Houston to the UK - The Journey to Mum's

Friday, July 31st 2009

The hallmark of a good start to a trip is that it is completely uneventful. This was a good start. The drive to the airport, parking the car at Fast Park, checking in at Continental, passing through security, grabbing a bite to eat at a sandwich joint in Terminal E and boarding the plane were only slightly marred by the rudeness of a Continental employee at the terminal counter who barked at us to stand in line so we could hand in a pre-printed form volunteering to take a later flight if they were over booked. We decided the potential reward wasn’t worth standing in line, so we went to the sandwich place for something to eat and drink.

There were more people in the airport than I have seen for a long time. We boarded the plane on time and found our seats on the last row – the only place in the cheap seats where there were only two seats in the row - and the plane gradually filled up with people. Severe weather in other parts of the country had delayed several incoming flights so we sat on the ground for an hour waiting for connecting passengers to arrive for their flight to London. When we took off an hour late, every seat on the plane was taken.

The trade winds were blowing hard and the pilot announced our flight would only take 8.5 hours rather than the scheduled 9.5 hours, so since we were a captive audience, we sat back and relaxed and for the next 8.5 hours we drank a little, ate a little, slept a little, watched a movie and regularly checked the GPS tracking to see where the plane was as it traversed the Atlantic.

Saturday, August 1st 2009

Saturday was a day of tribulations and Patricia had to keep reminding me that we did not have to be in Scotland until Wednesday and everything before then was fluid, so we managed the trials of the day with good humor and a few laughs.

Here are a few pointers for anyone contemplating hiring a car from an off-airport car-hire agency.

1. Our car-hire company was located in the Ibis hotel and we were instructed to take the “Hoppa 6” bus from terminal 1, 2 or 3 to get to the Ibis.

2. Terminal 4 at London Heathrow airport is approximately 1,000 miles from the central area of London’s Heathrow airport, where terminals 1, 2 and 3 are located.

3. There is a free underground rail service from Terminal 4 to Terminals 1, 2 and 3.

4. From the landing gate in terminal 4 to the underground station and then from underground station to the to the Hoppa bus stop requires navigating several miles of pedestrian tunnels with confusing signs for the terminals and no signs at all for the Hoppa bus stop.

5. Change dollars into pounds in the terminal since the bus fare is four pounds and they don’t take dollars.

6. Bring the leaflet issued by MasterCard that serves as written proof that your credit card covers CDW insurance for hire cars so you won’t waste 2 hours of your time convincing the agent and making frantic calls to MasterCard in the US so the MasterCard person can persuade the agent that coverage is standard.

7. Even after all the telephone calls have apparently convinced the agent of that car is insured be prepared to leave a significant deposit (of 750 pounds for a 310 pounds car rental).

8. Concentrate extra-hard when leaving the parking lot or the first 100 yards of your journey will be on the wrong side of the road – they drive on the left in the UK.

We landed at 9:30am and originally planned to eat lunch in Oxford. The hassles with our rental car, and lots of traffic on London’s outer loop – the M25 - seriously affected our timetable.

After pulling off the M25 and getting on the A40 traveling north-west the beautiful countryside lightened our mood, but by 1:30pm we were still 30 miles south of Oxford and feeling hungry. By chance we pulled into the parking lot of The Lambert Arms - a promising looking country inn with a sign outside advertising lunches. It turned out to be an excellent place to stop. The inn had a small dining room and a well stocked bar. The food was excellent –two types of homemade bread with homemade butter and dips, lamb burgers without the bun with salad and wedges of fried potatoes- and the real ale was delightful. So, refreshed and once again in great spirits we left the restaurant and headed north.
A slight detour through the center of Oxford with stops at to look for a digital photo frame for Mum’s birthday present took a little longer than expected in heavy rain so at 5:00pm we pulled into a motorway service center for a cup of coffee to stay awake and to call mum and say that we were about 2 hours away.

The Costa coffee was excellent, though they do not know what a caramel macchiato is, but trying to use a public phone box proved challenging, perhaps because we were not completely sure of mum’s number so I gave up trying and used the US cell phone to call.

This lesson showed us that we needed a local cell phone so we stopped at Asda – the UK supermarket chain owned by Walmart - close to mum’s and with the excellent help of an young Asda employee in the electronics department we bought a T-Mobil cell phone for use while we are here and we also managed to find the digital photo frame that had proved elusive in Oxford.

This was also our first introduction to the “chip” on UK credit cards. The chip contains information about the card holder and a pin number that unlocks the card for charging. The store credit card reader extracts information from the chip, the owner of the card types in the pin number and the charge is made. Cards that have to be swiped are no longer used in the UK. It took some time for the store clerk to figure out how to take a credit card that did not contain a chip, but he prevailed, found how to swipe the card on his card reader, and the charge was made.

We arrived at mum’s at 8pm and were rewarded with a delightful meal of roast lamb, roast and boiled potatoes, mint sauce, steamed vegetables and meringue with strawberries, all washed down with a Wolf Blass Cabernet Shiraz.

Panama City day 10 - Sunday

day 9

Quindio Day 9 - Saturday

A little over 100 km north of Buga, close to the city of Armenia is the Parque Nacional Del Café – The National Coffee Park. This is a theme park for coffee growing and production combined with rides for children and adults alike.

For curious coffee drinkers the park is a showcase for growing, harvesting, shelling, drying and roasting coffee beans, mainly from Colombian plants but also from plants native to Africa and Asia.
It is fascinating to see old and new methods for extracting the coffee bean from it’s two outer shells, washing the mucus from the bean...
drying the beans in the Colombian sun, reusing the bean casings as fertilizer or as fuel for roasting.

I may be the only person in America who didn’t know that coffee beans are exported as virgins. That is, the beans are roasted to local taste in the country where the coffee processed and consumed. The only coffee beans roasted in Colombia are those used for local consumption of coffee.

Coffee beans pulled from the bush have a tough red outer shell. The outer shell is removed and a sticky mucus is washed from the beans before they are dried on long racks in the sun or in concrete sheds that trap hot air.

After drying the bean’s paper thin inner shell has a light vanilla color.

The dried beans are then tumbled with rotating drums to remove the inner shell revealing grey beans that are then packed in burlap sacks for export to the Americas, Asia or Europe where the beans are roasted to perfection and sold to consumers.

To attract families the park includes a roller coaster, a go-kart track, a water chute and several staged revues with coffee themes. There are other walking trails that are well signposted in both Spanish and English through a bamboo forest, a replica of an Indian burial ground and over a suspension bridge. Cable cars, a chair lift and a railway connect many parts of the park for those weary of walking and there are places to rest, eat Colombian food and – of course – drink Juan Valdez coffee.

This was a very enjoyable day.

Buga Day 8 - Friday

Buga is a small city 90 km north east of Cali with a population of about 250,000. It was originally the main center of Valle de Cauca – the route to the port city of Buenaventura on the Pacific Ocean is easier from Buga - before Cali wrested away control of the regional government.

The city is an agricultural town with factories producing glass, soy cooking oil and sugar from cane. Buga has managed to retain a center that is reminiscent of Southern France and northern Spanish towns with wide doorways in buildings on narrow streets.
The wooden doors open to allow horse and mounted rider access to an inner courtyard surrounded by rooms and with a central fountain. Here the rider dismounted and tethered his horse to the fountain.
The rooms around the courtyard were stables and servants quarters and the cooking areas. An open archway then led to second courtyard where there was a garden around which family day rooms and bedrooms were arranged.

Buga had, and still has, a number of rich families. The houses in the city used to belong to the rich until some of them moved out - with the introduction of the horseless carriage – to the surrounding hillsides. Families apparently did not mingle much and there is a joke around town that the Papaya trees in many family gardens were planted so that the backward children of the families who interbred could be tied to the tree while daughter visited mother. The details of this story could not be confirmed though it should be noted that there are a number of Buga families with hyphenated family names where both names are the same.

Buga is now famous as the site of La Basilica de Milagroso, where there is a life-size statue of Christ on the cross that is said to have been found by a lady washing clothes in the Guadelajara River in 1590. When found the statue was very small, but over the next five years it grew to be the life size statue of Christ nailed to the cross that is now interred in a special room behind the alter of the cathedral.

The discovery and subsequent growth of the statue was, of course, deemed to be a miracle by the Bishops and Archbishops of the time and a church was built to house the statue. Word soon spread and pilgrims come from all over Colombia to visit the statue and petition for miracles.

So many came that a much larger cathedral was built with a large open area covering three city blocks and a statue of Mary Magdalene in front of the church.

Every seven years during holy week the statue is carried on a dais by four elders of the church and paraded through town with a great deal of ceremony. Sometimes, however, the statue cannot be lifted however hard the elders try and a replica has to be substituted in the parade.

Buga is a delightful town with a town square and the obligatory statue to a Spanish Conquistadore. It is well worth a visit with a stop at Leo’s Pizza, where the ebullient owner makes and excellent pizza and serves it with panache.

Los Fallarones National Park day 7 - Thursday

The Pance River has its beginning high in the Los Fallarones, in the rainfall that falls as the clouds carrying the warm moist air from the Pacific Ocean rise in a valiant attempt to cross the 3,000 meter escarpments. Most days the clouds fail to cross the peaks and the Gods celebrate by playing boules in the sky. The crash of the God’s balls send thunder rolling across the sky and lightning lights up the peaks. The clouds give up their quest and spectacularly dump their contents onto the mountain top and depending on the precise point of release, the precipitation fills the rivers flowing west back to the Pacific Ocean, or they feed the Pance and Cali rivers that tumble eastward down the hillsides towards Cali.

The Pance River is a key component in the Los Fallarones nature reserve. Nature trails have been established along the banks of the river and venturing a little distance into the forest and this is where we spent our day. We walked the trails, watched and listened to the birds and the butterflies, marveled at the industriousness of giant red ants as they carried pieces of green grass and yellow and purple blossoms across the path into the tunnel that led to ant nest, watched for but did not see and mammalian wild life and listened to the comforting sounds of the river bubbling and gurgling its way across the rocks in the river bed.

We bathed tired feet in the icy cold waters of the river and sat on the bank and listened to the soothing water, then ate a late lunch at the Ecological Park in an outdoor restaurant constructed from Guadua – a local cousin of the bamboo, but with stems that have a larger diameter and are obviously much stronger than bamboo. The food, as usual, was tasty and filling so we sat a lot longer and enjoyed the beautiful day, the gorgeous surroundings and each others company.

Cali - Random Obversations

· Taxis are really tiny, most are either Hyundai Atos or Chevrolet Spark, neither of which is sold in the US. Think BMW Mini without the trunk. Four adult passengers can fit in a taxi, but there is no room to spare.

· Taxis fares are really cheap. A 15 km drive across town costs 10,000 Pesos or about $4

· Most taxis, a few private cars and the Mio city buses run on natural gas. The natural gas filling stations are called Gazel and a non-scientific survey indicates about 1 in 10 gas stations also have a Gazel forecourt. Gazel pumps are mostly next to Terpel gasoline stations, but sometimes next to others.

· There are Mobil, Esso, Texaco, Petrobras, Terpel and other gas stations but no Shell.

· Motor cycles are everywhere, many are inexpensive Chinese imports. All motorcyclists are required to wear a crash helmet and a red canvas wrap. Both have luminous letters on the back matching the motor cycle’s plate. In the city virtually all comply with the law and only have one or two riders, all wearing the vests. In the country it is not unusual to see families of three (and sometimes four) riding on a motor cycle, and the luminous vests are rarely seen.

· Horse drawn carts are still common in the suburbs, occasionally you see a motorcycle pulling a trailer loaded with steel or wood parts or garden equipment and plants.

· There are multiple levels of public transport.
o The newest is the Mio, with air conditioned articulated buses that travel on dedicated routes that run into and across downtown. The suburban Mio has non-articulated air conditioned buses feeding passengers onto the dedicated routes. These buses run to a timetable and are clean and well maintained. Fares are 1,200 pesos ($0.50) per trip.

o It seems like every fourth vehicle in the city is an 18-26-seater mini-bus that is not air conditioned. The buses are colored for the route they take through the city and they are cheaper to ride than the Mio. More often than not every seat is occupied and the aisle is full of standing passengers.

o Less common but still seen in the suburbs are 6-seater micro buses converted from Jeeps or regular vans. These are usually carrying at least 10 people.

· A standard tip in a restaurant is 8% of the bill. Many restaurants include service on their final bill so always ask if service is included before leaving a tip.

· Cali people (Calinoans) are gracious, polite and friendly and always ready to help with directions, suggestions or friendly advice. Few know any English, all tolerate bad Spanish.

· Private cars follow the European model in that most are small, with the occasional SUV and a very few small pick-ups. The largest car I saw on the street was one (and only one) Mercedes 350. There are no convertibles and no two-seater sports cars.

· A flash of green, or yellow or red in the suburbs is usually a bird stopping to rest on the grass or a wire. Colombia is one of the most diverse ecological areas in the world. Birds and butterflies are numerous and colorful.

· The land is bountiful. Fresh fruits are available everywhere. Pineapple, banana, papaya and mangoes have wonderful, full flavors, chontaduros, revered by many Calinoans and available at roadside stalls everywhere, tastes like lard unless it is served with honey, then it tastes like lard coated with honey.

· Living 3 degrees north of the equator is perfectly acceptable if you are 1,000 meters above sea level and the mountains provide a downdraft of air that result in warm days and cool nights year round. Few places are air conditioned; those that are, advertise the fact.

· Public toilets are few and far between, except in malls and grocery stores and facilities in restaurants tend to be rudimentary. Men are apparently not expected to have a bowel movement outside the home; none of the public restrooms I encountered had toilet seats in the cubicles.

· Temperatures are measured in degrees Celsius, distances are measured in kilometers, weights are measured in grams and kilos, natural gas is sold in cubic meters – but gasoline is sold in imperial gallons. Prices for unleaded are 7,790 pesos or about $3.12 per gallon.

· Exito is the Cali equivalent to Wal-Mart. Performance and Appearance Chemicals in Exito are Simonize or CRC; seat covers, steering wheel covers and sunshades are all from the PRC with trilingual packaging. Shell Helix had a very small shelf presence.

· The city and suburbs have a very logical road numbering system. All north-south streets are called Carrera XX and all east-west streets are called Calle XX, with XX being a number. Street intersections are signs listing both the Carrera number and the Calle number at the intersection, so it is easy to correct ones direction after getting lost.

· There are Panaderias (bakeries) everywhere. Empanadas, Arepas, fruit and roast corn are sold at many roadside stalls. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day; dinner/supper is usually a snack later in the evening.

There are seven Colombian beers brands sold in Cali. All are lager style. Aguilla has the most body and fullness, though Aguilla Light tastes like flavored water, Poker contains too much fizz and Redd's - a high powered malt liquor at almost 8% alcohol - is too sweet, Costena, Club Columbia and Pandera are all easy to drink, neither of them have a lot of body. Peroni, an Italian beer brewed in Panama City is the biggest imported brand. Heineken and Corona are also available.

Cali day 5 - Tuesday

Today was our cultural day, visits were planned to a couple of museums and an art gallery, but first we ate lunch at Lucero's while Mama Leny did laundry. Mama Leny has a small apartment and it would be difficult to fit a washing machine into her apartment without taking up a lot of space in her kitchen. So, once a week, she hires a washer. The unit is delivered to her apartment and hooked up to water and electricity, she completes her washing then two hours later the washer is taken away. Total cost - less than $4. This is a real service economy. Anything can be ordered for home delivery and service is quick, cheap and always carried out with a smile.



After another excellent meal, Lucero drove us downtown to the Calima Gold Museum, located in the building owned by the Colombian Central Bank - Banco De La Republica. The primary Gold Museum is located in Colombia's capital city, Bogota, but Cali, as Colombia's third largest city, has been lucky enough to warrant a smaller version of the museum with many interesting artifacts. Though the museum only occupied one room it was full of interesting facts, including information that the Calima region, which stretches from the Pacific coast in West Colombia and across the mountains to Cali, had been settled for more than 10,000 years. This particularly impressive figure had gold earrings that had expanded his ear lobes to more than four inches in diameter, a gold nose ring, breastplates and belt and various gold ornaments. There appears to be little information on Calima on the web in English. The one site I did find http://www.procalima.org/ has some great photographs (click Projects then photo gallery)

This area of the city is characterized by colonial architecture that has been preserved. White stucco walls to reflect the sun, wooden shutters that can be opened to let in the cool afternoon breezes that blow down from the mountain and roofs made from half round tiles to protect against the regular rain showers.

From the Gold Museum we walked a couple of blocks to the Archaeological Museum - the Museo Arqueologico La Merced. The museum contains ceramics and pottery from the pre-hispanic societies which inhabited the southwest area of Colombia. The museum building is an old colonial church and monastery that has been converted. In the first exhibit room and at various places through the other four exhibit rooms the original floors and walls of the church have been exposed to show the construction methods used in colonial times.
One room focuses on ceramics, another on burial practices and a third on pottery colors and decorations. Glass cases with examples from each region are in each room. You can borrow, but not keep, a guide to the exhibits in English.

In the central courtyard of the museum is a copy of one of the stone statues found in San Agostin where civilization flourished from around 1,000 BC. There is also a sheltered recreation of a burial site from the Tolima people in the Magdalena valley. Remains of human civilizations dating back 16,000 years have been found in this region.

Here Sofia is descending the circular staircase in to reach the burial chamber 20 feet below ground. The dead were laid flat in coffins created from hollowed out tree trunks, then at some later date the bones were removed from the coffin and placed in ceramic pots, and (though this was not completely clear) the tree trunk coffin was reused.

From the Archaeological Museum we took a taxi 15 or 20 blocks (for less than $2) to the Museo La Tertulia (Museum of Modern Art) We arrived on completely the wrong date. The museum had been cleared of all exhibits and was dedicated to a display of movie posters. Only movie posters. Nothing else. And the modern art exhibits were not due to be returned until next week. Unfortunately we did not discover this until we had paid the $5 entry fee ($1.66 each) so we walked around and looked at movie posters for a little while.

The Museo La Tertulia is located on the street that runs alongside the River Cali on the opposite side from the park with the painted cats. So we crossed the street and the bridge over the river and looked at the artists submissions to be the "Cat Mother" The 20 cats are all about 4 feet tall and six feet long and each was decorated by a different artist in a competition. Several of the cats had been moved from the park so they could provide a whimsical sight on one of the downtown plazas.

From the cat park we crossed the road and walked to the Ventolini Ice Cream shop for Colombian Ice Cream. The store not only sells excellent ice cream (think Marble Slab Creamery) but also has a coffee bar selling espresso and various other coffee drinks with and without alcohol and since it was six o'clock somewhere in the America's I decided to have an Irish coffee along with my ice cream. "Got Milk" anyone?