough to createaccidents, but it helped us get out of that valley and onto dry land back onthe road to Pasto.

I AM

2011-08-23T10:07:00.006-03:00

Sometimes I like to use my blog to share with you inspiring things that I have seen or heard. This documentary, which many of you may already have seen, really struck a chord in me, somewhere so deeply hidden that I had forgotten it was there, and I have only seen the trailer thus far... I am now frantically looking for a place where I can see it or (legally!) download it. I leave you with the official description of the film, the trailer and the hope you will go and see it, pass it on, and that it will change your lives too. Happy trails, Bart.

I AM is an utterly engaging and entertaining non-fiction film that poses two practical and provocative questions: what’s wrong with our world, and what can we do to make it better? The filmmaker behind the inquiry is Tom Shadyac, one of Hollywood’s leading comedy practitioners and the creative force behind such blockbusters as “Ace Ventura,” “Liar Liar,” “The Nutty Professor,” and “Bruce Almighty.” However, in I AM, Shadyac steps in front of the camera to recount what happened to him after a cycling accident left him incapacitated, possibly for good. Though he ultimately recovered, he emerged with a new sense of purpose, determined to share his own awakening to his prior life of excess and greed, and to investigate how he as an individual, and we as a race, could improve the way we live and walk in the world.

Armed with nothing but his innate curiosity and a small crew to film his adventures, Shadyac set out on a twenty-first century quest for enlightenment. Meeting with a variety of thinkers and doers–remarkable men and women from the worlds of science, philosophy, academia, and faith–including such luminaries as David Suzuki, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Lynne McTaggart, Ray Anderson, John Francis, Coleman Barks, and Marc Ian Barasch – Shadyac appears on-screen as character, commentator, guide, and even, at times, guinea pig. An irrepressible “Everyman” who asks tough questions, but offers no easy answers, he takes the audience to places it has never been before, and presents even familiar phenomena in completely new and different ways. The result is a fresh, energetic, and life-affirming film that challenges our preconceptions about human behavior while simultaneously celebrating the indomitable human spirit.

The pursuit of truth has been a lifelong passion for Shadyac. “As early as I can remember I simply wanted to know what was true,” he recalls, “and somehow I perceived at a very early age that what I was being taught was not the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” He humorously describes himself as “questioning and searching and stumbling and fumbling toward the light.” The “truth” may have been elusive, but success wasn’t. Shadyac’s films grossed nearly two billion dollars and afforded him the glamorous and extravagent A-List lifestyle of the Hollywood blockbuster filmmaker. Yet Shadyac found that more – in his case, a 17,000-square foot art-filled mansion, exotic antiques, and private jets — was definitely less. “What I discovered, when I began to look deeply, was that the world I was living in was a lie,” he explains. “Much to my surprise, the accumulation of material wealth was a neutral phenomenon, neither good or bad, and certainly did not buy happiness.” Gradually, with much consideration and contemplation, he changed his lifestyle. He sold his house, moved to a mobile home community, and started life—a simpler and more responsible life – anew.

But, at this critical juncture, Shadyac suffered an injury that changed everything. “In 2007, I got into a bike accident which left me with Post Concussion Syndrome, a condition where the symptoms of the original concussion don’t go away.” These symptoms include intense and painful reactions to light and sound, severe mood swings, and a constant ringing sound in the head. Shadyac tried every manner of treatment, traditional and alternative, but nothing worked. He suffered months of isolation and pain, and finally reached a point where he welcomed death as a release. “I simply didn’t think I was going to make it,” he admits.

But, as Shadyac wisely points out, “Death can be a very powerful motivator.” Confronting his own mortality, he asked himself, “If this is it for me – if I really am going to die – what do I want to say before I go? What will be my last testament?” It was Shadyac’s modern day dark night of soul and out of it, I AM was born. Thankfully, almost miraculously, his PCS symptoms began to recede, allowing him to travel and use his movie-making skills to explore the philosophical questions that inhabited him, and to communicate his findings in a lively, humorous, intellectually-challenging, and emotionally-charged film.

But this would not be a high-octane Hollywood production. The director whose last film had a crew of 400, assembled a streamlined crew of four, and set out to find, and film, the thinkers who had helped to change his life, and to seek a better understanding of the world, its inhabitants, their past, and their future. Thus, Shadyac interviews scientists, psychologists, artists, environmentalists, authors, activists, philosophers, entrepreneurs, and others in his quest for truth. Bishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Noam Chomsky, historian Dr. Howard Zinn, physicist Lynne McTaggart, and poet Coleman Banks are some of the subjects who engage in fascinating dialogue with Shadyac.

Shadyac was very specific about what he was after, wanting I AM to identify the underlying cause of the world’s ills – “I didn’t want to hear the usual answers, like war, hunger, poverty, the environmental crisis, or even greed,” he explains. “These are not the problems, they are the symptoms of a larger endemic problem. In I AM, I wanted to talk about the root cause of the ills of the world, because if there is a common cause, and we can talk about it, air it out in a public forum, then we have a chance to solve it.”

Ironically, in the process of trying to figure out what’s wrong with the world, Shadyac discovered there’s more right than he ever imagined. He learned that the heart, not the brain, may be man’s primary organ of intelligence, and that human consciousness and emotions can actually affect the physical world, a point Shadyac makes with great humor by demonstrating the impact of his feelings on a bowl of yogurt. And, as Shadyac’s own story illustrates, money is not a pathway to happiness. In fact, he even learns that in some native cultures, gross materialism is equated with insanity.

Shadyac also discovers that, contrary to conventional thinking, cooperation and not competition, may be nature’s most fundamental operating principle. Thus, I AM shows consensus decision-making is the norm amongst many species, from insects and birds to deer and primates. The film further discovers that humans actually function better and remain healthier when expressing positive emotions, such as love, care, compassion, and gratitude, versus their negative counterparts, anxiety, frustration, anger and fear. Charles Darwin may be best known for popularizing the notion that nature is red in tooth and claw, but, as Shadyac points out, he used the word love 95 times in The Descent of Man, while his most famous phrase,survival of the fittest, appears only twice.

“It was a revelation to me that for tens of thousands of years, indigenous cultures taught a very different story about our inherent goodness,” Shadyac marvels. “Now, following this ancient wisdom, science is discovering a plethora of evidence about our hardwiring for connection and compassion, from the Vagus Nerve which releases oxytocin at simply witnessing a compassionate act, to the Mirror Neuron which causes us to literally feel another person’s pain. Darwin himself, who was misunderstood to believe exclusively in our competitiveness, actually noted that humankind’s real power comes in their ability to perform complex tasks together, to sympathize and cooperate.”

Shadyac’s enthusiastic depiction of the brighter side of human nature and reality, itself, is what distinguishes I AM from so many well-intentioned, yet ultimately pessimistic, non-fiction films. And while he does explore what’s wrong with the world, the film’s overwhelming emphasis is focused on what we can do to make it better. Watching I AM is ultimately, for many, a transformative experience, yet Shadyac is reluctant to give specific steps for viewers who have been energized by the film. “What can I do?” “I get asked that a lot,” he says. “But the solution begins with a deeper transformation that must occur in each of us. I AM isn’t as much about what you can do, as who you can be. And from that transformation of being, action will naturally follow.”

Shadyac’s transformation remains in process. He still lives simply, is back on his bicycle, riding to work, and teaching at a local college, another venue for sharing his life-affirming discoveries. Reflecting Shadyac’s philosophy is the economic structure of the film’s release; all proceeds from I AM will go to The Foundation for I AM, a non-profit established by Shadyac to fund various worthy causes and to educate the next generation about the issues and challenges explored in the film. When he directs another Hollywood movie, the bulk of his usual eight-figure fee will be deposited into a charitable account, as well. “St. Augustine said, ‘Determine what God has given you, and take from it what you need; the remainder is needed by others.’ That’s my philosophy in a nutshell,” Shadyac says, “Or as Gandhi put it, ‘Live simply, so others may simply live.’”

Shadyac’s enthusiasm and optimism are contagious. Whether conducting an interview with an intellectual giant, or offering himself as a flawed character in the narrative of the film, Shadyac is an engaging and persuasive guide as we experience the remarkable journey that is I AM. With great wit, warmth, curiosity, and masterful storytelling skills, he reveals what science now tells us is one of the principal truths of the universe, a message that is as simple as it is significant: We are all connected – connected to each other and to everything around us. “My hope is that I AM is a window into Truth, a glimpse into the miracle, the mystery and magic of who we really are, and of the basic nature of the connection and unity of all things. In a way,” says Shadyac, a seasoned Hollywood professional who has retained his unerring eye for a great story, “I think of I AM as the ultimate reality show.”

Written & Directed by: Tom Shadyac
Producer: Dagan Handy

Editor: Jennifer Abbott

Co-Producer: Jacquelyn Zampella

Associate Producer :: Nicole Pritchett

Director of Photography: Roko Belic
Executive Producers: Jennifer Abbott, Jonathan Watson
Media and PR Coordinator: Harold Mintz
Graphic Designers: Yusuke Nagano, Barry Thompson
Release Dates: March 11, 2011 – Los Angeles, March 18, 2011 – New York
Running Time: 80 minutes
Rating: Not rated

South America Road-trip in an old-timer

2011-08-08T10:44:00.007-04:00

Part 1 – Peru to Ecuador in a 1968 Volvo Amazon

I really, really, really like driving through South America. This is one of my favorite things to do. Lately, since we have children now and my life has changed somewhat, this does not happen as much as I would like, but every now and then I get to hit the road again. Last December I got lucky, a good friend of mine, Johan van Rijswijck, asked me if I would like to come on a trip with him to scout out part of a rally he was planning. Johan owns Sapapana Travel, a Dutch tour operator specializing in Latin America. We often work together, however, on this particular rally we had decided not to (Class Adventure Travel have a large Dakar Rally event at roughly the same time), but of course I was more than happy to help out and be Johan’s co-driver on the journey from Lima to Cartagena.

The trip was supposed to take place at the end of September, but during the previous stretch (Buenos Aires-Lima) Johan and his other co-driver had had a streak of bad luck ending in a blown-up engine some 300 miles before arriving in the City of Kings. Both he and I had to fly back home (I was already waiting for him in Lima) as repairing the engine of his 1968 Volvo Amazon was going to take quite some time. Parts are not really available in Latin America these days and most had to come from Germany and Sweden. Luckily there is a Volvo Club in Lima and its then president, Karl Spihlman, himself a totalVolvo aficionado, was of enormous help and rebuilt the engine from scratch. At the beginning of December we both flew back to Lima to begin our journey.

After picking up the car, we left on Saturday morning 9am, 11 December. We had 850km to go and that meant a full day’s driving. It is a little bit of a hassle to leave Lima to the north, and probably due to the upcoming elections, road-works were in progress virtually everywhere. It took us three hours to get out of the city and it wasn’t until noon that we were really able to get moving…

The new engine also meant that we had to take it easy for the first 1,000 km: 80kph max. While the almost perfectly asphalted open roads really invited us to drive faster. But there was no way around it - we weren’t going to break the engine again - so we settled for a nice long drive in the Peruvian sun. The coastal desert road we were following sometimes gave way to stunning views of the Pacific Ocean and other times took us over impressive sand dunes. We were already driving in the dark before we reached Trujillo, but we weren’t at our destination yet. The driving was good, but after Trujillo we entered a more populated area so the traffic increased and made it difficult to push on through to Chiclayo, our planned destination for that day. We finally arrived past midnight, found our hotel, checked in and hit the sack immediately. We had a 9am start the next day.

Sunday started like a breeze, we had Chiclayo behind us and were back on the Pan-American Highway in no time. The road was in perfect condition, but we still couldn’t drive over 80kph and could only change the oil and filters after a minimum of 1,000km. Still, we managed to reach Piura in the early afternoon, picked up some snacks for the road, filled the tank and found a garage to change the oil, before hitting the road again. We decided to push the engine a little and see how fast we could go, so we made some good mileage. We left the coast behind us and drove northeast. Slowly but surely the landscape changed; the desert morphed into more tropical surroundings and we even passed some rice-fields. Around 4pm we reached the Ecuadorian border. It was a great setting, a river meandering down from the mountains, crossed by an old bridge, bordered on one side by a large gate saying ‘Peru’ and on the other by a huge sign indicating one was entering Ecuador. Formalities on the Peruvian side only took 15 minutes and it seemed we would have a similarly easy entry into Ecuador, but that turned out a little bit differently. The customs officers were as charmed by the old automobile as everyone we had passed along the way and the stamps in our passports were arranged within minutes. Only when we tried to check in the car it turned out that there was only one officer that was allowed to give clearance, and the said gentleman was out for lunch with his girlfriend in a village nearby… So, there was nothing to do but wait and we started up a conversation with an Argentine couple from Mendoza on their way to Caracas (Why not? Nice drive!). Luckily it only took half an hour for the officer to return to his post and formalities here turned out to actually be as easy as on the other side; after 15 minutes we were back on track.

In Ecuador the road led us directly into the mountains. Beautiful scenery, but the quality of the road surface was a lot less than what we had gotten used to in Peru. Luckily there were so many signs (sometimes up to three identical signs in the same place) that it was hard to miss the direction to the town of Loja. We were lucky to have filled up our tank in Piura as most gas stations in this part of Ecuador were closed as it was Sunday. Due to the road conditions and many curves we moved a lot slower on this stretch. Initially we expected to arrive in Loja around 7pm, but quickly had to reset our ETA to 9pm. After 6pm the sun was gone, which reminded us how close we were to the equator. This meant extra careful driving, especially when we suddenly entered an area of very dense fog. We could see around 2-3 meters ahead of us if we were lucky, sometimes we simply had to feel if our tires hit the sides of the road, so you can imagine we took our time to get through this area. We had just about moved our ETA to midnight when the mist disappeared just as suddenly as it had appeared, the clouds lifted from the mountain and we were driving on, eventually reaching Loja at 8.30pm. Loja is situated at an altitude of 2100masl, which gives the town a very nice climate. Never extremely hot or cold and situated in a beautiful green setting surrounded by nature, Loja promises some great outings for a future trip to Ecuador. Upon arrival in the hotel we ordered some food and of course a couple of beers, but this turned out to be impossible. Recently a law was passed in Ecuador prohibiting the consumption of alcohol on Sunday afternoons after 4pm (which reminds me I need to write a piece on seriously funny laws in Latin America; have seen a couple in Peru lately that caught my eye…). Our Colombian waiter tried to explain this to us, but when he saw the disbelief in our faces he was friendly enough to make an exception, so we could enjoy a nice illegal beer before turning in.

Monday consisted of a relatively short drive to Cuenca, some 200km from Loja, and departing on time we made it there by lunch time. Cuenca is worth a visit, with its beautifully preserved colonial city center and amazing cathedral. It is generally regarded as Ecuador’s most beautiful city. It took us just 3.5 hours driving over a perfectly asphalted road through the mountains, climbing to 3500masl before descending into the adjacent valley. A nicely curved road through a green, mountainous landscape made this a short, but attractive driving day.

To be continued...

Peru; between a rock and a hard place, or finally on course?

2011-06-23T10:36:00.005-04:00

After a stressful and well-commented double election round played out under the eyes of the world, Mr. Ollanta Humala was elected to be Peru’s next president. Since I am a former resident (I lived in Peru from 1997-2004), and because an important part of our business still takes place there, I was and still am very interested in Peru’s political well-being. I followed the election process, initially with growing concern, but recently with a tiny flicker of hope.

The people inhabiting what today is called the Republic of Peru have lived in various states of occupation over the past 600 years. Initially conquered by the Incas (for about 100 years, from say 1400AD) and subsequently suppressed by the Spaniards as their crown colony until way into the last century. Peru ‘s political reality in the more recent past has been characterized by the Roman “Panem et circenses”, basically coming down to corrupt governments keeping the majority of the Peruvian people poor and uneducated in order to more easily exploit them as a cheap force of labor. This is in many ways still the case, and in my honest opinion what has happened in Peru this month has more to do with the current government not doing its job correctly - in terms of making sure all Peruvians have an opportunity to share in the riches of their land (education, job creation, etc.) - than with the populist, mass-manipulation of which the upcoming president and his team are currently being accused.

As a matter of fact, to a certain extent, what has happened in Peru shows that the democratic system actually works. A majority (albeit a small one) of the Peruvian people did not agree with the way the current government handled its power (and the country’s wealth) and they chose to go in another direction. A direction they hope will eventually give them and their children a better chance to become equal, well-educated citizens with similar opportunities to their fellow country-men.

This is not to say that I have faith that Mr. Humala will do a better job than Mr. Garcia. That still needs to be proven and it is definitely not my place to predict anything. Sadly it is difficult to find an exemplary president in the country’s past, and neither Mr. Garcia, nor Mr. Humala really fit the bill. I tried to read Mr. Humala’s plan (If you read Spanish and feel like it, please give it a try: http://especiales.rpp.com.pe/elecciones2011/2011/01/21/conozca-el-plan-de-gobierno-de-ollanta-humala/) and all I can say at this point is that if he really can stick to most of what is outlined there, then he could actually make a good president.

However, his past does not speak for him. He allegedly supported a coup by his brother Antauro in 2005 against then president Alejandro Toledo, and apparently circulated a bi-weekly paper calling for the Peruvian people to rise-up against the Toledo government. Both while in active duty as lieutenant-colonel of the Peruvian Armed Forces. Also, his recently hidden friendship with, and support for, Venezuela’s Mr. Chavez do not inspire the trust that one would expect a people to have in a candidate they just elected to represent them for the coming 5 years. The fact that a couple of months before the elections he switched his allegiance to Brazil’s former president Ignacio “Lula” da Silva and hired some of his former executives to help him reshape his campaign can, up to this point, only be seen as a smug move to throw his competitors off course and win the elections. Ms. Keiko Fujimori, daughter of one of Peru’s former presidents and Mr. Humala’s closest contender, unsuccessfully tried the same approach to shed some of her more right-wing public image.

n the end it does not really matter who thinks what. Mr. Humala was chosen democratically by the same people that chose his predecessors, so like it or not, he is the man for the job. Hopefully he will be held accountable by these exact same people if he fails to keep his promises.

What is happening in Peru today seems similar to what has happened, is happening and will probably be happening for quite some time, throughout the rest of the continent. After centuries of Spanish/Portuguese rule and a series of make-believe republics followed by, or mixed with, military dictatorships, most Latin American countries have only seen modern democracy very recently. Action causes reaction and sadly many of Latin America’s democracies do not really function the way they should. This is simply because large parts of the population do not receive sufficient education to be able to make up their minds about which presidential candidate would best represent them. It takes a people choosing a president who will invest in their education to get that ball rolling. Depending on the outcome of Mr. Humala’s upcoming presidency we will see if this time that choice was right or not. It will depend on Mr. Humala’s decency; will it be his wish to go into history as the man that saved his people, or will he turn out to be just another charlatan lying to his people in exchange for an easy squeeze? I guess we’ll see soon enough.

Mr. Ignacio “Lula” da Silva has become an icon in Latin American politics and it is not strange that Mr. Humala and some others have chosen to want to be seen more like him than, for example, Mr. Chavez. Even though Brazil has seen a series of “lucky” events form part of its current boost to becoming one of the world’s super powers, Lula has still managed to stay on top of things and realize what in many other neighboring countries has not yet been achieved – how to combine strong macro-economic growth with proper transformations of the actual functioning of society, giving a large portion of the country’s poor the opportunity to grow and become part of the middle class. This may seem trivial at first glance, but until the “Lula Miracle” this had not happened in most of South America. The social changes in Brazil over the past 10 years are the biggest in its entire history.

I do not pretend to be a political analyst, nor do I want to share my personal political opinions here, but I do want to try to figure out what is happening in Peru and why politics in general seem to have become more and more about the well-being of the politician instead of that of the people he/she is chosen to represent. Peru sees similar factors to Brazil at the base of its economic growth of the past 10 years, and if managed well, could potentially follow this example on a social level. In my eyes, Mr. Humala has a chance here to wipe the slate clean and be remembered as the president Peru never had before. If he sticks to his word and really manages to combine Peru’s economic growth with sufficient education and job opportunities for its people, he might not only be remembered as Peru’s favorite president, but as the one that helped a new Latin American socio-political model come into existence.

Now, let’s keep our fingers crossed, our eyes closed and pray for rain…

God in the machine: Inti Raymi in Cusco and Corpus Christi

2011-06-16T11:29:00.005-04:00

Hi there,

I am not a very religious man and although I very much believe there is more to life than meets the eye, I have tended to stay away from institutionalized religion due to some authority issues, which sadly have stood in the way of my enlightenment. That does not mean I do not see the beauty in the history and rituals of some religious habits and festivities, and part of the attraction of Latin America certainly lies in its cultural heritage, and therefore also in its divine celebrations.

I will have to be honest and say I have never witnessed either of the two important religious festivals I am about to describe here. Not sure as to why, as I have certainly not shunned them, I’ve simply not been in the right place at the right time I guess, as is always a possibility when one tries to get to know an entire continent. I was asked to give some reflections on these two events as they are coming up, so I did a little research. I must say that after all I read, I may change my travel plans for this year and make sure to be in Cusco on June 24^th and anywhere in Brazil, Peru or Ecuador roughly 50 days after Easter…

Inti Raymi

The Festival of the Sun was a religious ceremony of the Inca Empire in honor of the sun-god Inti, one of the most venerated gods in Inca religion. According to chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, Sapa Inca Pachacuti created the Inti Raymi to celebrate the winter solstice and a new year in the Andes of the Southern Hemisphere.

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

During the Inca Empire, the Inti Raymi was the most important of four ceremonies celebrated in Cusco, as related by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. The celebration took place in the Haukaypata or the main plaza in the city. The ceremony was also said to indicate the mythical origin of the Incas, with nine days of colorful dances and processions, as well as animal sacrifices to ensure a good cropping season. The last Inti Raymi with the Inca Emperor's presence was carried out in 1535, after which the Spanish conquest and the Catholic Church suppressed it. Some natives participated in similar ceremonies in the years after, but it was completely prohibited in 1572 by the Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, who claimed it was a pagan ceremony opposed to the Catholic faith.

In 1944, a historical reconstruction of Inti Raymi was directed by Faustino Espinoza Navarro with indigenous actors. The reconstruction was so popular that it was repeated a number of times and the Inti Raymi festival has now been reestablished as a much looked forward to yearly event.

Corpus Christi

Latin for Body of Christ, this is the holiday when Catholics commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist, or communion. It’s held either on a Thursday or a Sunday roughly 50 days after Easter.

The appearance of Corpus Christi as a feast in the Christian calendar was primarily due to the petitions of the thirteenth-century Augustinian nun Juliana of Liège. From her early youth Juliana revered the Blessed Sacrament, and always longed for a special feast in its honor. In 1208 she reported her first vision of Christ during which she was instructed to plead for the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi. The vision was repeated for the next 20 years but she kept it a secret. When she eventually relayed it to her confessor, he relayed it to the bishop. Sadly, the celebration of Corpus Christi became widespread only long after St. Juliana had died.

Throughout Latin America, Corpus Christi is celebrated every year and it is considered one of the most important religious holidays after Christmas and Easter. Decorating the streets with colorful carpets made from wood shavings and other materials is one of the highlights of this celebration of the faith.

I hope to have given a more or less adequate description of both festivals, which as I said I have not experienced myself thus far. I truly hope to be able to make the time this year or next to go and witness them - let me know if you’re thinking of going too! Also, if you have any first-hand stories to share about any of these festivities then I’d love to hear them.

Thanks again and happy trails

Bart

Galapagos Memories

2011-06-08T09:14:00.009-04:00

Hello!

I still remember the first time I went to Galapagos. It was in 1994 and I was working at Pamir Travels & Adventures, owned by long-time friend and mentor Hugo Torres, doing a traineeship in Sales and Marketing. Those were the last days before email; I actually remember installing the first PC in Hugo’s office with an email account. For all the beauty and peace I find in the natural wonders of the continent I have called home for the past 15 years, I still get bewildered by the pace of technological development we have seen in just about the same time frame. If only we would apply more of our technological creativity to finding ways to protect the very world we live in, we would be way past trying to create paradise on earth, I bet you.

I was halfway through my traineeship when I had a meeting with Hugo and his wife Mireilla about how actual travel experience could enhance the sales process. That same afternoon, we had a group arriving from Germany. Since at the time I was the only one in the office speaking German, Hugo asked me if I wanted to accompany the driver to go and receive the group. The group consisted of Dr. Gerd and Mrs. Christel Gigler and some of their best friends, who had come to Ecuador to celebrate their 25^th marriage anniversary in style. We had a nice conversation aboard the bus on the way to their hotel and they asked me to accompany them on their city tour the next day, which I did. The day after we were bringing the group to the airport for their flight to the Galapagos Islands, when Gerd all of a sudden asked me: “Bart, we have chartered a ship for our honeymoon, it has 10 beths and we are 9; would you like to join us?” I needed to ask him to repeat that twice before I really understood what he had just said, and when I looked at Mireilla who was with us that day, she nodded and gave me a look, as if to say “what are you waiting for? This is a chance in a lifetime!” So, after some (about 5 seconds) of thinking I agreed and after some practical issues (such as me not having brought anything to the airport but the clothes I was wearing and for some reason my passport) were solved, I found myself with my new friends on my way to the Galapagos…

Samba was a refurbished, formerly Dutch trawler, which today would be considered a luxury, small-group cruise vessel. With five cabins it was actually smaller than most ships one will find, but therefore that much cozier when traveling in a group of friends. We sailed the 8-day, westerly route and it was one of the most amazing trips I have made in my life, when it comes to marine wildlife. I watched, swam and played with so many different species of animals I can hardly remember them all: Giant turtles, white-tipped reef sharks, golden rays, manta, sea lions, leather back turtle hatchlings, black hawks, albatross, red- and blue-footed boobies, spinner dolphins, blue whales, frigates, finches, Galapagos lizards, and so many more that it still dazzles me thinking back on it.

The only experience to come close to this was my 6-hour boat ride on the “Golfo Nuevo” Bay near the Valdes Peninsula, when I actually had an 18m (54ft) Southern Right Whale come up alongside our zodiac, look me right in the eye, kind of asking for a tap on the back. I did and he (or she; I did not verify) started spinning slowly around his horizontal axis, allowing me to caress his skin and have one of my life’s most awesome encounters with nature.

Not that the Galapagos did not offer similar opportunities: I went snorkeling with a piece of rope to play with an abundance of sea lions, who tried not only to bite the rope, but also take off my fins and mask, which was both scary and fun; Swimming back to the surface I literally swam through a cloud of golden rays, only to surface finding a pelican perched on my head, as the ship mates had decided to have a laugh and throw some leftovers of the preparation of the fish for that evening’s feast into the sea next to the boat. I watched a Galapagos hawk spot, catch and devour a baby leather back turtle only meters away from where I was laying, observing how hundreds of its fellow hatchlings made their way into the ocean, surviving the first of many perilous episodes in their lives; I almost stepped on a blue-footed booby, who had placed her nest right on the trail designated for two-legged visitors, completely impervious to the risk I posed her; I saw thousands of spinner dolphins jumping over each other in a feeding frenzy as we followed a pair of blue whales below Isabela Island; I stood in a bay, water to my knees, with two resting reef sharks laying at my feet, while small Galapagos penguins swam across at less than 10m (30ft) distance. I did and saw all that and remember thinking: “this must be the best traineeship ever…”

Galapagos is one of those very few places on earth where we can see what the world would look like if we had not consistently hunted and killed every animal in sight, what it would feel like if man and animal were actually able to live side by side, sharing the same space. I can tell you it is beautifully humbling and if you love nature, this is a place you definitely should not miss.

For a couple of ideas on Galapagos holidays, please have a look at the following links:

Galapagos & Peru Discovery

Galapagos: Last minute and special offers!

Thanks again for reading, hope to see you here soon!

Happy trails,

Bart

Dreaming of Brazil

2011-06-01T11:07:00.021-04:00

Hi there everyone,

I have been quiet for a while, busy discovering new corners of South America, and doing some work while at it... I do promise to get back here more often from now on!

Today, let’s talk about Brazil. We have heard more than enough about it on the news lately, but I get the feeling the focus has been somewhat economic. Even though it is interesting to see how world financial flows have been thrown around and today’s money makers are in fact the developing countries of yesteryear, whilst the big powers of pre-2008 are scrambling to get by, that is not what this blog is about. Brazil has become Latin America’s economic super power and that is not something that can or should be ignored. In the realm of travel it has had two interesting consequences:

First, travel to Brazil has become more expensive; the Real has revalued a lot and prices are similar to those in Europe and North America, if not, in some cases, higher. That said, we are still traveling in great numbers to the old, and the not so old, continents, which means the current price tag on tourism in Brazil is probably not going to be prohibitive to travelers. One main difference is air fare prices, which remain very expensive throughout the Latin America region, compared to similar distance long-haul flights in other parts of the world. One day I will try and investigate how this comes to be and if something could be done about it, but for now, the cost of international flights will remain the only real obstacle for people to travel to Brazil and its neighbors. I promise that when I find a cure for this, I will share it here first!

Second, Brazilians are rapidly becoming the largest visitor groups to their neighboring countries. For Argentina this is already the case, with almost 20% of all Brazilians traveling abroad heading for Buenos Aires, Iguazu and Bariloche. Also Peru is well-visited, with Machu Picchu as the most important destination. This might in the end mean that some of the entries you will see from me in the future will be written in Portuguese… J

Funny, I am sitting here in the attic of my house, winter is about to hit Buenos Aires, and I have just found out the heater up here has decided to stop working. Six degrees Celsius outside and I am thinking of Brazil… Last time I went (apart from a few stopovers) is already a while ago now, a little over a year in fact! I wrote a piece on the North of Brazil then and I remember dedicating some of it to the Feijoada dish this region is famous for. Sitting here, sipping a cup of instant soup to keep warm, I all of a sudden feel hungry, so let’s see what the Feijoada is all about again, shall we? I Googled a bit and found a good entry, which I hereby will copy, hoping the good people on about.com/homecooking as well as Mrs. Heidi Haughy Cusick (who’s book “Soul and Spice” is mentioned as the source) will be happy with my enthusiasm:

“The hearty Feijoada stew is the national dish of Brazil. It's loaded with black beans, pork, bacon, sausage, ham, and beef. Plan ahead to soak the beans overnight. This recipe takes some time to cook, but the result is well worth it.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes

Ingredients:

· 2 cups (1 pound) black beans, rinsed and picked over

· 3/4 pound pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of fat

· 6 ounces slab bacon

· 1/2 pound smoked pork sausages

· 1/2 pound hot Portuguese sausage such as linguica

· 1 or 2 pounds ham hock or shank, cut into 1-inch rounds

· 1 large yellow onion, chopped

· 2 to 4 ounces dried beef carne seca, minced (optional; see Note)

For the Seasonings:

· 3 garlic cloves, minced and sauteed in 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

· 6 green onions, including tops, chopped

· 1 yellow onion, chopped

· Large handful of chopped fresh parsley (about 1/2 cup)

· 2 bay leaves, crumbled

· 1-1/2 tablespoons dried oregano, crushed

· Salt and ground black pepper

· Chopped fresh cilantro or parsley

Preparation:

Soak the black beans overnight in water to cover by several inches. Drain.

Place the drained black beans in a saucepan and add water to cover by 3 inches. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the beans are tender, 2 to 2-1/2 hours. Add additional water as needed to keep the beans covered.

While the black beans are cooking, prepare the meats. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F. Dice the pork butt or shoulder and the bacon into 1/2-inch cubes. Place the pork, whole sausages, and bacon in a large baking pan. Roast until well done. The sausages will be ready after 35 to 40 minutes and the other meats after 45 to 60 minutes.

Cook the ham hock at the same time as the meats are roasting. In a saucepan, combine the ham hock rounds and onion with water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook until tender, about 1 hour. Remove the ham hock rounds from the water and remove the meat from the bones, if desired; set aside. Or leave the rounds intact for serving alongside the black beans. Strain the cooking liquid into a bowl. Add the strained onions from the liquid to the beans. Add the cooking liquid to the beans if needed to keep them immersed.

Once the black beans are almost cooked, check to make sure there is plenty of cooking liquid in the pot. It should be rather soupy at this point. Stir in the beef (carne seca). Cut the sausages into rounds and add them and all the other cooked meats to the pot. Then add all of the seasonings to the pot, including salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another 30 minutes, or until the beans are very tender.

Taste and adjust the seasonings. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro or parsley just before serving.”

Of course, cooking this up at home is the second best option, and will suffice only until you can make your way to Brazil in person and sit down to an authentic Brazilian feast accompanied by a cachaca or two and perhaps a little samba. Here are a few ideas for you if you plan to visit:

Salvador and the beauty of Bahia

Diamantina National Park and Salvador

OK, I am off out to buy black beans and bring a little Brazilian heat into this cold Buenos Aires day, talk to you later!

Happy trails

Bart

Food, Travel & Identity

2010-10-04T11:46:00.008-04:00

I just wanted to share with you the latest happy addition to my bookshelf – The Brazilian Table by chef Yara Roberts who is, as it says on her website:

“…the first Brazilian chef to write about Brazilian cuisine in English. She gives an intimate look at the regions of Minas Gerais, the Amazon, the Cerado, and Bahia from a food perspective, not only introducing one hundred delicious recipes but also providing an in-depth cultural lesson on the regions and their unique foods.”

Flicking through this wonderful book got me thinking about food and my relationship to it.

Such a big part of travelling for me is about food – few things bring as much pleasure. As well as the pure enjoyment of taste, food can tell you so much about a country and about its history and its people. All over the world day-to-day life revolves entirely around, and is structured by food (well, perhaps not entirely, but I can safely say that my thoughts are often occupied by what the next meal will be and when). People connect over food - it brings them together, families, friends, old and young. There is something basically human about sharing a meal, whether it’s a chunk of cheese and some dry bread shared with a fellow traveler on some endless bus journey across Bolivia, or an invitation to a family asado in Argentina.

Food and the customs and rituals surrounding it provide a framework for a country’s character, showing you their humanity. People are fiercely proud of their culinary heritage, it speaks of their past and of their values. In Argentina sharing mate (a bitter tea like drink) demonstrates a warmth and openness that strangers can immediately connect with.

Food is surrounded by these emotions; friendship and generosity; comfort and nostalgia. When people are homesick it often manifests itself in missing the flavors of home, and home-cooked food features in many a childhood memory. A bowl of hot soup at the end of a long, cold journey can switch your mood in a moment, and in England pretty much any problem can be solved by putting the kettle on for a cup of tea.

As well as this, layers of a country’s history can be seen in its culinary styles and influences. In Buenos Aires, waves of Italian immigrants opened pizzerias and ice-cream parlors all over the city, and today ice cream is a big part of the city’s culture – heladerias to rival Rome’s finest gelato emporiums are dotted throughout the city serving towering cones in multiples of delicious flavors.

Whenever I think of summer in Buenos Aires I think of heading to the heladeria at midnight, even at this late hour lively with groups of teenagers and tables of smartly dressed old folks. Getting my ticket, waiting for my number to come up and choosing my two scoops from the dozens of options - for me this experience is part of the patchwork of Buenos Aires. Just as when I think of Tokyo I think of spicy wasabi with soy sauce, and slivers of vivid pink pickled ginger, and just as Morocco brings back memories of steaming tagines of lamb and apricot, and sweet, hot mint tea in colored glasses.

I have always been intrigued by food, recipes and cooking styles, and their inextricable link to a country’s history, culture and character. This is why, for me, The Brazilian Table is the perfect recipe book. Combining delicious Brazilian dishes, with an in depth knowledge of their origins and influences and an obvious passion for the country and its flavors. All this in one delectable and beautifully written full-color package. Time to cook!

Calling all Travel Professionals!

2010-09-30T10:15:00.002-04:00

Hello everybody,

Every now and then I need to share something that is not directly related to me rummaging around the continent. At this moment we are looking to find a couple of enthusiastic travel professionals to join our ranks in our Buenos Aires headquarters. If you have extensive experience in the travel industry, know the continent of South America and are either already living in Buenos Aires or considering moving here, please have a look at: www.globalencounters.com/jobs

Thanks in advance for forwarding this message to anyone you think might be interested!

Best regards,
Bart

Colombia: Part 4 Into the Coffee Triangle

2010-09-13T14:01:00.008-04:00

After lunch we took off in search of the “PaNaCa”, the Parque Nacional de Café, apparently one of the best places to go and learn about the ‘black gold’. When we finally found the park it was pouring with rain and the guide at the gate advised us to come back another day. Praise be to him, because as the kids fell asleep on the back seat, Karin and I embarked on one of our little side trips and ended up in the most pristine and fairy-tale cloud-forest I have ever seen in my life.

Back on the main road from Armenia to Pereira we took the exit to Salento and from there drove on to the Cocora Valley. Following a small, winding road, creeping over two mountain ranges and through a beautiful valley, and ending up in the town of Salento, a hidden away backpacker’s paradise, and the gateway to the Cocora Valley. Recently inaccessible due to guerrilla activities, this wondrous place is now open to visitors and is receiving its first curious outsiders with open arms. We drove 11km from Salento to “Don de Juan B” a small local tourist complex, consisting of a great restaurant, a playing field for children, some shops, all the horses you could wish for, and the best cappuccino I have had in a long time - all in an idyllic setting in the middle of this beautiful valley, green and lush, even at 2500masl.

The views in this region are spectacular and during our visit the temperature varied from fresh in the sun, to crisp in the shade. The purest of air filled our lungs and we were immediately smitten by the sheer beauty of the land. We had wandered pretty far off our planned route and only had an hour before we had to get back to the hotel to put the kids to bed, but we unanimously decided that we would return tomorrow.

28 June: Armenia, Salento

Colombia claims to be the country with the greatest variety of palm trees in the world (some 250+ varieties if I am not mistaken) and the lower Cocora Valley has literally thousands of them. These beautiful tall trees are home to an endemic species of yellow and green parrot, one of many different birds and animals to be spotted here - deer, puma and even spectacled bears are known to roam the higher lands of this magical stretch of Colombia. Higher again the valley leads to the “Parque Nacional de los Nevados”, about one day’s ride on horse-back, and we made a solemn pledge to return and make that journey as soon as Noa is old enough to sit on a horse by herself.

After enjoying two sublime cappuccinos and buying a couple of kilos of organically produced coffee beans, we began a 1.5hr ride following a small and treacherous path of mud and rocks, apparently a piece of cake for the well-trained horses. Strong and well-fed, these docile animals seemed very much at ease with carrying us (myself and Noa together) up and down the hills and through the valleys. Once again the variety of greens was overwhelming as we slowly moved from wide grasslands into cloud forest. Sunlight was breaking through the clouds here and there, and we could see the haze of far off rainfall in the distance. A delicate grey curtain lined with golden specs hung across the sky, and all was fresh air and a peaceful silence broken only by bird calls and the soft gurgle of water making its way down to the Quindio River - the ride was one of spectacular views and great peace. Knowing that we were riding at an altitude of almost 2800masl, and that this area, until five years ago, was almost completely unknown to the outside world, added to the feeling that again we had stumbled upon a very special part of South America, a continent that has already given us so much.

What can I say? I feel privileged to be allowed to roam these lands, to get to know the geography, history, flora, fauna, and the people. This great mix of cultures, ever changing, developing, growing, more and more conscious of its own existence and the attributes it has, is simply too much to take in sometimes. I do not think I will ever manage to fathom the depth and the wealth of what the Latin American continent has to offer, or even understand most of it, but I sure am thankful to be a spectator of some of its heritage and its culture, forever blossoming and becoming a more and more integral and valued part of the world.

29 June, Armenia

We had managed to draw up an extensive list of things to do and places to see, but this was our last day in the Coffee Triangle, so most will have to wait until next time. We settled on a coffee tour at the Eco Hotel Combia, where we were staying, followed by a visit to the renowned butterfly park and botanical gardens of Armenia. We were not disappointed. Although not as spectacular as the day before, both visits were very interesting. I never knew it takes about two years (!) to create a cup of coffee. Three months for a seedling to be planted, another four for it to blossom, eight more before the first harvest can take place and then two months to dry. Then the selection process can begin (about two thirds of the beans are pre-considered not good enough for export). The one third that is good enough is sold to the Coffee Federation of Colombia who handles export to foreign buyers who will roast the beans and sell them off. All in all a minimum of twenty-four months before I wake up and smell the coffee. The other two thirds are divided in two classes; half is sold for national consumption and the rest stays at the farm to be either sold locally, or used right then and there. Colombians therefore, like so many producers of our fancy stuff, are allowed only the worst of their own produce, or perhaps they only allow themselves that. What is true is that most Colombians seem to have no need for the exquisite espresso that is one of the final products of the crop they have grown for generations. That will probably change soon enough, especially with more and more tourists coming in and asking, like I did at the end of the tour, “So, where is the machine? I could use a double!”

The Butterfly Park and Botanical Garden were also quite impressive. The knowledgeable guides and a variety of things to do and see, especially for the kids, made this a far nicer little outing than I had expected. Whilst our guide explained the different species of palm trees (which happened to be his specialty), Edie and Noa went haywire running through the park, getting lost in the maze, freaking out over the robotic insects show and chasing all kinds of insects, some wild butterflies included. It helps in these cases that we have two blond, blue-eyed little beauties, which has the effect of immediately making people smile and say things like : "oh what beautiful eyes!” and, "your daughters are so pretty, such lovely little girls!” If only they knew...

Edie and Noa both possess a raw, unpolished inner energy that bursts out unexpectedly, loud, with fierce joy and usually a lot of noise, accompanied with wild body movements they call dancing. This is especially charming when staying in a fancy hotel or eating out in, for example Holland, where dining with kids is a little frowned upon. Dinner usually ends with Edie frantically bouncing around the restaurant, making all kinds of pirouettes, pliés and what have you, with a wild-eyed gaze that lately makes me think of Billy Elliot. Maybe one day she actually will pick up ballet and everything will turn out just fine… Noa has had a princess fetish for some time now, which I silently pray will be over very soon, but on the other hand I must admit she makes me laugh every time she walks into a room with her air of disdain for all the lower people (she is 2.5), climbs onto a chair and attaches all kinds of girly stuff to my hair, claiming I am a princess too… only 5 minutes thereafter going down on all fours, dress torn to shreds, fingernails, hands, knees and face all filthy, pretending to be a dog.

All in all it was another great day in a great country. I really do not understand how this place has been the stage for so much violence for so long and until so recently. Intelligence and humor, commonplace everywhere we go, should not be the root for it, or the stunning beauty of the landscapes, or the friendliness and hospitality of the people. This is a country of great artists, writers, even politicians, and so far, I seriously think it has the potential to be one of the great destinations of this continent. Looking forward to tomorrow…

A Colombian Adventure: Part 3

2010-08-25T14:57:00.010-04:00

San Agustin, Neiva, Bogotá, Pereira, Armenia

After a good night’s sleep and knowing you have a nice day of moving from A to B to C ahead of you, it is always nice getting up early. Well, actually, it is never really nice to have to get out of bed before sun-up, but even so we all woke up in a pretty sunny mood, probably helped by the fact that we had already packed the night before and did not, like on so many other occasions, have to hastily jump into the shower, get dressed, pack, jump in the car, leave, and go back again at least four times for forgotten things. All the while rushing a mobile breakfast usually composed of cold (or too hot!) coffee, a banana and some sweets.

Instead, we managed to have a leisurely breakfast of toast, marmalade, eggs, coffee, freshly picked fruit, juices and more coffee. So leisurely indeed that we of course left one hour late and Jairo had to drive like a maniac to get us to Neiva airport just on time to find out our flight was one hour delayed. The ride itself was actually quite relaxed, the kids slept most of the way, as did Karin, and Jairo and I exchanged small talk. Jairo drives a Kia 7-seater van of American proportions, and the ride was smooth as silk up till the final 20 minutes when we tried to make our way through a Neiva in the last phase of the San Juan & San Pedro festivities.With men on horses everywhere, most of them too drunk to even stand up, let alone ride a horse through dense city traffic, buses with tourists from all parts coming in for the final fiesta and clogging all main arteries of the town.

We were lucky Jairo has actually lived here for 20 years before moving to San Agustin and he knows the place like the back of his hand. He skilfully manoeuvred the large van through the hectic chaos of cars, trucks, buses and horses, taking lots of little back roads I would never have taken if my life had depended on it. Jairo actually got us to the airport within the minimum of 45 minutes before take-off, all the time reassuring us we would still have time to have lunch before our flight. He helped us unload our 3 heavy bags, 2 backpacks, 2 laptop bags, one baby-bed, and an explosion of toys, colouring artefacts and all the other paraphernalia one tends to hoist along when traveling with kids. Of course he turned out to be right; our plane was delayed (“as always happens”, he said before smiling and saying his goodbyes) and we actually managed to have a local version of steak, which was amazingly nice and tender considering it was airport grub, before we got on the turboprop back to Bogota.

Here, everything went easy, apart from the fact that Noa and I went for a second round of coffee for Karin and me and we almost missed our connection, again… Luckily the lady behind the counter remembered us from the week before and we jumped on the bus as it was making its way to the plane. I have actually come to like our way of traveling; there is always something completely off in our planning and we usually get into trouble or completely lose our way, in the process running into all kinds of nice and interesting people and places. I can imagine though that anybody traveling with us would go completely bonkers.

We arrived in Pereira about 2 hours behind schedule (not our fault, the second flight was simply delayed) and after Karin had had a nice fight with the car rental people about the fact that we were not prepared to pay a four-day rent for what actually turned out to be a 3-day trip, we were finally on the road around 6pm. Darkness set in and yet another of those things you always tell other people not to do happened; driving after dark in a new country. But I’ve gotten used to that as well; we’ve made our way through the depths of night in Lima, in Peru’s southern Andean regions, straight through Sao Paulo, in the upper north of Brazil, and in various parts of Patagonia, usually without GPS devices, and always getting lost before finding our way back again. Up till now nothing deadly has happened to us.

Same thing in Colombia, and I can add that at least in this part of Colombia the roads are perfect, mostly well-lit and with clear signals showing the way to where one wants to go. Sometimes there are so many signs that it will make you dizzy, but then there is always a nice neighbour (in our case usually a gas station employee) that will happily show you where to make the next turn. We made it from Pereira to our new hotel, a very nice and typical coffee-farm-hotel named Combia, in about one hour, despite the dark and a very limited map to go by. Colombia is good Fly-Drive Territory, if you can manage the Spanish language and are not afraid to ask your way around.

After a long day we hit our beds almost instantly and slept like the little babies some of us still are, waking up 8 hours later to a new day in a new land…

Armenia and surroundings

The Coffee Triangle, as this part of Colombia is called, is a lush and fertile area with a mild, benign climate, good for producing some of the best coffee in the world. Funny thing is that it is quite difficult to actually find a good cappuccino, or even an espresso, as most people are not really used to drinking “fancy” coffee and usually just take a “tinto”; black filter coffee, thinned with hot water and sugared up to hurt your teeth. Some come with milk and both taste like sweet hot coloured water, nothing like Juan Valdes makes you believe people enjoy over here. So, when the owner of the hotel came to us and asked us to please leave any suggestion we could think of, I could hardly keep my mouth shut.

After a simple but hearty breakfast we got into our car and started driving back to Armenia and right behind it found a sign saying “canopy”…

During our last trip in Brazil my daughter Edie had already shown great interest in rappelling, as well as in huge natural water slides, and other such things that make me super-scared something might happen to her. As a matter of fact I lately find myself projecting many of my childhood fears on my daughters, as they begin to discover the fun parts of our numerous trips. As a teenager I decided that I would not let fear hold me back from doing anything, and I spent several years crusading against my fears of things like heights, failing in general and being publicly ridiculed. I went for a 65m bungee jump that almost killed me, set up a travel company in Peru without any prior experience, and even tried speaking in public. The last, to my shame, is really not my forte...

Still I thought I had it nicely worked out and that I had managed to kick myself into being a cool guy, not afraid to take on a challenge or two and free of unnecessary internal blockades. The opposite isn’t true, but I must say I am having a hard time not panicking a little each time Edie climbs a tree or Noa dances around on a plastic chair. My wife Karin and I have discussed this often. She was raised with a no-fear policy and skied black slopes and beyond before she could speak a full sentence, so she understandably has some issues with my ‘all of a sudden’ somewhat conservative nature. She feels, and rightly so, that we should not project our fears onto our children and should let them discover their own boundaries. I agree with her, of course. So, when we saw the sign and Karin looked at me with that inquisitive look of hers, I said: “what the hell”, and made a sharp left.

14 speed-flights between towering trees and hulking bamboo ladders later we were back where mother earth prefers to have us and I was soaked. With adrenaline still screaming through my veins and hair standing out in all directions, the next group of that went up for their first climb looked at me with some puzzlement. I could not care less; I was alive! Karin, Edie and Noa had had the time of their lives and the kids would keep asking us for days in advance when we could go and “fly” again.

A Colombian Adventure Continued: Part 2

2010-08-09T10:40:00.014-04:00

Neiva-San Agustin (227km, 4 hrs)

After breakfast, and a not so pleasant stay in a hotel in Neiva, we meet our driver Jairo who will take us to San Agustin - Jairo is contracted by Rene, a Swiss guy who settled in San Agustin many years ago, probably one of the first foreigners to settle down in this beautiful area. He runs the agency Chaskatours and we will probably hear more from him in the not too distant future. Here, the Andes Mountain Range, in one final show of grandeur, splits into three majestic mountain ranges, the Cordilleras Occidental, Central and Oriental. We are now driving through a wide green valley that divides the Cordilleras Central and Oriental, which is itself split in two by the Magdalena River, which stretches 1500km from San Agustin to Barranquilla and is the longest and most important river of Colombia.

15 minutes outside of Neiva we stumble upon the hamlet of Rivera, known for its thermal springs, and here we find a great alternative to the place we slept last night. This is the perfect place for our groups when they come driving down from Bogota to make a stop on their way to San Agustin. What better place to spend the night after a long day’s drive than a hotel with 4 swimming pools, next to a set of thermal springs?

A nice detail of local roads here is that, as well as being mostly perfectly asphalted, they are shaded by ‘ecological tunnels’. This part of Colombia gets very hot and most municipalities make a habit of having their main roads lined by trees that meet each other over the middle, thus creating a green roofing that not only creates shadow but also absorbs most of the exhaust gasses of the trucks, cars and motorbikes passing by. On top of this it truly enhances the visual experience of driving here.

Jairo is a good driver and he also turns out to be an excellent storyteller. Thanks to him and his knowledge of local folklore I have a very interesting ride, while the girls mostly sleep in the back. The first thing he asks is if we have already tried the famous ‘Asado Huilense’, a ritual pig roast only prepared during the festivities of San Juan & San Pedro. During these festivities, about which I still need to do some more reading, each province holds folkloric dancing contests where one girl is chosen to be the ‘Reina’ or ‘Queen’. During the ‘Vispera de San Juan’, or ‘the Eve of Saint John’, which I understand falls on midsummer’s eve, the family spends all day on the preparation of the pig; first the slaughter, then the cleaning of the animal and the selection of the best parts of meat. Then follows the preparation of the wood for the fire and finally the entire family, friends and neighbors sit down for a true feast. It is kind of a sacred ritual, but these days the Asado Huilense has found some resonance outside of El Huila and you will find more and more local restaurants offering the dish, also out of the official season.

Next we drive through the small town of Hobo, apparently a tourist stop, but we decide to push on. While we drive out of town on one of the scarce pieces of straight road that we have encountered on our trip, Jairo tells me that this is the highway airport of Hobo. Upon my puzzled look he explains that some nine years ago a local governor managed to get his private plane hijacked and forced to land on this main road. The governor was then kidnapped, and as far as my recently blossoming understanding of Colombian Spanish helps me understand, was released after direct negotiations between the FARC and the then president Pastrani.

Now we drive past ‘Los Altares’ – sand rock formations that line the road, shaped by wind and rain, resembling the medieval gothic churches of Europe. Here, at 700 m.a.s.l, climate and vegetation have already changed completely. Whereas in Neiva the main crops are rice and cotton, here we drive across coffee and cacao plantations. We pass countless food stalls selling ‘Quesillo’, a local cheese variant made from cows’ milk. The kids are asleep so we don’t stop; we’ll have to try this on our way back…

A road sign indicates the distances to the next three villages, one of them called ‘Gigante’. I turn to Jairo and he begins to tell the legend of El Gigante, a giant Indian who according to the story used to steal the crops of the local villagers until they had enough of it and finally managed to ambush and kill him. Apparently he still lays there today, flat on his back. We drive through the town of Gigante, but I see nothing strange or disturbing…

‘Curvas Peligrosas’… we drive through a stunning mountain area, on a recently paved road, but with about as many curves as a beautiful woman, each one more dangerous than the one before. Numerous signs alongside the road warn against drinking and driving, or simply taking the wheel when tired: ‘No more stars on the road’, they say, and before and after practically every curve a star-shaped cross is painted on the asphalt, marking a fatal accident… We take it slow, following a ‘Poker’ Beer truck and then all of sudden he appears, Matambo, the slain giant. A huge face-shaped mountain, looking like those on the statues found on Easter Island, a true indigenous boogieman, carved out of Andean rock.

We drive past a pond where ‘mojarra’ is cultivated, a local fish that is served in restaurants throughout La Huila province, of which Neiva is the capital. Will make sure to try some in San Agustin! Jairo warns us not to eat mojarra from ponds close to ‘lulo’ (a local fruit used to make juices) plantations, as this particular plant needs a lot of chemicals to withstand insects and other threats. With rain, the chemicals are flushed into the soil and then find their way into the ponds which makes this particular fish not always the healthiest option.

Up and up we go, from the 400 or so m.a.s.l where we started out this morning, making our way through the valley and up the hills. Cacao and coffee make way for tobacco as the air gets fresher and temperatures slowly drop. We drive past the town of Garzon (named after the male variant of the ‘garza’ (heron) that frequent this area. Garzon is the second city of El Huila and is the catholic center of the province, and most of the south of the country. The town has a beautiful cathedral and a seminary from which most of the prominent priests and clergymen in the country emerge. If that is a good thing or not I’ll leave to your own judgment. It’s a nice town though, from what we see driving past.

La Jagua, the next spot on the map, is a town of artisans, formerly known for being bewitched… I imagine the 31st of October must be a true party here, but we do not get much time to ponder, as Jairo begins a story about the two towns that we are approaching, Altamira & Timana.

Altamira & Timana are home to the Timanareis people. Their most famous ancestor is probably the Caciqua La Gaetana - a local chieftain whose son was killed by a Spanish invader looking for gold. The story goes that she was so angry and grief-stricken that she gathered all the local caciques in the south and together they conquered the Spaniards and captured their leader, Pedro de Allasco. La Gaetana picked out his eyes, punctured his lower jaw through the mouth, tied a rope through it and pulled him behind her horse before decapitating him. Sadly enough history was not in her favor; the Spanish came back with more men, to avenge the death of their kinsmen. La Gaetana was hunted down, but before they could catch her, she managed to reach El Pericongo, a steep cliff from which she is said to have jumped and disappeared into the Magdalena River.

The Timanareis people are the oldest tribe in Colombia. In the town of Timana there is a statue of La Gaetana, holding Allasco’s head in her hand. In Neiva, around this time every year, there is the ‘Cabalgata de la Gaetana’ where around 3000 women saddle up their horses and parade through town, emptying bottles of ‘aguardiente’, the local liquor, and making a lot of noise in praise of this fierce warrior of the past.

Driving through Altamira, we come past a sign saying ‘Florencia’. Under the Pastrani government, this town was the gateway to the ‘zona del despeje’, a large area of land cleared of military and police forces, where the FARC incumbents were given the right to reassemble, rearm, train and basically reinforce. This was a state within the state, ruled by the guerilla. I still have a lot to learn about Colombia, its history, and its people. There will most probably be a logical explanation for this guerilla state, but at this point I have no clue as to why a government would allow an enemy army to have a place to rest and rearm. I am not Colombian, so I‘m in no place to judge, of course.

Late afternoon and after a great trip we arrive in San Agustin. Not too long ago this little town was a stronghold of the FARC, and to this date the area has still not been officially given the green light by most embassies. However, as locals assure and reality shows, there is nothing to be afraid of here. Two main military bases in the vicinity mean that there are soldiers present in the streets, restaurants and sometimes also at the hotels. Through time people here have come to terms with the fact that either military or guerillas frequent the town and its facilities. The difference now is that the military are treating the villagers with respect, they pay for the services rendered and help out where needed. They are like any other citizen of Colombia, carrying out their assigned job, living and working amongst their fellow citizens. Their job is to keep the area safe and yes, they have to go on patrols into the surrounding areas, but a normal passer-by is taught to see them as peacekeepers and defenders of everybody’s safety. After a while we hardly notice them as different and the kids play around them as we all eat breakfast together.

The Anacaona is a true find and probably the best place in town. An old farm-house, this place was bought by a Frenchman some nine years ago and was slowly converted into the oddly quaint home-stay it is today. A beautiful garden and a wide, panoramic view over the adjacent valley combined with a very friendly (even if somewhat inexperienced) staff, make this a good place to spend at least a few days. The manager, Hector, is on his way to becoming one of the main players in San Agustin tourism development, and is a nice guy to have a chat with if you want to get to know more about the area. He arranged for horses, guides, a jeep and everything else that we needed when planning to explore the area. The equipment was good, the horses healthy and well fed, the guides and drivers correct and on time. English is a challenge still, though we did see some people with English speaking guides, but they had come together from Bogota. No problem for us, but something to keep in mind if you want to visit this beautiful area.

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2010-08-02T16:47:00.001-04:00

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A Colombian Adventure: The Beginning...

2010-06-22T17:27:00.011-04:00

June 18-19: Buenos Aires-Lima-Bogota (6,000km, 1 stop-over, 8 hours)

After a delayed start (we were supposed to fly on the 17^th in the early morning, but our oldest daughter Edie got sick so we had to postpone our flight for 36 hours), and a mostly pleasant flight via Lima, we arrived in Bogota around 01.00am Saturday morning, June 19.

Getting off the plane and walking through the airport, one still feels the remainders of Colombia’s recent past; military are predominantly present, you feel you are being watched and controls are thorough. The lady at the money exchange is most definitely not the nicest person in the world (but who would be sitting there at that time of night) and in order to change 60 USD, one needs to fill in a form as if applying for a US visa, including hotel address, personal signature and fingerprints.

But that is just one side of things. Overall, people are friendly, very friendly. Most Colombians we encountered are genuinely happy with the fact foreigners come to see their country now; that they can show what they have. They do not only try to make you feel at home, or make sure you are safe; they are open and direct, honest and reality-driven. And on top of that, they are funny. Colombian humor, though black at times, seems to be what has pulled this nation and its people through its darker recent times. I am sure we will have a great time here, this time, and all the times in the future when we will come back to visit, and set up our office.

Colombia makes me think of Peru 15 years ago. Leaving behind a long period of civil unrest, the country is cautiously opening up its doors to the outside. People go out of their way to make sure you know you can travel here, that you should be careful, but not worry too much about safety; that the safety situation these days is similar to that of most countries in the continent. Hotels in Bogota still have small warning pamphlets in the rooms and the streets are crowded with police and military, but the atmosphere is joyful, busy, aimed forward. It is obvious this country is ready for a new era, an era of peace and connectivity with the rest of the world.

The capital, no, the whole country seems to be under construction; roads are blocked everywhere, not because of safety regulations, but because they are being repaired, widened, improved. Colombians are traveling outside the safety of their immediate environment and most of the streets in Bogota, and the main roads in many parts of surrounding Colombia, are teeming with traffic. All the work being done means delays at present, but soon traffic will be able to flow freely through a country that has been waiting to be explored for so long.

June 19: Bogota – Villa de Leyva (180km, 4hs)

We drove To Villa de Leyva yesterday afternoon, some 4 hours by car from Bogota. Only 180km separate the two towns, and most of it is (going to be) 4-lane highway, but due to uncountable road construction sites and the above mentioned traffic we hit an average of 50kmph, more or less. No problem at all of course; we are exploring Colombia, at last! First impression is that Colombia will make an excellent driving country, but for now this will be restricted. Car rental companies are mainly small and operate locally only; drop off fees do not exist or are forbiddingly high. Next to that hardly anybody speaks English and the recently introduced Satellite Navigation Systems do not have the maps of the country properly loaded yet. This will all change soon, no doubt, but for now we feel Colombia is a great country to visit either in a group with a bilingual tour conductor, or individually with a private guide and driver.

Villa de Leyva is a colonial dream town set in magical, cloud-forest-covered mountains and surrounded by numerous national parks home to geological, natural and historical treasures, most of them still inaccessible to the average visitor. We stay in the quaint, colonial style Hotel La Candelaria, on the northern end of town, an old mansion recently converted into this beautiful, 8-room boutique hotel.

June 20, Villa de Leyva

The main thing that made this trip, and our ten-year dream of opening an office here, feasible is Colombia’s newly found safety, wrought by leaving president, Alvaro Uribe, and his government of the past eight years. Today is Election Day and we talk to local people in the town of Villa de Leyva about who they will vote for.

Something truly phenomenal is happening here in Colombia. After decades of complete political uncertainty and lack of proper leadership, eight-years ago Alvaro Uribe came along, and ever since has been busy putting the country back on the geo-political map. Today, thanks to an absolutely fantastic, worldwide rebranding campaign, foreigners know Colombia as the country where “the only risk is that you’ll want to stay”, something opposite to its reputation in the recent past. Traveling here I can understand why this slogan was chosen. However, it would never have gotten hold had the country not been truly reorganized, safety returned to its streets and hope and trust restored in its people. I came to Colombia for the first time in 1992, at the end of the same 4-month trip that took me to Peru as well. Both countries were in similar circumstances then. Peru emerged from terrorism and uncertainty in 1995-96, when the Shining Path was largely silenced and its leader, Abimael Guzman, captured, by then president Alberto Fujimori. From that moment on, Peru slowly opened itself up to the outside world and, as mentioned before, our experiences there in those days have many similarities to what we see and hear in Colombia today.

Another impressive feat for a country so freshly back on track is the fact that today Colombians have the option to choose between two outstanding candidates for the Presidency: former Defense Minister and Uribe’s favorite, Juan Manuel Santos, and former Mayor of Bogota Antanas Mockus, preferred by the country’s students. Both candidates have a formidable political agenda, are very well prepared for the job and most countries’ people in this continent should consider themselves proud and very lucky to have the opportunity to choose only one of them. How Colombia managed to produce the political strength and vigor it shows in its current president and the two candidates to follow him, requires a deep political analysis, that has no place (yet?) in this story, but the mere fact earns Colombia and its people a lot of credit and respect. It also shows that Colombians are done with the past and ready for change, ready for a future that is in their hands - exciting times, for sure.

June 21, Villa de Leyva – Bogota

Pfff, seems the time difference is affecting the kids more than normally. They keep waking up around 4.30-5am, which even when corrected to their natural clocks (2 hours later), is very, very early. Must be the clean mountain air or something… Bueno, at least it gives me some time to write until breakfast is served. Let me finish where I left off yesterday:

The end of Election Day showed another interesting feature of Colombian thinking. After Mr. Mockus had initially sprung up in the polls to potentially win the elections, the first round showed a favorable position for Mr. Santos, something that was confirmed when the majority of the votes were accounted for and he was elected as Colombia’s next President. Today is “ley seca”; it is forbidden to drink alcohol in public from 24 hours before until right after the elections, so our waiter is serving our beer in teacups and hiding the bottles. He says: “I am a student and Mockus is by far my favorite because he is a former teacher himself and has vouched to bring education back to the top ranks of the political agenda. But today it is just a little early for Mr. Mockus to take the stand, we are still living uncertain times and safety needs to be restored completely before we can start thinking about further reforms. Mr. Santos has the better cards to make sure that Colombia becomes a safe and stable nation. Without safety we are nowhere; without safety we cannot move on. That is why I chose Santos today; I want my country to be safe. Next round will hopefully be for Mr. Mockus.”

For me this clarifies what is happening here; Colombian people are not only done with the past and ready for the future to be in their hands; they are also very carefully handling that new-found responsibility, and moving cautiously to make sure that today will truly mark the continuance of change for the better, and that a solid base will be created to build that future upon. We have seen many bad examples of political manipulation for ourselves over the past 15 years, so being here and listening to the people, seeing how they truly take up the task of making sure they get the right representation for this time, feels like a breath of fresh air. This country is getting ready for a bright future and we sure want to be here when it happens.

Brazil, a land of contrasts – Part 3

2010-05-27T14:23:00.002-04:00

Hello and welcome to the final installment of my Brazil road-trip!

Morro de Sao Paulo
After Carnaval is over, most Brazilians just want to keep on partying, and so they decided to do just that! The ‘Resaca do Carnaval’ (Carnaval’s hangover) is possibly even bigger than Carnaval itself in terms of national tourism, and for most places this means that the party goes on for the rest of the week. There was a time when this would have been the perfect bait for me to hit Salvador for eight days and really turn the town inside out, but nowadays other pleasures and obligations are at the top of the priority list. So, we drove straight through Salvador, made our way past the party tents, and had a cab driver lead the way to the Mercado Modelo, next to which our ferry would leave to the Isle of Tinhare and the town of Morro do Sao Paulo. We managed to park our car in the Marina, not too far from the docks and crossed the strait between Tinhare and the mainland on a big Catamaran, surrounded by sleeping people on their way to the after party.

Tinhare, and Morro in particular, have in recent years become THE place to celebrate the Resaca, so we had booked a small “Fazenda” (farm hotel) outside of town. There are officially no cars on that part of the island (we later found out there are several, but they are kept out of sight) and an army of “taxistas” (in this case strong men with wheelbarrows) offer themselves to carry your bags and suitcases from the port to your hotel. Since our fazenda was located on Praia 3 (the third beach from the port) we reluctantly paid the 20 reais (some 10 USD) to have our luggage pushed through the sand, up and down the hills to our next resting place. It turned out to be a great decision as it was 35 degrees Celsius outside and the walk was a lot longer than expected. Dao, our wheelbarrow-driver turned out to be a great guy, so we contracted him for the way back as well. Tinhare is a great spot to relax. Hammocks, sundowners on the beach, great ocean views, a little swimming in warm natural pools at low tide, tremendous amounts of palm trees, hunting for crabs and monkey spotting filled our time during most of our four days there. Great for us and the kids to get our batteries recharged and move on with renewed energy. Sadly our trip was almost over…

Salvador
Even though we did not visit due to Carnival, I want to say a little bit about Salvador de Bahia. With its fantastic swimming beaches, the largest collection of colonial architecture in Latin America, and a vibrant modern culture, this city has perhaps the richest living cultural mix in the country, with a multitude of Afro-Caribbean bands and performers. We sadly did not have the time to really explore this exciting city, but I will certainly go back in one of my upcoming trips.

Itacimirim
We took the ferry back to Salvador (very strong currents this time, so we all got sea sick, something to keep in mind when you make this crossing), grabbed a cab to the marina and had an excellent lunch at the Soho Sushi bar. We were somewhat surprised by the high-end cliental, as we ourselves looked like a couple of sun-burnt hippies with two semi-wild kids running around the place. After lunch we picked up the car and drove to Itacimirim (5km short of Praia do Forte on our way back north), where we stayed in the Pousada Praia das Ondas, on a beach with the same name. We had planned for one night, but ended up staying another one as both the food and the company were great, plus it was our last chance to relax on the beach. Itacimirim is a small place, but very nice, a little like what Praia do Forte must have looked like before it was developed for tourism. If you are not looking for all the fancy stuff, and if you like bigger waves (the ocean is a bit rougher here, a nice change after hundreds of kilometers of bounty beaches), this is a great spot to use as a base to get to know the area. Around the corner from Praia, close to Salvador and 6 hours driving from Lencois - Itacimirim certainly did it for us.

Maragogi
On the way back to our final destination, Recife, we stopped in Maragogi at the beautiful Posada Maragogi, run by a Dutch/Brazilian couple. After some good Dutch koffie and a relaxing couple of hours overlooking their beach we drove on to Praia Carneiros, where we had lunch at a place called BoraBora. This is one of the most beautiful beaches of the entire region and it is frequented by locals and Brazilians from all over the country. Located on a private Fazenda, BoraBora does not see that many foreigners, and as always we were met with friendly, though somewhat surprised looks from people not used to hearing Dutch, or seeing a man walk around with a backpack containing a two-year old child. That child being our Noa, with white-blond hair, large deep-blue eyes and a one-month Brazilian tan… one can imagine I got a lot of attention. Young fathers, this is your chance to shine!

After lunch we went for a walk along the beach and of course lost track of time, and yet again ended up driving in the dark. When we arrived in Recife, instead of trying to find the hotel for our last night, we drove directly to the airport, unloaded all our stuff, plus one month’s worth of dust, sand, rocks, empty water bottles and more good news, returned the car to our hire company and had a cab driver take us ‘home’. One short night later (we had to get up at 3.50am), we were on our way to the airport for a flawless set of flights back to Buenos Aires, where we were welcomed by the last thunderstorm of the season. Home sweet home, even if only for two-weeks before my next flight out…

Epilogue
What did strike me in Porto Galinhas (and probably because I was reading the final pages of “A death in Brazil”, an amazing book about the country, and especially that area, by Australian writer Peter Robb) is that Brazil is a very particular country with a very particular people. Sitting there in that big resort, between a couple more resorts, smacked down in the middle of what must have been stunningly beautiful nature once upon a time, but is now surrounded by heavy industry, it became utterly clear that I needed to look at Brazil in context. This country has only known democracy for roughly 15 years; it has the most thoroughly mixed races of all of the former European colonies and its history is one of oppression of the vast, poor majority by a small elite group, until very recently. Brazil is largely self-sufficient and its mostly independent and strongly growing economy does not really seem to need foreign tourism. As a matter of fact some hoteliers I spoke to explained they depend about 80% on local tourism for most of the year.

Brazilians in general are very nice and warm people, friendly, welcoming and genuinely interested. The fabulous Brazilian kitchen, some truly amazing sights, a rough but intriguing past, the vastness of the Amazon Basin and thousands of kilometers of stunning beaches combine to make Brazil a fantastic destination that can’t fail to grow on you in one way or another. Treat it with proper respect and prepare for a true adventure into a nature, a culture and a gastronomy that will have you hooked, and most likely leave you wanting to visit time and time again.

Happy trails!

Bart

Fire & Ice - from volcanic ash to a BAires hail storm

2010-04-23T14:19:00.006-04:00

After watching coverage of the volcano in Iceland over the weekend, yesterday I was confronted with a miniature natural disaster of my own in the form of a hailstorm of epic proportions! After an overall beautiful, sunny, late-summers day in Buenos Aires, the sky all of a sudden darkened and lightning started flashing overhead with fast-increasing intensity. After a while it started to rain lightly, soon more and more water was falling from the sky - and then the hail began. For about 15 minutes our house was pummeled by rock-hard balls of ice the size of tennis balls.

I was working in our attic office/playroom, where my desk is located just under a large sky-window. Karin asked our daughters if they wanted to go downstairs with her to watch the garden as the rain was beginning to fall. After some minutes I decided to get a drink and so I followed them downstairs. That was a lucky decision.

I arrived downstairs at 8.15, just when the serious hail started to come down. We were standing on our back porch, under a tiled roof as the first icy bombs came down, hammering into the grass and turning the pool into a wild spectacle. Trees in our garden were rapidly “shaven”, as thousands of ice balls bombarded them, ripping off leaves, branches and taking out the occasional bird on their way down. We quickly ran back into the safety of the house and I started to close the blinds on the most exposed windows.

Each room I ran into echoed with the thuds of ice slamming into the windows, and each time I feared that one would come straight through. By the time I was done most of the hail had subsided and was replaced by a torrential rain that seemed like a huge bucket of murky water was being poured out over our neighborhood. At some point we could hardly see our garden anymore, covered as it was in white icy rubble with massive curtains of water sweeping before our eyes. Then I remembered the attic…

I ran upstairs to find my desk covered in glass, ice and water. Somehow most of the window had managed to miss it and my laptop and auxiliary screens were still functioning. I stood there, frantically looking from left to right, not knowing exactly what to do first, it was as if a giant tap had been turned on directly above what used to be my work space - water was pouring everywhere. And then, all of a sudden, the rain stopped, and at the same moment the entire neighborhood went pitch black.

I managed to find a flashlight and went back down to Karin and the kids. They had had a great time watching the storm and had no clue what had happened. We put the children to bed and went upstairs where we cleared the area of glass and actually managed to salvage most of the equipment. We found some flattened cardboard boxes and a couple of planks and went about with hammer and nails.

Later Karin reminded me it might be a good idea to see if the “vigilante” (the private security guys you see guarding street corners in cities across Latin America) had survived the storm. So I went outside and made my way through a thick carpet of leaves and tree-branches, looking at the cars as I passed; windows shattered and round dents in roofs, hoods and hatches. Our security guy was fine and did not need water or cigarettes, so after chatting to him and our neighbor about insurance policies and how both our dogs had taken this weird natural event, I went back inside. It remained dry for the rest of the night and this morning the sun came out and another sunny day started as if nothing had happened…

The garden, however, told another story, with branches lying all over the place like a jungle floor and the grass dotted with potholes. Power stayed out until midday and with it internet, phone lines and the comforts of working from home. We had enough to do however, especially when we saw what else had happened in those 15 minutes. Roughly 60% of the tiles on our roof had been shattered and our garden furniture was smashed to smithereens. Another window of hardened wire-glass in our garage was hit in three places and had opened up like paper. There were large holes where the ice went straight through and glass shattered all over the cars, which luckily otherwise remained intact. We spent most of the day collecting glass and rubble and it was then that I realized how extremely dependent on all those modern-day comforts I have become.

Still we have been lucky, very lucky in fact. Buenos Aires is not usually prone to serious natural upheavals, apart from a tropical rainstorm every now and then. Other parts of the world are not so well off. Natural disasters are happening more and more often and in many cases have tremendous effects on the world economy, as recently the Financial Times described in an article about the volcanic eruption in Iceland, of which I hereby copy the intro (reply to this post and ask me for an official forward and I will try to send you the entire article!):

“(April 16^th 2010) Volcanic disruption

Pandemic flu, blizzards, volcanic eruptions: Mother Nature seems resolved to hurl grit (or fine ash) into the turbine blades of economic recovery. Disruption to international air traffic caused by a rather different Icelandic blow-up from the one 18 months ago is already the most serious since 9/11, and may outstrip it. A Sydney-based consultant, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, forecasts that if the disturbance extends even three more days, it could affect 1m passengers, and cost airlines $1bn in lost revenues. Yet as with other recent natural phenomena, the overall economic impact may ultimately prove insignificant…”

Of course then there is the human aspect of these occurrences, not only for the people directly involved in them, but also for those that know, are related to, or have simply met them at some point. As my formerly Asia-bound colleague Beth says:

“…the tsunami that hit Sri-Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia was a disaster on a huge scale, but what struck me about it was the world response. It was the height of the Christmas season and most everyone I know knew someone who was there, heard first hand stories of the day, or had been there themselves in the past. News wasn’t just on the TV, it had happened to someone you knew, millions of first-hand stories were transmitted by word of mouth on a global scale.

I have many great memories of Thailand beach holidays, and essential to these memories are the people I met while I was there – the guys who cracked open fresh coconuts for me on the beach, the father and son who took us out in their fishing boat, the girls making seashell necklaces and running along the beach to sell them – all of these people’s faces came back to me when I heard the news, and I wondered how they were and what they lost. I think that this was the same for everyone, and that this is the reason why the world showed such solidarity. It wasn’t something just effecting international airlines and multi-national hotel chains, it was the guy who made you fresh mango juice on the beach in Ha Tien. Yes, it was all going on far away in a distant land, but it was something we could all relate to on a human scale.”

This is one of the positive effects of globalization and ever-increasing world travel, we have, and should have, an increased understanding, empathy and solidarity with our world neighbors. Tourism and travel bring great responsibility on many levels, be it related to preservation of natural habitats and heritage or simple material transactions that keep local economies moving. The way in which the world has developed means that many, many people in many countries rely almost entirely on tourism for their livelihood – if this is suddenly cut off, for example by a natural disaster, what happens to them?

In our globalized world everyone is connected, and so in turn everything that happens and how we respond has repercussions all around the world. The big volcanic dust cloud recently grounding flights across Europe, has all sorts of myriad effects on people around the world, from the plantation worker in Jamaica to the hotel cleaner in Egypt. As soon as the dust settles the world will be up and flying again, but the effects will continue to be felt, if not by you, by someone else in some distant land that you may one day travel to. This volcano reminds me of all the other disasters in recent years, of Chile, Haiti, New Orleans, Thailand, Sri Lanka… the list goes on. And it reminds me that the privileges and pleasures of travel go hand in hand with a responsibility to the people and the places that we travel to.

Our 15 minute hailstorm was an ever so small taste of the destruction that nature can wreak, and it made me realize just how small we really are, and how futile and vulnerable most of the security-net is that we try to pull up around ourselves. Without that net, how long would we hold? Because without all the 21^st century shields we reinforce ourselves and our lives with, we are pretty much useless when it comes to surviving in raw natural circumstances. I had to think about “The Road” and wondered what would happen if we had a hailstorm like yesterday’s, but for, say 1 month. …Note to self, must remember to buy batteries and enough freeze-dried food for at least 4 weeks tomorrow!

…signing off now, just got my internet, home computer network, flat screen TV and media PC working again; and it’s time for some channel surfing with a chilled beer, an ordered in pizza, the pleasant hum of the air conditioning and the already fading notion of a different reality, and how it almost bit me…

Brazil, a land of contrasts – Part 2

2010-04-14T09:20:00.011-04:00

Dear Fellow Travelers,

Here we go with the next installment of my Northern Brazil adventure!

Pipa

The next day we left for Pipa, close to the town of Natal and some 450 km to the north of Olinda. After driving in the wrong direction again (and this time in broad day light) we thought it might come in handy to have a map of some sort. We had packed hastily for this trip (as we usually do) and some things had sadly been left behind. After several stops at gas stations, supermarkets, and other places where one might expect to be able to buy a map, we finally found one at a local pharmacy where, as it turned out, everybody buys their maps. At least that was the fact in Olinda (at the end of this journey, we stumbled upon the “Giua Cuatro Rodas”, an excellent guidebook, with all kinds of tips, directions and hotel options in the country, along with an excellent road map; so we’re all set for our next trip!). Now it became a lot easier to find our way and within no-time we entered the famous BR101 highway. The BR101 is undergoing many repairs these days, so long stretches are “en obras” (under construction), which means our trip took a little longer than expected and we arrived to Pipa after dark, yet again. Another thing we quickly came to realize is that even though we were visiting a neighboring country of our beautifully southern hemispheric Argentina, we had come quite close to the equator, and the sun here sets at 6.30pm sharp, something to take into account if you are planning a full-day’s drive.

Pipa turned out to be amazing. Lovely beaches circled by high cliffs, lagoons, Atlantic forest and dolphins. Pipa has cobbled streets and good surfing beaches, in addition to a lake full of manatees (in neighboring Tibau do Sul). It is an old hippy colony and was recently discovered by Brazil’s traveling youth. Even though the town can get a bit crowded at night it remains a beautiful little spot to relax and enjoy nature.

We spent our days here walking along one of the beaches, spotting dolphins from a small speedboat, and eating… The place was called Panela do Barro and we went back three times. Located in the heart of town, sitting on the cliff, overlooking Pipa’s central beach, their seafood Moqueca is a feast. The ways various African, Portuguese and indigenous ingredients, and cooking methods have merged through the centuries to create this wondrous dish I cannot describe, but man it was good! I really need to get that recipe, or better still, find me a good Brazilian restaurant in town… It can be said though; food in Brazil is GOOD!

Porto Galinhas

From Pipa we moved on to Porto Galinhas, which was not really worth visiting. Supposedly home to the best beach in Brazil, the town changed from a fishing village into the playground of Brazil’s rich and famous and later became a popular vacation spot for domestic travelers. The town has a questionable history as the “chicken port”, so called by the Portuguese during the time when the English started getting bossy and imposing their power to try and force the Portuguese to abolish slavery - just as the rest of the world had done before. On paper, Porto Galinhas was a port where poultry and other livestock arrived from Europe, but that was only to deceive the British; what actually came off the boats was slave trade business as usual, and it would go on like that for many more years. Today Porto Galinhas does not have too much to offer to the discerning traveler. We relaxed in one of the huge resorts there for a couple of days, but were happy to move on.

Praia do Forte

Praia do Forte on the other hand was a very nice surprise. We stayed in the Tivoli Eco-Resort, which is a pleasure in itself, and explored the surrounding area from there.

The Tamar Project (TAMAR being short for Tartaruga Marinha, Portuguese for Sea Turtle) is definitely worth a visit. The story of marine conservation in Brazil coincides with the creation of the TAMAR Program. Seventeen years ago the Federal Government, in tune with international demand and increasing environmental awareness in Brazilian society, began to adopt measures aimed at marine protection. In the beginning of the 1980s, the Brazilian Institute of Forestry Development (IBDF), created the TAMAR Program with the objective of protecting sea turtles in Brazil. The work started in Bahia (Praia do Forte), Espírito Santo (Comboios) and Sergipe (Pirambú), and was then extended nationwide. The project focused on the identification of different species, their main nesting sites, their reproduction period, and the main socio-economic problems related to the exploitation of sea turtles by the coastal residents. Technical staff spent two years traveling along the Brazilian coastline gathering information. In 1982 and 1986, SUDEPE (the Fishing Development Agency) passed regulations prohibiting the capture of all species of turtle.

From April through November one can also go out to sea to spot Humpback Whales, something that I would love to do. Unfortunately, we arrived off-season this time, but I will certainly go back one day to see these wondrous creatures.

Lencois

From Praia do Forte we decided to escape Carnaval (absolutely a great party, but a little too much with two small kids) and head for Lencois, some 450 km inland. Until 1996 this was the wild, wild, west where some 80,000 people tried their luck at discovering diamonds. Lawlessness ruled and the area was notoriously unsafe and environmentally irresponsible. Come the mid 90’s the Federal Government decided enough was enough and diamond mining in Lencois was made illegal. The area almost immediately shifted to tourism for its income, and today Lencois, and the few towns surrounding it, are the heart of the Chapada Diamantina National Park. This is a beautiful area of natural springs, waterfalls, weird rock formations, quaint little towns and large underground cave-systems that can all be visited from Lencois.

We found all ranges of accommodation in the village, but relatively few people seem to know about it, or make the decision to go there, so the whole place is very calm and tranquil. Lencois is also a place where all races seem to be living together in perfect balance (from what we saw at least) and it is throughout a very safe and pleasant place to be. We walked through the outskirts of town after dark with our two small children without ever having the feeling that we should start being careful. We have been around the block a bit in this continent, so our antennae are attuned, but here we felt perfectly at ease. Talks with locals confirmed this feeling; Lencois is one of the safest places to travel. Combine this with a great surrounding area for hiking and sight-seeing and you have one fantastic destination to add to your list of Brazil must-sees.

Happy trails,

Bart

Ps I just had a look at our webpage and came across this aptly named package to Northern Brazil visiting Salvador, Lencois and Praia do Forte - Salvador and the Beauty of Bahia

Brazil, a Land of Contrasts - Part 1

2010-03-16T09:47:00.003-03:00

Greetings fellow travelers!

After my last brief trip to Brazil, I decided I had to go back and explore some more. So, last month I did just that - this time around I had a whole month, plus a car full of kids! Here is Part 1 of my latest Brazil adventure.

Brazil (http://www.cat-travel.com/brazil/information) is a truly developing country. There is a constant buzz about it that cannot be denied. You only need to drive along one of its main highways, such as the BR101, to realize that. Trucks, trucks and more trucks, and they’re all over the place! As we tried to get from Recife to Olinda it was still ok, but when driving north to the beautiful coastal town of Pipa it was a mad house. Unbelievable amounts of trucks, carrying anything from sugar cane to cars, entire bridges and other unidentifiable loads transported from A to B in huge bulk. I mean, they are going places, you know? This is a country on the move. No wonder they got the first two letters in BRIC…

I am not sure to what extent this busyness has to do with Lula, the current president that has done so much for Brazil’s working classes, and who has truly made a first attempt to bring the country up from a feudal landowners’ state to an industrialized nation. I have not been here long, or often enough to make that distinction, and that was one of the reasons we decided to make this trip: to get to know Brazil better, even if only a part of it.

As we do every year, Karin and I took the kids during their school vacation for a one-month inspection trip, and this time we decided to go and explore a part of the North of Brazil. So, at the end of January we flew to Recife and picked up the car we had booked for the trip. We had agreed not to stay in Recife, but drive on to Olinda all in one go. Of course we did not count on one of our connecting GOL flights being late, forcing us to take a later flight on our last stretch of the journey, arriving in Recife close to midnight. The car rental pace was still open, but by that time it was pitch dark outside. Still we had a place booked for us in Olinda and it was only a 30 minute drive away, so we decided to wing it. We immediately set off in the wrong direction, ending up on the Litoral Sul towards Salvador, where we weren’t supposed to be going until well over a week later. There are not that many signs on Brazilian roads (well actually there are lots and lots of them, but most do not seem to have anything to do with traffic), but after a while we figured out we were heading in the wrong direction and eventually found a way to turn around without causing an accident. Then, somehow, we got into the right flow of traffic and it seemed everybody was headed to Olinda. From that moment on we got a better feel of where we were as we crisscrossed the canals and rivers that thread through that part of Recife. The town was founded by the Dutch Prince Maurice (The Dutch settled in this part of Brazil for some 22 years between Portuguese occupations) and he must have been homesick for Amsterdam when he had this part of town designed. All of a sudden we were in Olinda, we drove straight through town, made one more u-turn, drove right past our hotel, hit the brakes hard, avoiding a couple of buses racing by, put the car in reverse and finally made it to our destination.

Olinda

Olinda happens to be the old capital of Brazil, and today it is a world heritage site. The town is a maze of cobbled streets, hills crowned with brilliant white churches, pastel-colored houses, Baroque fountains and graceful squares. It is a nice picturesque place with many beautiful old churches and beautifully maintained colonial houses. Walking through the old town I got the feeling of being warped back in time to the days when sugar cane ruled the world economy.

The beaches close to town aren’t the most attractive, but if you have the time go and see the ones to the north, they are much better.

On our first morning we took the car out for a spin around town to get a feel for the place. We hadn’t quite covered 300 meters when a guy almost threw himself in front of the car, standing up straight, with a commanding hand held high in the air. We kind of took him to be a cop, but he was wearing shorts and a green t-shirt, so that was odd. Against my instincts I brought the car to a halt, and the “cop” took out what I thought to be his notebook. It was in fact a map of the city, and the guy turned out to be a guide. So our second lesson was that Brazilians can be quite direct and persuasive, and one should not always automatically respond to that. Saying “nao, obrigado” (no thanks) and walking or driving on will usually do the trick. Unless you are dealing with a real cop of course, in which case it is better to stop and be cooperative. FYI, in Olinda lots of people offer themselves as city guides. Those wearing yellow t-shirts with the words "Guia Mirim" written on the back and laminated ID cards are official guides.

A third thing that comes in handy is some basic understanding of the Portuguese language as many people speak nothing but it. We only encountered extremely friendly people when asking for directions, but most of their well-meant tips and explanations, sadly passed us by, as our Spanish was not of much use either. It was fun to be in that situation again though, where you never really know for sure if you got the gist of a conversation or not. It reminded me of the time in 1997 when we were driving across the Peruvian Andes, speaking only very little Spanish and asking local peasants who only spoke the native Aymara language for directions; that combined with them being used to traveling on foot, and having a profoundly different sense of time, made us agree to ask the same set of directions over and over again until we had met at least three people all pointing in the same direction… We got lost so many times on that trip that the fact, in itself, has stopped worrying me.

Happy trails!

Bart

A short trip to Brazil…

2009-12-22T10:11:00.008-03:00

Hi there!

Long time no news. It has been a busy year, what with launching our brand new budget adventure travel website South America Adventure Travel just last week. I’ve not really had the time to write much, let alone travel…

But, last week I finally got a chance to escape and went to Brazil for 6 days to join my long time friends from Germany, Gerd and Christel. They had been to Galapagos the week before (on the Nemo II, an excellent Catamaran for those who like to travel in style without losing the sporty element of being out on the open seas). They arrived at Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport about 3.5 hours before me and took a day-room in the Caesar Park Hotel just 5 minutes from the Airport, to relax a bit after the night-long journey from Guayaquil.

As soon as I arrived, I picked up the car that we had reserved with Budget and went to pick them up. After a healthy breakfast (Caesar’s Burger Special with lots of black coffee) we got in the car and drove toward Paraty, some 4 hours north on the coastal road between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. It has rained severely in almost all of Brazil for the past weeks, so we were happy to arrive in Paraty and hide ourselves in the beautiful Pousada Arte Urquijo (http://www.urquijo.com.br/english/iindex.htm) for a day or 2…

Paraty is a town with an amazing history: everything from sugar cane, coffee and tobacco to precious stones and gold, to the famous Cachaça (which the Portuguese transported to Africa to serve as a currency in the slave trade) have passed through this town over the past centuries, bringing some serious wealth and development. All this was in the past however, and for the last century the main commercial routes from Minas Gerais (where most of the country’s riches came from) to the coast ended up running through Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, leaving Paraty behind in a slowly declining colonial state.

Ironically it was these last “100 years of solitude” that put Paraty back in the spotlights about 30 years ago, when a Brazilian TV broadcasting company decided to shoot a now famous “Telenovela” (soap opera) in the, by then, almost completely forgotten town. Many Brazilians love and vigorously watch these soaps, and that was how Paraty returned to their mental map. Since it had remained virtually unchanged for so long (as our guide told us: Paraty is “preserved by poverty”), it had an excellent colonial charm and soon enough the first new explorers began to arrive from Rio and Sao Paulo to find the perfect weekend hide-out. Shortly thereafter the first investors came; old colonial structures were purchased and converted into comfortable second homes for the well-to-do of these, the two largest of Brazilian cities. The word Paraty apparently sounds like “Paradise” in French (when expressed in that beautiful language) and today most of the foreigners investing in the region come from this European country. But the editor of the famous Harry Potter books has also found a second home here, and brought with her her insatiable craving for literature, resulting in Paraty now hosting Brazil’s annual book fair and the town having some seriously well-stocked book stores!

Luckily, the place has not lost its original looks; as a matter of fact it is becoming more and more beautiful as time goes by. Paraty wants to become a part of UNESCO World Heritage and much is being done to preserve and restore the town to its original state.

Just across our lovely Pousada, Richard and Yara Roberts run their “Academy of Cooking & other Pleasures” and we were lucky enough to secure an evening with them learning how to prepare typical dishes from the Minas Gerais province. We started with a black bean soup, which was followed by a Linguiça risotto with crispy collard greens and a green salad with pumpkin seeds and Canastra cheese, and then rounded it all off with a stunning “Doce de Leite” parfait with candied banana. Yara is a famous cook and she met Richard (a former CEO of several large international companies) in Paris. Their love of the gourmet life somehow led them to Paraty where Yara purchased a house some 25 years ago - the very same place that formed the backdrop of a great evening of preparing and enjoying a wonderful meal (accompanied of course by several caipirinhas, an excellent Argentine wine and some of the best Cachaça I have tasted in years). Yara and Richard are great hosts and we had an excellent conversation that led us straight through the evening. It was not before well past midnight that we made our way back to our hotel… Yummy!

If you have a chance you should really try and book an evening with Richard and Yara; you will be mesmerized! Also, the best Cachaça in Brazil apparently comes from a place called Salinas, so make sure to look or ask for a bottle coming from there when you order; it is not exported, so you can only get it in Brazil…

From Paraty we made our way to Angra dos Reis, where we parked the car and took a private boat transfer to the Pousada Estrela da Ilha (http://www.estreladailha.com/en/index.htm) at our next destination: Ilha Grande. Wikipedia says:

Ilha Grande is an island located off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, and part of the municipality of Angra dos Reis. The island is largely undeveloped and noted for its scenic beauty, which includes tropical beaches, luxuriant vegetation and a rugged landscape.

Ilha Grande is one of the most pristine remnants of Brazil's Atlantic rainforest, one of the richest ecosystems in the world and a hotspot for biodiversity and conservation. It holds some of the largest remaining populations of many endangered species, including the red-ruffed fruit crow (Pyroderus scutatus), the brown howler monkey (Alouatta fusca), the maned sloth (Bradypus torquatus) the red-browed Amazon parrot (Amazona rhodocorytha), and the broad-snouted cayman (Caiman latirostris). The seas around the island, which are also protected, feature a unique convergence of tropical, subtropical, and temperate-zone marine life, and may be the only waters in the world where it is possible to see corals and tropical fish along with Magellanic penguins and Southern right whales.

The entire island is a protected area, with most of its territory included in Ilha Grande State Park, and the rest subject to stringent development restrictions. Small-scale ecotourism, however, is encouraged, and the island, which is road-less and off-limits to cars, features over 150 km of hiking trails connecting the handful of coastal villages and hamlets where lodging is available, to each other and to the many beaches, mountain peaks, waterfalls, and pristine forests.

That about says enough I would say, except that it is a lot more fun exploring the island when the sun is out… Instead we had almost constant rain, which sadly forced us to stay indoors most of the time. However, we had one beautiful morning when we actually glimpsed some blue skies through scattered clouds, and took a beautiful walk along the Saco do Céu Bay, along the beaches of Caxadaco and Lopes Mendes. After that we took a boat across the bay and had a marvelous lunch (yes this trip was about eating and drinking mostly…) at the restaurant “Reis Magos”, apparently one of the best places out there for excellent sea food. Afterward the owners took us back to the Pousada in a small fishing boat, and even though the weather turned terrible immediately after our little outing, our day was made already and we spent the rest of the afternoon dozing in our hammocks, overlooking the bay, perfecting the art of doing nothing…

Next day we headed back to the coast to pick up the car and make our way to Rio de Janeiro. I have been there several times, but the place does not cease to amaze me. Not sure what to write about this trip, as this time I did not really go out much (yes it was still raining…), other than that the view from the pool bar on the roof of the Porto Bay International Rio Hotel we stayed at is excellent! I will give you a short recap (again Wikipedia helps out) in case you’ve never been (in which case you have to make sure to go very soon):

Rio de Janeiro ("River of January") is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1822 during the Portuguese colonial era, and from 1822 to 1960 as an independent nation. It is also the former capital of the Portuguese Empire. Commonly known as just Rio, the city is also nicknamed A Cidade Maravilhosa or "The Marvelous City."

Rio de Janeiro is famous for its natural settings, its carnival celebrations, samba, Bossa Nova and hotel-lined tourist beaches, such as Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon, along with its slums. Some of the most famous landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Christ, known as Christ the Redeemer ('Cristo Redentor') atop Corcovado mountain, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World; Sugarloaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) with its cable car; the Sambódromo, a giant permanent parade stand used during Carnival and Maracanã stadium, one of the world's largest football stadiums. Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Olympics, and will be the first South American city to host the event.

The city also boasts the largest and second largest urban forests in the world: Floresta da Tijuca, or "Tijuca Forest." and (almost connected to the first) the forest in Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca, or White Stone State Park.

This trip, apart from relaxing at the hotel and having too many Caipirinhas at the bar, we had another great culinary experience; Azul Marinho (check out reviews in Fodor’s Guide to Brazil). Located at the base of one of many hotels at Arpoador (which divides the neighborhoods of Copacabana and Ipanema), this little restaurant’s kitchen has blown the minds of many. We had a feast of individual stone grilled sea food dishes, including sea bass in rock salt, lobster, giant prawns, and the like, enjoying a street capoeira show before, and a beautiful sunset towards the end of the meal. Kristofer, our half Moroccan, half French waiter, deserves special praise as he made us feel like royalty during the entire evening. If you make it to Rio one of these days and manage to go for a bite at Azul Marinho, please send him my very best regards!

And that was already the last evening with my friends in Brazil. The next morning I got up at 6AM, had a light breakfast, checked out, got the car and drove straight back to Sao Paulo. A friend met me at Guarulhos airport and we had a spectacular lunch in Café Journal (www.cafejournal.com.br/), making it pretty much the best stop-over in a long time. After that I flew back home, back to Karin and the kids, back to my real life, the life I had missed dearly, but still with a taste of Brazil in my mouth…

I just checked out our web page for some info and came across this little gem: Tropical Treasures of Rio, Paraty and Ilha Grande. Seems there is more to do, more to see, more to enjoy…

Happy trails,

Bart

http://www.cat-travel/

Memory, Photography, and Machu Picchu

2009-02-03T14:16:00.005-03:00

Hi there to all of you. It has been a while since my last entry, but times have been and continue to be hectic, what, with the world crisis and all. More later on that boring but serious pit-bull-like subject… For now, on to more elevating stuff: www.fotomission.org!
People that know me will agree I am a lousy photographer. I actually prefer to travel without a camera, as looking at the world through a lens never was my greatest pleasure in life. I really love looking at pictures though, especially if they are good and/or about an area I have recently visited or about my past (so much has happened, so few memories) and so I am a photo fanatic nevertheless. Also, of course, travel and photography are as strongly linked as it is impossible for me to combine the two on a personal level. If it weren’t for Karin, who actually is a great photographer (most of our current best online pictures still come from her Nikon D80!), most of what we do (and sell) would have never made it to the public eye… Now that would have been a true disaster!

Travel photography of course plays an important role in a couple of our most-sold destinations: The Sacred Valley of the Incas and Machu Picchu. I have been there several times and all of my visits have been truly amazing, although tremendously different experiences:

Jan 6th, 1991, Ollantaytambo, Sacred Valley: Epiphany or Three Kings Day as it is better known in Peru. Took a cab to Ollanta to participate in the fiestas and enjoy endless quantities of “Chicha” (corn juice, fermented on human saliva additive; yummy!). Somehow made it up the fortress’ ruins and crashed out lying on one of those immense granite building blocks, only to wake up in the middle of the night from the reflective light of a huge full moon. The awe and absolute natural beauty of that moment stay with me to this day, but guess what…I had no camera!
• The only other time I have seen a moon like that was during another midnight escapade, this time to the Geysers of El Tatio in the Chilean part of the Atacama Desert in 2004. During that mind-boggling occasion I forgot to wake up Karin and, in addition to being punished for the rest of that trip, I again have no photographic evidence of what I witnessed.
Jan 10th, 1991, Machu Picchu, take 1: after a disastrously funny “San Pedro – hallucinogenic cactus experience” somewhere near a “temple of the moon”, I woke up sick, having to cancel my planned Inca Trail hike and take the train instead. Getting to see the ruins and somehow making it up to Wayna Picchu made more than made up for Montezuma’s bitter revenge. The view from up there I will never forget, but I would need to become a great painter to share it with you.
Sometime in 1995: First Inca Trail to Machu Picchu: those were the times when you could still do it yourself… so we each hoisted over 25kg of canned food, lighter fluid, cooking equipment, tents, hard liquor and yes, some cannabis on our backs and into the mountains we went. The first night it rained so hard that we literally had a small creek running through our tent. I woke up because Karin had managed to crawl on top of me in her sleep, avoiding the water from running into her sleeping bag. She slept straight through the event, but made it kind of difficult for me to forget the fact I was soaked and very, very cold. The second morning we had to climb some 2,200m (6,600ft) straight up to the infamous Dead Woman’s Pass, where Karin almost became a dead woman herself as she slipped and almost fell down a small crevasse. I’m not sure why, but I had been holding a flap on the back of her pack for quite some time already and managed to steady her before worse could happen. The images that stay with me though are those of the moss dangling in some seriously bewildering ways from the trees in the cloud forest we passed through on day 3. Fairytale type stuff, really, but still, somewhat regrettably, these images live on only in my mind.

I could go on and on, but that would be taking things out of perspective. Maybe one day I will share some of my earlier travel experiences with you, but for now, suffice it to say that sometimes it would have been great to have a camera on me with the actual knowledge on how to use it properly. Had I known the people from Fotomission years ago, I might have become a different type of traveler. Let me share with you some of their “About Us” page:

“Photography is a powerful language; it is the language of light. With it we strive to understand and shed light on the complexities of human activity, its dependence on its causes and in connection with its effects, not merely in relation to how it affects us as individuals, but our world as a whole.

No other form of communication or expression has done as much to transform our sense of self, our daily lives and our society as the photograph. Photography is probably the most influential medium of the modern era.

Fotomission is a volunteer operated non-profit organization dedicated to promoting as well as producing artistic and documentary exhibitions, publications and online presentations of significant and socially conscious photographic endeavors.

Our mission is to utilize artistic and documentary photography as a means of creating positive social change while at the same time promoting the art of photography.”

Pretty cool stuff! Take a look at the following link to get a better idea of a great tour these guys have set up and which might be a great tip for an upcoming photo-traveling experience: http://www.fotomission.org/expeditions/machu_picchu/index.html

Remember, May is a great time to visit Machu Picchu. It’s right after the rainy season and guarantees lush, green views and good temperatures, as well as good late afternoon and evening light for great picture taking. This is actually one of those gems when it comes to organized tours; well-organized, unique, very dedicated staff and great photographic memories for sure! Need I say more?
Happy Trails!
Bart

The OTHER Side of the Coin

2008-11-21T15:25:00.003-03:00

Hi there friends and fellow travelers,

It has been a while since we last met; I have been rather busy lately… (Yes, with the CRISIS.) Grrrr, what a gloomy word. There’s truth to it for sure and things are changing as we speak, but some of this ‘crisis’ is also inflated by the media to such a towering extent that sometimes I open the newspapers and feel the world has come to a full standstill and there is no way back or forth. There basically seems to be no other remedy than hide in our cellars and hope for a miracle to get us out of this mess. (Or that is what the media want us to believe because they are actually making money of this...)

I want to share with you two thoughts that I think are relevant in times like these. One is about the phenomena known as the “self-fulfilling prophecy” and the other is about the real face of this crisis.

The Self-fulfilling Prophecy of the Argentine Economy

Here in Argentina the local economy has developed a pretty strange tendency; it crashes around every 7 years, like really hard, then rapidly recovers, returns to pre-crash levels in no-time, overheats in a blink and then falls flat on its face before anyone notices (well, most people at least), only to roll over and begin the same process again. It seems we are following a somewhat biblical routine here, which has now become commonplace in Argentine society. So much has this jittery economic movement taken place in the hearts and minds of most Argentines that pre-crash capital flights caused by those fearing the next hit basically cause it to happen. The circle has become complete and everyone’s worst fears come true over and over again because hardly anyone here still believes that things could go any differently. The idea of economic stability is simply not logged into people’s minds here and therefore nobody will give that thought and -thus that potential reality- a chance. I will not go into the theories about this actually being a controlled economic movement; anyone who has been here for more than a week can come to their own conclusions. What I want to say is this: if you allow yourself to give away control over your life to your biggest fears, they will eventually take over and that what you dread the most will become your reality. It is as simple as that.

The Real Face of the Crisis

As you can see on our sites, we are a proud ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) member and yesterday I read an interesting article in ASTA’s Smartbrief, based on a lecture given by World Leisure Partners’ Chairman and CEO Adam Aron that I want to share with you. To me his speech was:

· Inspiring, because it confirmed my belief that in times like these, when the going gets tough, it is positive, pro-activeness that will pull you through. These are challenging times, sure, but when did anyone decide that a good challenge should be backed away from? I mean, these are the times we can really prove ourselves, focus on doing our absolute best and showing ourselves and the outside world what we are; a company with vision, a team with heart, a continent with passion, a place to recharge your batteries.

· Relieving, because after having read so much negative, sad and sorry stories about banks sliding, companies going bankrupt, people being laid off by the thousands and international travel bookings going down (which is of course the only thing that really interests us here!), for a moment I almost believed them, the commercial journalists that will prey on anything that smells like “crisis” these days, as that seems to be the only thing anyone wants to read about. To my great dismay, because even though I am reading about it as much as I can myself, I am constantly looking for positive signals, stuff I can use to help navigate our little company through the so-called storm. The mainstream media, however, seem to want us to wallow in distress for a little while longer. That is why it was a relief to read Mr. Aron’s take on things.

· Reassuring as it put me back in the driver’s seat of my reality, where I almost thought I had no control anymore, almost felt as if we were going to slide like everybody else and would need a miracle to be saved… BS my friends, really, and pardon my French, but we are in charge of our lives, or our work, of our reality and there are tons and tons of things we can do to take this situation and make it work for us.

Let me give you a short excerpt of what Mr. Aron said: (here goes the condensed version of the text I just sent you)

In this era of 24/7 news cycles, the current bad economic news gets magnified.

"Doom and gloom," said Aron, is what the media lives for -- so expect them to wallow in it as long as they can.

"The media will tell you that this recession will be the worst and the longest because things are different now and unlike other times, this time the doom and gloom is permanent."

He added: "In every recession that I have seen, that is always what the media says...but we always get out of it."

And they also say the boom times will never end, added Aron, recalling how a few years ago a Wall Street Journal article waxed optimistic that the business cycle had been eliminated because economists had figured it out.

There is a reason for business cycles, said Aron.

"Think about your own businesses. In the good times, we all get a little sloppy and take on more risk and don't watch pennies quite as closely as we are now."

Businesses hire more people than they really need, take risks they should not be taking and take on new costs that aren't justified.

"What happens is that fat, inefficiency, waste and risk creep into the system, because millions of businesses are doing this at the same time."

Eventually, the economy can't sustain the inefficiencies and outsized risks and "so it crashes," said Aron.

"Usually, there is a catalyst of some sort and clearly [in this cycle] the banks were lending money to people who should not have had such loans. Companies were leveraged way too much and individuals were taking on too much debt and the weight of all that crashed the system in a big way -- and quickly."

Aron recalled that last May and June everything was fine, but come September, "Armageddon was around the corner."

And just as in boom times, the actions of millions of businesses cutting costs to adjust to the downturn and consumers cutting back on spending all at the same time, threw the economy into recession.

Then at some "mystical point" after millions and millions of businesses and individuals have cut waste and costs, the economy "rises from the ashes."

The remarkable thing is that there is a simple explanation for the business cycle but you cannot predict how or when it will turn upward, said Aron.

But there have been benefits in the recent difficult times and a major one is the drop in the price of oil.

"Think of what a boon that is to the economy. Think how beneficial that is for consumers who were being stretched in July."

Aron did have a forecast: "As sure as we're sitting here, two years from now things will be rosy again" because downturns are usually six to 24 months long and good times three to six years.

Nice eh? A different and most definitely more realistic view, more pragmatic, more my way at least.

I hope I have managed to give you an idea of how I see this: we make our own reality and are capable to turn things in any direction we damn well please. Our brain is not much more than a (highly sophisticated; ok!) muscle which we train to send our body certain stimuli that make us walk, for example. Or sit behind a keyboard and write a piece of text and throw it online. Or read it. And when we read that piece of text (written by someone else for whatever reason) we have a free choice to take that information for granted or to reflect on it and make a proper decision on how it is we want to experience it, and what we want to do with it. And that in the end will greatly influence the way we live our lives… So my message to you today is this: Why don’t you put the paper aside today and get out there, play with your kids, score some goals, make some friends, have some fun, do some dancing in the rain (and look how the US Dollar is slowly gaining strength against the Argentine Peso and plan your next trip here! J). Two years from now this will all be behind us and things will be going boringly well again. For now let’s look at this crisis and make the best of it!

Thanks and may the force be with you…

Bart

I'm Back and Getting ready for the Cabrio Challenge...

2008-09-23T10:32:00.010-04:00

Hi there everyone,

Wow, 3 months went by in a flash! We were in Europe for the summer (doing some work, yes) and time just flew by. I cannot really recall what it was that kept us so busy for this period so that it flew by like it did, but hey, it was probably because we had so much fun! Anyway, it does explain my virtual absence in a way. I hope you enjoyed Sarah’s input last month!

As for me, I have been outdoors a lot lately, as detached from my laptop/the internet as I have ever been over the past 10 years, and you know what...it wasn’t so bad! Still, I'm glad to be back on the block now and writing to you because this coming Thursday I am leaving again to participate in the CABRIO CHALLENGE. This convertible car rally concept was set up last year by a small group of Dutch driving fanatics when they drove 20-some-odd cars from Amsterdam to Singapore. Now they have asked CAT-DMC to organize this year’s (and first) Latin American Edition! How cool is that? Of course I am thrilled to be a part of it and I will be sharing the fun with you while I am on the road. You can read my updates from the Cabrillo Challenge here:

http://www.catdmc.com/cabriochallenges/

Happy Trails!!

Bart

A Friend’s Secret Path to Machu Picchu…

2008-08-15T10:17:00.012-04:00

Greetings faithful readers and avid travelers! I have a special treat for you this month. As my travels have kept me particularly busy during the past few months, I’ve decided to hand over the blog to a special guest…

Recently I received a warm email from another travel-blogger named Sarah. She wrote to me and explained that she enjoys reading my Blog and asked if maybe I wouldn’t mind letting her guest post sometime. Well, I don’t mind at all! I have learned a lot from reading her blog, and I thought now would be the perfect opportunity for me to get you acquainted with her thoughts. I mean, no one has done and seen it all, right? I only sit here, writing from my little ivory tower and it certainly does not hurt to bring a fresh perspective into the discussion…

Sarah maintains her impressive travel blog over at the “My Backpacking Buddies” site: http://www.mybackpackingbuddies.com/blogs/. I recommend checking it out whenever you can. Her entry that follows details a little known, but well worth the effort, “off the beaten track” route to Machu Picchu. Since Machu Picchu is the most popular destination for tourists/travelers in all of South America, it’s great to have an alternate, more unique, not to mention more scenic, route there. “The road less traveled…” as they say.

Sarah’s recommendation (see below) looks enticing. I’m very well going to try and check it out next time I’m en route to Machu Picchu!

Keep on traveling,

Bart

The following entry was written by Sarah from My Backpacking Buddies Blog at http://www.mybackpackingbuddies.com/blogs/.

Taking the long way to Machu Picchu.

I have a tip to share with you about a slow but beautiful way to reach Machu Picchu.

I'm talking about a three days trek that was built by an Israeli tourist and if you choose to believe the reports of people that have done it, is the most beautiful way to travel there, and it is relatively cheap as well.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Take the bus from Cusco to Santa Maria – it is a 5.5 hours drive – last bus is at 21:30.

2. From Santa Maria there are transits waiting to take you to a town called Hydro-electric, or to a small town half an hour from there where you can change transits.

3. Find the railroads and very carefully walk for 200 meters until you see a sign telling you to climb the stairs. If you miss it you might find yourself at the Jungle so stay focused. After 6 minutes climbing you reach another railroads.

4. Walk along the railroads for 3 hours (8 km') until you arrive at Aguas Calientes, a stunningly beautiful town from which you start the journey to Machu Picchu. Turn left and start walking.

5. It is already afternoon so you can climb to Machu Picchu and return on the same road early morning or choose the option of finding a cheap hostel nearby and relax at the hot springs nearby.

6. Take the 5:30 bus to Machu Picchu as you'll need your strength for the additional climbing at the location itself. It is recommended to visit the nearest mountain first – entrance is limited for 400 people a day for preservation purposes. The entrance fee includes both mountains.

7. Enter Machu Picchu and when you want to return you can easily walk the way back to Aguas Calientes as it is an easy walk.

8. When leaving Aguas Calientes plan to reach the last bus from Santa Teresa so you can catch the 20:00 bus to Cusco.

The trek is fun, easy, economical, and most importantly, is the most scenic route possible to Machu Picchu.

Saludos,

Sarah

http://www.cat-travel.com/

Travel and Romance?

2008-06-04T14:49:00.008-04:00

Hi there fellow travel fanatics,

Going out on a limb a little here, I want to share with you some reflections on travel and relationships. A short while ago I received a response to one of my earlier entries from somebody asking how my wife and I manage to be working and travelling together so intensively and still maintain a healthy relationship, and whether it was a good idea for a new couple to travel together. I was first kind of surprised and not sure what to write back, but then I realized I actually had some thoughts about the matter to share with her. Also, she had the courage to approach a stranger for advice and I found that to be pretty amazing, so I decided to tell her about some of my personal experiences and ideas. I never expected her reaction to it to be as positive as it turned out to be so I asked her if she would mind me sharing this reply with all of you. She agreed, so here goes.

I realize this is not what you are used to read on this spot, but I hope you will like it anyway. Or not, but that is a risk I am willing to take. In that case I promise to get back on the road ASAP!

Still, in the end this is my blog and it reflects my thoughts on travel, so why not a little bit about life as well? Let me know what you think; maybe we have found some ground for an entirely new set of entries!

Looking forward to your feedback, as ever…

Dear …..

Thanks for your message and also for your trust in my perspective on things. I must say I am a bit overwhelmed by the idea of giving you advice on how to manage your relationship through something like a trip around the world. I will be happy to share with you some of my personal experiences, but would strongly urge you to rely on your own insights, feelings and capability to make your own decisions before acting upon what I tell you.

Relationships are a very funny thing to begin with. They are nothing more and nothing less than the product of two people wanting to be together. In my opinion many people overestimate the power of a relationship and too many people seem to be dependent on their relationships, whereas a relationship is nothing in itself really; it is merely a name, given to a social state of mind because two or more people decide to interact for a certain period of time (which might be for life, of course). What I try to say is that a relationship exists because you and your partner want it to exist. You do not depend on it; it depends on you. That means the power is in your hands, at least partially; as long as you and your partner are convinced you want to move on together, the relationship will continue to exist.

From personal experience I can tell you that a relationship is something that needs constant care. As soon as the first weeks of butterflies etc are over, you will basically have to work on it on a daily basis. Well not on the relationship, but on how you decide you want to relate to your partner and how you wish him to relate to you. Being two existentially different beings form the start, a relationship implies making concessions, to yourself and to your partner. The way in which you both manage this, how much you want to remain “yourself” and how much you allow your partner to be “himself” combined with how much you both are willing to give in to one another on that front, will define the nature of your relationship as well as the durability of it. I have been in the same relationship for over 14 years and we have gone through all kinds of experiences, good and bad, internal and external, and there have been many situations that could have broken us up, bit in the end, we somehow always managed to come out of them stronger. I guess that has much to do with the both of us being convinced we really want to be and remain together and always being open to discuss openly what it is that is bothering us, to communicate about practically everything in order to make sure we maintain the balance between our personalities that keeps us together.

Traveling together (especially for a longer period of time) can lay some serious strain on a relationship, because it is about intense, continuous being together in all kinds of situations that are not common, may require you to learn new skills, adapt to new surroundings and influences, and demands a high level of flexibility on both partners. In 1990/91 I traveled together with a friend for 4 months through Latin America and we split up halfway because we couldn’t stand each other anymore. Still, we met again at the end of the trip, flew back home together and have been good friends ever since. On the other hand, Karin and I travel together all the time and it is actually the thing that binds us most. It is travel that brought us together and while travelling we feel closest to one another.

Now, knowing this, would it be smart for you to go on a journey around the world together, being your age and having been together as ‘shortly’ as you have been. I am close to being married for 10 years, so I feel somewhat like a grandpa here which is something very difficult to comment on. I would say that if there is anything that would show the durability of a relationship it would be travel. Once you get to the point you are thinking about being together for a longer time, a nice long trip might just be what you need to find out if you are really meant for each other. It will force the two of you to get to know each other very well very soon. I would say it is the perfect way to find out about things that in ‘normal everyday life’ would perhaps take much more time to come to the surface and therefore, if it does not work out, it might very well not have worked out in the long run. If it does work out well, you are probably capable to withstand many situations together, which makes it very well possible you are a strong couple. But, having said this, I must admit that to “travel that road” you need to be willing to put things to the test, willing to take the chance that it might not work out and accept that possible outcome. It means you need to be sure of yourself, not depending on your partner, and willing to try out life without fear. For me there is no other way; I find it liberating and extremely comforting to know that my life is about me and that in order for me to be able to give love to my partner I first need to love myself and vice versa.

I think in order to live life to the fullest you should not shy away from the possibility of new experiences, such as a nice long trip. On the other hand, you should not make this trip out of fear of losing your boyfriend; you should make it only if the idea of it appeals to you; if you would make such a trip on your own or with anyone else, because you feel motivated to do so. If not, then don't go.

As you see it is a bit difficult to tell you what to do because it basically all depends on you. I would not make a trip of this nature just because your boyfriend wants to, especially if you do not feel like it. Still, if you want to travel too, but are afraid it might put too much strain on your relationship, then you may want to think about your goal with it. A long-term relationship thrives on knowing, accepting and respecting each other. Travel can be a fine way of getting to know each other better, but it can also end things pretty drastically. In the end it is about you; are you up for that? Do you prefer to know where you stand in your life and with respect to your (future) partner and take some risks while finding out, or do you feel better taking things easy and see how they glide along? None of these approaches is any better than the other.

Please think this over thoroughly and try to figure out what it is YOU want out of this life, this relationship. Once you have that clear, the decision will be a lot easier to make.

Happy trails

Bart

www.cat-travel.com

Cusco Dining – The Top Five Eateries in the Ancient Inca Capital

2008-03-14T14:01:00.008-03:00

Well – I thought I’d follow up my last Lima Restaurant entry with a write up about my favourite Cusco Restaurants. Cusco, the capital of the ancient Inca Empire is a Mecca for any tourist traveling to Latin America. The old citadel – surrounded by numerous ruins that stand testament to the ingenuity and everlasting legacy of the Inca – has a number of very fine restaurants on offer. From traditional Andean cuisine to modern Spanish culinary delights, there is a never ending amount of cuisine available for the travelers looking for a good meal in the city. So here they are – my Desert-Island All Time Top Five Cusco eateries in no particular order (except perhaps for the first which is my favourite):

Cicciolina’s
Cicciolina’s is Cusco best known and highest rated restaurant. Both the food and service are excellent. With great views over the crisscrossing street so of Cusco, the restaurant has some fantastic decoration that creates a warm and welcoming ambiance. The menu is made up of mainly Mediterranean dishes, many made with traditional ingredients. The salads are simply delicious and the homemade pastas are superb.

Tikka
A small bistro nestled in a corner of San Blas; it is located directly next door to Boutique Hotel Casa San Blas, a warm dining room atmosphere. The cuisine you’ll find at Tika is unlike anything you have ever tasted, combining Thai and Vietnamese flavors and cooking techniques with traditional Peruvian ingredients. Prepare to be pleasantly surprised with new flavors and combinations. Chill out ambiance music gives a nice rest from the traditional panpipes so commonly hard all over the city.

Jack’s Cafe
Jack’s Café is a great place for vegetarians, as they order huge salads, and a wide variety of cooked dishes made only with vegetables. The restaurant has a special hot chocolate which is very worthwhile. They have a neat ginger tea, which has an interesting taste, and it’s very good to ward off any colds. The menu is extensive—with a variety of sandwiches, salads, soups, and main dishes. The restaurant uses homemade bread to make their sandwiches and this is especially delicious!

Baco
Baco has the best wine selection in town. The restaurant provides a warm, relaxed atmosphere, entirely decorated in wood and iron, where you can enjoy finger foods like their grilled seafood platter, gourmet pizzas or the finest Argentinean beef in red wine and mushroom sauce, all cooked with the restaurant’s own particular fusion style. Also available is a series of grilled veggies platter. Open Monday to Saturday from 6pm to 11pm

Incanto
This restaurant opened in June 2006 and was built within an old Inca palace, magnificently located only a few meters away from the main square. Contemporary and minimalist, Incanto offers over 80 dishes with an Italian influence and often involving the grill, creatively infused with typical Peruvian ingredients. Their aji de gallina ravioli and smoked trout fetuccini are great examples of their accomplishments in fusion cuisine. Also try their entrees and grilled dishes like the Alpaca loin. The glass-encased kitchen and live harp music give Incanto a unique, classic touch among Cusco’s finest restaurants. Open Monday to Sunday from 10.30am to 11pm .

I hope this information helps any travelers heading to Cusco who'd be looking to eat well. As always - please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about traveling in the area.

Bart