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Cuzco, Peru, children, click for a large picture

La Paz, Bolivia, "magic market" for traditional healers, click for larger picture

A FEW ANECDOTES, COUNTRIES AND CULTURES, VOL. III

SOUTH AMERICA

Bolivia. In La Paz we stayed in an older hotel. The community toilet, down the hall, had cut pieces of newspapers and hung them on a nail, for toilet paper. Toilet paper was scarce and expensive in Latin America 30 years ago. Below our room was a popular restaurant and bar. Every evening it played peña folklorica music until the wee small hours. The beat is hypnotizing, we couldn’t resist dancing while our young sons slept. Men made the music with quenas or bamboo flutes, charangos or stringed instruments, and bombos or drums.

Chile. In Santiago we moved into a big room on the top floor of the residencial, a family hotel. Three rooms were vacant. The only other guest on that floor was la señorita. She was 23 or 24 years old, fairly attractive, but she had no regular man friend. When an aunt died she left her entire estate to the niece. La señorita decided that she would move to la capital, Santiago, and attend art school. Like children everywhere, our sons, ages eight and ten, learned to adapt. One of their favorite sports was dropping parachutes, made from my bandannas and a man made from Lego® blocks, from the top floor of our residencial. I noticed maids and guests on five floors of balconies watching the parachutes float down in the inner court. The boys were popular, with blue eyes and hair bleached to blond by the sun. La señorita liked to play with them, she sometimes volunteered to take care of them in the afternoon or evening when my wife and I went out for a few hours. Santiago had a problem with a scarcity of fresh water, like much of Latin America. Sometimes not even a trickle came out of the 4th floor faucets. I learned to shower during siesta time when most people were napping. Water pressure was greater. One day I slipped away while my wife and sons were napping, to take a shower. I saw la señorita coming out of the shower. I waited just beyond the door to her room for her to pass down the narrow hallway. When she saw me she hit the belt on her bathrobe. It fell open, revealing two big breasts, each with a brown ring. As it opened wider I noticed a thick black patch of hair between her legs. She reached her door and stood in the doorway, holding it open. Her bed was a few steps beyond. I glanced up, noticing that her eyes were fixed upon mine, a Mona Lisa smile was on her lips. I hesitated a moment, then left to take my cold shower.

Argentina. We had made several trips to Argentina. A few years ago we flew from Buenos Aires to Córdoba, then rode in a van for 200 miles to participate in an Earthwatch project in the Andes foothills. On a hot day the pilot and copilot kept the cabin door of the jet open to get more air. Several passengers chatted with them. For a long time they chatted with a pretty young mother with a baby in her arms. The baby kept trying to push the pretty buttons on the ceiling. My wife and I stayed two weeks on a ranch in northwest Argentina with a group of young men, women, and families, from many countries. We made several group walks in the "field." After awhile we reached a picnic table and statue high in a small cave of Mary (la Virgincita). Earlier the site was a sacred place for Indians, they made holes in a big flat rock for grinding grain with a pestle. Our local leader asked us to remain quiet after that. We stopped at another big rock near a stream. Our leader asked us to close our eyes and listen, then to open eyes intermittently, then to open eyes but put fingers in ears, to concentrate on nature. Vultures circled overhead, wondering if we were ready to be eaten. We then, in groups of three, chose a plant and tried to talk with and listen to it. Our plant couldn't speak any of my five languages.

French Guiana. We heard that a group of young Air France employees, men and women, were organizing a trip on two jungle rivers. My wife and I are fluent in French and were permitted to go with them. Once we hiked a trail to a waterfall on a hot muggy day. They wanted to cool off and play on a rock slide at the end of a pool. No one had a swim suit. Someone said pas de problème. Soon they were all frolicking in the water, wearing only birthday suits. More practical than puritan, the américain and américaine decided to join them.

Central America

Costa Rica. We had stayed in a pension in San Jose, in the highlands, for two weeks. We decided to take the “Jungle Train” down to the low Caribbean coast one weekend. It made 56 stops in less than 150 miles. We called several hotels in Puerto Limón, they were full. The manager of our pension advised us to go anyway, “you can always find a room.” We watched as local people carrying baskets of fruit, chickens, or live pigs boarded the train and left a few stations downhill. Vendors squeezed through the crowded aisle. Arriving after dark, we made the rounds of all the known hotels. They were full, for the national sports competition. I began to eye park benches, but my wife hadn’t slept on one before. Finally we saw a little sign “Hotel Nuevo Limón”-- New Lemon Hotel. It was well named. The manager said she had only one room left. She said we would have to pay for all four beds--old army cots--75 cents each. The room had only a bare bulb--no towels, they “used to provide towels but they were ripped off.” However, she loaned us her family’s striped tiger towel--it was damp, from what? My cot collapsed. Before I again fell asleep the manager said “we need one of your beds.” Twenty or more youths would sleep on the big porch, with radios and TV blaring. Soon after they were turned off the roosters began to crow. There was only one sink, with cold water and no mirror. We waited for most of the youths to leave, then I began to shave, holding my little hand mirror. The manager said they had an emergency, they needed the faucet to fill the washing machine. Rather than shave in the shower, I waited for the faucet.

Caribbean

St. Croix, Virgin Islands. Christiansted is a picturesque Danish town, with concrete buildings built to withstand hurricanes. Most buildings are painted yellow, like many in Denmark. The Christiansted Order of Police wear a Tee shirt with COP in big letters.

North America

Mexico. Like most Latin Americans, they love holidays. On October 31 children with jack o' lanterns asked for candy. Some wear skeleton costumes and masks designed for the next two days, the dias de los mortes or Days of the Dead, something like Halloween in the U.S.A. The holidays are a blend of an ancient pre-Spanish holiday and All Saints' Day, celebrated in many countries on November 1, honoring saints of the past. On that day Mexicans make fun of death. They eat pan de muerto, a special kind of bread. After a Thanksgiving-type of feast some families leave food out overnight for the souls of the dead and insects to enjoy.

Quebec My wife and I studied French three summers and one spring at the University of Quebec, and another summer at Laval University, while we lived with local families. When we hiked in Pointe-Taillon National Park on the shore of big Lake St. Jean I noticed a big group of nude young men and women lying in the sun, or playing volleyball. One attractive talented young woman played volleyball, bouncing around. A sign in French stated that public nudity is a criminal offense, subject to a fine and jail. A young park ranger sat nearby a long time, studying the law-breakers. I decided to stay awhile and help him observe the law-breakers.

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COUNTRIES and CULTURES of the WORLD, THEN and NOW, VOL. III

by Wesley M. Wilson

ISBN # 57087-304-6, 444 pages plus index and 56 black and white photographs, with captions, 6 X 9 inches (15 X 22.5 cm)

NEW LOW PRICE $18 per volume, or $42 for all 3 volumes + $2 per vol. P and H in USA

To order books: from Professional Press, P.O. Box 4371, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-4371, checks or major credit cards OK, Tel. 1-800-277-8960, FAX (919) 942-3094, M-F 9:00 to 5:00
From the author, checks only, e-mail, weswilson@highstream.net
Or any bookstore [Ingram]

In this volume the author takes us to every country in SOUTH AMERICA and CENTRAL AMERICA. We learn how they are so different from each other, although all except five countries use Spanish as their official language. We learn why the Catholic Church, dictators, and the military have played such an important role. We read how the native Amerindians have often maintained their separate cultures in many countries, and how they have had to integrate with the mainstream in others. We go with the author to Inca ruins in Cuzco and Macchu Picchu, on boats on the Amazon and other rivers, to isolated jungle villages, to a ranch in Argentina, to a desert where it never rains, to the cold Andes, and to graceful dances in cities. We go to many islands in the WEST INDIES. The author recently visited Cuba, talking freely in fluent Spanish with many people. We learn how socialism has helped and hurt Cuba. We learn the background of the blockade by the USA and what will probably happen if is lifted.

Mexico, the important neighbor adjoining the U.S.A., represents all of Latin America--its problems, great poverty and wealth, corruption, an uncertain future, and great tourist sites. Canadians are in many ways similar to people in the U.S.A., yet they are are proud of their differences. The author studied four summers in French-speaking universities in Quebec, while living with local families. He and his wife have also driven the Alcan Highway, and the Trans-Canada Highway from Newfoundland through Vancouver Island. The author looks at the future of Quebec and Canada.

This volume describes travels in ALL 50 STATES OF THE U.S.A., from the point of view of a world traveler. The author describes visits to nearly all national parks, from Florida to Alaska, and California to Maine. After a capsule history of the U.S.A. in 10 pages he compares the economy and culture of the U.S.A. with that of Europe.

Vol. III cover Peru, Amazon "school bus"

[Excerpt, P. 28-39, Peru, Travels]

At the airport [in Lima, Peru] the check in line moved slowly. The man ahead of us was moving, carrying his household goods to the jungle. His rooster in a bamboo cage kept crowing, drowning out conversation. There was no examination or x-ray of people or baggage. Our small jet left on time, at 6:45 A.M. The overcast changed to broken clouds over the snowy Andes. Soon we saw lakes, then jungle, with meandering rivers. I talked with a passenger, a Peruvian naval pilot, who said that he is stationed in Iquitos. They keep busy, watching for drug traders and protecting the national border. I had a great view of the meeting of the Ucayali and Marañon Rivers, giving birth to the Amazon. The Amazon, really an inland sea, feeds more fresh water into the ocean than the next eight largest rivers of the world combined! Many clearings in the jungle had grass, or crops, with a few thatch-roofed buildings. However, Peru has had less of a problem with "slash and burn" agriculture in the jungle than has Brazil.

Our tour agent met us at the IQUITOS airport. We rode in an open-air bus, letting down side curtains during a brief shower. It was warm and humid, but not so bad as Washington, D.C. on a typical summer day. The stick houses usually have a thatch roof, while unpainted wooden houses have rusty metal roofs. We passed army, air force, and naval bases. In BELEN we rode through the market area, and left our bags at the office of the tour company. We browsed in a bookstore, buying two books in Spanish with legends of the Amazon. Among the books about legends we found Darwin's Origin of the Species! Iquitos has a nice plaza, many paved streets, and nice commercial and residential buildings built during the local rubber boom of the 1890s and early 1900s. Some mansions have beautiful wall tiles. New plantations in southern Asia and Africa, using rubber trees smuggled out of South America, came into production around the time of World War I. Their costs of production were less than the cost of gathering and processing wild rubber. The boom ended. At times, usually in July or August, cold Antarctic air reaches the western Amazon. The people, plants, animals, and wildlife suffer when the temperature drops to 10 degrees C (50 F).

We were taken on a bus to BELLAVISTA, where we boarded a long motorboat with a roof made of coconut thatch and roll-down side curtains. Floating houseboats line the shore in Bellavista and Belen. Others are on stilts, high above water in the dry season. Many families have a pet monkey on a leash, playing on the porch. Iquitos is an "open port" as if it were on the Atlantic, 3,700 km. (2,300 mi.) downstream. There were no roads to Iquitos (except short roads), only rivers. For half an hour we motored down the brown Nanay River, with other long motorboats and canoes with an outboard motor. Women in several dugout canoes held an umbrella for shade as a man paddled. We turned up the Momon River, less than 100 m. (328 ft.) wide, with jungle on both sides. Men fished from dugout canoes. Piranhas were plentiful, but boys swam in several places. Our guide said that piranhas are not usually dangerous, except where people regularly throw meat or fish scraps into the river, or if the swimmer is bleeding. There are many varieties of piranha, some are more vicious than others.

We arrived in AMAZON CAMP, with thatch buildings, walls made of sticks, bamboo is used for supports. Parrots and other birds were singing. A green parrot was tame and good-natured. A small black monkey with a bushy tail scampered around the tables. In the late October dry season insects were not bad. Lighting is by kerosene lamps, plus some electric lights, powered by a distant generator. We drank a pisco sour, distilled from grapes, while talking with Phillip, the owner, from Belgium. A small traditional band entertained us. We ate a nice buffet-style dinner, with many foods grown, gathered, or caught in jungle waters or trees. It included rice, beans, paiche (a tasty fish, not bony or oily), yucca (manioc, cassava--eaten as a substitute for bread)), and apple bananas. My wife and I sat with two pretty bookkeepers from Lima, on a short vacation. Each said she wants to marry a North American and move to the U.S.A. Peruvians must pay 100 dollars to leave the country for a short vacation, or 340 dollars to go on vacation to the U.S.A. Many never return to the country that provided their education.

We walked two hours on narrow jungle paths with our guide. Termite nests were big and black, their trails ran up many trees. They destroy only trees that are already dead. The big ceiba tree is good for lumber, another tree is used for pulp, but Peru's pulp mill was closed. Many of the men took turns swinging on a vine, like Tarzan. I couldn't resist it. Ants and mosquitoes didn't bother us, with repellant. We visited a village of the Yaguas Indians, 10 houses on stilts, made of rough boards with thatch roofs. On the big porches I saw sewing machines like my mother had, treadle-powered by the feet. Pictures cut from newspapers and magazines decorated inside walls. Chickens were plentiful, but a high roosting house is necessary to protect them from snakes and animals at night. Planted fruit trees included papaya, banana, plaintain (for fried bananas), plus "sweet" yucca. The achota fruit provides red coloring for food and to decorate the skin. In the village's market area the chief and tourists used a blowgun more than two meters (7 ft.) long. We used a dart to shoot a stump, soon learning to be accurate. Indians put curare on darts to paralyze the birds and animals. They showed us wild curare berries they had gathered. Shelters in the market area were round, thatch, supported by a tall center pole, with a dirt floor. Villagers sold locally-made blowguns, darts, bows and arrows, necklaces, and other jewelry and carvings. The pretty young women were topless, and wore "grass" skirts for the tourists. Children under five or six were naked. We walked back to Amazon Camp on another trail, then took a long boat to return to Iquitos.

We boarded the Rio Amazon Arias, about 37 m. (121 ft.) long, made in Scotland. On the previous trip up the Amazon it had lost the propeller and rudder, so a tugboat was hooked up to push and guide us down river. On the old boat my wife and I had a nice air conditioned cabin, with bunks, wardrobe, toilet, sink, and shower. In the pleasant evening we talked with other guests in the lower open area, watching dimly lit villages. Our dinner was served buffet-style, in a screened-in dining room. It included monkey meat cut into small pieces and grilled, it had gristles but tasted good. We ate tamales, cucumber washed in boiled water, and local fresh fruits.

We made frequent stops, tying the bow of our boat up to trees on the shore of the Amazon, some eight km. (5 mi.) wide. PAVAS is a pleasant town of more than 3,000. The open-air market sells watermelon and more fresh fruit from planted trees. Later we tied up at the Ampiyacu River where it flows into the Amazon. Men and women paddled in dugout canoes to look at our small ship. Children wearing school uniforms paddled by, one was always bailing water. Rivers are the roads, canoes are the bicycles, cars, and school buses. In longboats each with a quiet outboard motor we explored up the narrow river, looking at trees, vines, and birds. A big kingfisher wearing bright feathers sat in a tree looking for a fish to show in the brown water. Hawks, vultures, macaw parrots, finches, parakeets, orioles, jacmar, and other birds looked for food. Big figus (fig) trees send hundreds of trunks down to water and land, like a banyan. Parasitic plants like mistletoe often grow high on a big tree. Some butterflies are as large as many birds. We saw many beautiful iridescent blue morpho hovering not far above us. A tree iguana some 70 cm. (28 in.) long watched us from a limb. Several black monkeys chattered. A giant sloth hanging from a limb moved slowly to eat leaves. A few houses on high stilts looked down upon our longboats. In the rainy season, March to June, the water level rises three to five meters (10 to 16 ft.) in a month. Each house had at least one dugout in front, usually full of water to prevent drying out and cracks. Our crew bought a catfish a meter long from a pleased young couple in a dugout. In the boat we looked at villages as we slowly passed. One store in a thatch-roofed building had a sign listing the hours it is open. Our guide said local people are not interested in conservation, although they are aware that in only one generation jaguar, ocelots, and other animals have suddenly become scarce. Peru does not have a serious problem like Brazil, of cutting forests by loggers, miners, and farmers.

We stopped at a village of the Boras tribe, with some 20 houses on stilts. Floors and walls were made from the outside of a palm, and last around 10 years. Supporting posts made of hard ironwood last 20 years, and coconut thatch roofs last 5 to 10 years. Each family has a living-bedroom area, and another building for cooking and eating, with a raised dirt-covered hearth for cooking. There are fewer flies and other insects in the living-sleeping area. The buildings are usually connected by a covered walkway on stilts, to be above rainy season water. People rest in hammocks during the day but sleep at night on beds with mosquito netting. The village has several fruit trees, including ovede, and a tree with fruit like grapes. A big cleared grassy area is used to play soccer. Games may last a week. Some houses had posters with current political slogans. The big community building has a thatch roof and dirt floor. Villagers displayed locally made items for sale: baskets (some women were weaving more), tapestries with designs of birds or animals, blowguns, and more. Villagers were more interested in trading for skin lotions, soap, or pens than in money. Men played the two "talking drums," made of slit logs. Each tribe has a kind of Morse code, they can hear it 10 or 12 km. (6 or 7 mi.) distant in the jungle--something like a Walkie-Talkie. The women were topless but I noticed as we left they put on Tee shirts, except for the two girls who were nursing babies. Bare-chested men also put on Tee shirts, perhaps to reduce exposure to insect bites. Both sexes have tan-colored skin and handsome features. The chief has five wives. Each wife has her own house. One man had a small plastic sack filled with coca leaves. He chewed them with a handful of powdered lime from his pocket. Much of the world's supply of coca passes through the area, by boat or plane, from Peru or Bolivia, to Colombia for processing into cocaine.

We walked two km. on a wide trail to a village of the Huhoto tribe. A generation ago several families split away from the Boras tribe to form their own village in the jungle. On the porch of one wooden building a woman plucked feathers from a chicken she planned to cook. In the community building headdresses made of parrots' feathers, a stuffed ocelot, and several skins of anaconda snakes up to five m. (16 ft.) long were for sale, plus the usual baskets, tapestries, blowguns, and darts. Village men and women carrying long sticks danced. One was the "anaconda dance," in which they wove around like a big snake. Anacondas up to 11 m. (36 ft.) long have been found there, but our guide book said they have been found up to 30 meters (98 ft.) long!

Going downriver, we waved at women doing laundry at the edge of the river. I rested on the upper deck. We often left the main Amazon, several kilometers wide, for a parallel but more scenic stream. A sailor on our big boat gave hand signals to the helmsman in the tugboat pushing us. It is difficult to steer in the narrow channel that often turns. We had to avoid the many islands. We stopped more than two hours at an army checkpoint, on what is in theory an international river. Roads in Peru also have many checkpoints. The big catfish was delicious. We picked up or dropped off passengers in some of the villages and towns. Among the interesting passengers was a nun who worked many years as a nurse in a leprosy colony downriver. She said that drug traders are bad in the area, and the Shining Light guerrillas protect the traders. Another passenger was an actress and dancer from Czechoslovakia. When the communist government decided that she was too critical she wasn't permitted to work. She escaped.

We stopped for a long walk on a narrow, muddy trail in the jungle with our naturalist guide, a man about 24 years old. The wild breadnut is like breadfruit (with a knobby green outer skin), but smaller. Indians who live in the jungle gather wild mangoes, aguaje, sapote (brown, oval, with a sweet reddish flesh), papaya, maracuja, and other fruit. We saw several kinds of planted banana plants. Several tribes grind the leaf and bark of a particular tree to make nunu. They take it at night and have visions during their sleep. Hunters claim to see places where they can find prey. Some tribes collect secretions from a particular kind of swamp frog by gently scraping its back and legs. They burn their own skin and rub it with the frog's secretions. It is said to produce hallucinations like those from LSD. We saw a big blackish caliga butterfly with black spots that look like an owl's eyes. We came to a clearing some five meters (16 ft.) in diameter. In the center there was a tree with a hollow trunk and limbs, where thousands of small brown ants live. Their bite is painful for three days, and the bite of several will kill an adult! The host tree gets more sunlight, the ants bite and eat any thing or plant that invades the host tree's private area. A black tucandero ant some three cm. (an inch) long has a bite that produces a high fever for a week. Our guide carefully dug in rotting vegetation to find them. We saw several double-trails of leafcutter ants. When they are larger and have wings, natives like to eat them. The chewed and fermented leaves provide an alcoholic food for the ants and their queen. The ceiba or silk-cotton is one of the largest trees in the jungle. They produce a seed pod, the source of kapok. The wood is good to make plywood. They are part of the jungle's "Upper Canopy," more than 60 m. (196 ft.) tall. The Amazon averages 3,000 species of plants in each hectare (100 meters square). We heard a noisy toucan but couldn't find it. One palm has a network of roots with spines to keep away insects. Local people split the wood to make house walls and floors, like bamboo. The wood keeps away insects. One kind of fig tree produces a latex like rubber. We saw many vines in the process of strangling the host tree. Some vines are vertical, others are diagonal or horizontal. Many of us couldn't resist swinging on a vine dangling far below a big limb. The yenchama tree has tall, narrow roots but grows to an enormous size. Bright orchids were plentiful. Several in our group recognized common house plants sold in nurseries. Some black nests of termites in dead trees were 5 m. long and 60 or 70 cm. (24 or 28 in.) wide. Our guide said that as recently as 1970, Maruni Indians stole the women from other villages, and Jivari Indians hunted heads to shrink. At that time there were in Iquitos eight women for each man, the men were killed in fighting between the tribes. He said that 15 years earlier, when he was nine years old, he went with his father on a hunting trip not far from where we walked. His father was some 30 m. (100 ft.) ahead. The boy heard a noise, saw a jaguar four meters (13 ft.) behind, baring its fangs, ready to jump. He was so frightened he could not make a sound to alert his father. Finally a sound came out, the father shot over his head, killing the leaping jaguar!

In three longboats we cruised back waters on two dark evenings, looking for caiman, like alligators. We shined bright flashlights along the bank, and listened to frogs, toads, locusts, and the birds that hadn't gone to sleep. A few lightning bugs (fireflies) drifted by. When we saw a pair of yellow eyes reflecting our light we stopped. The guide, in the bow, wrestled the caiman. I was second, each time he gave the one or 1.5 meter (5 ft.) long caiman to me to hold. The guide showed me how to clamp its jaws shut and hold them tightly closed, so it couldn't bite off my hand. During the trip of up to an hour back to the big boat I gently stroked the caiman under the chin, making it easier to handle. On the big boat we took photos of the caiman, then released them into the river. One guide wrestled with a two meter (7 ft.) caiman, but the passengers weren't sure which would win. That boat won the contest for the biggest caiman.

I looked out our porthole in the middle of a night to wave goodbye to our nun friend, who departed on the muddy bank of her leper colony in the rain. She carried two suitcases in the dark. Nuns must at times be tough. The next morning we went up a small river in the longboats to fish with hand lines. I caught at least 15 piranha, 15 to 25 cm. (6 to 8 in.) long. They are something like a freshwater sun perch, golden below, with two rows of razor-sharp teeth. We cut some of them unto pieces to catch more piranha. Others we threw back into the river. Local people eat them. We caught a catfish, around five kilos (11 lb.). One type of catfish has whiskers that are poisonous. Other fish learn to keep out of its way. We caught a few little hatchet fish, like a sardine. Local people in dugouts speared fish in the water. Bright kingfishers and terns dove into the water for fish. White egrets looked for little fish in shallow water. Jacana birds, bright orange, walk on the water's surface, on their wide feet.

When the sun became hotter our guide suggested that we go swimming. I protested that the piranha might attack us. He said "If you're not bleeding these piranha won't bother you." When I saw him happily swimming, I followed, wearing short trousers. None of us were bothered. Five gray dolphin some two meters (7 ft.) long jumped out of the water in unison nearby. We also saw several brown "pink" dolphin, two or 2.5 m. long, with long noses. Pink dolphin don't jump out of the water. Natives believe dolphin are an ancestor, they don't kill them. Naturalists encourage the legends about dolphin. A common story is that at a river town's evening dance a handsome youth attracted the prettiest girls, "making out" with several. Near dawn, jealous village boys followed him to the river bank. He disappeared, but a pink dolphin swam away. If an unmarried village girl becomes pregnant she says "the dolphin did it."

Our crew drove big stakes into the ground and tied our big boat to them. We visited a small farm near the river. Trees and other plants had been hacked and burned from a one-hectare (2.5 acres) area. Five or six families were building a new house. Men wove together leaves on big palm limbs, alternately, like making a basket. Several layers would form the roof. The walls were made similarly, attached to vertical corner poles, leaving room for a doorway, facing away from the river. Other men pounded grains of rice in a hollow log like a tree stump, with long poles. Women winnowed rice from a basket onto a wide basket. A network of green poles above a smoldering fire held two big fish that were being smoked. The fish will be preserved for several weeks. Two kettles boiled near the fire. I saw vegetables and fish in one. Several hammocks were hung behind the dirt floored home they were building. Nearby there were chickens, chicks, a dog, pups, and a loose pet toucan. Several small children played with a monkey. Green parrots and bright parakeets watched the activities. I recognized some plants growing in the garden as banana, papaya, sweet yucca (manioc, or cassava), tobacco, corn (maize), beans, onions, squash, watermelon, "Amazon melon," sugar cane, and marijuana. Coca grew not far away.

A big sign on our port side notified us that we were entering COLOMBIA. In our three fast longboats we rode more than 20 km. (12 mi.) up a river to LAKE CABALLO COCHA, Peru. We passed several houseboats, many thatch homes on the shore, people fishing from dugout canoes or hauling bananas or other food in them, two towns, a sawmill, a few houses made of boards (a few were even painted!), and several schools. One was operated by a church, the others were government schools. Women and girls cleaned fish or washed clothes at the river's edge. Some 30 green "short-feather" parrots watched us. Ducks paddling in the water ignored us. We saw white "Brahmin" cattle, they are tough, for tropical climates. Near villages we saw goats, pigs, chickens, big water lilies, and swimming children. They always waved at us, like the adults. A corn field grew in water at least 30 cm. (12 in.) deep, but the high water level will be at least five meters (16 ft.) higher. Two pink dolphin came to the surface. We stopped at an island with many huge fig trees. Natives call them "walking trees" because their hundreds of limbs grow into another trunk when they touch the soil. Our guide climbed a big tree, bringing back a half-grown sloth for us to pet. The sloth had many moths in its gray fur. He returned it. Sloths live in fig trees, making the long trip to the ground only two times each month, to "go to the toilet." The rest of the time they must be constipated.

Returning, we stopped in the nice town of CABALLO COCHA, with 2500 people, a wide plaza with benches and trees, a general store, painted masonry or adobe buildings, and a few paved streets, but no roads or motor vehicles. We browsed in the general store, selling kerosene and parts for kerosene lamps and cooking stoves. Children played patio de mi casa, which the Spanish couple in our group recognized as one of their favorite childhood games. It is something like "drop the handkerchief." The children and the Spanish couple taught us how to play the game. As we departed from the town in the evening thousands of bats darted through the air, looking for insects. The next morning we left the boat in LETICIA, COLOMBIA, then rode in a minibus a few kilometers to TABATINGA, BRAZIL and its airport. We returned by plane to IQUITOS, PERU.

We stored our bags in the Iquitos office of the tour company. The shower ended, so we had 11 hours to see the pleasant city of 60,000 and nearby Belen, with 15,000. We browsed in a bookstore and couldn't resist buying a few more books about the Amazon. When another shower hit we ate in the nice Maloga Restaurant, overlooking the Amazon. Two parrots and two monkeys in cages helped to entertain us. Houseboats and slums with stilt houses adjoined the big river. Men and women cut tall grass by the river, they will weave baskets or mats with it. When the shower ended for the day we again walked. We met a local 17 year old youth in secondary school. He volunteered to serve as our informal guide for the rest of the day.

Peru has six years of "mandatory" primary school, but many children have to work to help support the family. There are five years of secondary school. Classes are five days weekly, plus Saturday mornings. The "summer" vacation begins around December 20 and ends in April, they have two more weeks in June. Our friend hopes to attend the medical school in Iquitos. We toured the small school. Tuition is free, books are read only in the library. Students live at home.

We visited the Iquitos City Museum. It has stuffed caiman, anaconda, boas, birds, and animals of the jungle, plus a collection of grotesque tree roots in the shape of various animals. Life-size models show people of three local Indian tribes. The Plaza de Armas has a monument to the 1922 war with Ecuador, which Peru won, and a monument to the 1874 war with Chile, which Peru Lost. Iquitos gets 7 or 8 meters (268 to 317 in.) of rain in a typical year. The "Iron Building" near our tour agency was built in 1908 by "rubber barons." Our friend said there is a problem with illegal drugs in his secondary school. He showed us an article that he always carries in his wallet, telling of the hazards of using drugs. He said the nearby region of San Antonio is dangerous because of drug growers and traders. Strangers are likely to be killed on sight. The Huallaga Valley, center of the drug-growing area, is more than 300 km. (186 mi.) southwest of Iquitos, but the drugs usually pass through Iquitos. Banks, many other businesses, and the few hotels and apartment houses in Iquitos hire a few men with rifles or machine guns during business hours, plus one or more night watchmen. He said there are many long strikes, by teachers, postal workers, and others. Inflation was then more than 10 percent each month. [The official inflation rate early in 1996 dropped to 10 percent yearly.] Our friend said that rice is now too expensive for many Peruvians to eat. They subsist on manioc (yucca). An election was to be held soon. Several politicians passed through the city in cars with loudspeakers blaring slogans and "music" at deafening decibels. Our friend said there are many political parties. He led us to the office of "his" party, but he would have to wait another year to vote.

Many of the trucks and taxis in Iquitos have three wheels. One was loaded with eight huge fish, each 1.5 to two meters (5 to 7 ft.) long! I wondered if the tires would flatten or the axles would break from the overload. We treated our guide to Inca Colas and a goodbye dinner on a plaza. Iquitos gets much rain each month but city water is usually off at night, common in Lesser-Developed Countries. The cities have grown faster than each city's ability to finance and expand its water supply system. Our evening flight to Lima was delayed several hours. We napped in the airport lounge. Insects were bad, we used repellant. We paid an "airport security tax," plus a city tax. Several of us treated the boys who spend most of the day and night at the airport selling things, to a breakfast and colas. They don't go to school. A few hours later we flew to Lima, then Santiago, Chile.

We flew some 600 km. (373 mi.) southeast of Lima during our 1970 visit, over the Andes Mountains, to CUZCO ) (now called QOSCO), the old capital of the Incas. We saw below the Andes partly hidden in clouds, then the red tile roofs of Cuzco, "the Spiritual Center of the Andes." Our hotel had an electric heater in each room, to take the chill off, at altitute 3,488 m. (11,440 ft.). We took aspirin for several days to ward off a soroche (headache). A tour in a car with a guide took us on narrow cobblestone streets, past ancient walls of big stone blocks that fit together so well mortar was not used. Some archaeologists believe they moved cut stones on sand, like sandpaper, until they fit snugly together. We climbed a hill two kilometers from the city of 100,000. A modern white statue of Christ towers over the city. Fort Sacsahuaman, more than 300 m. (984 ft.) long, has huge and medium-size stones and a stadium for seeing parades and festivals below. The Inca sat on a stone throne. I couldn't insert the blade of my pocket knife between most of the stones, they fit together like lovers. The fort had three lines of defenses. Spanish conquered it by running around both ends on horseback, firing muskets. The Inca's red Fort Pukapukara was smaller. The Inca Baths, built of big stones, have a stream of cold water from a mountain stream. Tambo Machay, 8 km. (5 mi.) from Cuzco, has a small fort, terraces, and baths. The Kencco Amphitheater has a tunnel, a phallic rock, and an altar where sacrifices, mostly of llamas or older men, were made by priests. Serpents' symbols have been cut into some rocks. Our sons, ages 8 and 10, had fun hiding in big holes carved in rocks. They like a big smooth rock, used hundreds of years earlier as a slide by Inca children. After a rain, it ended in a water puddle. We warned our youngest son to move slowly for a few days until he was used to the altitude. After an hour of running, a soroche hit him like a freight train. A local Quechua woman said we should give him a pinch of the local muña plant. It tasted like mint but it seemed to be narcotic. It helped our son's headache, but he soon vomited.

Youths shepherded llamas and alpacas nearby. Alpacas are like llamas but their hair is longer--like a hippy llama. Women wore a bright skirt over 8 or 10 crinolines (stiff petticoats) that extend beyond the skirt, to keep warm. Above, they wore wool sweaters and the brown bowler hat of Quechuas. Some wore a white hat of the Aymarás. Others wore a dark wool dress and a wide red woolen hat. A few wore a flat straw hat with decorated borders. They usually had a shawl loaded with things to sell, or things they had bought at the market. They carried a spindle and twisted wool as they walked, to make yarn. It is dyed in bright colors and used to make beautiful textiles. Women and children sold woolen blankets, dresses, sweaters, ponchos, and small llamas, or they asked to pose for photos for money. Youths sold flutes made from bamboo, some had only one pipe, others had several. Similar flutes have entertained the Indians for centuries. Men wore an ocher-red poncho, brown or red hat, and sandals.

We returned to Cuzco, with balconies jutting over the narrow cobblestone streets. Streets were laid out in a grid, like modern cities. We visited the site of the Inca's Temple of the Sun, destroyed by the Spanish to build the San Domingo Church. However, an earthquake in 1950 almost destroyed the Spanish construction but didn't damage the remaining Inca walls. The restored yellow house of the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega has a front porch supported by arches, and a balcony on the corner. He was born after the Spanish Conquest, in 1539, and died 77 years later. Cuzco's cathedral has the usual twin towers and a plaza with a fountain in front. A little Quechua man trotted along, probably chewing coca leaves, carrying on his back a heavy teak log that some big men could barely lift. The Spanish built important government buildings and a church around the Plaza de Armas. The La Compañia de Jesús (Jesuits) Church, built in the 17th Century, is the best church. The market sells local fruits, vegetables, and coca leaves plus lime powder to sprinkle on them. Apples, pears, and potatoes are tiny but tasty. A bamboo pole with flowers stuck out of a house is a notice that fresh chicha beer is available. I met a local union agent and chatted with him as we walked. We passed the Temple of Justice, or courthouse. He said "It's a big temple, but there is no justice." I bought him a beer while we compared labor law in Peru and the U.S.A. Restaurants and bars offer hot tea made from coca leaves, it is good for altitude sickness.

We arose early to take the narrow-guage 7:00 train some 112 km. (70 mi.) northwest to MACCHU PICCHU. Colorful Indian women sat on blankets near the station, displaying fruits and vegetables for sale. We climbed five switchbacks, where the train stopped, then backed up a steeper section of track. We climbed to the pass, then descended into the canyon of the Urubamba River, passing another river flowing into it. The Urubamba eventually flows into the Ucayali, which meets the Marañon to form the Amazon. The Amazon begins in southern Peru at the Apurimac, which flows into the Tambo, then into the Ucayali. The little train passed green hills with llamas, vicuñas, alpacas, cows, and sheep, buildings of stone or adobe, with roofs of red tile or thatch. The rugged mountains with high cliffs led to distant peaks with snow. We passed an ammonia fertilizer plant. The river canyon became deeper and narrower. We passed the Inca ruins at Ollantaytambo, on top of a hill. When we stopped at a town my wife gave several rolls that we had salvaged from breakfast to children. Many more hungry children came running, we needed an entire bakery to feed them. At the station we took small buses up the steep road with many hairpin turns to Macchu Picchu, high above. In 1948 my wife climbed the hill above the station on a mule. It is the almost-legendary "Lost City of the Incas" that Spanish searched for. In 1911 a North American, Hiram Bingham, hiking and searching in the area, met an 11 year old boy who said he would lead him to the lost city for a small fee. Professor Bingham believed that Macchu Picchu was the legendary Tampu-Tocco, the place of the origin of the Incas. He believed that the women found in tombs were the Virgins of the Sun.

It is an inspiring sight, the main tourist destination in South America. Green peaks rise high above all around, and the little brown river is in the canyon some 600 m. (1,968 ft.) below. The city, elevation 2,900 m. (9,512 ft.), built on a hillside with many stone terraces, has three sections. Priests had the stone Sun Tower to study stars, the sun, and the moon. They had an altar stone for sacrifices. There is a fountain for ceremonies. The round temple faces the Three Windows, and the rising sun. A stone calendar was studied. The Inca had a palace. The military lived in another part of the city, ready to fight in case the Spanish found the city. Three doors guarded their fort. Farmers lived in little stone houses in another area. Food was stored in stone granaries. Water irrigates the upper terrace, then flows down to lower terraces. A rock-lined stream flows down the middle. To break rocks, a crack was etched, each night the water froze, making the crack wider. Water was brought into baths by stone pipes. Another city was built on Huayna Picchu, a nearby peak, with its own stone terraces. It is not safe for modern people. Incas were like mountain goats or llamas, used to living on steep hillsides. A modern restaurant and small hotel is equipped for tourists. We returned by train, but a hard rain caused a mudslide. While we waited a few hours for the track to be cleared we learned to play Truco, an ancient Spanish game, using an odd deck of cards. We saw a steam locomotive pulling many cars loaded with passengers for Santa Ana, a town downstream, in the low-elevation jungle....

[Excerpt, Countries and Cultures, Vol. III, P. 44-60]

Republic of Chile

Population 14.5 million (1.5 % per year natural increase); area 760,000 sq. km. (292,000 sq. mi.); GDP $98 billion; average income $7000; literacy rate 92%

History. (See South America, above, for the fight for independence from Spain.) Neither the Incas nor the Spanish were able to conquer the fierce Araucanian Indians of Central and Southern Chile. They were pacified in the early 1880s. In 1541 Pedro de Valdivia, of Spain, founded Santiago. Spanish found little gold or silver in Chile, but much of Central Chile was farmed, with irrigation. When Chile became independent in 1818 its local military hero, Bernardo O'Higgins, became dictator. He quarreled with José Miguel de Carrera, who was executed in 1821. O'Higgins was forced out of office in 1823, disillusioned, like the other heroes of wars for independence, San Martin and Bolivar. In 1839 Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia in a dispute over territory. Chile's conservatives and liberals quarreled. The Conservatives, led by Diego Portales and others, ruled from 1830 to 1861.

Silver and gold was found. In the 1870s Chile began to mine and sell nitrate from the northern desert. Peru and Bolivia also claimed the area. Chile, with a modern navy, defeated both countries in 1883. With the wealth from mining, the landed aristocracy became weaker. Many immigrants arrived, gradually, from Europe. Chile had a relatively small Indian population. The Conservative Party defended powers of the Catholic Church. The Liberals became allies with the Radical Party. They dis-established the Catholic Church. José Manuel Balmaceda was elected president in 1886. He wanted a strong central government and soon became dictator. Others, who wanted a strong parliament and weaker president, were helped by British and nitrate mining companies. In a civil war José Manuel was driven into exile. Parliament governed from 1892 to 1920.

There were many strikes of miners. Arturo Alessandri Palma was elected president. He tried to begin refoms but he was ousted. A new constitution was adopted in 1925. In 1927 Col. Carlos Ibáñez took over the government. During economic hard times Ibáñez was overthrown. Allessandri was reelected, with the help of a Conservative-Liberal coalition. A Socialist, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, was elected in 1938. Various social and pro-labor programs were begun. Inflation and the bureaucracy increased greatly when two Radical presidents governed, 1942-1952. Juan Antonio Ríos at first supported the Nazis in Germany, but in 1944 he began to help the Allies in World War II. In 1958 the Conservative-Liberal candidate, Jorge Alessandri Rodriguez, son of Arturo, became president. In 1964 Eduardo Frei Montalva, Christian Democrat candidate, won. He made land and tax reforms and began to nationalize the important copper industry. In 1970 Frei could not run for a 2nd term under the constitution.

Salvador Allende of the Unidad Popular or Popular Action Front (FRAP), socialists and communists, got 37 percent of the votes in the election on September 4, 1970. This was more than either Allessandri, the National Party (the former Conservatives-Liberals) candidate, or Tomic, the Christian-Democrat candidate. Congress named Allende president in November 1970. My wife and I were in Chile from January through February, 1970, a few months before the election. There was much election campaigning. Feelings were strong.

Allende began to nationalize copper, nitrate, and most of the other industries. Many were owned by the U.S.A. He established diplomatic relations with communist Cuba and China. There were many strikes and food shortages. Women marched in protest demonstrations, banging pots and pans. Many others went on strike or joined demonstrations. In September 1973 the military, with the help of the CIA, overthrew Allende. He was shot while he defended the Moneda Palace, home of the president. The "1,000 Dark Days" ended. A junta of four military officers governed. In June 1974 General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte announced that he would become president. He declared a state of siege, banned political parties, then declared a state of emergency in 1978. Secret police rounded up many thousands of socialists, communists, and others who did not sympathize with the government. Many were taken to the Santiago sports stadium, tortured, and killed. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the government for violations of human rights.

A constitution drafted in 1980 gives much autonomy to the military. It permitted Pinochet to keep his power until 1998. More dissenters were arrested and killed, guerrilla activity increased. In 1983 some civilians were named to Pinochet's cabinet. In 1977 Pinochet had announced that he would permit elections in 1985 if conditions were favorable. In October 1988 Chilenos voted overwhelmingly that they did not want Pinochet to remain in power until 1998. My wife and I were in Chile in October and November, 1989. Chilenos and the international reporters with whom we talked were excited about Chile's first free elections in more than 16 years, scheduled for December 14. In the elections Patricia Alwyn, head of a coalition of 17 political parties, was elected. In elections in December 1993 Eduardo Frei Ruíz, son of the president during 1964-1970, was elected, for a six-year term. Frei proposed privatizing many industries, using the money to improve health care and education. Several Chilenos told me the son is scholarly but he has been unable to get things done, as his politician father did.

At least 3,100 were killed by the military and its secret police [in Chile]. Others estimate the number killed at far more than 10,000. Only one culprit has been convicted. The military is exempt from civilian control, under General Pinochet's constitution. Manuel Contras, former head of the secret police, was convicted of ordering the assassination in Washington D.C. of Chile's former ambassador to the U.S.A., Orlando Letelier. General Pinochet is somewhat in the background.

Pablo Neruda is Chile's favorite poet, winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971. His love poems are best known. He served as a diplomat in several countries. He was exiled from Chile during some right-wing governments.

Christ of the Andes, at Chile-Argentina border, Brazil, Iguassu Falls, world's largest, on Parana River

symbolizes their peace

BACKGROUND. Chile extends some 4,200 km. (2,610 mi.) from Peru and the dry Atacama nitrate desert in the north to near Antarctica in the south. It is narrow, almost like a shoestring. The Andes Mountains form the eastern border. The northern third is very dry but the mountains and desert have many minerals. The Central part is dry but with irrigation from the Andes Mountains in the east, it is good for fruit and crops. The southern part is mountainous, with forests and some farms.

Santiago's January average high temperature is 29 degrees C, the average low is 12 C. In July the average high temperature is 15 degrees C, the average low is 3 C.

Only 3 percent of the people are Indian, the others are nearly all Europeans or European-Indian. Some 7 percent of the land is arable. There are 267 people per square km. of arable land. Some 82 percent of the people are Roman Catholic, 11 percent are Protestant. Santiago and its suburbs have more than five million, or 36 percent of Chile's people.

Chile is the world's leading producer of copper. It produces half of the iodine. Other minerals are nitrates, molybdenum, coal, gold, manganese, salt, and sulphur. The fish catch is high, 6.3 million metric tons per year. The main crops are grains, grapes, citrus and other fruits, beans, peas, corn, and potatoes. Twenty-nine percent of the exports go to the European Union, 17 percent to Japan, and 16 percent to the U.S.A. Twenty-four percent of the imports come from the European Union, 21 percent come from the U.S.A. Exports are 10 percent greater than imports. Inflation is around 12 percent, unemployment is 5 percent.

TRAVELS. My wife and I, with our two young sons, arrived in ARICA on a flight from Bolivia in January 1970. We saw sand bordering the blue Pacific while circling for a landing. After a quick lunch we went for a fast walk on the sand, looking for any living creature or plant. It never rains in most of the Atacama Desert. There was once a light rain 30 km. (18 mi.) north, in Peru's desert. We found a small black beetle. What does it eat? We saw heat waves and mirages but it was a pleasant 24 degrees C (75 F). We waved at a jet that departed the airport. After awhile we returned to the airport for our flight to Santiago. The flight attendant said they had paged us but the plane couldn't wait longer. We had thought that Chile's time was an hour earlier than Bolivia's, but with "electricity savings time" it was an hour later! There was no clock in the terminal. One should always ask! What appears to be bad luck was our good luck. The ticket agents took us 19 km. (12 mi.) into town in their van, where we found a good hotel.

Arica is a clean, modern city of more than 50,000 in the desert. It suffered from a shortage of water. Bolivia, with water uphill in the mountains, was reluctant to provide water unless Chile granted land for a port. Arica, with a railroad from Bolivia, is Bolivia's main seaport, though it is in Chile. Arica had assembly plants for Citroen, Pugeot, and Westinghouse, plus a fish meal plant that makes the town stink at times. We again walked on the beach, watching big condors leave their homes in the high dry cliffs to circle above the city, looking for food. We ate in a pleasant open-air restaurant with guitar music and singers. Since it never rains and the climate is mild, buildings do not need a roof except for shade from the constant daytime sun. Electricity was shut off a few hours, there is not enough water at the dam to keep the generators going 24 hours daily. A few date palm, olive, and cactus plants grew, they are watered lightly. Dirt was hauled in, plants don't grow in the nitrate desert. For many years ships were asked to bring soil to Arica as ballast. Olives are the size of a hen's egg. We enjoyed Parque Brazil, and looked at several cargo ships and a passenger ship in port. Parque Vicuña Mackenna has big cannon, and El Morro hill rises not far behind the park. The next afternoon we took a taxi to the airport and flew south along the dry coast and the snowy Andes Mountains to SANTIAGO. Before landing we saw Mt. Aconcagua, elevation 6,962 meters (22,835 ft.), just inside Argentina, the highest in the world except for the Himalayas.

Santiago's airport was windy, as usual. We inquired at the tourist office, phoned a residencial for a room, and took a bus to downtown. We signed up for a week, getting a fairly nice large room on the second floor. The young married couple next door returned to their room each day for siesta. We became accustomed to the loud squeaks of bedsprings and shreiks early each afternoon. The residencial, like many in Latin America, could have been quite nice. Poor plumbing, electrical wiring, and peeling paint kept it from being ideal. We had no TV in our room, but in the evenings we often watched news and other programs on the TV in the lounge. It gave us a chance to meet other guests. Most of them were from Chile. The maid was often willing to watch our sons while my wife and I made travel arangements and did other errands. She also washed our clothes for a reasonable price. They dry in an hour in the dry sunshine. Nights were cool and it was always windy. When one personally makes travel arrangements in a strange city or country, it takes much time to learn the locations of stations and agencies, and to get reservations. A good tourist office and city and country maps help.

Our continental breakfast included only bread, butter, juice, and coffee boiled milk with coffee (without, for the boys). We ate a hearty lunch before the noonday siesta of nearly three hours. Chile has delicious cheese empanadas. Latin American countries have four traffic jams daily: going to work, going home for lunch and siesta, going back to work, and returning home in the early evening. A typical lunch was potato soup, fish, and potato pie. Humitas are like tamales but with fresh gound corn inside, with meat or cheese. In a soda we often drank milk with banana or other fruit mixed together. Dinner is not served in restaurants until 8:30 P.M. or later. We had hearty onces or tea around 5:00. Some days we ate a hearty onces, then fruit in our room in the evening. A typical dinner included tomato or chicken soup and pastel de choclo (corn and meat pie) or tomato relleno (stuffed tomato). Santiago has reasonably pure water. It is one of the few Latin American cities where we drank tap water without first treating it with iodine. We also ate salads and drank the pastuerized milk and ate ice cream.

My wife lived in Santiago for two years while doing postgraduate work at the University of Chile in 1947-1949. There was no heat and it gets chilly in the winter, July and August. People bundle up in sweaters and coats, and get chilblains all over the skin. Students sometimes shiver so much they can hardly write. They thaw out on the warmer days. We visited the family where my wife lived for two years as a student. The house was about the same but fruit trees, flowering trees, and other plants had grown, turning the yard into a jungle. La señora lived alone, with a maid. We met the two sons, then in their mid-thirties, with their wives and children. Both sons were high officers in the carabinero or national police. La señora served tasty pastel de choclo--corn and meat pie. It is customary in Chile, and much of Latin America, to shake hands with everyone in the room upon entering, and again upon leaving.

It is also customary in Latin America to take a gift for the hostess when invited to a private home.

My wife visited the University of Chile's Medical School, which she attended. I visted the Law School. Entrance is after secondary school rather than after a few years in a university. After eight years in the Law School, six months of internship, working with the poor, was required. Trials are written, not oral. There is no jury, only a judge. I asked a judge how he decides the facts if the affidavits have conflicting versions of the facts. He said he tries to determine which attorney is more likely to tell the truth!

It is difficult to walk on sidewalks. Vendors offered delicious local summer fruits. Everything else, from soup to nuts to clothes is sold, from stands or cloths spreads on the pavement. Chile's peaches in season are equal to any. Drivers have little respect for pedestrians who have the right-of-way. Pedestrians must always be alert to keep from being hit by a car. Many of the cars (in 1970) were from the U.S. A., made in the 1930s and 1940s. Buses were cheap but scarcer and more crowded than in Guatemala and some other Latin American cities. We took a bus, crossing Mapocho River, going north to Metropolitan Park and Cerro San Cristobal (Saint Christopher Hill). It rises 340 m. (1,115 ft.) above the city. The funicular took us to the summit, it was too hot to climb. There are many trees and flowers. A tall white statue of Mary can be seen from far away. Wind blew away smog so we had good views east to the snowy Andes, west toward the Pacific, beyond the horizon, and suburbs to the north and south. The sun is in the north in the middle of the day. On our walk down through trees we stopped to look at the zoo. Animals are in cages, with underground retreats. There were giraffes, chimpanzees, baboons, many birds in cages, and monkeys. We returned another day, meeting an intelligent 10 year old boy. He was proud to explain the secrets of all the animals. During our 1989 visit we rode to the summit in a minibus.

The post office has many boxes for outgoing mail: national and international, by air, ship, or train. Evenings were long and pleasant. People like to promenade in parks or along favorite avenues, like Avenida Bernardo O'Higgins (the Alameda). Strolling couples stopped to watch a three-man band or to buy ice cream from vendors. On darker streets we often had good views of the Southern Cross set of stars, not visible in the Northern Hemisphere. We regularly changed money with a stockbrocker my wife knew. He paid 15 Escudos per dollar, some 15 percent more than the market rate in 1970. He said he was collecting dollars "just in case." In the next year Chile had an inflation rate of several hundred percent. It had a 29 percent inflation rate the year before our first visit. The government had imposed price controls on "necessities:" basic food, clothing, drugs, and bus fares. There was a 200 percent tariff on imported automobiles. Many of the strikes were illegal but workers were hurting.

The Plaza de Armas has a monument to Liberty and a a statue of Pedro de Valdivia, founder of Santiago. The cathedral has tombs of many leaders of Chile. The city hall and post office border the plaza. Not far away, on the Alameda, the Plaza de la Constitución has La Moneda Palace, home of the president. We watched the 10:00 A.M. changing of the guard in the big patio. The palace's beige color turns to pink as the sun sets, and was said to turn pink under Allende's socialist presidency that began later in 1970. The olive-drab uniforms of the guards were not as gaudy as those in Peru, and Chile's guards did not do the Nazi's goose-step. The palace was bombed by the air force on September 11, 1973, in an attempt to kill president Allende. It was closed to the public during our 1989 visit. Part of the palace had been restored and was used as an office by General Pinochet. It is said to be restored for use by the president.

Along the Alameda, the 16th Century Church of San Franciso has a tall red tower with a clock on each side. The nearby Museum of Colonial Art has religious paintings. It has a collection from the Cuzco School showing the life of St. Francis of Assisi. It had 54 restored paintings of 1648-1684. The large inner patio has palms, cactus, and other plants, a quiet retreat. The busy Alemeda (Bernard O'Higgins Avenue) was only a short distance away. The Cerro Santa Lucia is a park with a hill 65 m. (213 ft.) high. It has a quaint double stairway, oriental-style temple, an old Spanish fort with walls of eroded brick, a small chapel, and a folk museum. We were there one day for the twelve o'clock noon cannon shot. We were surprised when the sound came from the cannon just below us. Our ears rang for 10 minutes. The daily firing of the cannon ended in February 1996, under new laws limiting noise. Chileanos are one of the first peoples in Latin America to be aware of the harmful effects of noise.

We took a bus west to Quinta Normal Park. It has a lake where we rented a rowboat. The National Museum of Natural History has a big collection of stuffed birds and animals, skeletons of modern and ancient mammals, and a big rock and mineral collection. One of the more popular exhibits was the mummy of a boy, apparently left as a sacrifice to the sun god in the cold, dry Andes 500 years earlier. His body dried out, it and his clothes were well-preserved. The National History Museum shows Chile's history: pre-Colombian (Spanish), the conquest by Spain in the 1540s, the War of Independence (beginning after the declaration of independence, September 18, 1810), and the War of the Pacific, with Peru and Bolivia, ending on May 21, 1883. There are many military, Spanish conquistador, and colonial exhibits. There are models of Santiago as it appeared in the past. The National Library is nearby.

Balmeceda Park had a good collection of playground equipment for children. The favorite was Apollo 11, the spaceship of the U.S.A. which in 1970 had recently returned from the moon.

When we returned from 12 days in the south we moved into a big room on the top floor of the residencial. Three rooms were vacant. The only other guest on that floor was la señorita. She was 23 or 24 years old, fairly attractive, but she had no regular man friend. She had attended a university in southern Chile, but when an aunt died she left her entire estate to the neice. La señorita decided that she would move to la capital, Santiago, and attend art school. Like children everywhere, our sons, ages 8 and 10, learned to adapt. One of their favorite sports was dropping parachutes, made from my bandanas and a man made from Lego® blocks, from the top floor of our residencial. I noticed maids and guests on five floors of balconies watching the parachutes float down in the inner court. Our sons also had daily lessons. Their teachers said they would learn more during 10 weeks of travels than they would in school at home. The boys were popular, with blue eyes and hair bleached to blond by the sun. La señorita liked to play with them, she sometimes volunteered to take care of them in the afternoon or evening when my wife and I went out for a few hours.

Santiago had a problem with a scarcity of fresh water, like much of Latin America. Sometimes not even a trickle came out of the 4th floor faucets. I learned to shower during siesta time when most people were napping. Water pressure was greater. One day I slipped away while my wife and sons were napping, to take a shower. I saw la señorita coming out of the shower. I waited just beyond the door to her room for her to pass down the narrow hallway. When she saw me she hit the belt on her bathrobe. It fell open, revealing two big breasts, each with a brown ring. As it opened wider I noticed a thick black patch of hair between her legs. She reached her door and stood in the doorway, holding it open. Her bed was a few steps beyond. I glanced up, noticing that her eyes were fixed upon mine, a Mona Lisa smile was on her lips. I hesitated a moment, then left to take my cold shower.

We got reservations for the dinner and dance program at El Pollo Dorado ("The Golden Chicken"), at that time Chile's best night club. We ate lomo (beefsteak) and pollo (chicken), and shrimp, with Chile's delicious red wine. Dances began after ten o'clock. Huasos (cowboys) in costume, with wide flat white hats, a woven striped shoulder cover like a small blanket, striped trousers, and boots with spurs, waved a bandanna. Women in long colorful dresses danced the cueca, Chile's national dance, with the huasos. Accordions, guitars, harps, and clapping hands provided the music. A boy and a girl around 12 years old danced as gracefully as the adults. They sang typical Chilean folk songs. We had to leave before the end of the program, to let the boys sleep.

My wife and I returned to Santiago late in 1989. We enjoyed the nice new metro, built by the French. Many "landmark" buildings had been torn down, replaced by modern, tall buildings. However, the big old homes on Avenida Republica were still there. The city and the people looked more prosperous. However, a taxi driver said "there is a shortage of everything." We took a city tour. The big 1985 earthquake had damaged many buildings. We passed the home of the C.N.I., Chile's secret police, like the C.I.A. In the Club Hipico racetrack in the southwest we walked on the beautiful grounds. Not far away, the Cousiño Park, with a nice lagoon, had been renamed Bernardo O'Higgins Park. Fantasialandia, like a Disneyland, was new. It has many rides and a lagoon. "Little Town" has museums, the aquarium, and a collection of buildings like those found in various parts of rural Chile. Some have a thatch roof. We passed a neighborhood near Forestal Park and the Mapocho River with nice homes with upper balconies, built in the 19th Century, copying French designs. "Chinatown," on Rosa Street, is not far away. Bernardo O'Higgins Avenue changes its name to Providencia, then to Apoquindo as it heads northeast into the suburbs. It was once the bed of the Mapocho River. There are nice new shops and restaurants, including one on a tall building with a revolving view.

A new Amazon car, made in Brazil by Volkswagen, sold in 1989 for only 3,000 dollars. The import duty for new cars, once 200 percent, was greatly reduced. Cars actually stopped at red lights or stop signs! Because of heavy pollution, only a few cars are permitted in Santiago each day. For example, on one day only vehicles with a license plate ending in 4 were permitted to operate on Santiago's streets. A shoe shine man had learned advertizing methods from the privatized big corporations. His sign advertized a shine for only 50 pesos, but in fine print the sign read al zapato (per shoe).

We took a metro subway to the Restaurant los Adobes de Argomedia for the folklore dance program. Our dinner included delicious corvina (bass) with great Chileno white wine and aguaita mint tea. The program began with Polynesian dances from Chile's Easter Island, where a great civilization ended in fighting and anarchy, due to overpopulation and cutting of all the trees. Most of the dances were the Chilean cueca, with the men dressed as huasos (cowboys) in serapes (shawls), and black hats, frequently stamping their boots with spurs. Girls in long colorful skirts circled, waving handkerchiefs. In one dance the girls each carried on the head a jar of wine, they lay down, and with the teeth picked up a banner, the wine jar still on the head! We were the first to leave, in a taxi, at 12:30 A.M.

We took a bus a few kilometers southwest of Santiago to FISA (Feria International Santiago),the International Fairgrounds. They were built in the 1980s. It has exhibits of commerce and industry from 34 countries, in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Exhibits on food, computers, and automobiles were the most popular. The U.S.A. had the largest building, with car, home appliances and gadgets, computers, cosmetics, industrial equipment, and more. Some exhibits were only in English, effective only with the well-educated. Crowds were big.

We took a bus to MAIPU, a town some 16 km. (10 mi.) west, in 1970 to swim in their big swimming pool. The method of checking valuables and clothes was unusually efficient. Daytime temperatures were usually 27 to 30 C, but water in the pool was cold.

We learned at the Alameda Station that a wildcat strike stopped the trains for a few days. We took a bus 85 km. (53 mi.) south to RANCAGUA, getting the last four reserved seats on the new German bus. In the city and suburbs we passed new developements of apartment houses and single-family homes. On a four-lane toll road we were soon in the country. Farm wives and children at roadside stands sold fresh peaches, plums, priscoes (like plums), strawberries, grapes, watermelon, olives, corn, tomatoes, olives, squash, cabbage, lettuce, and more. Cooperative farms had modern tractors, hay balers, and other equipment too expensive for most farms. Rancagua, population 100,000, has a Fiat assembly plant. Some 32 km. (20 mi.) east was the big El Teniente underground copper mine. We continued on another bus, 16 km. (10 mi.) more to MACHALI, departing in the main plaza. In South America the main plaza typically has a monument to a war or political hero, trees, flowers, and benches. It usually has a fountain and is bordered by the cathedral and the city hall. Many of the cars and trucks in 1970 were Ford Model As, at least 38 years old, but still in good condition. We saw only two men riding horses. Children, women, and a few men were enjoying the town's swimming pool in the warm sunshine. We walked two kilometers out of town, mostly along an irrigation ditch, bordered by poplar, maple, and willow trees, whose limbs drooped to the ground. Many homes have a big horno or outdoor oven in the yard, good for cooking empenadas. Farms had trees still loaded with ripe fruit, rows of tall corn, and cows. We walked back to town, eating dinner in the first-class hotel. We returned to Santiago, the four of us taking the last three bus seats, as the sun set.

We signed up for a private tour in a car with a driver east to the Andes, PORTILLO and CHRIST OF THE ANDES. As we headed north out of the city at six o'clock we met many carts loaded with produce to sell in the market, some were pulled by three horses, a troika. New apartment houses and bungalows lined the street and paved road. As we climbed it became drier and rockier, with cactus, and almost nothing was green. Some cactus was tall like the saguaro or Joshua Tree of North America. We followed a stream and the railway tracks, which had places for the cogwheel trains needed to climb the steep grades. The Trans-Andean Express in 1970 still carried passengers high over the mountains, through a tunnel, across the continent, to Buenos aires. We stopped for coffee in LOS ANDES, where the driver adjusted the carburetor for the thinning air. We stopped again at Hotel Portillo, elevation 2,892 m. (9,486 ft.). The big hotel overlooks a lake and the high Andes. It is popular with international and local skiers from May to September, when there is little snow in the Northern Hemisphere. Two chairlifts were nearby.

We left our passports with immigration for security, and had to go through customs. Far above, after many sharp curves on the two-lane paved road, we passed the railway tunnel that goes to Argentina. It had boards laid alongside the tracks. Cars and trucks went through the tunnel, after checking on the train schedule! We took the high winding caracol dirt road that winds up the mountains, some 40 km. (24 mi.) more. We reached the summit, elevation 4,200 m. (13,776 ft.). The big "Christ of the Andes" statue was made of melted bronze cannons used in the war for independence from Spain. It is erected half in Chile, half in Argentina. A plaque states "Sooner shall these mountains crumble and turn to dust than shall the peace between Argentina and Chile be broken." Nearby mountains with glaciers rose high above us, north and south. Far below, at elevation 3,150 m. (10,332 ft.), we saw the Argentine town of Las Cuevas, buildings have white masonry walls and red tile roofs. Our sons had fun playing in the deep midsummer snow on the cooler Argentine side. We returned down the caracol, on a road that would scare many people, but we were used to driving mountain roads in the Western U.S.A. We stopped at Hotel Portillo for a late lunch. We passed trucks loaded with cattle for market, the N.A.S.A. sattelite tracking station, many roadside altars with a cross and flowers, and the Salta de Soldados. Some 400 years earlier a small group of Spanish soldiers were ambushed by a large band of Indians. The soldiers raced downhill, coming to a wide chasm and deep river, Rio Blanco. Rather than be killed by Indians, they decided to gamble that their horses could jump across the chasm. The astonished Indians lost all of their prey! The chasm has been widened by Chile's many earthquakes and temblores (little earthquakes).

My wife and I took the same route east from Santiago to Argentina in 1989 on a nice public bus with a hostess serving coffee and snacks. In November we passed beautiful fields of carrots, potatoes, grapes, and peaches. The clean streets and roads were lined with poplar, sycamore, weeping willow, eucalyptus, and pine trees. In the dry foothills huasos (cowboys) on horseback herded cattle among the cactus. We climbed on hairpin curves where the front end of the bus seemed to crash into its own rear. In the Andes Mountains we passed Portillo and chair lifts for skiers, went through tunnels and snow tunnels, then the highest tunnel, elevation around 3,500 m. (11,480 ft.). The railway tracks that once connected Chile and Argentina have been removed, the tunnel is paved for autos. We had a great view of Mt. Aconcaugua, highest in the Americas, elevation 6,962 m. (22,834 ft.).

We had pullman beds, upper and lower bunks, on an overnight train in 1970 going south to CONCEPCIÓN, Chile's 3rd-largest city, and 2nd-port, then with 300,000 people. We ate breakfast while traveling along the pretty Bio Bio River, widest in Chile. It separates Central and Southern Chile. There were many poplar, sycamore, willow, and evergreen trees. Small farms grew corn, fruit, vegetables, cows, horses, pigs, and sheep. Houses were usually wooden. Most homes in Latin America are masonry. The station had many steam locomotives in 1970. We found a satisfactory "first class B" hotel. We took a city bus to the university area, with trees, hills, and nice homes. Swans with black necks swam in a pond. Near the university, grafitti was mostly political slogans or messages. We climbed Cerro Caracol, 100 m. (328 ft.) high, with a tower. We had a good view of the city, steel mill, railways, Bio Bio River, and the Pacific. A dike directs the river's flow. A beach smelled like a sewer but many people were swimming and playing. A nearby squatter's neighborhood had shacks, pigs running loose, and children playing futbal in a plaza. In the attractive Independence Plaza we watched a drummer and organ grinder. They put on a good show, stopping occasionally to take up a collection. Most of the people in the area are descendants of Germans.

We took a comfortable bus with reclining seats 340 km. (211 mi.) south to TEMUCO in the beautiful LAKE DISTRICT. We crossed rolling hills, a wide valley, forests with evergreen trees, and stopped briefly to look at the Saltas de Laja, pretty waterfalls. We passed blue rivers and big fields of corn and wheat, one had a combine in operation. Big trucks carried wine bottles. In the east, volcanic peaks were snowcovered. We took a taxi to another station and took a 2nd-class bus 90 km. (54 mi.) southeast to VILLARICA, with only enough time to buy cheese empenadas. Men each wearing a colorful red sash at the waist loaded lumber onto a truck. Villlarica Volcano, with a perfect cone rising to 2,940 m. (9,643 ft.), overlooks the town and beautiful Lake Villarica. We found a hotel with a satisfactory room, then walked to the lake. The boys played with tadpoles and jellyfish. There were many camping rounds with tents, I saw only one trailer (caravan). Gypsies camped in colorful tents. Water dripped steadily from faucets in our sink. Water from the bathtub drained onto the tile floor, with a slow drain. Floors in Chile are usually made of only one layer of wood, they creak when anyone walks. We saw a small rodeo. There is usually only one event--horses race a fixed distance of around 100 meters, pivot around on the front legs, turning on a coin, then race back for the return. My wife in 1947 rode a huaso's horse, she almost kept going when it stopped for the pivot.

We made an all-day trip by bus over the hills to the village of LICAN-RAY. Fences were made of logs stuck into the dirt, with brush and stumps piled on top. Carts with wheels made of a log sawed off were pulled by oxen. We had a leisurely picnic lunch on the shore of beautiful Lake Calfquen, with clear blue water. We played on the gravel beach and swam in the cool water. Small islands were covered with trees. Two of the three nearby volcanoes were covered with snow. Cows, a bull, and sheep grazed, and geese looked for food, in a pasture. The packed little bus was operated by a family of cheerful Lebanese. Villarica had no milk in town, perhaps the cows were also on strike. We had at least one earthquake or temblor (weak earthquake) daily in Chile, but we had several strong shakes in Villarica, the floor felt like standing on a rough train.

We rode a 2nd-class railway car southwest to Puerto Montt. The car had been recently washed, the wooden benches were slightly padded. A coal-burning steam locomotive pulled us over hills, past sawmills with oxen pulling logs to the saws. In LONCOCHE we watched a dwarf being roughly kidded by several men and youths, while we waited for the next train. The wide trackbed permitted a wide 2nd-class car with a seat for two on one side and for three on the other. Vendors passed through the car, selling drinks, bread, fresh fruit and tomatoes, culinary, newspapers, playing cards, and more. The car was soon dirty. We passed gypsies in bright clothes, huasos on horses, and blue rivers. In stations women sold beautiful handmade bedspreads, tablecloths, place mats, and more. Beggars, including children, boarded the train. Attractive farms had cattle, sheep, geese, corn, potatoes, cabbage, wheat, fruit trees, and vineyards. We saw beautiful Lake Llanquihue. Puerto Varias has a big sugar beet mill.

PUERTO MONTT, at the southern end of the railway and Pan American Highway, had around 90,000 people. The highway, and the highway from Santiago east to the Argentine border, were built with funds from the Alliance for Progress, financed by the U.S.A. Apartment houses, a street, and more were named after John F. Kennedy, president of the U.S.A. when they were built. Most of the buildings were frame, often unpainted, with metal roofs, rusty in poorer neighborhoods. Our hotel was comfortable, with a kerosene space heater, and warm "hot" water, but no wastebaskets. Trash was thrown into a corner. We walked to ANGELMO, a nearby fishing village. We visited the home of a painter we had met earlier. He paints beautiful landscapes and marine-fishing pictures in oils with a cloth wrapped around his thumb. He drove us to a lookout above the city, with a great view of the city, port, and Chiloe Island. The 1960 earthquake destroyed nearly every house in the city. It was around Richter 8.4, a tie with Alaska's 1964 quake for the two world's strongest earthquakes since one in India in 1950. It changed the course of big rivers by many kilometers. A Matson Line ship was in port, taking tourists "around the Horn" to Buenos Aires. Our sons played on Pelluca Beach, until the 7-meters (23 ft.) high tide came in, fast. Summer days were long, daylight arrived before 6:30, and we could read a newspaper outside until almost 9:30 P.M. In a nice restaurant near our hotel we ate paila marina, a tasty mixture of local congrio (eel), erizos (sea urchins), and cholgas (like clams).

We took a bus tour northeast, along the shore of big, blue Llanquihue Lake, and beautiful well-maintained farms. Ancestors of local people came from Germany. The shore has gravel beaches, there were few houses. We headed east into the mountains, stopping to see the Saltas (Waterfalls) de Petrohue. Water was green from copper, not the usual blue. At the Petrohue dock, some 90 km. (54 mi.) from Puerto Montt, we boarded the launch Esmeralda (Green). The two-hour trip across Lake Esmeralda provided great views of mountains, including Volcan(o) Osorno, a perfect snowy cone, elevation 2,661 m. (10,112 ft.). Its eruption in 1953 blocked a river's outlet into Lake Llanquihue, so it now flows southwest direct to a saltwater bay near Puerto Montt. We rode the length of long Lago todos los Santos (All Saints Lake). The shore of the mainland and many islands was sometimes rocky, sometimes it was an inviting beach. It was mostly forests, only a few houses, like the San Juan Islands in Washington State, U.S.A. Near the few houses our boat slowed down, someone came out fast in a rowboat to meet our boat and get their mail. Melting snow made several waterfalls, cascading down mountains. We spent two days at Hotel Peulla, on the lake. Our sons played along the shore. Some local wood is too heavy to float, even when it is dry. The 1960 earthquake lowered the water level in Lago todos los Santos so that the part near our hotel was only a swamp. We were busy killing deer flies, we forgot to bring insect repellant. We left on a smaller launch on a bright day, but the strong east wind made whitecap waves. Our flag at the stern blew forward from the flagpole! In the "Switzerland of the Americas" we had great views of Puntaguida (elevation 2,490 m. or 8,167 ft.), Osorno, and other mountains. An open grassy area in the forest indicated a small farm. We again delivered their mail. We stopped for onces (high tea), and took a bus to Puerto Montt. We stopped to look at the Saltas de Petrohue (Waterfalls), plus Rio Pesacado (Fish River), famous for salmon. In Puerto Montt we returned to the same hotel.

In December 1994 my wife and I returned to Peulla on a trip by launch and boat through the Andes from Bariloche, Argentina. We boarded an old bus in Puerto Frias, Argentina, going on a dirt road some 29 km. (18 mi.) to Puella. It was 3.5 km. to the border. The pass was elevation 978 m. (3,208 ft.). A sign stated that we were entering Chile's VINCENTE PEREZ ROSALES NATIONAL PARK. Trees, wild pigs, and deer apparently thrive on the 220 cm. (88 in.) of rainfall yearly. We stopped at the office of the carabineros in the mountains. Chile was plagued with the Ila plant, a member of the bamboo family. It smothers all other plants, dies in 5 years, but re-grows in 20 years. We hadn't seen any in 1970. However, in Chile we saw no retama (Scotch broom), which is now plaguing Argentina. Several farms, established before Chile's national park in 1926, are permitted to continue, but owners cannot sell the property to other than the park. The big hotel in Peulla was being remodeled in 1994. We walked a "trail" to Vela de la Novia (Bridalveil Falls), then higher, until the Ila plants blocked us. The boat that takes passengers on Lago todos los Santos had been changed to a large, fast catamaran. We left mild Chile for cold Argentina, stopping to pick up our passports at the carabineros. My wife made the same trip in 1948, camping for several months in the lake districts of Chile and Argentina. The friendly driver of an ox cart with wooden wheels carried their backpacks from Puella to Argentina's Lago Frias.

We walked a few kilometers from Puerto Montt to Angelmo a few times in 1970. The market sold fruits and vegetables, but the main product was fish and sea foods of all types. We had eaten chupones, something like pineapple, the inside tips are sweet, eaten like sugar cane. We bought pepino dulce, tasting like watermelon. Seafoods, in addition to those we had eaten in restaurants, were picarocos, like a big barnacle, with a shell, it tastes like crab. Cakes of luche, a kind of seaweed, were sold, they are put into soups. We ate a tasty lunch of pailla marina, boiled seafoods of all types. The French in Marseilles would be jealous, their bouillabaisse can't equal it. My wife ate a seafood salad. It had a little crab on top. She exclaimed "It's alive," as it started to crawl away. She had to eat quickly before she lost her lunch. We walked among the many fishing boats and talked with the fishing families. An entire family lives on a sailboat without electricity several days a week, and on an isolated island, collecting shellfish. They bring it to the market. One woman said she had a transistor radio so she kept up with world news. She asked if we were from la capital, Santiago. When we said we were from the Estados Unidas (U.S.A.) she said "That must be a big empire. They're always having so many wars."

We bought bus and launch tickets to ANCUD, CHILOÉ ISLAND, south of Puerto Montt. We rode south to Pargua, passing "stump farms," sawmills, stacks of firewood along the road, cattle, sheep, goats, and fields of potatoes. We took a small launch in a choppy sea to Ancud, capital of the Island. Charles Darwin, in The Voyage of the Beagle, thought it was an unusually interesting island 130 years earlier. The island was settled by Spanish and Argentines, a small group of close-knit farmers and fishermen, in 1768. We window-shopped in the fascinating town, with painted wooden homes. It was a "free port," with many goods from Europe and Japan, duty-free. There were many little fishing boats.

Our French Caravelle jet for Santiago had engine trouble, so the flight was delayed a day. Two days later the same LAN Chile flight was hijacked by two youths who wanted to go to Cuba. In Santiago police stormed the jet. They killed one hijacker, wounded the other, but our favorite flight attendant was also seriously wounded. Employees of the airline went on strike for a few days, protesting "undue" risks to their employees. The airline paid for a room for us in a nice hotel in Puerto Montt, with central heating. After a few more days in Santiago, we took a train to the coast, VALPARAISO. We were lucky to have seat reservations. The train was packed on Saturday morning with people going to the beach for the weekend. We had a nice lunch in the diner while we saw dry hills, three types of cactus, and irrigated valleys with fruits and vegetables. Willows grew along irrigation ditches, poplar trees in rows, madronas in the valleys. Olive trees and a tree like the mesquite of the Southwestern U.S.A. covers the dry hills. The prickly pear cactus produces the fruit tuna, which we had learned to like. It is planted in long rows and cultivated like any other orchard, for the tuna fruit. Valparaiso and VIÑA del MAR, nearby, each have around 300,000 people.

Valparaiso was clean and pretty, with houses of all colors on the city's 43 hills, each overlooking the big bay. We walked along the docks of Chile's busiest seaport, where several passenger ships, including ours, the Italian Line Donizetti, were tied up. It was unloading Fiat cars from Italy and loading ingots of copper, plus fruits and vegetables, with the port's big gantry cranes. Manufactured and processed goods from all over the world stored at the port included bags of powdered milk from CARE and the Alliance for Progress. We took one of the cable cars up a 45 degree slope to a viewpoint. There are also vertical elevators, used to get from houses on the cliffs to the waterfront or downtown. Few streets are level. Stairways and ladders are also used to get from one street to another. In the evening a parade passed by our hotel, with candidates for "Queen of Viña del Mar." They were even prettier than the average Chilena.

We took a bus to Viña del Mar, 14 km. (9 mi.) north, but they are like one city. Viña is pretty and clean, with many hotels, apartment houses, and private homes, something like Miami Beach. Since it was cloudy and windy, the beaches were not so crowded. We played in the surf. Gypsy women walked along the beach, carefully selecting and observing potential customers for fortune-telling. The restaurant overlooking the beach had many trellises with bunches of ripe grapes hanging down for dessert. We rode in a tourists' Victoria cab along the waterfront, the boys later imitated the white horse's clop-clop. Amateur painters exhibited their oils and watercolor paintings. Back in Valparaiso we had a long chat with a Basque who owns a restaurant. He showed us nine of his beautiful paintings, for sale.

We waited, with our luggage and other passengers, at the docks to board our ship. Signs showed where international and intra-Chile passengers should wait. After an hour an official reversed the signs. There was a mad scramble, like scrambling eggs in a pan. After sometime we were rearranged, but the people at the heads of the lines lost their place. We didn't know whether to blame the Chilean or Italian inefficiency. Aboard, we had a nice room, with a private bath and bunks for four. The ship went to nearby Santa Clara to load more copper ingots. We passed a Chilean naval base, with destroyers, submarines, and more. We signed up for the early dinner sitting. Food was delicious, and there was plenty of tasty red Chileno or Italian chianti wine. The cruise to Panama was delightful, less expensive than coach fare on a plane.

We stopped in ANTOFOGASTA, population 100,000, in Chile's northern nitrate desert. Tall apartment buildings and the downtown were impressive, with the Andes in the distance. On the dock big dusty sacks of Pillsbury flour, brought by train from Bolivia, awaited shipment without a cover. It never rains, and the air has almost no moisture. A railway also connects Antofogasto with Paraguay, another landlocked country, except for its big river. Paraguay exports much meat from Antofogasta. A narrow-guage train arrived with cars loaded with copper ingots from the Chuquicamata, "world's richest copper mine," 225 km. (140 mi.) northeast. Longshoremen loaded about 30 ingots on pallets each time. Each ingot weighs 100 kilos. The main salitre or nitrate plants are at Pedro de Valdivia, some 200 km. (125 mi.) north. My wife used a ficha or token to phone a physician friend. He and his wife took us for a tour of his city and to a great restaurant on the beach for dinner. Though we were in a land of good seafood, we ate thick, tasty steaks imported from Argentina. The city gets its water by an aqueduct from the Andes more than 240 km. (150 mi.) distant. It has a branch of the University of Chile, and the State Technical University. Streets are lined with palm trees. Trees, grass, and other plants grow only where dirt has been brought in and irrigated.

Leaving the docks, our ship was soon in an area with flying fish. They sailed as much as 100 meters (328 ft.) before going back into the water. Fins open wide like a bird's wings. We stopped in ARICA and were pleased to again visit the pretty little city. Its water is also piped from the Andes 240 km. east.

[Excerpt, Countries and Cultures, Vol. III, P. 61-63]

Argentina Republic

Population 35 million (1.1 % per year natural increase); area 2,790,000 sq. km. (1,073,000 sq. mi.); GDP $271 billion; average income $7990; literacy rate 95%

History. (See South America, above, for the fight for independence from Spain.) There were some 300,000 Indians in Argentina when Europeans first arrived--the same as in the U.S.A. when Europeans arrived. Amerigo Vespucci apparently sailed south along the Argentine coast on his 2nd voyage, as far as Latitude 50 degrees South. He proved that it was a new continent, not Asia, as Columbus had thought. In 1516 Spain's Juan Díaz Solís sailed up the Rio de la Plata, where Buenos Aires was later settled. In 1520 Magellan sailed through the Strait of Magellan near the southern end of South America. In 1536 Pedro de Mendoza led a large group of settlers to modern Buenos Aires. However, the Spanish found few Indians to make into slaves for agricultural laborers, so they left. Spain's first permanent settlement in Argentina was from Peru to the northwest in 1553, at Santiago del Estero. Early settlers tamed local wild horses and brought in cattle. The saladeros salted and sold the hides to make leather goods in Europe. Some silver was found. Buenos Aires was resettled in 1580. Slaves from Africa were brought in to supplement labor of Indians who had been Christianized, therefore tamed and controlled, like a wild horse that has been "broken." The British invaded in 1806-1807 but were defeated.

When Argentina became autonomous, almost independent of Spain, in 1810, it tried to control modern Paraguay and Uruguay. Paraguay became independent in 1813, Uruguay in 1828. Argentina declared its independence from Spain on July 9, 1816. Juan Manuel de Rosas became governor of Buenos Aires in 1829. Buenos Aires gradually became successful in its efforts to control Argentina's other provinces, after 20 years of civil war battles. In 1852 the governor, Justo José de Urquiza, of an Argentine province, Entre Ríos, overthrew "the tyrant," Rosas, with help from Brazil and Uruguay. A constitution was adopted in 1853. Buenos Aires was jealous of Entre Ríos, and won a civil war. Buenos Aires became the capital of 14 united provinces of Argentina in 1862. Bartolomé Mitre was president.

Tierra del Fuego ("Land of Fire," because local people carried a fire-stick with them) is the big island and smaller islands at the southern tip of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile. It is cold and windy. Charles Darwin, the British biologist, visited much of South America in 1831 and 1832. He wrote in The Voyage of the Beagle that the Feugians, or people who lived in Tierra del Fuego, wore only a small piece of clothing made of guanaco or otter skin. At night they slept on the frozen ground in a crude wigwam. They were intelligent people, quickly learning English and the white man's habits.

In 1865 Argentina joined Brazil and Uruguay to defeat Paraguay. Each victor took part of Paraguay's land. Argentina became a major exporter of wool, cereal, and canned and frozen meat. Canning became common in the 1820s. After John Gorrie, a North American physician, invented a compressed-air refrigeration machine in 1844, others improved upon it. By 1890 Argentina could ship fresh refrigerated meat to Europe, although many people did not believe it was "safe" to eat. Domingo F. Sarmiento, president 1868-1874, greatly expanded schools and education. He was a friend of Horace Mann, who pushed the development of schools in the U.S.A. By 1880 Argentina had defeated Indians in Patagonia, about the same time they were defeated in the U.S.A. Presidents were appointed by an oligarchy of landowners and the educated until 1916. Hipólito Yrigoyen of the Radical Party won the presidential election that year, ruling until 1930. He supported and helped the poorer classes and continued to encourage immigration from Spain and Germany.

In the worldwide depression, 1930, Argentina lost exports. General José Uriburu took over the government. In 1932 Augustín Justo, with the support of the military, was elected. He began an economic recovery program, with more social welfare programs and public works. President Ramón Castillo was removed by the military in 1943. Argentina's military supported the Axis (Germany) in World War II but finally entered the war on the side of the Allies six weeks before Germany's defeat.

Juan Domingo Perón sided with other military officers in the 1943 coup. He also had support of labor. When the military became unpopular after the war the military put Perón into prison. Demonstrations in October 1945 persuaded the military to release Perón. He won the presidency in February 1946. His first Five Year Plan, 1946-1951, encouraged labor unions and industrialization, using profits from the sale of agricultural products in the world markets. He was as effective as Germany's Hitler at controlling crowds with speeches. He nationalized many industries and built housing and public works, but there was much corruption. Newspapers that complained of his regime were closed in 1951. A military coup was quashed harshly. He founded the Peronista Party and had the office of the opposition political party and other "enemies" burned. He lost much of labor's support. His first wife, "Evita," a former actress, was rich but popular with the poor. When she died in 1952 he married again. He took over the Roman Catholic schools. He had more fights with the Catholic Church. In September 1955 the military ousted Perón but permitted him to leave the country.

There were several presidents and military coups. In 1973 Perón, now also with much support in the universities, returned to Argentina. He could not run as president, but his follower, Héctor Cámpora, won the 1973 presidential election. Cámpora soon resigned. Perón, with his 3rd wife, Isabel as vice-president, won in September elections. Perón died in 1974, Isabel tried to govern as president until the military ousted her in 1976. A military junta headed by General Jorge Videla governed as "president." He was followed by other generals. The military "anti-terrorist" campaign caused the disappearance and death of many thousands, almost anyone who criticized the military. On April 2, 1982 the military occupied the "Malvinas" or British Falkland Islands. This caused war with Britain and defeat 10 weeks later.

On October 30, 1983 Raúl Alfonsin of the Radical Civic Union won the election for presidency. He defeated the Peronist Party. Inflation and unemployment were high. A candidate of the Justicialista Party, Carlos Menem, won the 1989 elections. Menem made many harsh economic reforms to privatize industries. Late in 1994 the Chamber of Deputies and Senate voted to compensate each family of the 30,000 disparecidas, or people killed by the military and secret service, 1976-1983, some 90,000 pesos, then almost equal to 90,000 dollars U.S.A. Many of the victims were drugged, put aboard a plane, and dropped over the Atlantic Ocean. Menem decided not to prosecute most of the military officers guilty of torturing and killing dissidents. Although he had a bitter divorce from his wife, he was reelected in 1995.

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