2010 was quite a busy year with 12 missions: Brazil (2), Argentina, Peru, Ghana, Namibia, Germany, France, Uganda, Malawi, Canada and Abu Dhabi including also conferences in Morocco, Abu Dhabi, Australia and Canada.
Over the year (for both business and pleasure) I flew 79 sectors on 21 airlines in 25 different types of aircraft.
New airlines used for the first time during the year were :
TAP (Portugal) AA Abaete, (Brazil) Royal Air Maroc, Air Berlin, Air Namibia, Aerolineas Argentinas, Austral (Argentina) and TACA (Brazil/Peru).
Countries visited for the first time were: Morocco, Jordan, Abu Dhabi, Ghana and Uganda.
And so 2010 comes to an end. The travel diary for 2011 can be found at :
http://waggstravels2011.blogspot.com/
Cheers and see you soon......................................
Monday, December 27, 2010
December 27th: Christmas in London and back to Vienna
Christmas shopping in London was a bit limited because it was very cold and the threat of more snow semed to keep a lot of people at home. Still there was areplica German Christmas Market along the South bank of the River Thames near the London Eye. It was a copy of the sort of thing we have in Vienna where there are about 14 markets each with their own character.
The snow was melting fast in London but to the north it was still affecting transport systems. The annual informal Christmas reunion dinner went well with most of the usual crowd attending.
Christmas Day and brother-in-law Michael drive my sister Soo and I to have Christmas lunch with my Sister Ali, her husband Tim, daughter Beth and partner Ruben, and Dadwag. We saw plenty of snow about but the roads were pretty well clear everywhere .
Lunch was very good as always and we all had a great time; plenty of food and drink and lots of fun with the presents.
Sunday 26th was a travel ; preceeded by drinks at the house of an old friend of Soo ans Mike's. Then a train to Heathrow from Paddington as the tube drivers were on strike and check in at Heathrow. The BA staff at the desk were friendly but the flight was late. The gate staff were very bad at telling us what was happening with the delay but we did eventually get away and arrived in Vienna just in time to run the risk of missing the last train; this flight is so often late that I always book a cab nowadays. So that should be the last flight of the year - just New Year's Eve to go.........................
The snow was melting fast in London but to the north it was still affecting transport systems. The annual informal Christmas reunion dinner went well with most of the usual crowd attending.
Christmas Day and brother-in-law Michael drive my sister Soo and I to have Christmas lunch with my Sister Ali, her husband Tim, daughter Beth and partner Ruben, and Dadwag. We saw plenty of snow about but the roads were pretty well clear everywhere .
Lunch was very good as always and we all had a great time; plenty of food and drink and lots of fun with the presents.
Sunday 26th was a travel ; preceeded by drinks at the house of an old friend of Soo ans Mike's. Then a train to Heathrow from Paddington as the tube drivers were on strike and check in at Heathrow. The BA staff at the desk were friendly but the flight was late. The gate staff were very bad at telling us what was happening with the delay but we did eventually get away and arrived in Vienna just in time to run the risk of missing the last train; this flight is so often late that I always book a cab nowadays. So that should be the last flight of the year - just New Year's Eve to go.........................
Thursday, December 23, 2010
December 20: Christmas in London
As has been my habit since living in Vienna I arranged to go to London for the Christmas period to see my two sisters and my father as well as catch up with some good friends. This year the travel plan looked to be in jepordy as Heathrow Airport failed to cope with snow - that is what you get when you sell your main gateway airport to a dodgy firm of spanish builders who prompt;ly lower investmnt in the basic infrastructure and turn it into a shopping mall with no thought for passengers, risk management , etc, emergency weather planning and offer the CEO/MD a bonus which is greater than the amount spent on snow clearing gear for the year. That person finally (too late) said he woudl not accept the bonus ; I wonder why he is being paid all his salary as he appears to have failed at this job let alone done anything to deserve a bonus!
Anyway British Airwas assured me through their website that my flight would be one of the 50% that would leave Vienna. On the day I checked in OK and deposited my bag and went to the gate as advised. At takeoff time weahad no news froim BA except they told all those with connecting flights they would be travelling another way....the rest of us worked ot that this menat we would be leaving late. Fianlly after still no BA announced (or anyone else for that matter) news we were advised that the plane would board shortly - which we did and departed nearly one hour late. En route the pilot flying explained that Heathrow had been closed but as we had a 15 minute hold anyway all would be OK....After 20 minutes in the holding pattern the piot explained that the airporrt would re-open in 20 minutes or so....Finally after over 3 hours in the air for a 2h10m flight we landed to see very few machines clearing snow, one runway closed, deicing equipment that was so odl and inefficient it was verys ad. The place was a shambles and yet when I got to the bagge hall for once at LHR my bag arrived at the same time as me.
The tube to London was the next joy - a train jammed to the rafters as they seemed to be running late and were few and far bewteen. But it ran (which is more than it will do on Sunday when I am due to return- atube drivers' strike) and I finally made it to my sister and brother in law`s flat with time to spare before heading off to a reunion dinner at another flat in West Kensington. The susualcollection of old friends from school and partners was around and we had a great evening.
The weather has been cold and a little more snow at times but it is clearing up.
Tuesday saw me at the Essex workshops of P&A woods as the photgrapher whilst my brother in law helped award certificates to some prize wining coach-building apprentices . The workshop only does RR and bentley cars and is a fabulous place. After the awards we got a quick tour and saw red label and 8 litre bentleys form the 30s, modern (BMW) Bentleys . There was a Rolls from a Maharajah with a matching pair of Lee Enfield rifles clipped to the running board ready for any tigers one might see, and fantastic wooden body work at the rear to hid e the hood. The whole place is incredible and they also told me that they did some aeronautical work includng RRMerlin engines. Plenty of snow on the road away from the motorway but we had no trouble getting anywhere we wanted.
Shopping in London was also on the agenda, but I stayed local to avoid the Oxford Street crowds and slush!
Anyway British Airwas assured me through their website that my flight would be one of the 50% that would leave Vienna. On the day I checked in OK and deposited my bag and went to the gate as advised. At takeoff time weahad no news froim BA except they told all those with connecting flights they would be travelling another way....the rest of us worked ot that this menat we would be leaving late. Fianlly after still no BA announced (or anyone else for that matter) news we were advised that the plane would board shortly - which we did and departed nearly one hour late. En route the pilot flying explained that Heathrow had been closed but as we had a 15 minute hold anyway all would be OK....After 20 minutes in the holding pattern the piot explained that the airporrt would re-open in 20 minutes or so....Finally after over 3 hours in the air for a 2h10m flight we landed to see very few machines clearing snow, one runway closed, deicing equipment that was so odl and inefficient it was verys ad. The place was a shambles and yet when I got to the bagge hall for once at LHR my bag arrived at the same time as me.
The tube to London was the next joy - a train jammed to the rafters as they seemed to be running late and were few and far bewteen. But it ran (which is more than it will do on Sunday when I am due to return- atube drivers' strike) and I finally made it to my sister and brother in law`s flat with time to spare before heading off to a reunion dinner at another flat in West Kensington. The susualcollection of old friends from school and partners was around and we had a great evening.
The weather has been cold and a little more snow at times but it is clearing up.
Tuesday saw me at the Essex workshops of P&A woods as the photgrapher whilst my brother in law helped award certificates to some prize wining coach-building apprentices . The workshop only does RR and bentley cars and is a fabulous place. After the awards we got a quick tour and saw red label and 8 litre bentleys form the 30s, modern (BMW) Bentleys . There was a Rolls from a Maharajah with a matching pair of Lee Enfield rifles clipped to the running board ready for any tigers one might see, and fantastic wooden body work at the rear to hid e the hood. The whole place is incredible and they also told me that they did some aeronautical work includng RRMerlin engines. Plenty of snow on the road away from the motorway but we had no trouble getting anywhere we wanted.
Shopping in London was also on the agenda, but I stayed local to avoid the Oxford Street crowds and slush!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
8-12 October: Uganda and home.
The mission in Uganda was another training course and Keith and I had quite a high workload but the participants were pretty animated which made the week much more fun, and hopefully a better learning experience. The hotel where we worked was only a short distance away from the place where we stayed, but enough just to give us all a break in the evenings. Although the food was OK in the Imperial Botanical Gardens K and I took to walking up the road a few hundred metres several evenings to a chinese restaurant on the same road. The sign at the entrance was intriguing....
...........although the food was excellent and the beer was cheap we never did find out what the movies were!
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| Peter with a Nile Special... |
The high point of each day was our beer overlooking the shores of Lake Victoria in the hotel gardens as I mentioned. We tried several brands of local beer and they were all very cold and acceptable..
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| ..Moonberg was another drop we tried.... |
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| ............and Tusker (from Kenya) also went down well! |
The gardens also provided some interesting wildlife ...
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| A blue kingfisher in full song |
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| A glossy ibis |
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A brown heron on a nest  ...............................and Maribou Storks everywhere..................... We also went to Kampala, the capital, for a visit as it was only about 40 Km away. The traffic in the city was horrendous and these poictures barely tell the tale of our slow progress..40 minutes to do less than 1 km at one point.   But despite the chaos and the noise we did see these 3 Maribou storks nesting in a very small tree in the centre of the road!  The last evening we had a bit of a party at the hotel and I was danced and sung onto the car for my trip to the airport. The flights were with Brussels Airlines and the A330 and then an A321 were pretty uneventful. The flight was early out of Entebbe and witha very quick stop in Nairobi we arrived in Brussels early ona cold, dark rainy morning. Sadly the connectionw as not greta and I had four hours to wait (and buy chocolates for the office). Then a good flight with a nice breakfast back to Vienna arriving at lunchtime on a cool but dry day.Another mission completed. Hoppefully the last for the year. |
Sunday, November 14, 2010
October 28-30: Lima, Peru
The days of 28 and 29 were spent working on the training seminar with the local participants. I took to eating at the ASwiss restauarant just down the road frm the hotel as it was a good place to sit and watch the world whilst sipping a pisco sour and eating good fod.
The traffic in Lima is pretty awful and ther are lots of minibusees of varying states of epair - mostly battered and rather dodgy in appearance- but ther is also a great metro bus service.
On the expresssway through town the centre two lanes are dediciated to special buses which are like a wheeled version of an underground train:
The traffic in Lima is pretty awful and ther are lots of minibusees of varying states of epair - mostly battered and rather dodgy in appearance- but ther is also a great metro bus service.
On the expresssway through town the centre two lanes are dediciated to special buses which are like a wheeled version of an underground train:
The video shows the bus pulling away from one of the stations which are located in the centre of the road and linked to the street by lifts stairs and ramps etc. All very neat and looks good when the three lanes each way are grd locked in the rush hours. The buses just keep running.
Saturday morning I went for a walk to the Inca markets but was not moved to buy anything after all. The
weather was cool and cloudy but by 1130 a sea fog was drifting in and by 1230 it was cool and damp - and then suddenly the sun appeared at 1330 to give a sunny aternoon.
I had moved hotels to the San Antonio as the other place was full and they would not let me stay on. The new place was where we had run a course in 2008 so I knew the area OK but we had stayed in the sister hotel across the road whilst using the seminar room here. Turns out all the rooms are suites and quite impressive with a mega spa bath dominating the living area.....
The end of the stay drew close aqnd after another lunch at the "pizza & pub alley" we set off for the sirport and ours eparate flights home. Mine was a LAN flight to Madrid and then Iberia to Vienna LAN was OK but an older B767 and a bit tired - the crew too. Iberia provided an Airbus and the crew were in top form. Saturday evening and the end to anothe mission came as we landed on time in Vienna.
The end of the stay drew close aqnd after another lunch at the "pizza & pub alley" we set off for the sirport and ours eparate flights home. Mine was a LAN flight to Madrid and then Iberia to Vienna LAN was OK but an older B767 and a bit tired - the crew too. Iberia provided an Airbus and the crew were in top form. Saturday evening and the end to anothe mission came as we landed on time in Vienna.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
7 November: The source of the Nile
The hotel proved to be OK, although a slight musty smell does seem to hang in the air at times and the air-conditioner in my room is a bit noisy.
I met up with my mate Keith as expected over breakfast where we made a plan to hire a driver and car for the trip to Jinja to see the source of the River Nile. I was very keen to see the source of the river that I knew from living at the other end when I was in Egypt over 30 years ago. The other plan was to find Keith a fishing guide. He is a big fisherperson and the idea of catching a Nile Perch in Lake Victoria was just too good to be true for a real Territory barramundi man! Another breakfaster turned out to know another guest who had done just that so before too long the telephone numbers had been obtained from the Russian who had been fishing the day before and Keith was on his way to setting up a deal. Sadly it looks like it will be Friday afternoon and I shall not be able to go as my flight home will depart too early that evening to allow a good afternoon's fishing.
The drive to Jinja was with a local tour guide called Aggrey who had a smart new Toyota with air-con and drove with just the right amount of local knowledge and agression for us to make progress in the horrendous traffic without our being white knuckled all the way, we felt safe all the way. The drive included skirting around Kampala in the suburbs and the traffic was pretty bad. It seems Sunday is when parents visit their kids in boarding schools for picnic lunches etc and so there were lots of cars around as trucks and mini-buses everywhere.
The drive went through lots of agricultural land with acres of tea plantations and sugar cane as well as some rain forest.
Eventually we saw the lake again and drove over the Owen Stanley hydroelectric dam to reach Jinja and the road down to the official source of the Nile. We parked up and walked to the monument and then down the the water's edge to see the start of Africa's longest river.
There were plenty of birds to watch with pelicans, egrets, cormorants, and kingfishers on the water side and even Maribou Storks circling lazily overhead. Also there were plenty of souvenir stalls....
After not buying T shirts or taking a boast ride we sat down to a lunch at the water side drinking Nile Special Beer (what else) and Keith had fish and chips with tilapia the local major fish. Then it was time for the drive back, the traffic had got worse which seemed impossible but it took 3 hours to get back to Entebbe. Again we saw a lot of interesting birds including more Maribou Storks and even a few Black Kites just the same as you see in Darwin! We met up with the counterpart to sort out some work details and then had a sunset beer (Nile again) watching the monkeys and hornbills in the hotel garden as we stared out across Lake Victoria and discussed our work programme for the next 5 days. There are many interesting birds around but I was not having a lot of luck with my camera. Hopefully I will do better tomorrow.
I met up with my mate Keith as expected over breakfast where we made a plan to hire a driver and car for the trip to Jinja to see the source of the River Nile. I was very keen to see the source of the river that I knew from living at the other end when I was in Egypt over 30 years ago. The other plan was to find Keith a fishing guide. He is a big fisherperson and the idea of catching a Nile Perch in Lake Victoria was just too good to be true for a real Territory barramundi man! Another breakfaster turned out to know another guest who had done just that so before too long the telephone numbers had been obtained from the Russian who had been fishing the day before and Keith was on his way to setting up a deal. Sadly it looks like it will be Friday afternoon and I shall not be able to go as my flight home will depart too early that evening to allow a good afternoon's fishing.
The drive to Jinja was with a local tour guide called Aggrey who had a smart new Toyota with air-con and drove with just the right amount of local knowledge and agression for us to make progress in the horrendous traffic without our being white knuckled all the way, we felt safe all the way. The drive included skirting around Kampala in the suburbs and the traffic was pretty bad. It seems Sunday is when parents visit their kids in boarding schools for picnic lunches etc and so there were lots of cars around as trucks and mini-buses everywhere.
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| A few of the very many minibuses everywhere we went |
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| Tea to the left, sugar to the right - all we need is a cow for the milk! |
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| The bird gallery at the source of the Nile |
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| The downstream view of the White Nile from the riverside at Jinja |
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| An egret on take-off |
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| Keith witha Nile beer in front of the Nile River |
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| Picnic day at a high school on Sunday |
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| Me with my Nile beer and Lake Victoria behind me - hotel gardens |
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| A Pied Hornbill at sunset in the hotel gardens |
The drive went through lots of agricultural land with acres of tea plantations and sugar cane as well as some rain forest.
Eventually we saw the lake again and drove over the Owen Stanley hydroelectric dam to reach Jinja and the road down to the official source of the Nile. We parked up and walked to the monument and then down the the water's edge to see the start of Africa's longest river.
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| The monument at the source of the Nile |
There were plenty of birds to watch with pelicans, egrets, cormorants, and kingfishers on the water side and even Maribou Storks circling lazily overhead. Also there were plenty of souvenir stalls....
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| Keith negotiating the alley of souvenir stalls |
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| Traffic on the road to Jinja |
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| Lorry park - Uganda style |
6 November: Uganda calling
Another 0530 taxi call and I was off to Africa for the last time this year and what should hopefully the last business trip before Christmas. This time it was an Austrian Airbus 319 to Brussels and then on to Entebbe with SN Brussels airlines. The mission is another one week training course in Uganda. My first time to that country and "another pin in the map".
The flights were fine and included a short stop in Kigali, Ruaanda to re-fuel and drop off passengers, a "tech stop" style which was very quick and we did not get off the plane. The short hop of 350km to Entebbe followed and although I arrived at 2300 local in Entebbe the visa purchase on arrival was very smooth and the hotel car was there to take me to the Imperial Botanical Beach Resort Hotel on the shores of Lake Victoria.
The hotel is vast and an old grand style-famous for the fact that the Clinton's stayed here at some time in the past . The gardens are lush and have a population of monkeys and hornbills amongst other wildlife.
There must be other wildlife too as we saw armed guards arriving evry evening at sunset to patrol the grounds!
The colleague assisting me for this training event had already arrived from Australia but at 0100 I decided we would leave the reunion until breakfast !
The flights were fine and included a short stop in Kigali, Ruaanda to re-fuel and drop off passengers, a "tech stop" style which was very quick and we did not get off the plane. The short hop of 350km to Entebbe followed and although I arrived at 2300 local in Entebbe the visa purchase on arrival was very smooth and the hotel car was there to take me to the Imperial Botanical Beach Resort Hotel on the shores of Lake Victoria.
The hotel is vast and an old grand style-famous for the fact that the Clinton's stayed here at some time in the past . The gardens are lush and have a population of monkeys and hornbills amongst other wildlife.
There must be other wildlife too as we saw armed guards arriving evry evening at sunset to patrol the grounds!
The colleague assisting me for this training event had already arrived from Australia but at 0100 I decided we would leave the reunion until breakfast !
1 and 2 November: London airport again
Another 0530 start and I was on my way to UK to see family and friends for a brief break bewteen trips. This time it was an Austrian airbus flight to London Heathrow Terminal 1. An early morning with breakfast in the lounge in Vienna before getting into the A320 to make the trip. By 0930 I was out of the airport and in my Hertz car and away to see my father and my sister and her husband.
It was a very pleasant drive with not too much traffic after the M25 had been negotiated- that is always a gamble. The trip went well and Daddy was in good form fora 96 year old. AFter a snack lunch woith him I headed off to my hotel for the night .
The next day an early start saw me back at my sister's place to help Daddy do the crosswords in The Times and The Daily Telegraph ( I do the writing he does the answers!) before heading off back to return the car and meet Clare for lunch. A good leisurely pub lunch and then off to terminal 1 for the last flight back to Vienna. The car was waiting as this flight means that you run the risk of missing the last traini if there are any delays. To my amazement we found ourselves on the autobahn at 2400 hors ina 3 lane solid grid lock; road works menat that for 2-3 Km only one lane was open and it was astounding to see how much traffic was being held up. Still I got back to the flat OK and another trip was over - great to see Daddy, Al, Tim and Clare ( and do a bit of shopping at Tescos)
It was a very pleasant drive with not too much traffic after the M25 had been negotiated- that is always a gamble. The trip went well and Daddy was in good form fora 96 year old. AFter a snack lunch woith him I headed off to my hotel for the night .
The next day an early start saw me back at my sister's place to help Daddy do the crosswords in The Times and The Daily Telegraph ( I do the writing he does the answers!) before heading off back to return the car and meet Clare for lunch. A good leisurely pub lunch and then off to terminal 1 for the last flight back to Vienna. The car was waiting as this flight means that you run the risk of missing the last traini if there are any delays. To my amazement we found ourselves on the autobahn at 2400 hors ina 3 lane solid grid lock; road works menat that for 2-3 Km only one lane was open and it was astounding to see how much traffic was being held up. Still I got back to the flat OK and another trip was over - great to see Daddy, Al, Tim and Clare ( and do a bit of shopping at Tescos)
30-31 October: Homeward bound
Time to go home again. So, Saturday dawned coolish but hright and I had a leisurely breakfast before taking a walk to the Inca markets area - now about a 15minute stroll away from where I had moved to at the San Antonio. Plenty of shops but not really a great range of goods apart from llama or alpaca wool scarves, cardigans etc and silverware. I didn;t do a lot of shopping after all and made my way back to the hotel as the sea mist had crept in and the temperature fell markedly. Back at the hotel I met up with another consultant and we headed off to the "pizza and pub alley" to grab lunch. By the time we had finished the meal and the football game had ended it was time to get back to the hotel for the airport taxi .
Lima traffic was the usual mayhem but we found ourselves back at the airport and had no problems getting checked in. Soon I was in the lounge with a Bloody Mary in hand and recent newspapers to read. Then it was of top the plane and a good overnight flight to Europe. LAN service on the Boeing 767 was OK but the plane was very old with new seats! The entertainment system was not very reliable but I tried to sleep. The transfer in Madrid was painless and the Iberia Airbus for Vienna left on time; and by about 6 pm local time I was back in Vienna , another mission completed.
Lima traffic was the usual mayhem but we found ourselves back at the airport and had no problems getting checked in. Soon I was in the lounge with a Bloody Mary in hand and recent newspapers to read. Then it was of top the plane and a good overnight flight to Europe. LAN service on the Boeing 767 was OK but the plane was very old with new seats! The entertainment system was not very reliable but I tried to sleep. The transfer in Madrid was painless and the Iberia Airbus for Vienna left on time; and by about 6 pm local time I was back in Vienna , another mission completed.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
27 October: Rio to Lima
It was a 0500 departure from the hotel on a wet and rainy morning to take flight #69 for the year. The work in Rio was done and now it was back to Lima. I was last in Peru in 2008 when I was on crutches which was not a lot of fun.
The drive to the airport was very wet with a lot of large deep puddles in places which slowed us up frequently. The airport was pretty quiet when we arrived so I set of through the only open door to find that my check-in was the other end of the building. Another new airline this time - TACA. Anyway they have a deal with Lufthansa so I will get flyer points and I had a Business Class seat for the 5.5 hours to Lima which was nice. Rio airport is a bit tired with quite a few puddles on the floor inside the terminal after the rain. I followed the signs to the VIP lounge but obviously 0600 was too early for the Brazilians to open up; many of the shops were closed too leaving many passengers wandering around wondering what to do. So it was back downstairs to the gate area and at least they did have a few seats. The aeroplane was an Airbus 319, probably not too old but the business class seats seemed older than the plane as they were quite scuffed. As we pushed back the heavens really opened up and the rain poured down.
Despite the awful weather we left pretty close to time and were promptly served a breakfast omelette which was good but filled with onions and various coloured peppers- welcome to Latin America, again.
The flight was almost due west it seemed and we spent along time over clouds and then jungle
before the landscape changed to hills
and then mountains and finally snow covered peaks and alpine lakes of melt-water.
The drive to the airport was very wet with a lot of large deep puddles in places which slowed us up frequently. The airport was pretty quiet when we arrived so I set of through the only open door to find that my check-in was the other end of the building. Another new airline this time - TACA. Anyway they have a deal with Lufthansa so I will get flyer points and I had a Business Class seat for the 5.5 hours to Lima which was nice. Rio airport is a bit tired with quite a few puddles on the floor inside the terminal after the rain. I followed the signs to the VIP lounge but obviously 0600 was too early for the Brazilians to open up; many of the shops were closed too leaving many passengers wandering around wondering what to do. So it was back downstairs to the gate area and at least they did have a few seats. The aeroplane was an Airbus 319, probably not too old but the business class seats seemed older than the plane as they were quite scuffed. As we pushed back the heavens really opened up and the rain poured down.
The flight was almost due west it seemed and we spent along time over clouds and then jungle
and then mountains and finally snow covered peaks and alpine lakes of melt-water.
We crossed Lake Titicaca
and then the land looked a bit more barren like the altoplano
but before too long it was the top of descent. There were a few hilltops sticking out of the cloud and we were heading into thick clouds until we suddenly appeared above the sea and on short final approach to Lima.
and there were many fishing boats anchored in the bays along the coast and the heavy overcast made for a very grey day.
After we landed the first passengers were starting to queue in the gangway well before we finished taxying - memories of travel in Central Asia. Immigration and customs were straightforward and I was met by my counterpart and we set off for the car and the hotel. The traffic was pretty diabolical but this is South America. The hotel
is right in the centre of the arts and crafts shopping markets with one of the largest Inca markets opposite
and I suspect I will be shopping there soon, after all Christmas is not so far away.
23-26 October; Return to Rio
The Windsor Palace Hotel Copacabana was the same as in February but the Wi-Fi has degraded which has made email and blog work very difficult. it is really too slow and unreliable for the office email system which reacts badly to low speed internet as a seurity risk.
I spent Saturday doing paper work after a lie in, a good bacon and egg breakfast, watching the Korean GP qualifying re-runs (in Portuguese), walking along the beach for a bit on a fine hot afternoon and then having a couple of beers with an old mate here. We ended up eating in the pavement bar as it began to rain buckets and there was no sense in going anywhere as we were already at a "dry" table under an umbrella. It was 2200 by the time the rain lifted and we went our separate ways. It was really good to meet up again.
Sunday I was awake at 0400 to see the GP live but of course it was delayed by rain and so I could have slept in for another hour or so! Still it was an eventful race and worth watching, but a bit sad for Mark Webber. Then it was another breakfast and a walk again. The weather was overcast but still 20 degrees and the wind was low. The road along the promenade (Atlantic Avenue) had been closed on one side to host a charity wlka/race. There were several thousand people involved, all with pink numbers and some with medals because they had already finished.
The next two days were taken up with work. The seminar group had grown to 42 or teherabouts with drifters - a bit beyond the expected 20-25! Still they were a pretty animated group and the discussions and debates were lively and good fun as well as instructive, for them and me.
The rain had come back especially at night, so there was little evening wandering for me. Not that it is advisable to go too far anyway.
Tuesday night about 20 of us went to celebrate the end of the work at a big meat restaurant at the waterside in the enxt bay. They carve hunks of really excellent roast beef in different cuts to order at the table. A coupleof caipirinhias to round off the meal and back to the hotel for an early start.
I spent Saturday doing paper work after a lie in, a good bacon and egg breakfast, watching the Korean GP qualifying re-runs (in Portuguese), walking along the beach for a bit on a fine hot afternoon and then having a couple of beers with an old mate here. We ended up eating in the pavement bar as it began to rain buckets and there was no sense in going anywhere as we were already at a "dry" table under an umbrella. It was 2200 by the time the rain lifted and we went our separate ways. It was really good to meet up again.
Sunday I was awake at 0400 to see the GP live but of course it was delayed by rain and so I could have slept in for another hour or so! Still it was an eventful race and worth watching, but a bit sad for Mark Webber. Then it was another breakfast and a walk again. The weather was overcast but still 20 degrees and the wind was low. The road along the promenade (Atlantic Avenue) had been closed on one side to host a charity wlka/race. There were several thousand people involved, all with pink numbers and some with medals because they had already finished.
The next two days were taken up with work. The seminar group had grown to 42 or teherabouts with drifters - a bit beyond the expected 20-25! Still they were a pretty animated group and the discussions and debates were lively and good fun as well as instructive, for them and me.
The rain had come back especially at night, so there was little evening wandering for me. Not that it is advisable to go too far anyway.
Tuesday night about 20 of us went to celebrate the end of the work at a big meat restaurant at the waterside in the enxt bay. They carve hunks of really excellent roast beef in different cuts to order at the table. A coupleof caipirinhias to round off the meal and back to the hotel for an early start.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
19-23 October: Salta and Don Otto
Well, the work in Salta has gone well. The seminar group was about 10 people and whilst they did not all have great English language skills the two days have been very good workwise. The questions were good and fast and furious at times but there were plenty of helpers for translation in both directions. It was a great group to work with. After work, which was usually about 6PM, we went back to the hotel and went for a wander around the centre of town before eating. Everywhere we went seemed to be past this spectacular church ...by day .........
and .....
...by night.
..............and then to the main square................
..where they have another fine church
The choices of food were extensive but we avoided the fast food and posh places sticking to generally local styles with empanadas and similar snacks interspersed with the local dark beer “Salta”.
One evening we went across town to the new tourist trap area near the refurbished railway station. We found a whole heap of pavement cafes and traditional bars. We picked one with live local music and had a very good evening with local food, great red wine and plenty of local folk type music.
Another time we went to an Irish pub! ......
......but we ate very traditional “Bife de lomo” which is basically a fillet steak and a few chips. Very tasty meat and the red wines of the district and from Mendoza another uranium mining area to the south are excellent and we tried a few of them too!
On Wednesday we set out for the uranium mine at Don Otto. A drive of about 3-4 hours in a direct route but we stopped to look at the geology many times as the road passes up over a ridge at about 3400m (10000ft) and follows the main syncline. The variety of landforms and rock types was amazing
- as was the nature of the road at times. Much of the track was gravel but in very good condition, just a bit narrow and precarious, especially when big trucks came the other way;
A few narrow bridges
and many twists and turns.
Shortly we came to the highest point on the road......
Eventually we came out onto a high plateau, not quite the “altoplano” of Chile but pretty close - Vast flat areas of tough grassland and very few signs of life.
We did see two real “gauchos” (cowboys) riding after their cattle........
........ and a few goats later on.
We left the park and had lunch at one old mine site where there were wild donkeys who watched us as much as we watched them.
By now we had descended to a mere 2800 m into a series of river valleys in a very dry basin with dunes, geology and cacti everywhere............................
Then we finally came to the former mine site at Don Otto which is being investigated for possible re-development.
The facility is a shadow of its former glory days of production but is under a care and maintenance regime and is in good condition generally. The bunkhouse is old and made of stone and is very rustic.
The meals were all taken in the old mess hall, a barn of a place with only 10 of us and then the local crew of about 6. Meals were basic but fine and still red wine to wash the meat down.
The scenery at the site was fantastic and the weather could not have been better although the sun was vicious and despite a hat and sun block my nose did get burned. The old miners had even labelled the mineralised strata they mined on the outside where they were exposed at the surface...
We looked at the old facilities and discussed the new plans. In the evening we had some presentations from the seminar members about the various aspects of their work and the new plans and how it all tied in with my work etc. Then it was off to bed as the generator was turned off and the weather was getting cool.
In the early morning the dawn light on the rocks was amazing.....
and it was still cool as we headed off for breakfast, past several of these trees,
which are endemic only to this area and have seed cases that look like plastic peanuts.
The trees are very spiky – I guess this protects them from the attacks of the goats and donkeys etc that seem to roam the area. We looked around the former processing site and discussed the new plans and then finally went to the old underground workings to look at the old decline and some of the galleries.
It was very dusty, very fine rock dust- a real nuisance hazard, so we wore masks but the tunnels were in great condition and it was very interesting. A return to camp for the last mess lunch – excellent grilled pork chops – then we began the drive back to Salta. The clouds were starting to build up but we stopped for a short while to walk up a narrow ravine to see dinosaur footprints. Sadly the very last part of the climb to the site was a bit too slippery for me but I got a very good view from the valley floor.
The drive back was marked by a few rain spots and some very impressive displays of threatening clouds. The road was still impressive on the way back.
On Thursday evening we arrived back in Salta at 1830 and after a quick shower and a change a small group of us went off to the GPO to post my cards and then to a pub to grab a few beers and a snack before heading off to the Central Theatre for a concert by the local symphony orchestra.
In true latin american style the show did not begin until 2130. The house was pretty full and the performance was very good:
Beethoven’s overture “Coriolanus” and Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” suite in part 1 and then Mendelssohn’s Symphony “The Scottish Lass” in part 2 and a great encore.
Friday morning was a rush to finish up the final questions and answers from the group, followed by a super lunch of local specialities before a mad rush to the car, a quick round of farewells and then the sprint to the airport to catch the Austral flight on an MD-83 back to Buenos Aires. The weather was grey again, but no rain. The flight was delayed and so although there was no airport change for my next flight it was a real sprint to get aboard the Aerolineas Argentinas flight to Rio. A 3 hour flight in a B737-700 and we reached Rio by about 2130 local time; someone from the host organisation was there to meet me and we set off for the hotel. Rio traffic has not lessened since February and we were some 45 minutes or more before arriving back at the Windsor Palace hotel just off the front at Copacabana beach, the same place where the team stayed in February. So finally, a long day over and a chance to relax over the weekend before work starts again on Monday at 0800.
...by night.
..............and then to the main square................
..where they have another fine church
The choices of food were extensive but we avoided the fast food and posh places sticking to generally local styles with empanadas and similar snacks interspersed with the local dark beer “Salta”.
One evening we went across town to the new tourist trap area near the refurbished railway station. We found a whole heap of pavement cafes and traditional bars. We picked one with live local music and had a very good evening with local food, great red wine and plenty of local folk type music.
Another time we went to an Irish pub! ......
Luis, Juan, me, two other local staff members
On Wednesday we set out for the uranium mine at Don Otto. A drive of about 3-4 hours in a direct route but we stopped to look at the geology many times as the road passes up over a ridge at about 3400m (10000ft) and follows the main syncline. The variety of landforms and rock types was amazing
- as was the nature of the road at times. Much of the track was gravel but in very good condition, just a bit narrow and precarious, especially when big trucks came the other way;
A few narrow bridges
and many twists and turns.
As we climbed over the highest point, near the peak we entered the National Park
and the geology put on a splendid display which is hard to capture on film, even with a panoramic camera.
At this same point a large bird cruised overhead and everyone thought it was a condor. Sadly when we looked at my picture it was declared to be an “eagle” although I think it was a kite.
Shortly we came to the highest point on the road......
Eventually we came out onto a high plateau, not quite the “altoplano” of Chile but pretty close - Vast flat areas of tough grassland and very few signs of life.
We did see two real “gauchos” (cowboys) riding after their cattle........
........ and a few goats later on.
We left the park and had lunch at one old mine site where there were wild donkeys who watched us as much as we watched them.
By now we had descended to a mere 2800 m into a series of river valleys in a very dry basin with dunes, geology and cacti everywhere............................
Then we finally came to the former mine site at Don Otto which is being investigated for possible re-development.
The facility is a shadow of its former glory days of production but is under a care and maintenance regime and is in good condition generally. The bunkhouse is old and made of stone and is very rustic.
The meals were all taken in the old mess hall, a barn of a place with only 10 of us and then the local crew of about 6. Meals were basic but fine and still red wine to wash the meat down.
Luis drinking mate in the mess hall.
The scenery at the site was fantastic and the weather could not have been better although the sun was vicious and despite a hat and sun block my nose did get burned. The old miners had even labelled the mineralised strata they mined on the outside where they were exposed at the surface...
In the early morning the dawn light on the rocks was amazing.....
and it was still cool as we headed off for breakfast, past several of these trees,
which are endemic only to this area and have seed cases that look like plastic peanuts.
It was very dusty, very fine rock dust- a real nuisance hazard, so we wore masks but the tunnels were in great condition and it was very interesting. A return to camp for the last mess lunch – excellent grilled pork chops – then we began the drive back to Salta. The clouds were starting to build up but we stopped for a short while to walk up a narrow ravine to see dinosaur footprints. Sadly the very last part of the climb to the site was a bit too slippery for me but I got a very good view from the valley floor.
The drive back was marked by a few rain spots and some very impressive displays of threatening clouds. The road was still impressive on the way back.
On Thursday evening we arrived back in Salta at 1830 and after a quick shower and a change a small group of us went off to the GPO to post my cards and then to a pub to grab a few beers and a snack before heading off to the Central Theatre for a concert by the local symphony orchestra.
In true latin american style the show did not begin until 2130. The house was pretty full and the performance was very good:
Beethoven’s overture “Coriolanus” and Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” suite in part 1 and then Mendelssohn’s Symphony “The Scottish Lass” in part 2 and a great encore.
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