The Atacama Desert and Astronomical Thoughts....

The Atacama Desert of northern Chile is reputedly the driest place on earth. Many people living in this area have never seen rain. We docked at Arica and drove through the desert to visit the native village of Codpa. Arica just lost its “driest spot in the world” honor to another place in the Atacama because they recently had a few drops of rain. The annual rainfall is .4 mm (.016 inches). It’s a relatively narrow desert, however. We drove about 70 miles from the coast and had already passed into the pre-Andean region, where there are actually small plants and cacti. In the center of the desert, there is NO LIFE. NASA sent the Mars Rovers here to test them and they found NO LIFE!

The desert does have several fertile valleys, however, where small rivers from the Andes head toward the sea. Most dry up before they reach the sea, but they do provide some areas where modest amounts of water enable habitation. Pictures 1 and 2 show a couple of these valleys. The 3^rd picture shows a “field” of rock cairns. Long ago, nomads and shepherds would drive animals to the sea from the Andes and would leave cairns to mark their route home. Today these mark tourist routes through the desert. We were actually traveling the Pan-American Highway through the desert—a good 2-lane road.

The Atacama is a high dessert. At one point we were approximately 8500 feet above sea level. The cactus in picture 4 is a Candelabra Cactus and only grows above 8000 feet. While it looks vaguely related to our saguaro cactus, it grows much higher—the saguaro tops out at about 4500 feet.

At Codpa we were on the eastern edge of the desert. Picture 5 shows the river that enables people to live there, along with the canal to the left that provides some irrigation. Picture 6 shows the interior of their church. Note the holes in the roof—not much rain here!!!

Back on the ship, we noticed a flock (herd? Pod?) of the jellyfish shown in picture 7—quite lovely creatures.

I mentioned in an earlier post that we have been having astronomy lectures. It’s hard to get your head around numbers such as the number of galaxies, the widths of galaxies and the distances from us—how do you measure billions of light years? Today we had an entire lecture on black holes. We went in determined to understand what a black hole is and what goes on inside it. We came away somewhat smarter about what it is, but still don’t know what goes on inside. But we’re in good company. Astronomers don’t know what goes on inside. There’s a constant amount of energy in the universe and what goes in can’t just disappear—it has to come out somewhere. Some astronomers are starting to throw out “white holes” to explain how it gets out. Time travel even gets raised as a possibility.  “Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away….”

Peru--It's More Than the Incas!

We made 2 stops in Peru: Trujillo in the north and Lima. Interestingly, at both stops we focused on the pre-Inca civilization and were amazed at how interesting it was—equally as interesting as the Incas (other than Machu Picchu.).

Along the coast, Peru gets little rain—although it is generally cloudy with relatively high humidity 5 months of the year. Weather comes from east to west and all the water gets dumped in the Amazon and on the slopes of the Andes. The first picture shows the view from the Salaverry port near Trujillo—brown and dry, other than small patches where it is irrigated.    

The second picture shows one of the palaces in the Chan Chan complex, near the ocean in Trujillo. This is the capital of the ancient Chimu Empire and is 1000 years old. Chan Chan had a population of 50,000-60,000 people and covered approximately 8 square miles. Within Chan Chan, 9 palaces have been discovered that were built for each ruler once the previous ruler died. Close friends, military leaders and family were sacrificed and buried with the leader in his palace and that palace was abandoned. Approximately 1200 people lived in each palace, so each was a small city in itself.  The palaces were built of adobe. This was a very sophisticated society that built wells and canals from natural springs.

We then traveled to the beach to see boats built in the ancient style (picture 3). These were built of reeds, floated on top of the water and were capable of traveling long distances, carrying goods to markets.

We were in Lima for 2 days and had 2 great experiences. We visited a typical upper-class home in downtown Lima—Casa Aliaga. The house was originally given to the Aliaga family in 1535 by Pizarro, the conquistador who became the president of Peru in the 16^th century. It has been in that family for 16 generations. Unfortunately, lighting and size of rooms did not allow for good pictures. It had a very plain façade on the street, but once inside, had lovely courtyards and rooms with beautiful furnishings that had been imported from Europe.

We also visited the Larco Herrera Museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of pre-Columbian art. Pictures 4 and 5 show pottery pieces (jugs or musical instruments?) that were buried with people and show what the person looked like.  When people died they were mummified in a fetal position and left to dry out for 60-70 days. During the mummification period the pottery pieces and other items that would be buried with the person were made and collected.  When the mummy was ready to be buried, it was enclosed with much padding in fabric that looked like clothing (picture 6), a mask that looked like the person placed over his face and a feathered hat placed on his head.

The museum also had a wonderful collection of jewelry. Picture 7 shows the nose and ear decorations for men. The ear pieces went through the ear with a shaft about an inch wide (ouch!). The nose pieces somehow magically stayed on the nose—don’t understand.

Finally, the last picture shows one of the storerooms. Unlike most museums, the pieces not on permanent display are crowded into glass-fronted cases so you can see them. There were at least 6 storerooms with floor-to-ceiling artifacts. Truly amazing!!!

The Fauna of Ecuador

One day in Ecuador—we stopped in Guayaquil. The visit confirmed why this is not a major destination. It’s the gateway to the Galapagos, but otherwise, there’s not much there. There are few buildings of historical significance and nothing that’s pretty. Why did we stop? Some people left the boat for a few days to see Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands for a few days. Since we have been to both of those, we “enjoyed” Guayaquil.

We did find their Historical Park, which turned out to be a bit of a bright spot. It had a small, but interesting, zoo of animals found in Ecuador.  Our favorites:

·      A beautiful little parrot (picture 1).

·      2-toed sloths that are about the size of a large house cat (picture 2).

·      Mama and baby Peccaries (picture 3).

·      Tapirs (picture 4).

We have a brief stop in Trujillo, Peru and then on to Lima for 2 days. More later….

Embrera Indian Village

What an amazing cultural experience. We kept waiting for something touristy to happen, but it didn’t. It was the real deal!

We took a bus for about 1.5 hours out of Panama City, getting on smaller and smaller roads. Then we boarded dugout canoes—real trees hollowed to hold 8-10 people. They did have a motor on back, which is a good thing. We traveled by canoe 45 minutes up the Chagres River to an Embera Indian Village—we would have never gotten there rowing! There are no roads—travel by water is the only access. This is deep in the Panamanian jungle. Picture 1 shows our transportation.

The village had no electricity The houses (picture 2) varied from planed boards to logs, built 10-12 feet off the ground, so they don’t have to worry about tarantulas and snakes (very venomous—like the bushmaster). The houses have roofs and half walls, letting the air flow through. There are large roof overhangs because it rains—a lot!

Clothing for the tribe consists of rectangular pieces of cloth. The men wear a loincloth and crossed, beaded necklaces. Most women are topless, although some have constructed a beaded bra-like top. Women wrap a large rectangular cloth around their waist. Children dress like adults. All go barefoot. They use a semi-permanent dye (lasts about a week) to put designs on their bodies. Conveniently, it also seems to be an insect repellent.

No one has a job. The men hunt and fish, providing their protein: fish, armadillo, deer and the occasional wild boar. Their other main staple is the plantain (similar to a banana). They don’t have dishes—all food is served on plantain leaves. They prepared a simple lunch of fish and smashed and fried plantains (picture 3). 

Bringing tourists to the village is the only source of money for this tribe. Everyone contributes crafts, which are sold to the tourists. Men do wood carving and seed carving. The seeds are orange-sized and, when carved, look like ivory. The women make monkey masks and baskets from woven reeds, with colors found naturally.

The children play with the village ball—one boy was kicking it, very much like soccer. They play games—we saw one using stone to draw in the sand. Everyone dances (picture 4).

There is one 2-holed outhouse.

All children attend a school some distance away through 6^th grade. To go beyond that, they must leave the village and almost no one leaves. Our guide was Embera, growing up in another village. He left the village, finished high school and 2 years of college in Oregon. His stories and experiences were amazing.

How fortunate we were to have had a day like this (picture 5).

The Panama Canal

You try to be nonchalant about the Panama Canal—just another canal, locks, been there, done that elsewhere—but you can’t. It’s a truly amazing construction that would be a huge job in 2012. But it was completed in 1914—pretty clever those Americans.

Christopher Columbus landed in Panama on his 4^th trip to the New World. The Natives told him about the “big water” to the west. He asked if there was gold and silver; they said no; he left. Balboa finally discovered the Pacific going across Panama in 1513. Ever since then, people have understood the importance of crossing that narrow stretch of land. First the Spaniards would load Incan gold and silver on a ship in the Pacific, send it north, traverse the isthmus via mule and load it on a ship in the Atlantic. The reverse would happen in the 1850s, when gold miners flocked to California. The French made the first attempt at a canal in the 1880s, under the lead of Ferdinand de Lesseps, who built the Suez Canal. Unfortunately, they lacked the techniques and were plagued by malaria and yellow fever.  After 20,000 deaths they abandoned the plan.

Building a Canal was Teddy Roosevelt’s top priority and he negotiated with Columbia (there was no country of Panama at that time) to give America the right to build and control forever. Columbia said no. So, while not well-documented, it appears that TR talked some revolutionary sorts into breaking away from Columbia and forming a new country of Panama (with or without American help, who knows?), which occurred in 1903. Construction began shortly thereafter and, after a few personnel changes, was completed by the Army Corp of Engineers, headed by George Washington Goethals, in 1914. The canal was returned to Panama in 1999.

The first decision was what type of canal to build. The Suez Canal was a sea-level canal—digging and blasting enough earth to allow ships to sail end-to-end without locks. But the Suez Canal, between the Mediterranean and Red Seas, worked at sea level because there were small similar tides at both ends. The tides in the Atlantic are larger and the ones in the Pacific are even larger. So it was decided that it couldn’t be built at sea level and would require 3 locks at either end, to raise or lower a ship 85 feet.

To supply the locks with a constant supply of gravity-fed water, the Chagres River was dammed in 2 places to create a large reservoir (the world’s largest) between the locks. The canal crosses an unbelievably dense jungle, where over 200 inches of rain fall a year, creating a good supply of water. The humidity is amazing—makes NC look like a “dry heat”!

The current locks are 110 feet wide and 1000 feet long. Ships up to 106 feet wide may traverse the canal—pretty tight fit! Our smaller ship had about 8 feet of clearance on either side. Each ship is attached to a series of “mules”—electrically-powered train-like devices that actually do the driving through the locks. There’s a pilot that boards the boat and directs the “mules”. Between the sections of locks are Lake Gatun and some narrowly-carved cuts through the mountains.

We entered the first lock on the Atlantic side at about 7:30 AM. Picture 1 shows the two ships ahead of us. (Ships can go in both directions, but for today, at least, ships entered from both oceans in the morning, passed in Lake Gatun and exited in the afternoon.) Picture 2 shows the “mules” pulling us—we had 3 on each side, 2 in front and 1 in back. Picture 3 shows us entering the 1^st lock, while the ships in front of us are in the 2^nd lock. Note the gates and road across the canal opening for us.  Picture 4 shows that there’s not much clearance.

We ate lunch while crossing Lake Gatun and now, in pouring rain, we’re in the final lock at about 4:00 PM. We should be docked in Panama City at about 7:00PM. Picture 5 shows us exiting the first set of 3 locks and entering Lake Gatun. You can see the ships that have preceded us and those waiting to head to the Atlantic.  Picture 6 shows the Culebra Cut—the most difficult area to blast. The mountain that was cut off is the continental divide in this part of Panama. Finally, picture 7 shows the ship next to us in lock number 5. You can see that we’ve already lowered, while she is being positioned by the mules.

In today’s world, there are many ships that are too large to transit the canal. The project to expand the canal is underway and scheduled to be completed in 2014. 6 new parallel locks are being constructed that will be 1400 feet long and 180 feet wide. Water-reutilization basins are also being constructed, along with massive  pumps, that will allow up to 60% of the water to be reused. Some of the narrow cuts along the current canal are also being widened to be at least 500 feet wide.

About 14,000 ships traverse the canal each year. The average cost for each ship is $54,000. The most expensive ship was one of the Disney cruise ships, which cost about $250,000. The least expensive sum ever paid was 36 cents, charged to Richard Halliburton in 1928, when he swam from one end to the other.

At Sea

It’s a cloudy, windy day in the Caribbean Sea as we sail toward the Panama Canal.  The picture  is the Miami skyline as we sailed by just after sunset. It’s hard to imagine that a week ago southern Florida was being severely impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy did not cause our flight to Ft. Lauderdale to be canceled. It did, however, impact 35 of our shipmates, who were on the previous sailing of our ship, which came though Sandy on its way from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale. Instead of going to Martha’s Vineyard and Charleston as they were supposed to, they headed far out to sea—taking the long way around. Given the size of Sandy, however, they were unable to escape its fury, encountering 25+-foot seas for the better part of 2 days.  It sounds like almost everyone was seasick and many people suffered falling out of bed. We are much more fortunate.

Interesting day at sea. One lecturer this morning discussed the Caribbean Sea and Christopher Columbus, who sounds like a bit of a bungler. He died, not realizing that he had discovered a new world.  He thought he had gone to the Fareast and just missed the rich part! Fortunately, others pursued the adventure following him, but it was almost 100 year later that the richness of the New World was appreciated.

We also have an astronomer on board, who talked about comets and asteroids and presented some amazing photographs. Many of the photographs are from NASA, which provides an astronomy picture of the day at apod.nasa.gov. Unfortunately, the lecture supported the theory that girls don’t enjoy science and math like boys. The Columbus lecture had more girls than boys, while the astronomy lecture had twice as many boys as girls. Sad…. This girl had a great time!

More when we get to Panama.

South American Adventure--Part 1

We travel to Ft. Lauderdale 10/31 to have stone crabs and then leave on a 33-day adventure to Buenos Aires aboard Seabourn's Sojourn. Part 2 will be in March when we fly to buenos Aires to complete the circumnavigation of South America. Let the packing adventure begin--current temperatures in Panama are in the 90s, current temperatures at the southern tip of South America are 50ish. Our itinerary for Part 1 is as follows:

11/1		Ft. Lauderdale
11/2		At sea (Florida Strait)
11/3		At sea (Carribean Sea)
11/4		At sea
11/5		Cruising Panama Canal
11/6		Fuerte Amador, Panama
11/7		At sea
11/8		At sea--cross the equator
11/9		Guayaquil, Ecuador
11/10		At sea
11/11		Salaverry (Trujillo), Peru
11/12		Callao (Lima), Peru
11/13		Callao (Lima), Peru
11/14		At sea
11/15		Arica, Chile
11/16		Iquique, Chile
11/17		At sea
11/18		At sea
11/19		Valparaiso (Santiago), Chile
11/20		At sea
11/21		Scenic Cruising Reloncavi Sound
		Puerto Montt, Chile
11/22		Castro, Isla Chiloe, Chile
		Scenic Cruising Gulf of Corcovado
11/23		Puerto Chacabuco, Chile
11/24		Chilean Fjords
11/25		Amalia Glacier
		Scenic Cruising Canal Sarmiento
11/26		Strait of Magellan
		Punta Arenas, Chile
11/27		Scenic Cruising Beagle Channel
11/28		Ushuaia, Argentina
11/29		Passing Cape Horn
11/30		Pt. Stanley, Falkland Islands
12/1		At sea (Atlantic Ocean)
12/2		At sea
12/3		Montevideo, Uruguay
12/4		Buenos Aires, Argentina
		Buenos Aires (EZE)-Miami (MIA)
12/5		MIA-RDU