OK OK--the guilt has got to me....

I know it is nearly 6 months since I made a blog entry about my travels. In recent weeks the e-mails from people asking where I am and am I all right and why are there no entries on my blog since May, have finally shamed me into action. Before you begin to read, however, I warn you that it will be rather tame by comparison with previous entries but if you bear with me to the end you will see that there are some interesting adventures coming up soon.

The Cottage

I left you all as I was leaving Easter Island for my summer cottage in Canada which is where I am now (and I’m just fine, thanks for asking).  If you look at the pictures below you will see that this is not a “cottage” in the English sense---thatched roof, roses round the door. This is a Canadian style “cottage”---a summer place on a lake. The Americans call them “cabins” or “camps”. Lakes abound in many parts of Canada, but “cottage country” is at its most prolific in southern Ontario.

The Canadian Shield, a geological sweep of granite arching across Ontario and Quebec, from Hudson’s Bay to the St Lawrence River, was formed in the last Ice Age. The glaciers left in their wake indentations in the ice-compressed granite which over the millennia was covered with a thin layer of soil and the indentations filled with water, forming tens of thousands of lakes dotted with islands. The soil is too thin in most places to support more than hard-­scrabble farming, but the sparking blue lakes teeming with fish,  with their shorelines  and islands of pine trees, granite boulders and cliffs, attracted holiday makers, initially in the later nineteenth century from the eastern US and now from the cities of Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.  Look in any glossy magazine with advertisements for tourism in Canada and you will see the photos of the red canoe on the dark blue lake, the light blue sky, the rugged granite outcrops, and the dark green pine trees. That is really and truly what it is like.

However my summer cottage is a little more elaborate than many cottages, since a couple of years ago I had to have the old cottage (built in 1893 but very sadly completely unsafe structurally) rebuilt as a fully functioning home, where I have moved all my books and souvenirs from my homes in the UK. It is built on a (very small!) island which affords me 360 degree views of the lake from the large expanses of windows on all sides.  The lake itself is large and beautiful with 110 miles of shoreline and dozens of islands, many uninhabited, which I can explore with my two boats and two kayaks.  The new cottage has “all mod cons” which permits me to stay here through cold weather, storms and blistering heat. 

However, I do not intend to stay over the winter---the long windy freezing snow-bound winters are one of the reasons I left Canada in the first place. So after an idyllic few months during which I read a number of the books I have accumulated over the decades and never had a chance to read, sorted souvenirs, made up photo albums and swam, went boating and entertained friends and relatives who have come to visit me here at the cottage, I will be leaving in two weeks.

But this will not be my first departure this summer. As many of you know I went back to the UK for six weeks this summer (beginning of July to mid-August). This was for two reasons, my son Ken Okumura’s wedding and the Olympics in London.  

The Wedding

Ken married Estelle Cousin in Edinburgh---most of you who have read any nineteenth century novels or watched series two of Downton Abbey on TV will know that Gretna Green, just over the Scottish border, was a favourite destination for eloping English lovers since Scotland does not have any residency requirement for those wishing to marry there. Since Ken and Estelle are currently resident in the British Virgin Islands, re-establishing residence in England or in Estelle’s native France would have been a protracted process. 

Ken and Estelle have known each other for 10 years, having met as fellow fans and groupies of the band "Radiohead". Having despised each other for the first 5 years (he a "stuck up brat" and she "up to no good") they got together at Christmas 2009 and have lived together in the BVI since 2010.

They chose the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh for most of the wedding festivities. The Balmoral is a fine Edwardian hotel in central Edinburgh, run expertly as part of the Rocco Forte Group and holding a Michelin star (very important for my gourmet son). They had a "humanist" ceremony which they wrote themselves--charming and moving.

It was a small wedding (47 guests but from 14 countries) but was preceded and followed by a number of other celebrations in Edinburgh (family dinners, disco, karaoke, vintage bus tour), and elsewhere in the UK, and in France so there was plenty to keep me very busy over a number of weeks. Next summer we will reprise the celebrations here in Canada for the Canadian relatives and friends who were not at the wedding.

I am pleased to say everything went without a hitch and a good time was had by all. I’ve included a few pictures below and those of you who want to see more can look on my Facebook page for my albums of photos.

The Olympics

I also enjoyed the 2012 Olympics in London very much. I am definitely not a sports fan so that was not the appeal for me. But I am a huge fan of London and wanted to be part of such an important event for the city. And I was even prouder of London and indeed the whole of the UK for how triumphantly they succeeded with the event. There is no doubt that you cannot beat the UK for its ability to pull off spectacular public events with effortless aplomb.  

Of course it is helped by having such a wealth of iconic sights as backdrops and centuries of experience of pomp and pageantry.  It all looks so easy and natural but behind it is meticulous planning, unobtrusive but massive security, relentlessly drilled logistics, tasteful professionalism and thought to every detail. 

The Olympics was not the only major piece of public theatre this year in London---it was also the Diamond Jubilee (60 years) of the Queen. (No need to say which “queen” you mean; everyone in the world knows who you refer to.) To successfully pull off two massive logistical events  in one year (not to mention the Royal Wedding last year) takes a highly experienced hand, and Britain is nothing if not that.

The Olympics was a massive undertaking, with many elements that even a master of public events like London had not previously encountered. London is not a totalitarian state so it is not possible to ride roughshod over individual rights and private property interests. It is an ancient and geographically confined city, densely populated, with an overloaded infrastructure and no wide open hinterland on which to build stadiums. It is at the centre of many important world events and so is an irresistible target for crazies. It is a world economic hub and so business and enterprise cannot be shut down for two weeks while sporting events take place. 

As some of you know I was a London Ambassador, one of the 70,000 volunteers who supported the Olympic events. Volunteers appeared as performers in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, they acted as guides and cheerleaders at the Olympic events, and they were stationed around London to assist visitors find their way around the venues and the London sights. They have (rightly I would say) been regarded as one of the huge successes of the Olympics. 

I was stationed at Marylebone Station. We had a very “bright” uniform ---all pinks and purples—which blinded you when you took it out of the box, but which proved to be a very good idea since you were instantly recognisable to visitors. 

No amount of training can prepare you for the questions you will be asked or for how tired you get being on your feet and alert all day (particularly after the rather relaxed life I have been leading since I retired),  but it was exhilarating work, being part of such a momentous event and  I am very glad I did it.

The Olympic organising committee had wisely used the instantly recognisable sites of London to great effect. The equestrian events were held at Greenwich Park with, as backdrop, the Royal Greenwich Observatory (Greenwich Mean Time and the place from which all longitude is measured) and the 500 year old buildings which were the centre of naval life when “Britannia Ruled the Waves”. The marathons passed Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament. The cycle races went through beautiful English countryside and the Royal Parks. The rowing and canoeing were held in the waters on which Eton school boys have rowed for centuries and near the Queen’s home at Windsor Castle and close to Runnymede where the Magna Carta was signed by King John marking the birth of democracy. The sailing was held at the ancient harbour of Weymouth dating for 1200 and from which colonists sailed to the New World and established several  new “Weymouths” in the US and Canada. Even the greatly unloved Millennium Dome, that white elephant testament to Tony Blair’s hubris, which has recently been successfully rescued as the O2 Centre for pop concerts, was turned into the venue for the gymnastics.    

No doubt in my mind, and in most people’s, however, will remain the image of the Olympic Park. Built in the heart of the most run-down part of east London (London won the 2012 Olympics in part on the promise to regenerate the area, which I believe it has admirably succeeded in doing), it was the centrepiece for the most popular events such as athletics and swimming and cycling . The site showcased dramatic new structures including the Olympic Stadium itself, built substantially of recycled materials. 

Most of you will have seen pictures of the Olympic Park on TV and in the newspapers, but what these images cannot convey is the thought and creativity which went into making the Park a pleasure to walk through. Instead of acres of concrete and steel and glass, there were banks of beautiful wild flowers, trees, banks of grass to sit on, a riverside walk to stroll along, easy-on-the-feet pavement (I don’t know what it was but it seemed cushioned). 

No neon, no billboards, no harassing hawkers, and most importantly no problem getting by public transport to the site or getting in. Friendly and enthusiastic volunteers to show the way and answer questions. The handsome young soldiers who manned the airport style security at the entrances and charmed all comers. Minimal queues; all very smooth .

The BBC redeemed itself after its embarrassing and inexcusable coverage of the Queen’s Jubilee and provided full coverage of every sport and every event via the “red button” and laid on thoughtful and knowledgeable commentators. I understand that the coverage by the overseas television media was not nearly as good which is a shame.

And yes I did get to a few events in person. I had an excellent seat for the women’s team gymnastic final. I attended a rehearsal for the Opening Ceremony and had a very expensive ticket for the Closing Ceremony. As has been said in the press and by the athletes, the best thing about the 2012 Olympics were the spectators: enthusiastic, attentive, knowledgeable, generous in their support for all athletes no matter what their nationality. It must have been a true pleasure to perform in front of such crowds. And the army of volunteers, which received universal praise JJ. 

The Olympic Effect has done a lot to restore the self-esteem of a recession-battered Britain and to put the Great back into Great Britain.

What’s next???

So I am leaving my Canadian idyll in less than two weeks. Where to?

 I will fly to the British Virgin Islands for two weeks to visit Ken and Estelle and help them pack up their things. They are moving back to London (a very good thing in my view---a place like the BVI that features in the honeymoon travel brochures with florid labels like “tropical paradise” is not the place to live a real life). 

Then I will return to London to take care of some personal affairs and assist Ken and Estelle to settle back into their apartment. Before Christmas I am planning a couple of weeks in Morocco which currently seems to be the only African or Middle Eastern country which may not blow up in my face. I hope to see Fez and the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara and of course Marrakech. After returning to the UK, if there is time, I may do a long weekend at one of the Christmas Markets in Germany.

Right after New Year I will head off to Australia where I haven’t been for nearly 40 years. I will spend a bit of time seeing Tasmania before boarding a ship to Antarctica for nearly three weeks. As many of you know I went to Antarctica in 2008 and to the Arctic in 2009. I was really smitten by Antarctica and this time I will be visiting from “the other side”: from the east (Australasia) rather than from the west (Argentina where I went from in 2008). 

The ship returns to New Zealand in mid-February and I will spend a few weeks travelling there before returning to Australia (the Kimberley Coast on the top left hand side of Australia appeals to me and I have never been to western Australia either) . I will also try to get to Papua and New Guinea and maybe elsewhere in parts of South East Asia that I haven’t been to.

I will return here to my cottage in Canada at the end of April. I am toying with a doing a trip through the Canadian North West Passage in late summer and then in the autumn I will resume my South and Central America travels. By the end of 2013 I will take stock and see whether I still have the desire—and more pertinently the money ---for more travels.

Below are some photos of various events and places since my last post from Easter Island. I will be travelling in Ontario over the next week or so and hope to add some photos of the famous autumn colours as the leaves turn gold and red. 

Now that I am getting on the move again, keep checking back periodically on this blog.

Estelle, Ken and Lynn at the reception after the wedding ceremony

Ken and Estelle siging the register--Ken made Estelle's bouquet of origami cranes for good fortune

The bride and groom

The wedding guests

Lynn at a loch-side picnic in Holyrood Park on the Vintage Bus Tour on Bastille Day following the wedding

Ken and Estelle outside Amberley Castle in Sussex where one of the post-wedding celebrations was held

My summer cottage on Goose Island, Charleston Lake, Ontario

A view from the library of my cottage

Another lake view from a window of the cottage

Hector, one of the herons who frequent my island

A Charleston lake sunset seen from my island

The start of the autumn leaf-colour---I hope to upload a few more as the fall colours progress

Part of the library of my cottage

A view from my bedroom

Part of my living room

NO THESE ARE NOT CUTE!!! Canada Geese are a plague that has afflicted me all summer on the island. They each eat 2 pounds of grass a day and it all comes out the other end onto my lawn.

A spring visitor--- turtles are common around the lake and come ashore in spring to lay their eggs

Autumn bounty in the local farm shop

My new car--a Toyota RAV 4

dd The Olympic Stadium with the beautiful wild-flower beds in front of it

A closer look at one of  the wild-flower-beds in the Olympic Park

Lynn at the  Olympic Park

One of the pastoral scenes at the beginning of the Opening Ceremony

The "dark satanic mills" of the Industrial Revolution rise from the floor of the stadium during the Opening ceremony

The final scoreboard of the women's gymnastic final at the North Greenwich Arena

Lynn on duty as a London Ambassador at Marylebone station during the Olympics

Lynn at the Closing Ceremony

The opening scene of the Closing Ceremony



The laser light show at the Closing Ceremony

The Athletes assembled at the Closing Ceremony

The final scene as the Olympic Flame is extinguished

Easter Island

Easter Island --or Rapa Nui as the locals would prefer--is a long long way from anywhere---4000 kms from Chile (of which it is part) and 4000 km from  Tahiti. It forms the bottom right corner of the imaginary triangle that encloses the Polynesian islands, the other points being Hawaii and New Zealand. 

Easter Island is itself a rough isosceles triangle with sides of about 24 x 17 x17 kms. It has a  large volcano at each corner of the triangle and many small secondary volcanoes scattered around the island. The island is relatively new, as these things go. The first volcano to erupt on one of the corners was three and half million million years ago, the second on another corner, two and a half million years ago, and the volcano on the third corner a mere 250,000 years ago. The lava flows from each of the three volcanoes and some of the smaller ones joined together to form the island as it is today. 

So the defining feature of the island, as you can imagine, is lava in all its forms. The shoreline is rugged and black and there are caves which run from inland all the way down to the sea, formed by lava tubes (ie where the lava flowed through but the residue of the flow was soft and became eroded leaving a "tube" surrounded by  harder lava.) That said, the island is remarkably flat --almost a platform in the middle of the ocean. The tallest volcano, Teravaka, is only 506 meters and the other two are about 300 and 370. In the middle of the island there are fields with cows and horses and some fruit farming--the pastoral aspect of Easter Island really surprised me.There used to be plenty of trees (see below). 

Another thing that surprised me is that there were no indigenous animals on the island with the exception of two types of lizard and the migratory terns and frigate birds. The original islanders brought chickens (why???). Even the sea is rather barren here, not teeming with fish. The masses of phytoplankton which are the bottom of the marine food chain, are scarce and so there are no shellfish or sea weeds and the fish that passed the island which the islanders caught were on their way to somewhere else. 

The temperature on Easter Island is in the mid-20 degrees centigrade all year. It has one town, which is quite pleasant with lovely flowering trees and shrubs and simple but charming small houses. It does not seem to suffer from the unfriendly malaise of  Caribbean towns. There is a plague of wild horses---some 6000 which serve not particular purpose nwo that there are roads and cars and they are ruining the ecology and the archaeological sites.

One of the volcanoes, Rana Kau (the one in the south west--the bottom left hand corner), really blew its top leaving a huge crater, Orongo, which is filled with fresh (rain) water and supports reeds and some small fish and fruit trees around the edge of the water which is 100 meters below the rim.  (There are no natural springs or rivers on the island,  but because the lava is porous it absorbs rain water to provide a relatively abundant source to support the island.) One  of the secondary volcanoes, Rana Raraku, also has a lovely fresh water crater surrounded by coral trees (so  named because of their orange flowers). It is also referred to as the "quarry" since it is from Rana Raraku that the Easter Islanders got the tufa from which they carved their "moai" statues. 

There are few definitive answers to where the Easter Islanders came from or why they built these moai or why they knocked down their own statues (that much is certain--it was the islanders themselves, not bad-guy Europeans), or why there are no trees anymore. But there is a general concensus on certain things.  

The original islanders arrived in outrigger canoes about 800 AD from the Marquesa islands under their king Hotu Matua. One theory is that they abandoned their original home on an atol in the Marquesas because they were being swamped by a rising sea. There were not very many of them to begin with but they multiplied rapidly in the benign climate and conditions on Easter Island with no enemies from outside the island (the first Europeans to sight the island were not until 1722 and then not again until the 1780s). 

So well did they prosper that there was a real overpopulation problem by the 1600s. By way of illustration, there are currently about 5000 permanent residents on the island, about 3500 with Rapa Nui blood (almost none "pure") and the rest expats involved in the tourism industry of Chilean goverment business. There are about 40,000 visitors each year.  Although fruits and vegetables are grown and there is cattle ranching and fishing, most things are imported. In contrast, the estimate is that at the height of the population in the 1600s there were 20,000 Rapa Nui and of course they had to rely soley on the resources of the island. This many people would make the island overcrowded  even today.

The sole occupation of the Rapa Nui islanders, aside from growing and finding food, was building the moai. It was nothing short of an obsession. Over 900 moai were built over the period of 500-800 years. They were key to a very fervent form of ancestor worship. Over the centuries the moai  got bigger and more detailed but they did not differ in their essentials. With a few very late examples there was no attempt to give the statues identifying characterisitcs--they were powerful symbols, not likenesses. They were 99% male.

 Although a few early ones were made of harder basalt, the islanders  soon discovered that the softer tufa from the quarry was ideal for carving. The moai were carved on the spot in the quarry and then heaved upright and then "walked" to their site which was up to 20 km away. This probably explains the reason Easter Island was denuded of all its flourishing indigenous palms and other trees--it was not only to provide firewood for the growing population but they were cut down to be used as rollers to move these enormous--5 to 10 metre in some cases weighing many tons---statues.  Once the statue had reached its destination the final touch was added --the coral eye with the obsidian pupil --and then the ancestor statue was "alive". 

All the moai stood on "ahu"--platforms constructed of large boulders, some quite carefully shaped and carved reminiscent of some of the work of the Inca. The ahus provided the centre of religious ceremonies and burials. There are dozens if not hundreds of them in various states of repair dotting the coastline. The villages would then be built in front of the ahu on the landward side.

 People at first assume that the statues will be facing the sea to protect the villages from invaders. But so many centuries of uninterrupted isolation had convinced the islanders that they were alone in the world and so they had no fear of the sea. No, the moai faced inland towards  the villages of which they were the "ancestors". It was a form of intimidation by the chiefs of the villages---do you dare misbehave with your ancestor staring right at you? 

So what happened? Here there are only theories. The overpopulation brought the inevitable warfare between tribes over the dwindling resources. It is also possible that in the islanders'  limited contact with outsiders in the late 18th century--- one benign expedition left goats and sheep and seeds and other unheard of things for the islanders---  they saw that their ancestors had not in fact provided the best of everything for them. It may be that in the wars between the tribes the moai of the defeated tribe would be regarded as fair game for the winners to topple. It may also be that the warring  chieftains got together and saw that the traditional method of crowd control and intimidation through the ancestor moai wasn't working any more. 

Whatever the cause, during the later part of the 1700s and the first half of the 1800s  the islanders toppled their moai and removed their eyes, the source of the statue's life,  and crush them or throw them into the sea (ony one almost  whole eye has ever been found). In a rather clever plan probably hatched by the tribe chiefs in some sort of peace council to stop the destructive wars, a new belief was devised, the cult of the Birdman.  This was a competition each year in the spring. 

Each tribe  selected a champion athlete. The champions would race each other down the 300 meter cliff of the Orongo crater of volcano Rana Kau to the sea. They would then swim across to the small volcanic rocks off the coast (see photos) and scale the lava to await the arrival of the sooty tern which nested there. The first champion to seize a newly laid sooty tern egg and return across the sea and scale the 300 meter cliff was the winner and the chief of his tribe became the Birdman for that year. We know that this is not a myth since it was still going on in the 1860s when the first Catholic missionaries arrived. The documented in detail the whole competition before pronouncing it sacreligious and banning it. The islanders remain very religious, although apparently this is a mixture of Catholicism and the ancient spirit beliefs.

The late 1800s and the 1900s up to about 1975 were truly horrible for the islanders. All previous chaos had been self-inflicted but in the 1860s the outside world got well and truly involved in the destruction. The thousands of the islanders were kidnapped or tricked into signing up to work in Peru and Chile, some say in the mines, some say in agriculture. Whichever it was the results could have been predicted--they died in droves from European diseases and from overwork. Finally the bishop of Tahiti intervened and persuaded the Chilean government to return the islanders. Only 100 made it back and they brought the diseases with them thus virtually wiping out those who had remained behind. 

Their tribulations next involved having their entire island confiscated in the 1870s by a Frenchman who proclaimed himself king and turned the whole island into a ranch. The islanders killed him off after about 7 years. After Chile proclaimed its sovereignity over the island in the 1880s, things did not improve. The entire island was leased to an English wool company who imported 60,000 sheep (you can imagine what that did to the fragile ecology of the island) and turned the island into a sheep farm and the islanders were confined to a fenced off area in what became the current town of Hanga Roa. 

When this concession was finally ended in the 1950s, the Chilean navy took over and continued to restrict the islanders' movements.One of the guides told us that his uncles still remember being forbidden to go onto the beach.  Things do now seem to be better for the islanders. They do not have any "home rule" but they can vote in Chilean elections and tourism has brought prosperity. 

They are a very handsome people, but they have the dilemma of wanting to retain their identity but also being concerned not to restrict the gene pool which is very small since the devastation the population suffered in the last 150 years. you can see the potential problem on the streets---so many of the islanders look alike that I was often thinking that I saw one of our guides when in fact it was his or her cousin. 

A note to readers

I hope you have enjoyed travelling with me since December. My posts will be more infrequent for the next few months since I am going to be at my summer place in Canada (it is beautiful there so I will post some pictures) and then in the UK for my son's wedding and for the Olympics. 

I will get back on the road in October and will be returning to Central and South America. Early in 2013 I will be going back to Antarctica, this time from New Zealand or Tasmania. Then I hope to visit Papua and New Guinea, see Angkor Wat, and see more of Australia and New Zealand.  

So keep tuning in.

Lynn

me with the moai known as "big nose". He never made it to his ahu(see blog) and is still one of many in the quarry (see blog). Perhaps because they didn't like his big ski-jump nose.

This is one of the big sights--The Fifteen, on their ahu with their back to the sea. Note the topknot on the one second from the right. These were a feature of the later moai and is supposed to represent their hair which they wore in a bun on the top of their heads.

This old boy is one of the earlier moai but my favourite

These are some of the later moai. Note the finer carving and the elaborate topknots which were  a separate piece, carved of a red tufa found in a different quarry.

me with the bearded kneeling  moai--a very late and not very good  one, which was probably done at the time the whole ancestor cult was breaking down

This is the only moai with eyes (restored). They all had eyes (see blog) but since the eyes were what made them "alive" this is what was destroyed first when the islanders lost their faith.

the previous moai at sunset

another ahu of moai silhouetted against the sunset

This giant was never finished and it remains embedded in the quarry. 

moai in various stages of completion at the quarry

These are sunk many feet into the ground. They have never left the quarry for whatever reason--maybe  because they had a defect or didn't please the chief or were carved late and after the fervent obsession was fading an no one could be bothered to make the effort to move them across country to their ahu.

These were sunken garden enclosures for growing vegetables. The walls protected the crop from the elements and the porous tufa held the rainwater thus ensuring a constant supply of water to the plants.

Back view of a some moai by the beach. These are finely carved and have their topknots (see blog). But note the recycled older moai to the right which has been used as a building block for the ahu.

A petroglyph of two lizards.---lizards were the only indigenous animals on Easter Island

a fallen topknot (see blog). The red stone for the topknots came from a different quarry and were a late development. This one has been very finely carved.

another petroglyph of a sea turtle

This is The Fifteen again. Note their very fine location in a cove with their back to the sea (see blog). The flat land in front of them would have housed a substantial village

Believe it or not this is a female Moai.There are only one or two female moai

this panorama shows the secondary volcanoes that dot parts of the island

The jagged black lava coastline, dotted with caves and tunnels (see blog)

This gives a good idea of the landscape

one of the lava tube caves (see blog)

a lava tube tunnel

cows roam freely over the archaelogical sites, causing a lot of damag

---as do the 6000 wild horses

the lava islands off the coast which were where the Birdman champions needed to swim to to collect the first sooty tern egg in the spring. This photo is taken from the top of the cliff which they had to climb down and back up again. I was on a boat just like the one you can see in the middle of the picture---the sea is very rough with 40 or 50 foot swells.

ditto

This gives you an idea of what faced the Birdman champions in their swim

ditto

the pretty water-filled crater of one of the volcanoes

this is the largest crater, Oronogo, from which the Birdman competition commenced. The water is about 100 meters down below the crater rim and the rim itself is about 300 meters above the sea below

ditto

the lava-strewn south coast with surf

ditto--we had a very dramatic picnic on this beach!

there are two "proper" sandy beaches like this one

our picnic on the lava beach

islanders surf fishing

islanders with the fish caught in their gill net