var textForPages =["Vol. 9, no. 1<br/>DISPATCHES<br/>field notes for OAT’s Sir Edmund Hillary Club members<br/>SM<br/>","Claudia Dresser, 3-time traveler<br/>","“In the villages of Rajasthan, India, women draw mandana paintings on their walls<br/>and floors to protect their homes, and invite the divine to enter within. I may not<br/>have shared their talent for achieving perfect symmetry, and my lines may have been<br/>a bit crude, but I still felt as though I was offering them a blessing—as a way of thanking them for inviting me in.”<br/>","6 Letter from the Editor<br/>7 Correspondence<br/>Our readers share letters, photos, and more<br/>10 Where in the World<br/>Can you identify this picture<br/>11 Artifacts<br/>The artwork of Dave Gano<br/>12 OAT Photo Contest<br/>Congratulations to our 2015 winners!<br/>14 World Calendar<br/>Upcoming events of interest<br/>16 Immersions<br/>OAT travelers connect with local culture<br/>17 In the Know<br/>Hindu gods & goddesses<br/>24 Call of the Wild<br/>China’s giant pandas<br/>25 Outlook on Women<br/>Japan’s female sushi chefs<br/>26 Adventure Countdown<br/>National parks worldwide<br/>34 Trailblazers<br/>A conversation with Raul Gamarra<br/>35 Literary Adventures<br/>Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer by Tim Jeal<br/>36 Field Notes<br/>Traveler Janet Snyder gives sight to sore eyes<br/>38 OAT Philanthropy<br/>Grand Circle Foundation’s WASH initiative<br/>40 Moveable Feast<br/>An Argentine feast for spring<br/>42 Cultural Anthropologist<br/>Inca ingenuity<br/>58 Adventure Update<br/>News briefs from OAT<br/>“Wheat fields and vineyards. Bread and wine. The history and fabric of life in Sicily have been interwoven with these since ancient times.”<br/>43 Special Feature<br/>Grand Circle Cruise Line Small Ship Cruise Tours<br/>Sicily PAGE 18<br/>","“Its near-constant changes in power and allegiance have not only shaped the make-up of the local populace but also the country’s culture, architec- ture, and character.”<br/>“Pulling over beneath a copse of red-bark pines, I leaned my bike against a tree, took off my helmet, and stared down at the intersection of two dirt roads where 40 years earlier I had joined the platoon I was to command.”<br/>Montenegro PAGE 44<br/>Vietnam PAGE 28<br/>","Dispatches<br/>Spring 2016<br/>Vol. 9, no. 1<br/>field notes for<br/>Overseas Adventure Travelers<br/>PUBLISHERS<br/>Harriet R. Lewis Alan E. Lewis<br/>EDITOR-IN-CHIEF<br/>Laura Chavanne<br/>MANAGING EDITOR<br/>Rachel Fox<br/>CORRESPONDENTS<br/>John Bregoli<br/>Andrea Callabretta<br/>Geof Childs<br/>Meghan Colloton Catherine Groux<br/>Tom Lepisto<br/>Lyette Mercier<br/>Megan Mullin<br/>Ashleigh Osgood Pamela Schweppe Travis Taylor<br/>David Valdes Greenwood Victoria Welch<br/>Diana White<br/>ART DIRECTOR<br/>Maureen Crocker<br/>MANAGING DESIGNER<br/>Sukkie Pang<br/>DESIGNERS<br/>Brian Babineau Dylan Andrews Jessica Pooler<br/>PHOTO EDITORS<br/>Amanda Fisher Meredith Gausch Susan Greene Meredith Mulcahy Gregory Palmer<br/>PRODUCTION MANAGER<br/>Erica Dumeer<br/>PROJECT MANAGERS<br/>Quintan Loar Katie Weiler<br/>Story ideas, manuscripts, photos, artwork, and other contributions are welcomed and should be sent to the attention of<br/>Editor, c/o Dispatches<br/>Overseas Adventure Travel<br/>One Mifflin Place, Suite 400, Cambridge, MA 02138<br/>or emailed to editordispatches@oattravel.com<br/>So that we may properly credit you,<br/>please include your name, address, phone number, and number of times you have trav- eled with OAT. The magazine regrets that we cannot acknowledge receipt<br/>of or assume responsibility for the return<br/>of manuscripts, photos, artwork, or<br/>other material.<br/>Dispatches is a publication of Overseas Adventure Travel, One Mifflin Place, Suite 400, Cambridge, MA 02138<br/>A Message from Harriet Lewis<br/>Of all the publications we create at Overseas Adventure Travel, none captures your spirit of adventure and curiosity better than Dispatches—so I’m happy to introduce your Spring issue. I hope these pages help you learn something new about a place you’ve never been—and also evoke fond memories of journeys past.<br/>I certainly learned a few things myself. For one, I don’t<br/>know quite as much about Indian deities as I thought<br/>I did—find out whether you do in our quiz on page 17. And while I did know that Japanese culture is decidedly masculine, I knew nothing about the female sushi chefs who are trying to break the mold—read about it on page 25.<br/>But what I love learning most about reading through Dispatches is how much your travels have impacted your lives. Your stories and photos, like those shared here in “Correspondence,” mean the absolute world to me. You inspire me every day, so please keep them coming.<br/>Warm regards,<br/>Harriet<br/>Vice Chairman, Overseas Adventure Travel<br/>P.S. On page 28, you’ll get a special treat from a writer who brought my husband, Alan, with him on his return trip to Vietnam. The photo on page 30 was not my idea.<br/>Correspondence<br/>Letters, photos, and more<br/>Tribal traditions<br/>During our meeting with the women of LeMongo village, I photographed a Maasai mother cradling this baby in her arms. From the Q&A we learned that the baby’s cheeks had been tattooed in the traditional manner only two days earlier. This is just one of the memorable experiences we enjoyed as part of Out of Africa: Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Tanzania.<br/>Linda Schoborg Crossville, Tennessee 4-time traveler<br/>6 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","Correspondence<br/>Memories in verse<br/>We read with great interest the Field Notes of “Around the Table” describing Nick Birse’s trip to Japan in Dispatches [Vol.8, No. 3, page 44] and recalled the wonderful experience we had<br/>in Japan in the fall of 2015. The yukatas (kimono-style robes) were great fun for dinner and breakfast at the ryokan (traditional Japanese inn). The entire experience surpassed our expectations with scenery, interactions, food, and the culture having a visual and memorable impact. The following haikus were written as<br/>a result:<br/>Japan<br/>Treasures in Japan<br/>Shrines, temples, gardens inspire Culture abundant.<br/>Scenery<br/>Train scenes of rice fields Dotted with orange persimmons Amidst fall scenery.<br/>Thank you for providing such stimulating travel experiences for us.<br/>Richard & Sharon Linden Chattanooga, Tennessee 17-time travelers<br/>Clarifying a complex conflict<br/>I just finished reading<br/>the current Dispatches<br/>[Vol. 8, no. 4] would<br/>like to comment on<br/>your article “Scars of<br/>Sarajevo” [page 26]. I<br/>wish I had read this<br/>article before I went<br/>on your trip Crossroads<br/>of the Adriatic as it tells<br/>with such clarity the<br/>history behind the<br/>conflict. Having been<br/>on two trips to the<br/>area, I came back each time with a different take on the very complex situation.<br/>Please enclose this article as part of your package for everyone who takes this trip in the future. It would clarify and answer a lot of questions.<br/>Marilyn J. Hosman Lafayette, California 10-time traveler<br/>Egg on our faces<br/>I was looking at the recipe for Avgolemono Soup [Vol. 8, no. 4, “Moveable Feast”, page 41] and noticed that it calls for 4 eggs, separated. However, the recipe does not mention what to do with the two parts of the eggs. It just says “beat the eggs and lemon juice together until well combined.” I am assuming that if the eggs are separated, one would use the yolks and just throw away the egg white? If that is the case, it would have been best to just say “4 egg yolks.”<br/>I love Avgolemono soup and would like to try to make it, but need clarification!<br/>Plus, I spotted our Program Director from our February 2015 Panama Canal Cruise & Panama trip, Abdiel, on page 44 [Cultural Moorings]!<br/>Stephanie Mastro Seattle, Washington 4-time traveler<br/>Editor’s Note: Sorry about this, Stephanie! You’re absolutely right: This was an error. The eggs do not need to be separated—though many traditional recipes do take the extra step. According to our writer who researched the recipe, “I saw a lot of split opinion on it, and since many said separating wouldn’t ensure the smooth texture, I decided it wasn’t worth the hassle.” Let us know how it comes out!<br/>Dancing for joy<br/>My favorite photo<br/>from my 2015 trip,<br/>Israel: The Holy<br/>Lands & Timeless<br/>Cultures, was taken<br/>in the fascinating<br/>Machane Yehuda<br/>Market during our<br/>walk through one of<br/>Jerusalem’s oldest<br/>neighborhoods. I<br/>heard haunting,<br/>enticing music and<br/>spotted this brightly<br/>dressed old woman<br/>dancing in the<br/>street. I couldn’t<br/>resist joining her!<br/>We met her daughter<br/>after the dancing<br/>and she shared that<br/>her mother had<br/>emigrated from<br/>Yemen to Israel and was dancing for joy. So was I!<br/>Laurie Reeve<br/>Port Angeles, Washington 10-time traveler<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 7<br/>","An Aussie anniversary<br/>Where do I begin? To use the word our Ultimate Australia Trip Leader—Matt Bercher—used, STUNNING. I have wanted to go to Australia since I was three years old. I am the daughter of two immigrants from two different countries. An aunt had read me a book about kangaroos, and I wanted to see them. My mother once asked me in Ukraine, “How do you know this place? We don’t even know it.” I told my mom that I had to see the ‘roos. She told me my time had not come. “It will come, daughter.”<br/>Well, for our 25th wedding anniversary, it happened. My husband said, “We are going,” and we did. Matt helped us celebrate our 25th with the rest of our OAT travelers and it was one of our most memorable. I saw the ‘roos and fed them out of my hands—oh my! Besides, we both fell in love with the country, food, and—most important—the people. The whole experience touched our hearts.<br/>I teach yoga to handicapped people and often I do something free for them. I did a talk on Australia five times—teaching them some Aussie vocabulary, sharing souvenirs, having tea and biscuits, and singing “Waltzing Matilda.” They loved it. Next year, we are going to Iceland, so I must do a repeat performance. I hope they like a lot of fish!<br/>Tina & Christian Holter Newport News, Virginia 4-time travelers<br/>A real adventure<br/>I have been reading the reviews regarding Mongolia & the Gobi Desert. Those I read written two and three years ago were a bit negative. I feel I need to say what’s on my mind.<br/>I want to add my support for Mongolia. My 16th trip this past June of 2015 was to Mongolia. I found it amazing and one of my top “adventure” trips. What I was seeking was there: interaction with the Nomadic people and a taste of how it is to live in a ger.<br/>Booming cities we often see, and Ulanbaatar was just that. It<br/>did lack the tourist amenities that one will find on trips that are arranged around the cities. But that is not what this trip was about! Also, since two or three years ago I have to think that OAT has smoothed out a lot of the hiccups.<br/>During our last days in the Gobi, we experienced the most fearsome storm that I, and many of the travelers and staff, had ever experienced. As someone from the land of earthquakes, it was amazing to see. The staff and our Trip Leader, Tsengel “TS” Shariad, were on top of the situation and so good to keep us calm. It was another unexpected taste of adventure.<br/>Our itinerary was just right. A return to the hotel in Ulanbaatar in between visiting other parts of Mongolia was a perfect respite. We were welcomed back like family.<br/>TS is one of the top two guides of the 16 trips I have made with OAT. He made the trip so special as his passion for his country was so apparent. You need more of him.<br/>For that reason, I am considering repeating the trip with both extensions this time. Go with an open mind!<br/>Africa, Brazil, New Zealand, and Ireland await me ...<br/>Carrie “The Happy Wanderer” Carpenter Reseda, California<br/>16-time traveler<br/>A love poem for Tuscany<br/>As a writer from Albuquerque, I’ve felt my thoughts just flow onto the page in poetic form after each trip. The cultural aspects included with all of our trips to Tuscany, New Zealand, and South America have made the trips vivid and more meaningful, especially connecting with the people of each location.<br/>Editor’s Note: We were especially drawn by the deliciously vivid imagery in this poem, inspired by a village visit during Tuscany & Umbria: Rustic Beauty in the Italian Heartland.<br/>Adventures in Pettino<br/>Nauseous, still half asleep,<br/>I was mesmerized, far away, in another world.<br/>Our bus whipped, screeched, skid through hairpin turns, boldly turning, molding us into new landscapes.<br/>Italy’s views were spectacular<br/>climbing high<br/>above rolling hills<br/>we arrived at last,<br/>in a town called Pettino,<br/>and found a family of sheep farmers,<br/>high above the valleys of Tuscany,<br/>where truffles and pecorino cheese are plenty.<br/>I smiled, in awe of my good fortune, ready to devour their story,<br/>their unique contribution to life in Italy. Perfectly satisfied,<br/>this family content in their isolated hideaway<br/>far from the rest of the world.<br/>They spent most days living off the land<br/>reaping life’s rewards as producers of pecorino cheese, removed from the fast pace of larger cities like Rome and Florence.<br/>We experienced true Italian warmth as women served up fresh honey cake and espresso,<br/>before we piled into their trucks, followed Lucca,<br/>and his trained spaniels.<br/>8 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","Running from one rock to another, the dogs dug up rare-exquisite truffles,<br/>then were rewarded: special treats for a job well done. Mushrooms resembling dirt, a tidy bounty for culinary collectors.<br/>We followed our trusty guides to fields lined with sheep, And watched a little girl named Apollonia<br/>run with abandon among the dogs.<br/>An open fire, our next offering,<br/>fresh scrambled eggs laced with truffle shavings, followed by sips of Prosecco.<br/>Our trucks lifted us back to a cubbyhole inside their home, Where we observed an aging woman hunched over flour, eggs and water,<br/>as she mixed, swirled, kneaded fresh pasta dough,<br/>as her back ached and cautioned her to slow down, stop, but something called love of family keeps her coming back to the table each day caring for her family’s minds<br/>and bodies.<br/>We each wanted more of this experience and stepped up, each took our turn as we moved, rolled, flipped the dough back and forth,<br/>then cut thin strips and lifted them high in the air, celebrating together as we sampled Italian wine,<br/>drunk with happiness.<br/>We bonded as a group, became our own family unit, enjoying our experiences as culinary enthusiasts, high up in the mountains.<br/>Long devoted to creating something unique now lost in our culture of boxed food,<br/>We engaged in a lost art, creating something from scratch, what a concept!<br/>Our palates rejoiced in a dramatic finish,<br/>We gathered near the grill outdoors to taste fresh flavors of grilled sausage,<br/>freshly created pasta now topped with sauce, tossed greens with a sweet finish of an apple/raisin tart for dessert.<br/>We joyfully engaged in more wine, more laughter.<br/>A day like no other, filled with new adventures,<br/>so completely removed from our stagnant lives back in the United States.<br/>Marsha Johansen Albuquerque, New Mexico 3-time traveler<br/>Note from the Editor<br/>My favorite part of Dispatches will always be your stories—whether they’re told in prose, poetry, photographs, or paintings. But I also love finding opportunities to share insider information with you—because our best travelers deserve to know what’s going on behind the scenes.<br/>In this edition, you can benefit from my own curiosity. You may have heard that Grand Circle Cruise Line purchased a ship, the M/V Clio. We’ve actually purchased several ships in<br/>my 15-year tenure here, but I realized I knew very little about the process of selecting, refurbishing, staffing, etc. So I reached out to Simon Laxton, president of our fleet,<br/>to tell me all about it—and, in turn, tell all of you.<br/>Get an insider’s view on page 56—I hope you find it as interesting as I did! Happy reading, writing, and traveling,<br/>Laura Chavanne Editor-in-Chief<br/>Editor-in-Chief,<br/>Laura Chavanne in the Amazon<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 9<br/>","Share your travel experiences<br/>Dispatches is your magazine—and as OAT’s best travelers, we know you have many stories to tell. Want to see your memories in print? Consider sending us ...<br/>• Photos from your adventure, with brief descriptions of what’s going on.<br/>• Stories, anecdotes, or travelogues—whether they’re just a paragraph or several pages in length.<br/>• Artwork or poetry inspired by your adventure.<br/>• Comments and feedback about Dispatches—and what you’d<br/>like to see.<br/>• Don’t fancy yourself a wordsmith? Send an idea for a story and one of our writers will contact you.<br/>Send your submissions via email to: editordispatches@oattravel.com, or by regular mail to:<br/>Editor, Dispatches<br/>c/o Overseas Adventure Travel One Mifflin Place, Suite 400 Cambridge, MA 02138<br/>Artwork submitted by email should be attached as a .jpeg with 300 dpi resolution; artwork submitted by regular mail should be at least 5\"×7\" in size.<br/>So that we may properly credit you, please include your name, address, phone number, and number of times you’ve traveled with OAT.<br/>We look forward to reading—and publishing—your correspondence.<br/>Where in the World?<br/>10 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>Do you know what lies below the surface of this manmade landscape?<br/>Test your knowledge of the world by identifying this feature and the country where it can be found.<br/>(For the answer, see page 59)<br/>","Memory & Mapmaking<br/>Artifacts<br/>By Travis Taylor<br/>“Memory,” author Paul Auster tells us, “is the space in which<br/>a thing happens for a second time.” For artist, educator, and 10-time traveler Dave Gano (Gayneaux), creating opportunities to relive the sites and experiences of his travels is as important to him as sharing those experiences with others. Dave captures entire OAT trip itineraries in detail-rich snapshots that he can then pass along to friends, family, and other travelers.<br/>Working from notes jotted down in a journal and the photos he and his wife, JoEllen, take during their trips, Dave composes his collages with ink, colored pencil, and watercolor. “It’s my way of remembering the adventure,” Dave says. And while dozens<br/>of individual scenes, settings, and experiences—indeed, more memories per square inch than most could capture on a canvas twice as large—comprise each of Dave’s works, the overall composition of each painting is a cohesive narrative.<br/>For his Route of the Maya trip (shown above), Dave renders the treasure trove of ancient wonders and lush landscapes on this 16-day adventure in exacting detail. From the splendid Mayan city of Tikal and the surrounding Petén jungle to the ruins of Lamanai with its 13-foot Mask Temple, you feel immersed in the entirety of the trip in one sweeping glance.<br/>Though it hardly seems possible given the sheer breadth of experiences encountered during the Ultimate Australia adventure (shown right), Dave again manages to distill the many thrills<br/>of this Outback adventure into a single, compact work of art. Whether it’s the statue of Queen Victoria, a nod to Australia’s “Garden State” of Victoria, the iconic Uluru, better known as Ayers Rock, or the unique flora and fauna, including the Australian magpie and unmistakable kangaroo, each memory depicted in the painting will transport you Down Under.<br/>The charm and antiquity of the Iberian Peninsula shines through in his depiction of the Back Roads of Iberia: Spanish Paradores & Portuguese Pousadas trip (shown above). The Roman-era architecture of Carmona, the dramatic setting of Ronda and its three bridges spanning El Tajo ravine, the romantic windmills<br/>of La Mancha outside the city of Toledo—you can almost feel the salty breeze wafting in off the Mediterranean when you encounter this work.<br/>Each watercolor embodies the spirit of the trip in a way that allows Dave—and anyone fortunate enough to receive his work—a way to experience anew the joy that can only come from traveling.<br/>Travis has been writing for OAT since 2010. His fiction has appeared in a number of literary journals, most recently The Conium Review and Rathalla Review.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 11<br/>","Congratulations to our 2015 Photo Contest Winners<br/>This year, we received thousands of Photo Contest entries, showcasing countries all around the world. Our winners chosen from this very difficult selection appear below. Congratulations to all of our winners—and to everyone who entered our 2015 contest. Details of our 2016 contest appear on the next page. Please note that you can submit up to 3 images per category (12 images total per traveler) taken within the past 5 years. So give us your best shot, and good luck!<br/>GRAND PRIZE WINNER<br/>A FREE Overseas Adventure Travel trip for two, anywhere we travel<br/>Grand Prize Winner<br/>Howard Jennings • First-time traveler • Cadyville, NY<br/>A zebra works against the current of wildebeests in Serengeti National Park on Safari Serengeti: Tanzania Lodge & Tented Safari.<br/>12 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","BEST IN CATEGORY 2015 WINNERS<br/>$300 in Travel Credits<br/>Landmarks Winner<br/>Herb Knopp • 16-time traveler • East Northport, NY<br/>An early morning balloon ride over the ancient temples of Bagan on Burma: Land of Golden Temples & Floating Gardens.<br/>Nature Winner<br/>Roland Suarez-Ontog • First-time traveler • Venice, FL<br/>A bird perches atop a flower in Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden on Ultimate Africa: Botswana, Zambia & Zimbabwe Safari.<br/>Locals Winner<br/>Scott Moats • 4-time traveler • Pekin, IL<br/>Scott Moats says, “In South India, women make patterns with colored sand each morning in front of their homes. The patterns are called kolams and are thought to bring prosperity to the homes.” This young girl proudly presents her artwork to Scott’s OAT group as her mother hides timidly within the house on Soul of India: The Colorful South.<br/>Travelers Winner<br/>Marvin Derezin • 4-time traveler • Los Angeles, CA<br/>During Marvin Derezin’s Safari Serengeti: Tanzania Lodge & Tented Safari adventure, he captured this playful moment between a fellow traveler and a group of students at a local school.<br/>Landmarks<br/>Locals<br/>Nature<br/>Travelers<br/>HOW TO ENTER<br/>Email a .jpeg to OATphotocontest@oattravel.com OR mail photo prints to:<br/>OAT PHOTO CONTEST Overseas Adventure Travel, One Mifflin Place, Suite 400, Cambridge, MA 02138<br/>Contest Rules<br/>• Eligible subject matter includes shots of scenery, cultural attractions, local people, a special moment with fellow travelers—anything that evokes the spirit of discovery.<br/>• Photo must have been taken by you on an OAT adventure within the past 5 years.<br/>• Limit 3 entries maximum per category.<br/>• Visit www.oattravel.com/photocontest for<br/>more information.<br/>• You must include the following information on back of photo or in your email:<br/>1. Your name, address, phone number, and how many times you’ve traveled with OAT.<br/>2. Name of OAT adventure and where and when photo was taken.<br/>3. Names of the people pictured (if you know them). Short stories about the photos are also welcome.<br/>• Entries must be postmarked no later than 11/30/16.<br/>Important Terms: All photographs become the property of Grand Circle Corporation, and may be reproduced in our publications and on our websites. First prize is an OAT adventure of your choosing for you and one companion, main trip only, with a maximum value of $10,000 per couple. All applicable taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner, who will receive a form 1099 reflecting the actual retail value of the prize. Please visit www.oattravel.com/photocontest for full terms.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 13<br/>","World Calendar<br/>By Ashleigh Osgood<br/>Ashleigh is a staff writer for Grand Circle and OAT, and has been with the com- pany since 2013.<br/>April<br/>April 13-15 Songkran (Thailand)<br/>In anticipation of the Thai New Year, this three-day countrywide event represents the purification ritual of washing away evil spirits. Participants douse one another with water balloons, spray bottles, hoses, and water guns—the act of which derives from Buddhists who sprinkle statues of Buddha with scented water. Be sure to pack a towel!<br/>May<br/>World Calendar<br/>OAT Trip Leaders and regional staff share upcoming events of interest<br/>May 19-21 Jacob’s Ladder (Israel)<br/>Over three days, you can encounter a variety of cultures and music at Israel’s most relaxed and inclusive festival where all religions are welcome. You’ll experience square dancing workshops, Irish jigs, tai chi lessons, and a mixture of folk, bluegrass, world, and country music.<br/>Set up your campsite, and settle into three days of music celebration.<br/>June<br/>April 1-June 15 Onbashira (Japan)<br/>It’s the oldest festival in Japan, but it’s also the most dangerous. The goal of this two-month-long event is to transport and lift massive logs around the corners of the four shrines of Suwa Taisha. The first month involves dragging sixteen ancient trees from nearby forests down<br/>to Suwa, during which the bravest participants climb atop the logs and ride them like sleds down steep slopes.<br/>The second month concludes as the trees are raised in an upright position at the temples, all while daredevils balance on top of them.<br/>June 17 El Colacho (Spain)<br/>This festival is known<br/>internationally as the<br/>“baby jumping festival,”<br/>during which men<br/>dressed in yellow and red<br/>jumpsuits representing<br/>the devil jump over babies<br/>born in the previous year.<br/>The act is intended to<br/>bless the newborns and protect them from illness. The babies rest on bedding, and up to ten children can be blessed—or jumped over—at once.<br/>June 17-19 Infiorate Di Genzano (Italy)<br/>The main street of a Roman hill town is lined with more than 2,000 square meters of paintings composed entirely of flowers. This event was held for the first time in 1778 as a means of celebrating Corpus Christi. During this three-day festival, you’ll see this flower art portrayed through intricate<br/>portraits, religious depictions, and abstract designs meticulously placed by the town’s residents.<br/>April 22-May 21 Kumbh Mela Festival (India)<br/>Between 50 and 110 million people make the pilgrimage to bathe in a river in remembrance of a mythical battle. Those who make the trek hope to wash away the sins of their lifetime and those of their ancestors. The location of this ceremonial bath changes—this year participants will bathe in the Shipra River in Ujjain.<br/>14 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","July<br/>June 24-July 3 Queenstown Winter Festival<br/>August 8-18 Esala Perahera (Sri Lanka)<br/>Participants dance to continuous drumming, elephants dressed in vibrant costumes are on parade, and the scent of incense fills the<br/>air for ten straight days. The reason for this celebration?— to pay homage to Buddha, particularly one of his teeth that was taken from his funeral. The Sacred Tooth Relic now resides in Sri Lanka, and this annual festival pays respect to Buddha’s life.<br/>(New Zealand)<br/>concerts, comedy shows, and a grand ball. Watch as participants slide downhill on suitcases and farmers race through the snow with their dogs!<br/>July 4-7 Ramadan Feast (Turkey)<br/>The month-long celebration of Ramadan comes to a close with the Ramadan Feast, which symbolizes the end of the fasting period. It is customary to visit family during this time, kissing the hands of one’s elders as<br/>a sign of respect. Many treat their guests to traditional desserts and Turkish coffee, while children go door-to- door kissing hands and receiving sweets.<br/>August<br/>September<br/>September 1 Annual Solar Eclipse<br/>2016’s annual solar eclipse will be visible from central Africa, Madagascar, and various locations throughout the Indian and Atlantic oceans. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and sun, and the sky quickly darkens due to the moon completely blocking out the sun. Don’t blink—this year’s eclipse will only last for three minutes and six seconds!<br/>The mountains of Queenstown are the perfect place to kick off the winter season. The festival begins with a fireworks show followed<br/>by 60 different events, including competitions,<br/>September 30-October 2 Hermanus Whale Festival<br/>(South Africa)<br/>Hermanus, South Africa is known as the best land- based whale-watching location in the world. More than 100,000 residents and visitors come to this coastal<br/>town to celebrate the migration of the Southern Right Whale, amongst other marine wildlife. In addition to the whales, visitors can also experience music, food, and environmentally responsible themed activities.<br/>August 11-29 Buenos Aires Tango Festival (Argentina)<br/>Grab your dancing shoes! Visit the world’s largest tango extravaganza in Buenos Aires this August for eighteen consecutive days of tango performances, classes, and film screenings. Don’t miss the elegant and classy<br/>Tango World Championships where you can cheer on the world’s best tango dancers as they show off their skills in this traditional dance form.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 15<br/>","Immersions<br/>By Rachel Fox<br/>Rachel is the new Managing Editor of Dispatches and has been a writer with OAT for two years.<br/>Will bow for food<br/>Immersions<br/>A photojournal of OAT travelers “going native” as they connect with local cultures<br/>deer,” Jim recalled. When the couple arrived on the grounds of the Todaiji Temple in Nara, Millie was quickly approached by three deer, who timidly bowed to her before eagerly seeking out their treat. “Needless to say, whoever has the cookies was especially popular.”<br/>All hands on deck<br/>“I was truly inspired being at Torres del Paine National Park,” 9-time traveler Sun Park tells us as she recalls her 2015 adventure to Chile & Argentina: The Andes to Patagonia. Suffering from a sore knee due to an injury just before her trip, Sun forgot all about the pain once she took in the majestic scenery that surrounded her. “When I did the yoga Goddess pose, fellow travelers joined me one by one. We were like kids in kindergarten, full of smiles and energy.” It seems that with a little yoga, Sun felt no pain in the Paine!<br/>10-time travelers Jim and Millie Sernovitz met some friendly four-legged friends on their Optional Tour to Nara & Fushimi while taking Japan’s Cultural Treasures in the fall<br/>of 2014. “It was considered a blessing to buy special cookies made by the locals ladies to feed the<br/>Yoga in the park<br/>When 27-time travelers Dick and Judy Fejfar experienced<br/>A Day in the Life of a village near Amboseli, Kenya on their Best of Kenya & Tanzania trip, they were put to work helping with daily chores. “The men learned how to make fire while the women did somewhat messier chores. After applying fresh cow dung to a hut, the chief encouraged me to share the wealth with my husband,” recalls Judy.<br/>away on the trip.” Here, she is patiently teaching this local boy the art of how to blow bubbles.<br/>16 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>Chering the love<br/>While in Gorkhi- Terelj National<br/>Park on Mongolia & the Gobi Desert, 14- time traveler Bobbi Spitzberg captured<br/>a moment between first-time OAT traveler Cher Hirsch and a three-year-old boy. Bobbi recalled that Cher came with a “suitcase full of toys and gently used clothes to be given<br/>","Hindu Gods and Goddesses<br/>Quiz<br/>In modern-day India, more than 827 million people—or 80% of the population—consider themselves Hindus, making Hinduism the country’s largest religion. Hinduism itself, however, is different from other major world religions in that it has no single founder, no one scripture, and no commonly agreed upon set of teachings. But what often binds Hindus together is their belief in Brahman—the one Supreme God whose many personality traits are represented in an array of charismatic gods and goddesses. Take our quiz below to test your knowledge of these dynamic Hindu deities.<br/>In the Know<br/>By Catherine Groux<br/>Catherine has been an OAT staff writer since 2013. She has traveled from the beaches of Costa Rica to the cities of Bosnia, searching for fantastic cuisine and strong cocktails.<br/>5.<br/>One of the most popular (and most recognizable) Hindu gods is often depicted as an elephant-deity sitting atop a mouse. What is the<br/>name of this lord,<br/>renowned for being the remover<br/>of obstacles?<br/>a. Rama<br/>b. Lakshmi c. Saraswati d. Ganesha<br/>According to ancient texts, which Hindu god—depicted as part man, part monkey—led an army of monkeys against an evil Sri Lankan king?<br/>a. Rama<br/>b. Hanuman<br/>c. Garuda<br/>d. Vayu<br/>Dhanvantari—an incarnation of Vishnu and the physician of the gods—is said to have promoted what Indian system of medicine?<br/>a. Ayurveda<br/>b. Yoga<br/>c. Reiki<br/>d. Kayachikitsa<br/>Before taking tests, Indian students are encouraged to pray to the Hindu goddess of learning, arts, music, and wisdom. What is<br/>her name?<br/>a. Lakshmi<br/>b. Saraswati c. Durga Devi d. Chandi<br/>1. Who are the three members of the Hindu Trinity (or Trimurti)—three gods who, independently, act as the creator, preserver, and destroyer of the universe?<br/>a. Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva<br/>b. Ganesha, Vishnu, Shiva<br/>c. Krishna, Ganesha, Shiva<br/>d. Rama, Brahma, Vishnu<br/>2. While it is impossible to know the exact number, many experts estimate that there are about how many Hindu gods and goddesses?<br/>a. 1 million<br/>b. 30 million<br/>c. 225 million<br/>d. 330 million<br/>3. In Hindu mythology, what is the term for a deity who<br/>has deliberately descended to Earth—in human or animal form—to counteract worldly evil?<br/>a. Avatar<br/>b. Bodhisattva<br/>c. Kurma<br/>d. Dharma<br/>4. Known for his untamed passion, which powerful Hindu god is renowned as both the Lord of Dance and the Lord of Yoga?<br/>a. Brahma<br/>b. Shiva<br/>c. Vishnu<br/>d. Krishna<br/>6.<br/>7.<br/>8.<br/>Answers are on page 59<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 17<br/>","nduring, nchanting<br/>Sicily<br/>by Diana White, 15-time traveler<br/>E<br/>","As I enter the Chiesa della Martorana, the lingering smell of incense transports me to another world.<br/>It awakens my senses so when<br/>I walk down the main aisle I am overwhelmed at the mosaics covering the walls of the cupola. The morning sun shines on the gold tiles in the background, making it all come alive. The Christ Pantocrator at the center of the dome is surrounded by four angels. The baroque carvings and stucco statuary by the altar show a different artistic expression. Above the altar are frescoes painted in soft colors. With all the artwork on the walls and ceiling, one could easily overlook the magnificent inlaid mosaic floor—a definite work of art<br/>in geometric shapes. Two men have<br/>come in to pray at different places in the<br/>nave. Both seem to be weighed down with<br/>concerns. I say a prayer and leave renewed by<br/>the beauty and history of this amazing church.<br/>","Previous page: Located within the Palazzo dei Normanni, the Cappella Palatina is a gilded example of Arab-Normal architecture, which took Roger II ten years to build.<br/>Previous page inset: OAT traveler, Diana White discovers an island of contrasts in Sicily, Italy.<br/>Right: Arabic-influenced gold mosaic tiles adorn the walls of the Palatine Chapel in the Palazzo dei Normanni of Palermo.<br/>“The saints on gold backgrounds and the geometrical patterns in white, red, green, and black exist side by side ... Why can’t we learn from this and live together as equals?”<br/>The next day, I enter the famous Palatine<br/>Chapel in the Palazzo dei Normanni. This time<br/>a recording of Gregorian chant greets me. The walls with the glistening gold mosaic tiles are combined with geometric designs showing the Arabic influence. The saints on gold backgrounds and the geometrical patterns in white, red, green, and black exist side by side and complement<br/>each other. Why can’t we learn from this and live together as equals without one feeling it has to dominate the other?<br/>Sins of the father<br/>What would it be like to be punished for something we didn’t do, to not be allowed to make a living,<br/>to be condemned for what our father did? This<br/>is the fate of Angelo Provenzano, who we met<br/>in Corleone. He lived in exile, as a fugitive, with his family for 17 years. School or socializing<br/>with friends—or even having friends—was not allowed. Now he is back in Corleone with no job and a black cloud hanging over his head for being the son of a Mafia bigwig. His father is in jail, ill with Parkinson’s disease and near the end of his life. Angelo has not joined the Cosa Nostra, but his name has condemned him anyway. He knows his father did awful things, but he is still his father. He is angry at the system and the future that seems so bleak to him at this point. There doesn’t seem to be a way out for him. He tells us his story and we learn about a way of life so very different from our lives. We shake his hand with true feeling and say a prayer that he may discover his path in life.<br/>Castelbuono: a study in contrasts<br/>We wind our way up a mountain admiring hills on each side covered with green trees. We arrive at the town of Castelbuono and walk up ancient steps to the historical center. We turn a corner and see the impressive castle at the very top of the hill.<br/>It seems more like a fortress than a castle. The walls are flat, devoid of decoration or charm. It is<br/>a huge stone structure. We approach the door and look down through a glass floor to see the original cobblestones. They are worn down by years of use by horses, chariots, and soldiers. The interior of the castle is plain with a cistern, well, and stairs leading to upper floors. The feeling is one of a functional military headquarters. We walk through rooms on the second floor that display works of modern art. This seems out of place to me. Then we continue on to the third floor and step into the chapel. The beauty and ornate design are such a shock to the senses after the plain brick walls of the inner courtyard. It offers a softness that makes one take a deep breath and smile. It reminds<br/>us that beauty and art always exist along with strength and power.<br/>Our small bus takes us up a well-worn dirt road toward the destination of an agriturismo where we will have lunch. Suddenly to the left our eyes are drawn to a huge Greek temple sitting on a rise in the middle of fields and vineyards. This seems so out of place among the green fields and far away from a town. It is a majestic, fifth-century Doric temple that stands proud and tall, a witness to perseverance. It has withstood wars, the ravages<br/>20 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","of time and weather, and stands alone in all its splendor. We continue on, passing mile after mile of vineyards and olive groves. These seem so appropriate for this landscape. But then we realize this Greek temple also has a place in this scene— reminding us of the history and amazing technical abilities of the people who have lived here.<br/>Feeding the body and soul<br/>Wheat fields and vineyards. Bread and wine.<br/>The history and fabric of life in Sicily have been interwoven with these since ancient times. These also are the basic elements of Christianity, and Catholicism in particular. The myriad Catholic churches in each city in Sicily testify to the importance of faith in daily life here. The vineyards<br/>produce wine that is enjoyed here and also exported to many countries around the world. Sicily was often referred to as the bread basket of Rome and then also for successive dominating powers. Wheat fields and vineyards. Bread and wine. The church and its traditions woven into daily life.<br/>The Valley of the Temples<br/>As we drive through fields of vegetables and olive groves we see them in the distance, standing<br/>tall and regal, their stone pillars in contrast to the green fields. These magnificent temples have stood in this place for over 2,500 years, bearing witness to the faith and history of the people who lived here so long ago. We start at the highest point at the Temple of Juno. This temple was dedicated to Jupiter’s wife, and love, marriage, and fertility. The six columns on the front and 13 on the side remain, giving an idea of the size of this imposing structure. The Palace of Concord<br/>is the best preserved of all. Interestingly, this temple dedicated to peace was reused by each of the peoples who conquered this area. The Temple of Hercules is the oldest temple and now only eight columns remain, showing the elongated rectangular shape of the temple. All that is left of the largest temple, dedicated to Olympian Zeus,<br/>is part of the foundation. This would have been the largest and most imposing temple. We walk among the temples, now a silent shrine, and think of the past and all the worship celebrated here.<br/>Stories in stone and song<br/>A landslide is often thought<br/>of as a disaster—a negative occurrence that destroys everything in its path. However, today we saw a place that was preserved intact by a landslide in the 12th century AD. The Roman Villa of Casale is truly<br/>a gem and has offered us a glimpse into the life of the Romans—or maybe just the ruling class—in the fourth<br/>Ragusa Ibla is one of Sicily’s best-preserved<br/>old towns, and is a noted UNESCO World Heritage Site, boasting several Baroque and neo-classical buildings and churches.<br/>Top Left: The Chiesa della Martorana church has a multiplicity of styles due to the various influences of art and architecture over centuries.<br/>Bottom Left: Mosaic tiled floors within Villa Romana del Casale depict both the stories and lifestyles of ancient Romans.<br/>DISPATCHES • SPRING 2016 21<br/>","Right: The Palace of Concord, though once a temple dedicated<br/>to peace, was reused by each of the region’s conquerors.<br/>The ancient mosaic floors of the Roman Villa of Casale were miraculously preserved intact by a 12th-century landslide.<br/>A local Sicilian man wel- comes Trip Leader Mauro and his travelers into his home, showcasing his art- work and delighting them with a session at his piano.<br/>century AD. The size of this villa, its facilities, and the engineering to bring water by aqueduct from<br/>a nearby river, are all impressive. But the truly remarkable part is all the mosaic floors, which tell stories of the life of the Romans. These mosaics are truly works of art. We walk on a special platform that allows us to see the floors in each room. It is hard to imagine what it would have been like to be a guest in this villa. We walk from the impressive entry, through the spa area to the main patio, to the guest rooms, and then to the private quarters, marveling at everything we see.<br/>In Ibla, we entered St. Joseph’s Church and were told not to talk nor take pictures. That admonition was not difficult to adhere to as we were immediately transported to another world. The church itself was beautiful but the soft voices of six nuns in the choir, three on each side, singing and praying made the church come alive in a very special way. The nuns pray here 24/7 and this makes the church not just a beautiful building, but a very real and tangible communication with God. It soon is time to leave and we walk through the door reluctantly, feeling like we have left a part of us with the nuns in the choir.<br/>Hidden treasures<br/>Appearances can be deceiving. How often we have heard this and still we learn it again nearly<br/>every day. We approach a very ordinary door on a typical residential street in Ibla. Mauro rings the bell and then calls into the speaker on the wall, “Salvatore!” An older man opens the door with a big, nearly toothless smile. He welcomes Mauro warmly and invites us into his home. We enter the first room and are amazed at the paintings and works of art on every wall. The crystal chandelier with touches of green is amazing. We continue<br/>on through several other rooms—all filled with priceless antiques. We all agree this is like being in one of the finest museums. The highlight of the visit is when Salvatore sits at his piano and plays for us. His fingers seem to caress the keys as the music fills the room. Who would ever have thought that this treasure of art and music would be behind a plain door on an ordinary street! Appearances can be deceiving.<br/>Reflections on war and peace<br/>On a clear sunny day, we start our visit to the World War II museum, all with a sense of foreboding.<br/>Such a sad chapter in history, and one we know it<br/>is important to know about, but it is devastating to hear what ordinary citizens experienced and how many soldiers were killed. The first area we enter is a recreation of the main square of a small Italian town. It seems so peaceful until one sees signs on walls that show the propaganda. Next we enter a dark room that resembles what an air raid shelter was like. It is<br/>22 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","almost totally dark and we can hear voices of people in the shelter as well as the sounds of bombs hitting buildings outside. When we emerge from this, the walls and pictures show complete destruction. It truly feels like we have experienced the devastation of war. We continue on, seeing<br/>maps that illustrated where the forces of each country involved in the war entered Sicily and how they proceeded. The immensity of the effort is mind boggling.<br/>Many pieces of memorabilia from this time are on display. A copy of a letter from<br/>a son to his family is particularly poignant— as are the names of the 14,864 people killed during the battles in Sicily. We leave with a much better appreciation for what happened in Sicily in 1943. We emerge from the building and are<br/>greeted again by the warm sun. We give thanks for all the sacrifices we have just learned about so that we can enjoy this sunny day in peace.<br/>Diana White is a 15-time OAT traveler from Valle Crucis, North Carolina. Her writings from Southeast Asia and the Amazon have also been featured in Dispatches.<br/>Left: A dark chapter in Sicily’s history, 1943<br/>was a year marred with numerous battles and nearly 15,000 fallen sol- diers during World War II.<br/>Wander through ancient churches and discover hidden treasures of your own on Sicily’s Ancient Landscapes & Timeless Traditions: www.oattravel.com/ bya.<br/>Sicily: A True Cultural Crossroads<br/>More than a thousand years ago, Sicily sat at a geographic crossroads of Mediterranean cultures—a meeting point for East and West, North Africa and Europe. In the ninth century AD, Sicily fell under Arab rule, and remained so for more than 200 years.<br/>Throughout this time, Sicily enjoyed a period of enlightenment. Arabic scholars had made great contributions to agriculture and irrigation techniques,<br/>trade and commerce, and city<br/>planning—all of which they brought to their new island conquest. They also lent their influence to Sicilian cuisine, which can still be tasted in many dishes— for example, the raisins and pine nuts that feature heavily in pasta and fish recipes.<br/>The Normans conquered the Arabs in AD 1061. But rather than banish<br/>their predecessors from Sicily’s shores, they instead ushered in an era of extraordinary tolerance and diversity, with Norman, Arab, and Byzantine peoples living side by side. Early Norman kings rightfully appreciated Arabic cultural contributions,<br/>and chose to work alongside Islamic scholars, scientists, and architects. In fact, they so admired Arabic architecture, they employed Islamic architects and craftsmen to build their<br/>Christian churches.<br/>So this is why Arab influence can still be seen in churches like those of Palermo and Monreale: not because Arabic buildings have survived (few have), but because for a period of about two centuries, Arabs and Christians coexisted peacefully in Sicily. Were there no physical evidence, it might be difficult<br/>to believe.<br/>DISPATCHES • SPRING 2016 23<br/>","Call of the Wild<br/>By Tom Lepisto<br/>Tom is a freelance writer who has been contributing to Grand Circle publications for more than ten years.<br/>Right: 99% of the panda’s diet consists of bamboo—a reliable food source in China.<br/>Born blind, pink,<br/>and toothless, the new- born cub will develop the black and white pat- terns of fur during its first month of growth.<br/>China’s Giant Pandas<br/>The surprising creature behind the mask<br/>Young panda cubs play together in the branches of a bamboo tree.<br/>Observe giant pandas in China on OAT’s Imperial China, Tibet & the Yangtze River Small Ship Adventure www.oattravel.com/ ya4.<br/>The giant panda ranks high on any list<br/>of the world’s most charismatic animals. Attractively swathed in soft black-and- white fur, panda cubs resemble children’s toys come to life. While the 200-pound-plus adults are more imposing, these bears still seem more playful than threatening, well-dressed for any occasion and fascinating to watch.<br/>The giant panda’s natural home is high in the mountains of western China, and it has become<br/>a proud symbol for the entire country—as famous a national symbol now as the imperial dragon<br/>of ancient times. Chinese families today delight<br/>in sharing some of the world’s best panda- watching with visitors from all over the world, but historically, the pressures of human population growth in China have reduced the bears’ habitat greatly. The species has been on the endangered list since 1990, and the giant panda population<br/>in the wild is estimated to number no more than 1,900 individuals at present.<br/>Much larger numbers of wild pandas once roamed the bamboo forests of most of southern and eastern China, northern Vietnam, and northern Burma (Myanmar). Their evolutionary ancestry goes back millions of years, with giant pandas in their present form emerging by the late Pleistocene period 12,000 years ago.<br/>Although 99% of their diet today consists of bamboo, these animals are classified as carnivores, with a digestive system that is still adapted to<br/>consuming meat. Wildlife biologists believe that<br/>at some time during their history, pandas found bamboo to be a more reliable food source than meat and made the switch. However, because their stomachs are not as efficient at digesting plant matter as true herbivores, adult pandas have to eat up to 40 pounds of bamboo each day. They have even developed a physical adaptation that helps them grab enough bamboo—an enlarged wrist bone that can be used like an opposable thumb.<br/>Real pandas are not teddy bears, of course, and cubs reach a weight of about 100 pounds by their first birthday. By age two, they become fully independent from their mothers, and they attain full adult size within four years. While adult pandas continue to attract many admirers, it is not advisable to hug one—they are wild animals with sharp claws and powerful, bamboo-crushing jaws.<br/>Giant pandas living in the wild today are protected in 67 reserves in China, with the largest numbers<br/>in the Minshan Mountains in Sichuan Province<br/>and the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi Province. These reserves still cover only 54% of the panda’s habitat, so breeding pandas in captivity has played an essential role in ensuring there will be a viable population for the long run. Fortunately, at research and breeding centers like the Chengdu Panda Base and the Conservation and Research Center at the Wolong Nature Reserve, the success of captive breeding has increased markedly in recent years.<br/>A total of 38 cubs were born in captivity and survived in China in 2015, bringing the number<br/>of pandas in Chinese zoos and research centers<br/>to 422. In the U.S., resident panda Mei Xiang gave birth to twins at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, in August 2015, with one cub, Bei Bei, surviving. Although many were sad that only one cub lived, this is a typical pattern for pandas in the wild, where twin births are frequent but it is rare for both cubs to survive.<br/>Although the species faces ongoing challenges<br/>to its survival, the giant panda is benefitting<br/>from many efforts by biologists, non-profit organizations, and government agencies to ensure that its antics will continue to enchant children of all ages for many generations to come.<br/>24 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","She’s on a Roll<br/>Female sushi chefs take on one of IJapan’s most male-dominated traditions<br/>Outlook on Women<br/>By Megan Mullin<br/>Megan Mullin, a<br/>Grand Circle associate for nearly three years, enjoys adding stamps to her passport—which so far include Japan, Spain, Costa Rica, and Germany.<br/>Left: The art of making sushi in Japan is slowly breaking down society’s prejudices and opening up to women chefs.<br/>n the summer of 2014, I was taught how to roll sushi in Kameoka, Japan, while on<br/>Japan’s Cultural Treasures. I watched attentively as capable hands assembled rice, seaweed, and vegetables into a flawless roll. Under my teachers’ guidance, my first attempt at making sushi was fairly successful. I beamed, holding up my plate for the teachers to critique.<br/>Both sushi instructors were women.<br/>Japan is at once the most modern<br/>and the most ancient of countries. Its<br/>cities feel high tech and Western, yet<br/>it is also fiercely protective of its old traditions. However, in recent years Japan has begun to embrace some inevitable changes. One of the most notable is the culture’s view on Japanese women in society.<br/>Back in the 17th century, a woman’s role was restricted to a domestic one. After World War II, women’s rights saw some advancement, such<br/>as the right to vote in 1946. And now, in the 21st century, more and more Japanese women are being encouraged by the government to enter the workforce. But one profession in particular has<br/>a very strong “No Girls Allowed” policy in place: the sushi chef.<br/>Training to become a sushi chef is no easy feat even for a man. It takes years of grueling study. After that, the hopeful chef must find employment in a reputable restaurant, where he will most likely do little more than watch (and wash dishes) at first.<br/>The odds are already stacked against any female chef, regardless of her training. There is a litany of strongly held—yet completely unfounded—beliefs as to why women cannot be sushi chefs. The most common excuses include women’s hands being<br/>too small and warm to prepare sushi correctly. Others claim that feminine products like makeup and perfume would interfere with taste and smell. These old wives’ tales may sound ridiculous to<br/>a Western ear, but they are major obstacles for modern female sushi chefs to overcome.<br/>That has not stopped a few intrepid chefs from forging a path through this unforgiving profession. Take Yuki Chizui for example. Chizui, eager to help other women break into the field, learned the art of sushi making and opened Nadeshico—Japan’s first and only sushi restaurant with an all-female staff. Chizui believes that as a woman, she is better at communicating with her customers—putting them at ease and anticipating their desires.<br/>Then there are chefs like Yumi Chiba, who shook up tradition by simply entering her family’s business—a role usually reserved for a son. She more than excelled in her practice, entering sushi- making contests and winning silver medals. But despite her critical success, Chiba is still aware of society’s prejudice. “I am a woman working in a world of men,” she said. “In a way, I feel as if I’m non-Japanese.”<br/>While prejudices linger, there is hope for the future of women sushi chefs in the creation of more inclusive schools, such as Tokyo Sushi Academy. The school’s female principal, Sachiko Goto, is proud of her diverse student body—more than<br/>20 percent of her enrolled chefs-in-training are women. That is more than double the amount of female students since the school opened in 2002. “The world is changing,” Goto said. “If they (sushi restaurants) don’t welcome women, they will have trouble finding experienced chefs to take over their businesses when they retire.”<br/>And since it seems the worldwide popularity of sushi is here to stay, so too are female sushi chefs.<br/>At the Tokyo Sushi Academy in Shinjuku, women practice the craft of making sushi rolls.<br/>To discover the art<br/>of sushi, head straight to the source on Japan’s Cultural Treasures. Visit www.oattravel.com/ jpn.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 25<br/>","Adventure Countdown<br/>By Rachel Fox<br/>Rachel is the new Managing Editor of Dispatches and has been a writer with OAT for two years.<br/>Ten National Parks to Get Wild About<br/>The Earth has a bounty of natural beauty—and the quickest way to realize this is to explore those places worthy of being named “national parks.” From glaciers and waterfalls, to rainforests and rambling plains, the untouched landscapes and diverse wildlife are sure to dazzle even the most seasoned traveler. In celebration of the upcoming Centennial of America’s own national parks, here’s a list of ten must-see-to- believe national parks from around the world that inspire awe and demand exploration.<br/>little time spent here will quickly uncover several other breakout attractions. Cerulean lakes and cascading rivers give way to crystal-blue glaciers and hiking trails that weave through dense emerald forest. The weather here can be famously unpredictable, but those lucky enough to experience clear skies can take in soaring panoramas at every steppe.<br/>2. Serengeti National<br/>Park—Tanzania<br/>Teeming with one of the densest concentrations of wildlife on Earth, the 5,700 square miles of the Serengeti is an animal-seeker’s safari dream. The promise of nearby wildlife—whether elephants, zebra, giraffe, buffalo, or<br/>lion (to name a few!)—is constant, and game-viewing drives tend to be the park’s<br/>most popular activity. If you’re in the park during the annual Great Migration (times of year can vary, depending on rainfall), you’re likely to witness some of the nearly 2 million wildebeest and other native herbivores making the 1,800-mile pilgrimage in search of grazing zones and waterholes.<br/>26 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>1. Torres del Paine<br/>National Park—Chile<br/>Torres del Paine is often regarded as South America’s finest national park, and traveling here is a masterclass on natural wonders and magnificent landscapes.<br/>Most notably, the mountain range known as Cordillera del Paine pierces the sky in dramatic display with jagged, snowcapped peaks—but a<br/>3. Ranthambore<br/>National Park—India<br/>Once the premier hunting ground for the maharajas<br/>of Jaipur, the jungles of Ranthambore National Park are now a sanctuary for exotic wildlife. The main attraction? Bengal tigers. While you’re not guaranteed to spot one of these elusive prowlers, if you’re lucky enough to catch a glimpse,<br/>it’s sure to be a highlight. Other noteworthy sights in the park include the tenth-century Ranthambore Fort with its surrounding temples and vine-covered burial tombs, and more than 500 species of flowering plants and trees.<br/>4. Galápagos National<br/>Park—Ecuador<br/>When 97% of the land area<br/>of a multi-island archipelago is designated a national park, you know you’re seeing something special. The young naturalist Charles Darwin knew this, too, when his voyage on the HMS Beagle brought him to the Galápagos Islands in 1835. Noteworthy animal species such as<br/>the giant tortoise, blue-footed booby, sea lion, marine iguana, and penguin are star attractions—though they don’t even scratch the surface of diverse fauna (and flora) that are native to the Galápagos. Strict rules for visitors to the islands allow for the protection of the ecosystems here, though they don’t take away from the once-in-a-lifetime experience to be had.<br/>","5. Uluru-Kata<br/>Tjuta National Park—<br/>Australia<br/>A trip Down Under just isn’t complete until you’ve explored Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Uluru—or Ayers Rock— is one of the largest monoliths in the world, and Australia’s most recognized natural<br/>icon. The massive, rust- colored sandstone formation rises more than a thousand<br/>feet above the desert ground and is considered a sacred site to<br/>the Anangu Aboriginal people. In another area of the park, lesser known Kata Tjuta—better known as the Olgas—are 36 domed monoliths, the tallest of which is around 1,800 feet. Both sites are not to be missed at sunrise or sunset, when the rocks seem to glow in sherbet shades of red and orange.<br/>6. Snaefellsnes<br/>National Park—Iceland<br/>Situated on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula in western Iceland, Snaefellsnes National Park stretches from seashore to mountaintop, and stands<br/>at the foot of both a volcano and a glacier. Catapulted into fame in the 19th century thanks to Jules Vernes’ Journey to the Center of<br/>the Earth, Snaefellsnes is actually just a fledgling in terms of national parks, having been<br/>established in 2001. The jewel of the park is Snaefell Glacier— also an active volcano—which is said to be one of the seven great energy centers of the earth, shrouded by a veil of mysterious powers and supernatural forces.<br/>7. Los Glaciares<br/>National Park—<br/>Argentina<br/>True to its name, ice dominates Los Glaciares National Park, located<br/>in what’s known as Argentina’s Austral Andes. Forty-seven massive glaciers—born from the Patagonic Continental Ice Cap—descend on over 1,600 square miles of the<br/>park. One of only three Patagonian glaciers that is actually growing, the Perito Moreno is one of the most photographed— and visited—glaciers with its expansive crystalline blue surface and booming fractures that can be heard from miles away. Another stunning park attraction? Monte Fitz Roy—also called Chaltén—whose jagged granite peaks pierce the sky.<br/>8. Manuel Antonio<br/>National Park—<br/>Costa Rica<br/>Located on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, Manuel Antonio National Park is recognized as being one of the most biodiverse parks in the world—which is all the more impressive con- sidering it’s the country’s smallest. Amongst the tropical mangroves, forests,<br/>lagoons, and beaches are nearly 300 animal species—most notably sloths, white-faced and howler monkeys, and iguanas. A narrow island strip separates the park’s two main beaches, Playa Espadilla Sur and Playa Manuel Antonio, and boasts calm, azure water, ideal for snorkeling.<br/>9. Victoria Falls National<br/>Park—Zimbabwe<br/>Often grouped together with Zambezi National Park, Victoria Falls National Park is open to the public year-round in northwestern Zimbabwe. Made up of five different waterfalls, which cascade with great force down cataracts, Victoria Falls can be heard and felt from miles away. Experiencing the mighty<br/>Victoria Falls—one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World— is reason enough to visit, though the park also is home to lush rainforest and offers game-viewing opportunities to spot the<br/>Big Five.<br/>10. Tikal National<br/>Park—Guatemala<br/>The largest excavated site<br/>in the Americas, Tikal National Park in Guatemala is home to some of the most fascinating archaeological remnants of the ancient Mayan civilization. Out of the thousands of ancient structures found, the<br/>most prominent surviving<br/>buildings are pyramids with temples at their summit, from which Mayan astronomers tracked movements of planets and created their calendar. Due to its deep<br/>jungle location, Tikal is also home to a diverse wildlife population, including 300 species of birds—which are said to be easier to spot here than people.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 27<br/>","Vietnam:<br/>Seeking the Known Unknown<br/>by Geof Childs<br/>","My 11th-grade civics teacher used to contend that all successful politicians build their careers on the ability to replace doubt with certainty and the unforeseeable with the inevitable. Which may, to some extent, explain why I did so poorly in her class. For some strange reason I have always found myself more drawn to the vague and ill-defined. Those moments of doubt when what we might have reasonably anticipated veers toward the completely unexpected. Or, what Donald Rumsfeld once described as “the known unknown.”<br/>Ten years ago, a chance meeting with the daughter of the man who had been my platoon sergeant in Vietnam made it apparent that there was a large “unknown” still lingering in my past, and it was time for me to<br/>go confront it. Having arrived at that conclusion, my very next act was to call two frequent partners in adventure—Alan Lewis and Mark Frevert—and ask if they might be interested in coming along.<br/>","Previous page: Terraced rice fields shape much of the Vietnamese country- side outside Sapa.<br/>Previous page inset:<br/>Geof Childs poses in uni- form during his tour in Vietnam.<br/>Right: Alan Lewis, Mark Frevert, and Geof Childs relaxing in a traditional Vietnamese mud bath.<br/>Geof is a writer, moun- taineer, and all-around adventurer who has shared many journeys with OAT Chairman<br/>Alan Lewis and Chief Architect Mark Frevert. He is also oldest (though just barely), shortest<br/>(or least tall, depending upon your perspective), and wisest (according to his own impartial research).<br/>Happily, both immediately said “yes,” and owing to their connections with Overseas Adventure Travel, I waited to hear which of OAT’s established itineraries we would be taking. I should have known better. Alan and Mark had both visited Vietnam before and their immediate interest lay in exploring parts of the country with which they were unfamiliar—and, if possible, some of the locations where I had been stationed in the late- 1960s. As a hedge against the “unknown,” they also recommended recruiting OAT Trip Leaders Nguyen Le Kha and Van Nam Nguyen to join us.<br/>Strangers in a strange land<br/>Nam and Kha were both at the airport outside<br/>of Ho Chi Minh City to greet me when I landed. Rushing to find a taxi, Nam explained that<br/>my arrival had coincided with one of the most important holidays of the year in Vietnam,<br/>the annual Reunification Festival, and that if we hurried into town we could still catch some<br/>of the activities. Fortunately, check-in at my<br/>hotel required only a few minutes and before<br/>I could even set my bags down we were back on the streets shuffling through ankle-deep confetti and into the maw of what I can only describe<br/>as the most joyous and eclectic public event I have ever attended.<br/>Much to my amazement, there was not a single piece of trash nor a broken beer bottle left to corroborate my hangover the next morning when Alan and Mark arrived. There was, however, a great deal of Saigon left to be seen, so it was back out onto the streets with Nam for a quick tour of the Hotel de Ville, Opera House, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Reunification Palace, French Colonial Post Office, and several statues of Uncle Ho before finally sitting down to a lunch of pho and cold beer at the Ben Thanh Market.<br/>A visit to the Cholon (“big market”) section of<br/>the city followed. As did street after street of shops specializing in rice, poultry, carpets, herbal medicines, livestock, jewelry, clothes, shoes, insects (fried, boiled, or raw), parrots, furniture, and just about every other craft imaginable. At<br/>the far end of the cantonment we toured a small pagoda where song birds carried the prayers of the devout up to heaven and, later, walked through a funeral parlor where smiling families ate picnic lunches with their deceased. Wilting in the late afternoon heat we returned to the hotel for a quick shower and change of clothes before heading to<br/>a barbecue restaurant and a dinner of pork, beef, goat nipple, chicken, shrimp, calamari, snake, and other meat products served over bowls of steamed rice, sautéed vegetables, and chilies.<br/>While delicious, pho was the least adventurous of meals consumed while in Vietnam.<br/>30 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","Take me to the river<br/>Our appetite for vast quantities of food thus sated, it was with more than a small amount of anticipation that we joined Kha the next morning for breakfast and a short trip to the docks, where at precisely 8:00am we stepped on board a 12-passenger speedboat for our first encounter with the mighty Mekong.<br/>To say the Mekong River functions as the single most important social, political, economic,<br/>and geographic feature of Southeast Asia is to underestimate its significance. Over the course<br/>of its thousand-mile journey from the Tibetan Plateau to the South China Sea, it not only produces 35% of the world’s rice crop but also a staggering abundance of fruits, vegetables, and edible seafood which it then transports to market.<br/>As we began to accommodate ourselves to its rhythms, we found we could take equal pleasure<br/>in walking through a bustling market or watching in rapt fascination as the shoulder-to-shoulder homes along the banks gave way to vast stretches of pucker brush and elephant grass. My personal highlight, however, was the discovery of a series of small canals opposite the port of My Tho. We eventually arrived at a point where proceeding meant transferring into tiny dugout canoes. Then, at the end of a rivulet overhung by clusters of fern, palm, banana trees, and gnarled hardwoods,<br/>we exited the canoes and walked up a dirt path to a thatched-roof homestead where the owner treated us to a lunch of mangoes, citrus fruit, ginger cake, and banana wine before guiding us back to our boat.<br/>Side trips to a Buddhist monastery, a French colonial outpost, a floating market, and<br/>a small country inn followed,<br/>as did meals of fried river fish, giant shrimp, and steamed rice smothered in tamarind sauce.<br/>On our final night, sunset caught us as we motored from Vung Tau back to Saigon and in the fading light we puttered along in parallel to scores of barges, punts, ferries, and cargo boats. All of them captained by small, dark-skinned men who sat in the windows of their pilot houses smiling and smoking cigarettes while their wives cooked dinner and their children waved to us from the<br/>gunwales. In fact, everybody waved. Everywhere we went. Sometimes vigorously, sometimes casually, and sometimes indifferently, but wave they did. As if seeing a boat carrying three middle-aged Americans was the high point of their day. It was a phenomenon we were to spend much time discussing over the next few days.<br/>Left: The narrow canals of My Tho could only be navigated by small dug- out canoe.<br/>Friendly faces can always be found along the Mekong River.<br/>Left: Taking in the myriad sights, sounds, and smells of the market at Cholon is a carnival for the senses.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 31<br/>","Right: Rush hour in<br/>Ho Chi Minh City means navigating through a tempest of scooters and motorcycles.<br/>ourselves looking out over<br/>a countryside of verdant foothills interspersed with heavily wooded vales and broad fields of elephant grass and feral rice.<br/>Rattling along at a steady 15 miles per hour, we passed through the market towns of Khanh Hoa and M’Drak and then crossed a broad plain<br/>of red volcanic soil before making a sharp left turn onto a series of rough secondary roads. Here the country turned more lush and temperate.<br/>On both sides of the road, smoked-stained Montagnard hootches and thick groves<br/>of jungle alternated with the<br/>pastel-colored homes of ethnic Vietnamese and tiered hillsides planted with coffee, rice, peanuts, and fruit trees. Round-shouldered peaks began to appear along the horizon, and crossing the Dray Sap River the soil turned a bluish/gray—more<br/>the hue of sky than dirt. Then, leaning into a set of gentle S-turns near the M’Nong settlement<br/>at Lak Lake, I saw the first landscape I clearly remembered from my time in this area as a young infantry officer.<br/>“Pulling over beneath a copse of red-bark<br/>pines, I leaned<br/>my bike against<br/>a tree, took off<br/>my helmet, and stared down at the intersection of two dirt roads where 40 years earlier<br/>I had joined the platoon I was to command.”<br/>Right: Confronting the country where 40 years earlier he came to know as a soldier, Geof Childs (shown at right) returned to Vietnam as an adventurer.<br/>Ride baby ride<br/>I have to admit that motorcycling through the southern portion of the Central Highlands may not have been one of my most inspired ideas. My planning, for example, had not taken into account that none of us had been on a motorcycle in over a decade. Nor did it occur to me that the “rules<br/>of the road” as practiced in Vietnam tend to function more as generalized suggestions rather than as actual rules. And, accordingly, everyone ignores them.<br/>Still, Alan and Mark seemed<br/>up for the challenge and with Kha continuing to act as our translator and guide, we flew north to the seaside port of Nha Trang, where we rented four Suzuki 125s and headed west in the direction of Ban Me Thouet some 150 miles away.<br/>It is probably fair to say<br/>we struggled a bit at the outset. But once we had<br/>found our balance and begun to remember which hand controls the accelerator and which one manages the brake, things began to improve. And proceeding at what the writer Redmond O’Hanlon would describe as “a gentlemanly pace,” we eventually crested the coast range and found<br/>32 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","Pulling over beneath a copse of red-bark pines, I leaned my bike against a tree, took off my helmet, and stared down at the intersection of two dirt roads where 40 years earlier I had joined the platoon I was to command. And even though I<br/>had known this moment would come, the sudden rush of sorrow and pride, the questions unasked and unanswered, took my breath away. Alan, Mark, and Kha came over to join me and for a long time we stood there watching shadows drape the trees. Then, without saying a word, we simply got back on our motorcycles, turned south along the course of a tea-colored stream, and rode across the plateau into darkness.<br/>The known unknown<br/>It has been said of driving in Vietnam that you eventually reach a point when “the chaos starts to take on an orderly, almost liberating feel” and I think that might most accurately describe what remained of our journey.<br/>With each additional mile we drove, the more adapted we became to encountering water buffalo, barking dogs, and huge straw mats heaped with rice occupying our half of the road. Or, in the<br/>more densely populated areas, steering our bikes through oncoming mobs of fat-bellied pigs, horse carts, trucks, passenger buses, tractors, monks, ancient Citroen sedans, and screaming queues of schoolchildren, all jammed into the same thirty- foot-wide strip of black macadam.<br/>On our last night in the country, Alan hosted a gathering of local tourism officials in our hotel room at Ban Me Thouet. I don’t recall whether<br/>any of us ever got an entirely firm grip on who<br/>had been invited and who had simply shown up, but lubricated by vast quantities of free food and Tiger beer, the party slowly spilled out onto the balcony, across an adjacent roof top, downstairs<br/>to the foyer, and at some point re-entered our hotel room through the hallway door. It was nearly dawn by the time the last of our guests left, and<br/>I think Alan, Mark, and I were all beginning to secretly covet the idea of a day filled with a few more “knowns” as we trudged downstairs with our luggage and, to our utter surprise, found the entire hotel staff lined up to bid us farewell.<br/>Did I mention that everybody waved?<br/>Tiger beer is never in short supply in Vietnam, and certainly wasn’t for Geof, Alan, and Mark on their final night.<br/>Left: The country outside of Ho Chi Minh City begins to turns lush and verdant.<br/>Embark upon an adventure of your own in Vietnam—visit www.oattravel.com/ svd or www.oattravel. com/lvc for inspiration.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 33<br/>","Trailblazers<br/>By<br/>Pamela Schweppe<br/>Pamela Schweppe served as Copy Director for Grand Circle Travel before becoming a full- time freelance writer. She is also a novelist, a playwright, and a semi- professional singer.<br/>A conversation with<br/>OAT Trip Leader Bergur Alfthorsson<br/>For Bergur Alfthorsson (Beggi, for short), the road to becoming a Trip Leader began as a busman’s holiday, of sorts. After a career in the shipping and seafood industries, he spent a couple of summer vacations<br/>Born in: Reykjavik, Iceland<br/>Resides in: Vogar, Iceland<br/>Trip Leader since: 2010<br/>Languages spoken:<br/>English, Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, some Swedish, and German<br/>“Beggi was the best Trip Leader we have had.<br/>He was polite, gracious, and highly resourceful. He was also highly intelligent, and could easily converse with everyone in our group—great people skills!”<br/>—Diane & Ted Bright, 17-time travelers from Fairfax, California<br/>OAT: What makes OAT different, versus other companies?<br/>Beggi: The travelers. They’re extremely informed, inquisitive, chattable individuals.<br/>OAT: What kinds of controversial topics do you chat with them about?<br/>Beggi: We do hunt whales, and we eat them.<br/>There are two sorts of whales that we tap into: minke whales and fin whales. Fin whales are bigger animals, and they’re not killed for domestic consumption—they’re shipped primarily to Japan. The controversy is that the company that hunts them doesn’t make much money, so the question is: why bother hunting whales if not for monetary gain? I don’t really have an answer for that.<br/>OAT: What kinds of foods do travelers themselves try that they find unusual?<br/>Beggi: One of the characteristics of OAT travelers is that they don’t shy away from anything. One of the things they try is cured Greenland shark, which has a subtle taste of ammonia. Because it’s a cold-water animal, the shark doesn’t urinate—its bodily fluids filter through the flesh and serve as an antifreeze. The curing process detoxifies the shark, and people will try it.<br/>Another unusual food is ram’s testicles, cured, pickled, and dried. Remember, I live in a country where, for the longest time, you had to make anything and everything edible that you could get your hands on— it was either that or starve.<br/>OAT: What are some other memorable moments you weave into the trips you lead?<br/>Beggi: A couple of years back, there was a lady whose grandmother had moved from Iceland, and I squeezed into the trip a visit to the farm where her grandmother was born.<br/>OAT:<br/>Beggi:<br/>OAT:<br/>Beggi:<br/>34 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>driving a tour bus to see how he liked the business. He liked it tour guide and now enjoys revealing his homeland to travelers<br/>so much, he earned his certification as a on OAT’s Untamed Iceland adventure.<br/>Another was on a pre-trip to the Westman Islands. In the late 1800s into the 1900s, there was a lot of immigration from the Westman Islands to the U.S. I had two couples on the trip that had family heritage in the Westman Islands. I took them to<br/>a monument where their grandparents’ names were carved.<br/>And in late August, September, and October, people have the opportunity to see the northern lights. To show the northern lights and see people experience that for the first time—that’s a hoot and a half.<br/>A lot of people come to Iceland for its natural wonders. Can you tell me more about that?<br/>We have the world’s biggest volcano area, we have Europe’s biggest glacier, we<br/>have Europe’s most powerful waterfall, we have everything you can imagine—so much so that, in the sixties, NASA sent astronauts to Iceland to practice. Aldrin and Armstrong came to Iceland and spent a few weeks primarily in the north of Iceland studying geology.<br/>What do you most want people to know about your country and your culture?<br/>I’m fiercely proud of my country. One reason to travel here is our happy-go- luckiness. We’re more relaxed on social issues than many other countries. For example, same-sex marriage has been legal in this country for many years, and we were the first nation to democratically elect a female head of state.<br/>Another is that Iceland is one of the safest countries. Everything is fairly peaceful. One reason is that everyone knows everyone else, at least by association, and you don’t get into mischief because whatever you do will reflect on your family. If your family is important to you, you’re going to behave!<br/>","Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer<br/>by Tim Jeal<br/>To say that history has<br/>been unkind to Henry Morton Stanley is an understatement. While asterisks<br/>on ballplayer stats often fade with the years, the same can’t be said<br/>of Stanley’s reputation. Historians still accuse Stanley of racist crimes against humanity, and biographers characterize him as the most brutal of all the Victorian explorers.<br/>But if you read this meticulously<br/>researched, dazzling new biography of the actual life and jaw-dropping exploits of Stanley, you will<br/>come away with a very different assessment of the man. You will realize that Stanley was the most misunderstood of the many adventurers who trammeled through the mysterious African continent in the great age of discovery. And that he was Africa’s greatest explorer—bar none.<br/>It is disappointing to learn, however, that the one thing Stanley didn’t do was utter the words “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”<br/>Born John Rowlands in 1841, Stanley was the illegitimate son of a poor Welsh woman who quickly disowned him. Scarred for life by this rejection, a 17-year-old Rowlands then sailed to America and invented a story that he was adopted by a man named Stanley. It was the search for a father figure (and yes, fame) that first drew Stanley to Africa, where three years earlier David Livingstone had embarked on an expedition to find the source of the Nile (ostensibly a missionary, Livingstone made just one convert to Christianity in all his time in Africa—and that sole convert soon lapsed). No one thought Livingstone needed to be found at all, not the world press that believed the dull Scots missionary had already wasted too many public funds, and not Livingstone himself. Stanley dreamed up the stunt of “rescuing” Livingstone by convincing the editor of the New York Herald that it would make a great story. And it did.<br/>The famous phrase known to all schoolchildren was scripted by Stanley for himself in How I Found Livingstone, the bestselling book<br/>Literary Adventure<br/>By John Bregoli<br/>he wrote after returning from Africa—a book that gave Stanley<br/>the celebrity he craved and turned Livingstone into a mythical figure. But Livingstone had never found the source of the Nile— nor did Burton, Speke, or many others who tried. It was Stanley, on an epic three-year journey begun 1874, who established “the true parent of the Victoria Nile.” During a total of four expeditions spanning decades, Stanley mapped the entire length of the Congo while crisscrossing previously unknown swathes of the continent under the harshest conditions imaginable—from deadly tropical fevers and starvation to poison arrows from hostile tribes already devastated by the cruelty of Arab-Swahili slavers.<br/>So why has history so harshly judged Stanley? It is mostly his own fault, Jeal writes, telling us that insecurities often led Stanley to embellish his writings. Jeal’s access to a previously undisclosed archive of family journals reveals that Stanley, unlike most of his contemporaries, loathed slavery, deplored violence, and showed heartfelt concern for the welfare of Africans. Jeal also reveals that Stanley was most likely duped by King Leopold, the Belgian monarch who turned the Congo into a living hell for the natives well after Stanley had left the continent for good.<br/>And Stanley was anything but a brute. If you want to know what brutish behavior looks like, wait until you read about an incident involving the Irish whiskey heir James Jameson, who accompanied Stanley on an expedition and helped to stain his reputation. Jameson, who was “fascinated by the subject of cannibalism,” purchased a young girl to hand over to Africans so he could watch them kill, boil, and eat her. Fancying himself an artist, Jameson also sat there sketching the vile scene so he could preserve it forever.<br/>Stanley continues to suffer from “guilt by association” for his involvement with King Leopold, and remains a scapegoat for the sins of many. But while history gives Livingstone all the credit, it is Stanley, I presume, who should be remembered with a sense of incredulity and awe.<br/>Visit locales first revealed to the world by Henry Morton Stanley on our Ultimate Africa: Botswana, Zambia & Zimbabwe Safari adventure. Visit www.oattravel.com/bot.<br/>In the decade John Bregoli has been writing for OAT, he’s become our resident expert in literature. Like his favorite historical figure, John Adams, he always has a book within reach, and one of his earliest memories is getting scolded to go to sleep while reading beneath the covers with a flashlight. If you have any reading recommendations for John—especially books with settings relating to OAT destinations—send him an email at DispatchesJohn@oattravel.com. He’d love to hear from you!<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 35<br/>","Field Notes<br/>By Rachel Fox<br/>Rachel is the new Managing Editor of Dispatches and has been a writer with OAT for two years.<br/>Right: Their faces say it all as traveler Janet Snyder gives Maasai women in Tanzania the gift of clear vision.<br/>Sight for Sore Eyes<br/>How one traveler is giving back, one pair of glasses at a time<br/>With a $2.00 pair of reading glasses, artisans and workers around<br/>the world can do their jobs faster and better— ensuring the continued financial support of their families.<br/>Janet Snyder, a 9-time traveler from Burbank, CA, and her husband David are looking forward to even more adventures with OAT. As much<br/>as they’ve been impressed with a multitude of buildings, temples, shrines (“okay, Angkor Wat and the Taj Mahal were exceptional,” says Janet), animals and wondrous vistas, the memories that they cherish most are when they have been able to interact with local people—and Janet has found a way that intensifies the experience.<br/>“What I have found is simple, inexpensive,<br/>not time consuming, and can, in an instant, change the recipient’s life,” says Jane. What does she do? “I give away new reading glasses of varying strengths to artisans and anyone else who needs good vision.”<br/>Every time she gives away a pair of reading glasses, the experience is deeper, more satisfying, more joyful, and very emotional as there is a connection Janet finds through giving and receiv- ing. “Recipients have their lives changed, albeit in a small way, but I always feel their gift to me is greater than mine to them: hugs, smiles, and laughter! Priceless!” she beams.<br/>To this day, Janet has given away close to two hundred pairs of glasses during her trips to India, Nepal, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and recently in Kenya and Tanzania. She explains, “It’s my feeling that if every traveler took 12 pairs of unbreakable glasses in their suitcase (the cost is negligible, the space is minimal), then each pair would help someone whose eyesight gets dimmer as they age. It’s very difficult to support your<br/>36 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","family by sewing, beading, or weaving if you can’t see well, and those of us who are older already know the importance of having reading glasses when we suffer from the inevitable presbyopia. What if we couldn’t afford them or didn’t even know that we needed them or that they existed?”<br/>The Reading Glass Project (RGP) is a 501(c) 3 charity, based in Janet’s home state of California. They ask travelers already going to developing countries to take new reading glasses with them and give them to those in need. The cost is about $2.00 per pair and is tax deductible. The Reading Glass Project’s motto is “Be more than a tourist. Be a hero.” And Janet has found that the charity’s vision fits in perfectly with OAT’s—which is<br/>to change people’s lives through small group adventures around the world.<br/>According to the Reading Glass Project, half a billion people in developing countries have no access to reading glasses—many not even realizing they need them. Yet over 40 million Americans visit these countries each year. These travelers, like Janet, can easily change someone’s life by giving the gift of better vision.<br/>The Reading Glass Project believes that poor vision in developing countries can be as monumental<br/>as poverty itself. If a worker or artisan can’t see well enough to do the intricate<br/>tasks required to weave a blanket or repair a fishing<br/>net, then it becomes harder to support themselves and their families. Because of this, a child may have to drop out of school and work to supplement the family’s income—and without education, people are often held in the grips of poverty.<br/>Janet encourages everyone who wants to join her to become<br/>a hero in someone’s eyes—visit the charity’s website at www.readingglassproject.<br/>org. She has found that it’s a great way for travelers to have<br/>a direct hands-on and personal connection with the local population of any country. “I only wish I had known about the Reading Glass Project sooner<br/>in my earlier OAT adventures!” she laments.<br/>Most recently, Janet handed out glasses in Tanzania during Safari Serengeti: Tanzania<br/>Lodge & Tented Safari. We applaud the generosity of travelers like Janet, who care enough to<br/>give back to the people who welcome them into their homelands.<br/>For those who have never before had the luxury, trying on a pair of glasses for the first time to see clearly can be an over- whelming experience.<br/>Top left: Janet feels that the gift of giving is a far greater reward than of those whose lives she is changing.<br/>Left: The Reading Glass Project has been giving out glasses to those in need around the world since 2008, and Janet herself has already given away over two hundred pairs during her travels with O.A.T.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 37<br/>","Philanthropy<br/>By Harriet R. Lewis<br/>Right: OAT’s regional associates in Laos installed a water tank and drilled a well which provided clean, running water for an entire village.<br/>The Wonder of Water<br/>Grand Circle Foundation’s W.A.S.H. initiative focuses on clean water, sanitation & hygiene<br/>“After all, children can’t learn if they’re not in school because they’re out gathering water, or if they’ve become ill because the water’s not clean, or if they’re so hungry they can’t concentrate because there<br/>isn’t enough water to grow the food they need.”<br/>At Grand Circle Foundation,<br/>we continually ask ourselves a question that I believe is central to all successful organizations: How can we do things better?<br/>From the beginning,<br/>we firmly believed<br/>in partnering with<br/>village leaders in the<br/>destinations where<br/>we were traveling and<br/>asking them what they<br/>needed, rather than<br/>telling them. I still<br/>believe that’s important.<br/>I began brainstorming<br/>with leadership here at<br/>the Foundation, however,<br/>on how to take the information we gathered<br/>and prioritize it more effectively, implement it internationally, and create projects that would have a long-lasting impact and ultimately be self- sustaining.<br/>We polled the managers of our network of regional offices around the world for input, and the result essentially boiled down to one issue: water.<br/>Not a drop to drink<br/>Consider some of the facts, as shared by water.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to safe water and sanitation solutions. According to their statistics, one in ten people lack access to safe water. That’s 663 million people—twice the population of the United States. Disease is also an issue. Every 90 seconds, a child dies from a water- related disease. Even when water is available, it can be hard to access. It’s estimated that, around the world, women and children spend 125 million hours daily collecting it.<br/>The statistics around sanitation are even more distressing. One-third of the world’s population lacks access to a toilet. That’s a problem especially<br/>for women and girls. Many young women drop out of school at puberty for privacy reasons, and venturing out into the bushes, especially at night, makes them vulnerable to attack.<br/>And the crisis is growing. According to National Geographic, even though water covers nearly 70% of the surface of the Earth, only 2.5% freshwater— and of that, a mere one percent is unfrozen and easily accessible. At the same time, the world’s population is exploding, putting even greater pressure on this all-too-finite, essential resource.<br/>What we decided to do<br/>When we considered these facts, it became clear to us here that access to clean water and sanitation was essential to our core mission of helping to provide a brighter future for children around the world through education. After all, children can’t learn if they’re not in school because they’re out gathering water, or if they’ve become ill because the water’s not clean, or if they’re so hungry they can’t concentrate because there isn’t enough water to grow the food they need. The question then became: How do we improve water and sanitation conditions for Grand Circle Foundation sites around the world?<br/>38 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","The first thing we did was develop an initiative we’re calling W.A.S.H. (for clean water, sanitation, and hygiene) with two ambitious goals. The first goal is to ensure that all schools and villages supported by the Foundation have access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions that meet or exceed local standards. This goal was announced in an email to our regional managers around the world, in celebration of Earth Day in April 2015.<br/>How we went about it<br/>In order to accomplish this primary goal, we needed a benchmark that would let us measure our success. We surveyed our regional offices to find out where our Foundation sites stood. The results were stunning. With 81% of these sites responding, we learned that only 14% could rate their water and sanitation as Excellent. Of the remainder, 19% were rated Fair, 38% were Adequate, and 29% were rated Poor.<br/>The United Nations has set March 22 as the date for an annual World Water Day, so March 22, 2016, is the date we set for reaching our goal. I am happy to report that, over the course of the year, we donated $58,505 toward water systems at 19 sites, including projects in Kenya, Tanzania, Myanmar, India, Laos, Vietnam, Namibia, and Guatemala.<br/>Drilling boreholes (wells) was an important part<br/>of our plan. At the Cill Cus Buon Chuoi School in the highlands of Vietnam, for example, students and teachers alike used to have to take time away from school to carry the water from water sources a mile away. Foundation funding allowed them to drill a well and install a pump and water system at the school.<br/>Drilling a well and installing a water tank in the village of Ban Nonsaath, Laos, became a rewarding community service project for our regional team there. Elsewhere in Laos, we provided for a water pump and piping system at Ban Houyia village— and installed the electricity to run it.<br/>In September, to celebrate the tenth anniversary<br/>of the founding of Banjika Secondary School in Karatu, Tanzania, we contributed two water tanks to improve the school’s ability to store valuable water. And, where drilling a borehole was not feasible, we provided catchment systems—for example, at the Lemong’o Primary School in Kenya.<br/>We invested similarly in sanitation systems. Our survey showed that 65% of Foundation-supported sites had 25 or more people sharing a toilet—if they had toilets at all. We pledged $142,406 in 2015, providing a total of 116 toilets to 16 sites in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Peru, and Colombia.<br/>One beneficiary was the Endoro Primary School<br/>in Tanzania, where we not only installed 14 toilet stalls and two water tanks, but also three taps for hand-washing. And our regional team in Vietnam fixed six toilets at Dien Phu School as a community service project.<br/>Projects still in the pipeline<br/>These activities have impacted more than 10,900 people. But we’re not done yet. That brings me to the second goal of the W.A.S.H. initiative. By Earth Day 2017, our vision is that—with adequate water available—all schools with enough land will have gardens to grow healthy food, teach gardening, and provide additional income. We will also support capital investment at schools that seek to be sustainable through energy-efficient building practices, and solar power will be the energy source whenever possible.<br/>Through these efforts, we believe the W.A.S.H. initiative is an important step toward improving the quality of life for the people at the schools and villages who welcome our travelers. No question.<br/>In an effort to better the overall sanitation and hygene of the students, Vietnam’s regional associates help fix toilets at the Dien Phu School.<br/>In Laos, the regional team installed a water pump, piping system, and installed electricity for the people of Ban Houyia village.<br/>Left: Grand Circle Foundation funding allowed for the drilling<br/>of wells at the Cill Cus Buon Chuoi School in<br/>the highlands of Vietnam, which helped bring<br/>clean drinking water to the area.<br/>If you are interested in learning more about Grand Circle Foundation, please visit our website at www.grandcirclefoundation.org Orcontact: GrandCircleFoundation•347CongressStreet•Boston,MA02210<br/>Email: foundation@oattravel.com<br/>SM<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 39<br/>","Moveable Feast<br/>By Victoria Welch<br/>Victoria Welch is a 6-year OAT associate whose recent trip to Java &<br/>Bali left her with a new and exciting love of Indonesian cuisine.<br/>Pure Argentina<br/>Food fit for (life without) a king<br/>C<br/>Music of the approaching band mingles with the sound of a radio nearby, and faces are bright, happy, and relaxed on a late May afternoon—as families, friends, and communities come together to celebrate the national holiday.<br/>Before you join in this revelry, know that<br/>this isn’t quite what you’d expect. Six days<br/>before we annually tap into Americana<br/>traditions for Memorial Day, Argentineans celebrate Dia de la Revolucion de Mayo (May Revolution Day)—when South America’s first suc- cessful quest for independence began in earnest.<br/>As war waged in Iberia early in the nineteenth century, the ripple effects of Napoleon’s conquest reached the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata— Spain’s youngest and southernmost colony (now Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia). On May 18, 1810, British ships delivered news to Buenos Aires: French troops had taken Seville, and Spanish resistance efforts were failing.<br/>For a week, political strife waged throughout Buenos Aires. Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros—the colony’s appointed political leader— attempted to maintain the peace and status quo. On May 22, however, city leaders met for an<br/>open cabildo (administrative council meeting) to debate the future of the viceroyalty.<br/>There, the argument was made: Since the monarchy was no longer ruling Spain, the viceroyal system was no longer appropriate for the colony. Instead, a junta was the proper solution—political power would be given to the King’s people until the monarch was able to take that control back. And while historians now debate whether returning that power was ever actually the objective, this part of the measured approach was met with public approval.<br/>Another piece of the plan, however, was not as favorably received: Cisneros was appointed head of the junta, and the response from the public was swift and loud. On May 25, Cisneros formally resigned, and the newly formed government was free of any ties to the former system.<br/>Right: Argentinians gather every May 25 to celebrate their country’s revolution—and indulge in national delicacies.<br/>True Argentinean independence was not to come for another six years—and after significant strife among regions within the colony—but residents look to May 25 as the day the tide turned toward independence. And given the holiday’s focus on national identity, it’s only logical to indulge in the dishes most uniquely Argentinean in origin.<br/>With its roots in the mountainous Cuyo region, locro is widely considered by Argentineans to be the first truly national dish. (Of course, in classic form, nearby Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia also take great pride in their numerous versions of the dish.) This creamy stew—the national comfort food of choice—prominently features star ingredients within Argentinean cuisine: hominy (dry corn that was once soaked in a lime bath), potato, and meat.<br/>And after a rich and meaty stew, it only makes sense to crave a touch of sweetness—which<br/>is where Argentina’s other iconic culinary gift makes its appearance. Dulce de leche is now revered throughout the world, but the origin of this “candy of milk” is attributed—amusingly— to a wartime kitchen mishap.<br/>In 1829, generals Juan Lavalle and Juan Manuel<br/>de Rosas were to meet in Cañuelas, a town southwest of Buenos Aires, to sign a peace treaty<br/>to end a period of civil war. As the legend goes,<br/>a cook in de Rosas’ camp was in the process of preparing la lechada (a sugary milk drink) when she found Lavalle asleep within the camp. Unaware that peace was being brokered, the cook ran off to alert the soldiers—and in the ensuing confusion, forgot that she was heating the milk.<br/>In 1810, city leaders met for an open cabildo (coun- cil meeting) to discuss the future of Argentina’s inde- pendence from Spain.<br/>40 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>hildren’s laughter floats through the air as the little ones dart among<br/>groups of adults in conversation.<br/>","Locro<br/>Ingredients<br/>3 cups hominy<br/>1 cup dried lima beans<br/>11⁄2 lbs pork ribs, cut into 1-inch pieces<br/>3⁄4 lb pancetta, cut into 1-inch pieces<br/>1 lb flank steak, cut into 1-inch pieces<br/>1 lb beef short ribs, cut between bones<br/>4 chorizo links,<br/>cut into 11⁄2-inch pieces<br/>3 quarts water<br/>6 carrots, cut into 1⁄2-inch-thick round pieces<br/>11⁄2 pounds butternut squash, peeled<br/>and cut into 3⁄4-inch cubes<br/>1 large boiling potato, peeled and cut into 3⁄4-inch cubes<br/>2 red bell peppers, cut into 3⁄4-inch pieces<br/>3 tablespoon paprika<br/>1 tablespoon salt<br/>1 tablespoon black pepper<br/>2 small onions, sliced thin<br/>2 tablespoons olive oil<br/>1 tsp crushed red pepper<br/>Preparation<br/>1. Rinse hominy and beans in cold water, then let them soak for 8 hours before use.<br/>2. Add meat and water to 12-quart heavy pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, for 31⁄2 hours, stirring occasionally.<br/>3. Add carrots, squash, potato, and peppers. Continue to simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.<br/>4. Drain hominy and beans. Add hominy, beans, 1 tablespoon paprika, salt, and pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.<br/>5. After adding hominy and beans in the pot, heat olive oil in a medium skillet. Fry onion until soften and lightly browned. Add remaining paprika and crushed red pepper.<br/>6. Add onion mixture to locro and mix well. Serve warm.<br/>Serves 12-16<br/>Dulce de Leche Ingredients Preparation<br/>4 cups whole milk<br/>11⁄2 cups granulated sugar<br/>1⁄2 tsp baking soda<br/>1 tsp vanilla extract<br/>1. Add milk, sugar, and baking soda to a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour.<br/>2. Increase stirring to avoid burning. Continue cooking for an additional 30-45 minutes.<br/>3. When the texture is smooth and the color is a rich brown, stir in vanilla and pour into a bowl to cool.<br/>Yields 11⁄2 cups<br/>Request a recipe—or share one of your own<br/>Do you remember a favorite OAT meal that you’d like to see featured here? We might be able to find it for you. Or maybe you have a recipe of your own to share, inspired by your adventures. Email us your culinary inspiration at: editordispatches@oattravel.com<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 41<br/>","The Cultural Anthropologist<br/>Flow of an Empire<br/>How the Incas engineered T their landscape and waterways<br/>By Tom Lepisto<br/>Tom is a freelance writer who has been contribut- ing to OAT publications for more than ten years. He visited the land of the Incas himself in 2015.<br/>Right: Some Incan terraces, like these at the Sacred Valley, still utilize 500-year-old irrigation techniques.<br/>hink of the work of the Incas,<br/>and stone buildings may be the first thing to come to mind. While<br/>those rocky edifices are impressive, the ingenuity of their builders extended farther and reshaped vast stretches of the Andean landscape. The largest-scale works left by the Incas are their agricultural terraces, which turned mountainsides into farmland on a grand scale. Those ancient farmers moved water as well as soil, building canals, channels, and baths, some of which still function after the passage of 500 years.<br/>Like giant stairways with 15-foot-high steps, Incan terraces cover many slopes around<br/>their cities, where they provided a convenient<br/>food supply. One example is Machu Picchu, where the farming terraces, irrigated by water channeled from a mountain spring, could produce more than enough food to sustain the resident population. The full magnitude of the Incas’ achievements becomes most apparent, though, when you look beyond their most famous city.<br/>British archaeologist Ann Kendall has estimated that Incan terraces and irrigation systems spanned almost 4,000 square miles of the Peruvian Andes in the 1400s. The crops these lands produced fed the empire with staples including corn, potatoes, and quinoa. In the 1970s, Kendall began working with Peruvian farmers to return some Incan irrigation canals near Cuzco to productive use. Reviving ancient techniques holds promise for improving organic agriculture in rural Peru, where the methods used during Inca times remain well- suited to the Andean environment.<br/>Incan farming terraces were constructed in layers, with stone-and-gravel fill on the bottom for drainage, local soil in the middle, and soil with greater fertility brought up from the lowlands and placed on top. The stone wall fronting each terrace captured warmth from the sun that helped plants grow, and a small canal running the width of the terrace brought water.<br/>The Tipon site south of Cuzco, which may have been a royal estate, offers outstanding examples of such Incan construction. Twelve terraces climb up<br/>This ritual fountain at<br/>the site of the Tipon ter- races sends four parallel streams of water plunging down a short drop.<br/>Explore these ancient agricultural marvels<br/>for yourself on our<br/>Real Affordable Peru<br/>or Machu Picchu & the Galápagos adventures. Take a closer look at www.oattravel.com/ rap or www.oattravel. com/mpg.<br/>a mountainside 11,000 feet above sea level, with the difference in elevation giving the lowest terraces a warmer soil temperature than the highest. Because of this, scientists believe Tipon may also have been an agricultural testing station for crops requiring varying degrees of warmth.<br/>Tipon’s waterworks have a beauty beyond their practical use for irrigation. Near the top of the terraces, a ritual fountain sends water plunging down a three-foot drop in four parallel streams, making music that was probably as pleasing to the ears of Inca royalty as it is to ours.<br/>Other ancient sites show how farming terraces were integrated into planned communities. At the southern end of the Sacred Valley, Pisac incorporates terraces, a fortress, temples, and<br/>a residential area. The waters of a mountain stream are channeled into a series of individual baths in one part of the site. Ollantaytambo is also remarkable for its blend of stone, water, and terraces. The cobbled streets of the modern town still follow the original Incan layout, with water flowing beside them through ancient channels. Terraces rise steeply up the slope.<br/>Listening to the same rush of water that resounded in such places during Inca times brings their<br/>era vividly to life. Most of all, the presence of so much carefully planned construction testifies to the sophisticated level of organization that Incan civilization possessed.<br/>42 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","Spotlight on Small Ships<br/>Why OAT travelers should consider Grand Circle Cruise Line<br/>In some parts of the world, small ocean ships are the best and most adventurous way to explore. We’ve heard, however, that many OAT travelers aren’t familiar with our Small Ship Cruise Tours—which is why we decided to include this special section in Dispatches.<br/>In 2014, our entire privately-owned fleet made Conde Nast Traveler’s list of “Top 100 Cruise Ships in the World”—and our three 50-passenger, ocean-cruising Mediterranean ships were ranked among the top five. Whether your ship carries 24, 50, 89, or 98 passengers, the size of your group will never exceed 25 travelers when you explore on land. So you can unobtrusively explore hidden coves, small ports, and islands—places where larger ships can’t go—and really connect with local culture.<br/>Within these pages, you’ll find just a brief introduction to the places you can discover by small ship. If you like what you see, you can explore more at www.gct.com.<br/>TABLE OF CONTENTS<br/>44 Discovering Montenegro<br/>Why Americans should consider this a must-see destination<br/>49 Stepping Ashore<br/>Meet Antarctic Expedition Leader Claudia Roedel<br/>50 Voyages of Discovery<br/>Magellan’s ill-fated journey<br/>52 Setting Sail<br/>Explore the Rivieras with travelers David & Nancy Galleher<br/>54 Cultural Moorings<br/>Wales, and the blundering Battle of Fishguard<br/>56 At the Helm<br/>Simon Laxton, Chairman of Grand Circle Cruise Line, discusses the challenges of launching a new ship<br/>“Its near-constant changes in power and allegiance have not only shaped the make-up<br/>of the local populace but also the country’s culture, architecture, and character.”<br/>DISPATCHES • SPRING 2016 43<br/>Montenegro PAGE 44<br/>","Wild Beauty<br/>IN THE BALKANS: DISCOVERING MONTENEGRO<br/>by Andrea Calabretta<br/>","In a corner of the Adriatic sits one of the few nations in the world named for a remarkable natural feature. Legend has it that Venetian traders crossing the sea in the Middle Ages named this country for the imposing mountaintop they could see rising up beyond the coastline even, from afar. They called it Montenegro, or “black mountain” (Crna Gora in Montenegrin). Perhaps the color was a reference to storm clouds that cast their dark shadows across its peaks. On most days, Mount Lovćen appears a rocky white-gray, with sparse green vegetation at its summit.<br/>","Previous page:<br/>Montenegro’s Bay of Kotor has a serene beauty today, though it hides a complicated history of war.<br/>Right: Considered by some as the most im- pressive element of the Adriatic, the Bay of Kotor is actually a sunken river canyon situated along the coastline.<br/>Josip Broz Tito came into power in 1944 and turned Yugoslavia into a socialist federation— Montenegro being one of its six republics.<br/>Whatever their color, the precipices of Montenegro’s mountain ranges are indeed one of the first features you notice about this arresting landscape as you approach it from the sea. But those great massifs are far from its only natural treasure. This diminutive country is roughly the size of the state of Connecticut, but some say it combines the best of several destinations: the dramatic coastline of Croatia, the craggy peaks of the Alps, the gorges and canyons of Colorado, and the fjords of Scandinavia.<br/>Still, few American travelers know about Montenegro, let alone count it among their must- see destinations. Situated directly across the Adriatic from Italy and bordered by Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, and Albania, it is among the smallest of the Balkan nations. It is also one of the newest countries in the world— and the last of the former Yugoslav republics to gain independence.<br/>Yet Montenegro’s history stretches back centuries. Its near-constant changes in power and allegiance have not only shaped the make-up of the local populace but also the country’s culture, architec- ture, and character.<br/>A complicated history<br/>The first known settlement of this area belonged to the ancient Illyrians, about whom little is known. Ancient Rome absorbed the territory in 100 BC, and the land that would be Montenegro became part of the Roman province of Dalmatia. By the year 395, however, the Roman Empire was becoming too large to govern from Rome, and Emperor Diocletian decided to cleave it in half,<br/>with the Western portion continuing to center on Rome and the Eastern half finding its capital in Byzantium (Constantinople). As would be the case several times during its history, Montenegro found itself straddling the line between East and West— portending a clash of cultures and religions that would prove longstanding.<br/>The Byzantine Emperor Justinian was responsible for bringing Christianity to the region in its<br/>early history. Meanwhile, a people known as the Slavs began migrating south from the Danube and spreading throughout the Balkans. They established various Slavic kingdoms between<br/>the 9th and 12th centuries and invented and disseminated the Cyrillic script. In 1054, the Great Schism split the Christian church into Orthodox and Catholic factions, again with Montenegro situated squarely on the dividing line between the two.<br/>The Serbian Empire rose to prominence in the<br/>13th century, yet the coastal region known as<br/>Zeta (today’s Montenegro) remained stubbornly distinct. Serbian rule of the region did not go uncontested, however. Beginning in the 14th century, the Ottoman Turks began expanding into the Balkans from the south, bringing with them the religion of Islam, while the Roman Catholic Venetians encroached from the west and took hold of the coastline.<br/>Zeta fell to the Ottomans in the 1470s, but in 1482, local leader Ivan Crojević managed to establish a Zetan stronghold near Mount Lovćen. That fortress would later become Cetinje, the historic capital of Montenegro.<br/>46 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","Over several hundred years, Montenegrin tribes waged a fierce resistance against continued onslaught from the Ottomans, gaining a reputation as fearless and unruly fighters and mountaineers. When Montenegro finally gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire in the 1870s, its stature as a small but formidable opponent was cemented in Europe.<br/>However, the Montenegrins’ hard-won independence did not last long. During World War I, Austria-Hungary invaded the Balkans, and Montenegro was incorporated into the first Yugoslavia. Later, Hitler and Mussolini would also make bids for the Montenegrin territory. But in 1944, the Yugoslav revolutionary Josip Broz Tito swept to power and<br/>made Yugoslavia a socialist<br/>federation with Montenegro<br/>as one of six republics.<br/>For a time, the country enjoyed a period of relative calm, economic prosperity, and rebuilding after World War II. Tourism soared in the 1950s and 60s, with stars like Sophia Loren, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor spending summers in glamorous resorts along<br/>the coast.<br/>War, and return<br/>to peace<br/>The 1990s, however, brought the dreadful Balkan Wars and the term “ethnic cleansing” to<br/>the international media. Following the death of<br/>Tito and the decline of a strong central government in Yugoslavia, mistrust between the various ethnic groups resulted in full- fledged warfare and the dissolution of the state. Montenegro managed to avoid much of the carnage<br/>of the era, but it remained attached (and subservient) to the more powerful Serbia.<br/>A momentous change came in 2006, when— after a lengthy history of<br/>invasion and occupation—Montenegrins voted in a referendum to separate from Serbia and gain their independence once again.<br/>The independent Montenegro became a member of the European Union in 2010. Today, the population totals around six hundred thousand, a third of whom speak Montenegrin (a variant of Serbian) while the rest speak the other Slavic languages of the region. A diversity of ethnic backgrounds and religions remains: The largest percentage of the population is Orthodox Montenegrins and Serbs, followed by Muslim Bosniaks and Albanians, and Roman Catholic Albanians and Croats.<br/>This legacy of diversity is apparent not only among the populace but on the streets of the towns and<br/>The Kotor Clock Tower in the medieval walled city is an example of the Venetian architecture that line it’s pedestrian- only streets.<br/>“Its near-constant changes in power and allegiance have not only shaped the make-up of the local populace but also the country’s culture, architecture, and character.”<br/>Left: Located in the Old Town, Montenegro’s Maritime Museum show- cases the nation’s tumul- tuous history through 2010, when it first entered the European Union.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 47<br/>","Andrea is a freelance writer and editor based in Philadelphia. She<br/>has traveled to four con- tinents and more than 20 countries, and recently spent a year<br/>in Tunisia as a Fulbright scholar.<br/>Visit Montenegro—and the stunning Bay of Kotor—on Hidden Gems of the Dalmatian Coast and Greece: www.gct.com/das.<br/>cities themselves—particularly in the Bay of Kotor region, arguably the most beautiful destination in the country.<br/>The sparkling Bay of Kotor<br/>Called Europe’s southernmost fjord, the Bay of Kotor (Boka Kotorska) is actually a sunken river canyon situated along the uppermost portion<br/>of Montenegro’s 180-mile Adriatic coast. Its dramatic scenery is considered by some the single most impressive feature of the entire Adriatic coastline—a series of linked bays with crystal<br/>blue waters that give way to forested hillsides and towering mountains. As the English poet Lord Byron wrote in 1809, “At the birth of the planet the most beautiful encounter between land and sea must have been on the Montenegrin coast.”<br/>Numerous invaders over the course of history have left their mark on this part of coastal Montenegro. There are mosques that remain from the Ottoman Empire; Baroque palaces, piazzas, and churches along with grape vines and olive groves from the Venetians; and Orthodox monasteries built by the medieval Serbs. Occupied since antiquity, the Bay is ringed with picturesque historic villages—none moreso than the secluded city of Kotor itself, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.<br/>It’s not difficult to see why Lonely Planet recently named Kotor its #1 “Best in Travel” destination for 2016. Against a backdrop of mountains, this medieval walled city boasts a car-free historic Stari Grad (Old Town) of Venetian architecture and maze-like narrow streets. It is considered by some the best-preserved example of medieval urbanity in the Mediterranean. Today, the harbor caters mainly to cruise ships, but it was once among the busiest in Europe, serving as the chief port for the Kingdom of Serbia in the Middle Ages. Though it has been compared with nearby Dubrovnik, Kotor retains the pristine, authentic charm of a place that is only recently reopening to the world.<br/>If the best view of Montenegro is from the sea, perhaps the best view of Kotor is from its medieval ramparts. One of the most splendid panoramas can be captured by climbing up to its fortress walls, whose construction was begun in the time of the Byzantine Empire during the 9th century. From the top, a traveler can gaze out over the terracotta roofs and bell towers of Kotor, the Cyprus trees and lush hillsides, to the tremendous bay beyond, adorned by mountains and winding gently to the sea.<br/>A Race of Heroes<br/>Montenegro’s successes in battle have shaped not only the country’s history but also its national psyche. After their spectacularly unlikely triumph against the Ottoman Empire, the people’s reputation as a small but mighty band of resisters spread widely in Western Europe, and British<br/>Prime Minister Gladstone, among others, called Montenegrins a “race of heroes.” In 1877, a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson referred to them as “mighty mountaineers” who were “chaste, frugal, savage, arm’d by day and night” as they “beat back the swarm” of the Turkish for five hundred years.<br/>Montenegrins themselves wholeheartedly embraced this reputation. The country’s<br/>most famous piece of literature, called the<br/>The Mountain Wreath (1847), is a verse play that waxes poetic about the valiant struggle for freedom from the Ottomans. Today, a statue of<br/>the author, Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, stands in a place of honor atop Mount Lovćen. Not only the people but also the landscape of Montenegro was romanticized in international literature<br/>of the time, and<br/>the term “petrified ocean” came into use as a romantic metaphor to describe its mountainous terrain.<br/>Perhaps it was also during this era that Montenegrins came to be known as the tallest people in Europe—a belief that persists today in Montenegro, where the average male height is 6'1\". Stature is important, but so is a tradition of chivalry. Thanks to historic tribal allegiances, strong, clannish ties to friends and family members are still a facet of Montenegrin cul- ture. A zeal for ornately decorated weaponry, often found on display in local museums, is also a holdover from the days of battle glory.<br/>48 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","A conversation with<br/>Grand Circle Expedition Leader Claudia Roedel<br/>Grand Circle Cruise Line Expedition Leader Claudia Roedel never imagined she would find herself in Antarctica, let alone work there for a living. But now that she works as part of team of expedition crew members on Antarctica’s White Wilderness, she knows this is what she was always meant to be doing. Claudia took a moment between one of her trips to tell us about what makes Antarctica so special—and what being an Expedition Leader is all about.<br/>Stepping Ashore<br/>By Meghan Colloton<br/>Meghan has been writing for OAT and Grand Circle for six years and has been to six continents. The last one on her list, which she hopes to tackle soon: Antarctica!<br/>GCCL: What does the role of the Expedition Leader entail?<br/>Claudia: A trip to the Antarctic is a true expedition, in the sense that as we leave Ushuaia, we never know exactly what<br/>our itinerary will be. We have a plan,<br/>but it is the wind, ice, and weather that decide where we will actually land. There are several regulations to work in the Antarctic, ranging from interactions with wildlife to a careful garbage management plan designed to leave a minimal impact in the areas we visit. Part of our job is to enforce these regulations.<br/>GCCL: There are a lot of regulations, right?<br/>Claudia: One of the most important regulations states that only one ship may use one<br/>site at any time, so I work closely with the Captain, adapting the itinerary to the weather and ice conditions we encounter. Sometimes we need to modify the itiner- ary, but we say that in Antarctica, there is no Plan B—whatever we end up doing at the end of the day is always the best solution we could came up with, so they are all Plan A!<br/>GCCL: What is ship life like?<br/>Claudia: An expedition to Antarctica is no leisure cruise! After we leave Ushuaia,<br/>we take a couple of days to cross the Drake Passage. This infamous passage has two flavors: Drake Lake and Drake Shake! During these days, we provide<br/>an educational program and give a series of lectures. When we arrive in Antarctica, we start doing our landings, and every- body gets very busy.<br/>GCCL: What do you love about being an Expedition Leader in Antarctica?<br/>Claudia: I love the challenge of being the Expedition Leader ... it is a job that<br/>demands all of my ability and attention. I coordinate with the Captain about the itinerary, communicate with the fleet, and organize the visits ashore and the lecture program on board. There’s never a dull moment!<br/>GCCL: Did you ever imagine your job would bring you to Antarctica regularly?<br/>Claudia: When I was very young, I did not<br/>even know that Antarctica was a place<br/>people could actually go. I would watch wildlife documentaries and would dream about being there and working some- where wild. Coincidentally, the year I entered university was the year that Brazil started our Antarctic program<br/>and the construction of our research station, Ferraz. Later, I learned that the same expedition ships that worked on the Amazon also sailed to Antarctica.<br/>GCCL: Do you have a favorite story from one of your trips?<br/>Claudia: On one of our recent trips, a traveler brought a cello on board. Her expecta- tion was to be able to play the cello in Antarctica, among the penguins. It was the most unique and moving experience, as we were all surrounded by glaciers and the sounds of squabbling penguins, listening to the clear notes from the cello echoing in the air.<br/>GCCL: Why should travelers go to Antarctica?<br/>Claudia: It is home to the most unique fauna and flora that congregate on the beaches. It is one of the very few places on Earth where wildlife has no fear of humans, and will approach you with curiosity.<br/>Born in:<br/>Belo Horizonte, Brazil<br/>Resides in:<br/>São Paulo, Brazil<br/>Expedition Leader since: 2014<br/>Languages spoken:<br/>English, Spanish, French and a little German<br/>Education:<br/>Studied biology and tropical ecology<br/>“The expedition<br/>leaders were<br/>exceptional.<br/>Their knowledge<br/>of wildlife was<br/>exceptional and<br/>readily share.”<br/>Gail & James Markham, 10-time travelers from Glen Allen, Virginia<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 49<br/>","Voyages of Discovery<br/>By David Valdes-Greenwood<br/>David has been writing for OAT for 14 years. He’s also a playwright and the author of three nonfiction books.<br/>Right: Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan’s story is not all travel and triumph.<br/>Nothing Left but the World<br/>Magellan’s tragic voyage into history<br/>of the next eight years there, in cities including Goa and Cochin, fought several battles at sea, and made a name for himself by stopping a mutiny<br/>in Malacca, on the Malay Peninsula. His future seemed bright.<br/>Unfortunately, Magellan was never great at following orders. First, he went AWOL for a holiday, ending up on probation. Then, during his next posting in Morocco, he was accused<br/>of independently trading with the Moors—which was illegal—and, as a result, was blacklisted.<br/>By 1514, no one in Portugal would sail with him.<br/>He brooded, filling his days by studying the latest maps of the newly discovered “Spice Islands,” redolent with cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace. Knowing Portugal wouldn’t let him sail under its flag, Magellan turned to its neighbor and great competitor: Spain.<br/>Go west<br/>By papal decree, the world had been divided into halves for exploration: one half was Spain’s, the other Portugal’s, and violating the convention could lead to war. But the most direct route to the Spice Islands was east through Portugal’s half. Magellan cooked up a scheme in which he would instead sail west—in the opposite direction of the islands—all the way around the globe, to approach them from the other side.<br/>When 37-year-old Magellan appeared before<br/>King Charles V (the future Holy Roman Emperor), he brought with him a cosmographer who charted the seas by the stars. The King, impressed by the westward plan, made them both commanders, and offered them quite a bounty: a decade-long monopoly on the route, governorship of any new territory they found, a full island each, and a fifth of all the profits from the trip.<br/>Turbulent waters<br/>Among Magellan’s 270 sailors were men from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Greece, England, and France. The crew initially was heavily Portuguese, but this made Spain nervous. What if Magellan turned out to be<br/>Magellan’s fleet took a westward route from Spain to the Spice Islands—something no one before him had done.<br/>The name Magellan has come to symbolize exploration, a tribute to the sailor who first sailed the seven seas on his quest to a complete circumnavigation of the globe. But<br/>the real story of Ferdinand Magellan’s life and death is more complex than the easy synopsis of one man’s triumph. For one thing, it’s actually a tragedy. But it didn’t start out that way.<br/>Young man with a plan<br/>Magellan was born into privilege in northern Portugal in 1480. A page in the royal court by<br/>age 12, he studied astronomy and nautical science with the best experts in the nation. Though his parents had expected an elegant life at court<br/>for him, he grew restless and wanted to turn the theories of his studies into real life action.<br/>In his early 20s, he signed onto a ship bound for India, which was considered just about the most exotic place on Earth at that time. He spent much<br/>50 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","doing this for his old country? At the last minute, King Charles V replaced almost all the Portuguese sailors with Spaniards just to be safe, creating tension among the crew.<br/>Conditions aboard the ships didn’t help. When sailors realized that the trip was going to take much longer than Magellan had estimated, and resources were stretching thin, three of the five ships tried to mutiny. They soon learned not<br/>to mess with Magellan: He immediately dispatched assassins to kill the captain of the first vessel.<br/>Next, he sent men to cut the ropes<br/>anchoring the second vessel, so that it<br/>drifted directly into the path of his ship’s weapons. The second crew surrendered, but he had their captain drawn and quartered anyway, just to make a point. He didn’t kill the third ship’s captain<br/>right away; instead, he abandoned the man on a deserted island, and sailed onward, leaving him behind to starve.<br/>The end of the world for Magellan<br/>Among Magellan’s most trusted counselors was<br/>a Malay slave named Enrique from Malacca,<br/>who was baptized and promised his freedom upon completion of the journey. Because he could speak Malay and several other regional languages, he was considered invaluable.<br/>When they landed in the Philippines in 1521, Enrique was central to Magellan’s efforts. The island of Cebu was the home of the King, while other territories had nobles known as Rajahs<br/>and Datus. With his trusty translator at his side, Magellan won over the King and Queen, who converted to Christianity. But when the King asked Magellan to kill his archrival, Datu Lapu-Lapu,<br/>on the island of Mactan, Magellan refused at first, saying his duty was to convert the man.<br/>When Lapu-Lapu was openly scornful of Magellan’s religious plea, the explorer forgot<br/>his Christian kindness and burnt down the Datu’s village. Magellan returned to Mactan the next day with a group of roughly 50 men intent on killing Lapu-Lapu, but they couldn’t land safely. They had to leave the boats and wade toward combat, a slow progress that allowed Lapu-Lapu to amass 1,500 fighters.<br/>As the shipboard diarist recorded, “When they saw us, they charged down upon us with exceeding loud cries... [Our] musketeers and crossbow-men shot from a distance for about a half-hour, but uselessly... Recognizing the captain, so many [of Lapu-Lapu’s men] turned upon him that they knocked his helmet off his head twice...”<br/>Left: King Charles V promised Magellan a monopoly on his route<br/>to the Spice Islands, including governorship of any new territory found.<br/>One of the island men threw at spear at Magellan, which struck him in the arm. Magellan, in return, ran his lance through his attacker, and left the weapon in the body. Now armed only with a sword, he encountered a problem: because of his wounded arm, he couldn’t fully lift the sword out of its scabbard. This sealed his fate.<br/>As the diarist describes, “When the natives<br/>saw that, they all hurled themselves upon him. One of them wounded him on the left leg with<br/>a large cutlass, which resembles a scimitar, only being larger. That caused the captain to fall<br/>face downward, when immediately they rushed upon him with iron and bamboo spears and with their cutlasses, until they killed our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide.”<br/>The crew could not even bring home the body. Lapu-Lapu claimed the few pieces which remained as a war trophy.<br/>The record-breakers<br/>After Magellan’s death, the voyage was<br/>entrusted to Basque mariner Juan Sebastian Elcano, who had been elevated to a ship’s captain after the execution of one of the mutineers. By the time Elcano led the remaining men to Spain in 1522, there was only one ship left, and fewer than 20 survivors made it home alive. Spain was astonished; no one knew what had ever become of them. Understandably, they were celebrated as legends ever after.<br/>But history records a fact that far fewer people ever learn: because Enrique was originally from the East Indies himself (and not from Malacca, where Magellan found him), the moment the slave sailed back into his home waters, it was Enrique who became the first person to navigate the entire globe. Elcano wouldn’t be able to make the same claim until he made it all the way back to Spain. While Magellan’s story ended badly, it was a happy ending for Enrique: he remained behind on Cebu, slave no more.<br/>Magellan met his end in the Philippines, when the explorer was overtaken and killed by natives.<br/>Sail the waterways of famous explorers on one of our Small Ship Cruise Tours: www.gct.com.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 51<br/>","Setting Sail<br/>By Lyette Mercier<br/>Lyette has been writ-<br/>ing for OAT since 2007. She has also written for websites including The Hairpin and The Toast, and once visited a sanc- tuary for retired donkeys in Ireland.<br/>David and Nancy Galleher revisited their favorite places and made unex- pected new discoveries on their return trip to Italy and France.<br/>Right: Multiple days<br/>in Florence—David Galleher’s favorite Italian city—was a major attraction for the couple to choose The Rivieras: Italy, France & the Isles.<br/>Returning to the Rivieras<br/>Travelers revisit beloved locales— this time aboard a Small Ship<br/>A charcuterie with dozens of cured salamis hang- ing from the ceiling was<br/>a food highlight while in Greve, Chianti.<br/>For 3-time Grand Circle travelers David and Nancy Galleher, Italy has always held a special place in their hearts. They’ve visited the country multiple times and continue to appreciate discovering new places as well as revisiting favorite haunts. “I just love Italy, so I find myself wanting to go hither and yon there,” says David. “I’m of Irish descent, but I feel like I must be a little Italian as well, because I enjoy it there so much!”<br/>Nancy Galleher also enjoys traveling in France, so the Gallehers first sailed with Grand Circle Cruise Line on the Cruising Burgundy & Provence to the Cote<br/>d’Azur River Cruise. “We had so much fun, we told our neighbors about it,” David relates. “They said if we ever wanted to go again, they’d go with us. So we ended up doing that, and we had just as much fun the second time!”<br/>So when the Gallehers decided to return to Italy once more, they chose Grand Circle’s Rivieras: Italy, France & the Isles Small Ship Cruise Tour. They were attracted to the trips’ multiple days in Florence, David’s favorite city in Italy.<br/>During their free time in Florence, they explored the Uffizi Museum, wandered Florence’s cobbled streets, and visited a local sandwich shop near the Piazza della Signoria. “The food there is phenomenal,” says David. “You order at the window and they make the sandwich right in front<br/>of you. It’s just a little storefront, so you stand or sit on the curb and eat your sandwich and drink your $4 glass of wine. Then when you’re done, there are wooden racks in front of the shop where you<br/>leave your empty wine glass. It’s quite an experience.”<br/>The Gallehers also took advantage of an optional tour from Florence, joining their Program Director in exploring the Chianti region. Mr. Galleher is effusive in his<br/>praise of the experience, saying, “We’ve done a ton of optional tours on other trips, and none of them hold a candle to that one.”<br/>The couple recalled each part of the trip with fondness, starting with the charcuterie cellar in Greve in Chianti. David remembers, “You could’ve eaten off the floor it was so spotless, and then you looked up and there were 100 salamis hanging from the ceiling.” They were so taken with the Villa D’Albola winery and tasting, that they purchased a case of their wine after returning home to Geneva, New York.<br/>52 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","The Gallehers reserve their highest accolades for Villa Il Leccio, the grand 18th-century estate where they finished out the tour. “The building, the architecture, the grounds, the art, and the decor was just enchanting. And the food—we bought the cookbook because lunch was so good.”<br/>After visiting the Galleria dell’Accademia<br/>Museum in Florence and viewing Michelangelo’s David (along with his unfinished sculptures The Prisoners), a visit to the Cararra marble quarries later on in the tour was especially interesting to the Gallehers. Seeing how involved the process of mining and moving huge blocks of marble is with modern technology, they marveled at how much manpower went into doing the same—500 years ago—when Michelangelo visited the quarry to choose the exact sections of marble he wanted for his works.<br/>Unfortunately, the trip was not all smooth sailing—literally. The weather didn’t always cooperate and parts of the itinerary, including a planned visit to Bastia, Corsica, became impossible due to winds and high seas. But the Gallehers were impressed with how the captain of Grand Circle Cruise Line’s M/V Arethusa kept them updated<br/>on sailing and schedule changes, saying, “The captain’s concern for our safety as well as that<br/>of his crew and ship was always the first priority and he went to great pains to explain the whys and wherefores of his decisions.” They further appreciated the way that the captain took the time to show passengers the forecast and explain how it would affect their plans.<br/>David and Nancy also praised their Program Director for planning on the fly, arranging a tour of Pisa when visiting Corsica became impossible. The Gallehers were impressed at the level of detail included in the impromptu visit, including lunch in a local restaurant and timing a visit to the Pisa Baptistery of St. John with the baptistery’s daily demonstration of its stellar acoustics.<br/>David says, “I can’t think<br/>of anything negative to say about the trip. The weather led to some disappointments, of course, but our Program<br/>Director and captain filled in the gaps so seamlessly that we felt like we did everything we could and didn’t miss out on any experiences.” And despite the sometimes high seas, David doesn’t regret choosing small ship travel, noting, “I was<br/>in the Navy, so I was just glad to be out on the sea.” He also enjoyed being able to stay close to<br/>the Italian coast and alight in smaller ports of call than are allowed on larger ships.<br/>While the weather led to some unexpected adventures, good timing led the Gallehers to experience another unique event in Cannes. David and Nancy admitted that they weren’t particularly excited to explore Cannes until David read an<br/>issue of WoodenBoat magazine that mentioned the Regates Royale, a gathering and race for classic and antique yachts that takes place in Cannes each September—exactly when the Gallehers would be in the city. David says, “We could not believe our incredible good fortune.” David, who has a passion for ships of all kinds, said that while the M/V Arethusa sailed to St. Honorat and many passengers were taking pictures of the views of the island, “I was facing the other way, taking pictures of the yachts racing.”<br/>Finally, David and Nancy enjoyed one more unique aspect of small-group travel: bonding with fellow passengers. “We met some great people who we still communicate with,” David notes. “We’re planning to have a reunion together this summer.”<br/>When a trip to Corsica didn’t pan out, the Galleher’s Program Director made arrange- ments for them to visit Pisa, which included the Baptistery of St. John.<br/>Left: The Carrara marble quarries impressed the Gallehers, sparking their imagination of when Michaelangelo visited the quarry to choose the exact cut of marble he would deem perfect for sculpting David.<br/>Make your own unexpected discoveries with Grand Circle Cruise Line on The Rivieras: Italy, France & the Isles: www.gct.com/frv<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 53<br/>","Cultural Moorings<br/>By Lyette Mercier<br/>Lyette has been writ-<br/>ing for OAT since 2007. She has also written for websites including The Hairpin and The Toast, and once visited a sanc- tuary for retired donkeys in Ireland.<br/>Right: Fishguard Harbor held off a near-invasion by French forces simply by firing a blank round of ammunition to alert citizens.<br/>Folly at Fishguard<br/>The last invasion of Great Britain<br/>Local Fishgaurd legend, Jemima Nichols, is said to have held a dozen drunken French soldiers captive with just her pitchfork.<br/>The last years of the 18th century were<br/>a tumultuous time in Europe, with the ongoing fallout from the French Revolution wreaking havoc on the continent’s stability.<br/>By 1797, France’s post-Revolution government, known as The Directory, had seen the French<br/>army conquer Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and had sent an army into Italy led by up-and-coming general by the name of Napoleon.<br/>But European coalition forces led and funded<br/>by Great Britain were gearing up to push back against the French. In this volatile climate, France decided to mount yet another military campaign, which became the last successful invasion of British soil. Well, briefly successful. There’s a reason the event isn’t covered widely in history books, and that’s because the French invaded exactly one town (Fishguard, Wales) and held it for less than 48 hours.<br/>From the beginning, the French scheme to overthrow the British monarchy relied mainly on optimism. They first planned to land in Ireland and recruit the oppressed Irish to fight with France against their British overlords. Then the combined French/Irish army would establish a foothold in Southern England, continuing to foment unrest<br/>in the local peasantry, until they had a force large enough to march on London.<br/>The plan was a disaster by every measure. The naval force sent to Ireland’s Bantry Bay was scattered and forced back to France by bad weather. For reasons lost to history, the French<br/>went ahead with their planned attack on British soil without their Irish backup. It was led by an Irish-American veteran of the American Revolution named William Tate. The fact that the French didn’t or couldn’t bother to appoint a French general was another indication that the expedition didn’t have the best chance of success.<br/>In February 1797, four warships carrying a rag-tag band of 1,400 French soldiers set sail with plans to burn Bristol, Britain’s second-largest city, and engage in guerilla tactics along the coast, creating chaos and winning over the locals until a larger French force could arrive and launch full-scale warfare. The backup plan was to head north to Cardigan Bay, in Wales, and head for the smaller cities of Liverpool and Chester.<br/>Neither plan panned out. Bad winds kept the ships from landing at Bristol, but they came<br/>close enough to shore that they were spotted by locals, meaning Tate’s army had also lost their opportunity to land in Cardigan Bay and make<br/>for Liverpool unnoticed. Tate decided to come ashore halfway between Bristol and Cardigan Bay, at Carreg Wastad, a rocky headland three miles from the village of Fishguard. After unloading the army and their munitions, the four ships that<br/>had carried the French to Wales then left to pick up reinforcements. Their departure demoralized the army, who now knew they had nowhere to run if things went bad.<br/>Fishguard in 1797 was a successful port town, boasting a fleet of 50 vessels that traded with<br/>54 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","Ireland, Liverpool, and Bristol. The town exported oats and salt herring from a local fishery. After a pirate attack in 1779, the town built Fishguard Fort to protect the harbor.<br/>So when one of the French warships entered Fishguard Harbor on a scouting mission, the fort alerted its citizens by firing a blank. The shot was enough to frighten the ship away, which marked another mistake from the invading force: the Fort only had three real rounds of ammunition and the town could have easily been overrun.<br/>The French forces who’d landed at Carreg Wastad, meanwhile, had marched a mile inland and taken a local farm. Local British forces mustered 600 men who bedded down in Fishguard’s Royal Oak Inn. Outgunned and outmanned, the British certainly seemed vulnerable to the French force.<br/>And they would have been, were it not for the fact that the French army was undisciplined, held little loyalty to Tate, and was more interested in plunder than invasion. Tate’s scouting parties decided to scout local larders and liquor cabinets instead of the opposing forces. The Welsh locals, far from greeting the French army as liberators, fought to protect their home and property.<br/>Fishguard shoemaker Jemima Nichols became a local legend on this night when, armed only with a pitchfork and some righteous fury, she rounded up a dozen drunken Frenchmen and herded them into captivity in a local church. From that day forth, she was known as Jemima Fawr—or Jemima the Great. The women of Fishguard may have played<br/>Left: A stone memorial on Carreg Wastad Point marks the last invasion of Britain in 1797.<br/>a large part in repelling the French, in fact, with some historians surmising that their local costume of red dresses and tall black hats was mistaken<br/>by the drunken soldiers as a large force of British Redcoats overrunning the town.<br/>By 4pm, February 24, the last invasion was over, with Tate offering his unconditional surrender<br/>at the Royal Oak Inn. Two years later, the French government that approved the invasion was overthrown by Napoleon.<br/>Jemima Nichols lived another 35 years in Fishguard and died at 82 in 1832. A memorial stone honoring her bravery was unveiled on<br/>the centenary of the invasion in 1897 and<br/>still stands today in Fishguard. On the day’s bicentennial celebration in 1997, a 100-foot-long tapestry made up of 37 panels telling the story<br/>of the invasion and victory was unveiled. The tapestry, which was designed by a local artist and took more than 70 local women two years to sew, now resides in Fishguard’s Town Hall.<br/>Fishgaurd’s Royal Oak<br/>Inn housed the 600 local British forces who would take on the French in their attempted invasion.<br/>Visit Fishguard—and learn even more about the last invasion of Great Britain—on Coastal Charms of England, Wales, Ireland & Scotland: www.gct.com/cuk.<br/>Language Lesson<br/>Quick, pronounce “Llanfairpwllgwyngyll.” This tongue-twister of a town name is a perfect example of many of the unique characteristics of the Welsh language. The<br/>“ll” is a nearly un-imitatable sound not found in<br/>English, a sort of voiceless “l.” And “w” and “y” are vowels in Welsh, explaining the seemingly endless string of consonants in some Welsh words.<br/>Diagraphic, or double, letters also contribute to the length of words. The Welsh alphabet<br/>has 28 letters; with eight not found in English (ch, dd, ff, ng, ll, ph, rh, th) and six missing from the English alphabet (j, k, q, v, x, z).<br/>Welsh is the last linguistic survivor of ancient British, a Celtic language spoken by the<br/>Britons who ruled England before the Anglo-Saxon people settled the island in the sixth and seventh centuries. While the<br/>Saxon-derived English eventually overtook the other languages of Great Britain, Welsh was widely spoken as a first language well into the 19th century. Even today, 20% of the region’s inhabitants mainly speak Welsh. It’s taught along with English in schools, and all signs are listed in English and Welsh.<br/>In Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, in fact, 70% of the population speaks Welsh fluently. Should you find yourself there, asking a native to pronounce the name for you is probably your best bet for getting it right.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 55<br/>","At the Helm<br/>By Laura Chavanne<br/>Laura Chavanne is a 15-year OAT associate and Editor-in-Chief of Dispatches.<br/>Maiden Voyage<br/>A behind-the-scenes look at the launch of a ship<br/>Simon Laxton hails<br/>from England, but travels frequently between his home, our small ships, and our nautical head- quarters in Dubrovnik.<br/>Right: The M/V Clio will soon be undergoing refurbishments in prepa- ration for its launch<br/>later this year.<br/>“Training and knowing how<br/>to care for the American traveler is key, and we have a dry run with a ship entering the fleet for the first time to make sure everything is as it needs to be.”<br/>With the 89-passenger M/V Clio recently joining our small ship fleet, our nautical team has been working tirelessly to<br/>get the vessel ship-shape before its inaugural voyage later this year. Launching a ship is a huge undertaking, between deciding which ship to purchase and finally welcoming travelers aboard— so we reached out to Simon Laxton, Chairman<br/>of Grand Circle Cruise Line, for a look behind<br/>the scenes.<br/>Simon worked for Abercrombie & Kent on their ship launches in China, Egypt, the Galápagos, and Burma before joining Grand Circle in 2015—which is actually his second stint with our company.<br/>“My first work, among other things, was setting up OAT’s Heart of India program in 2003,” Simon remembers. “It was very challenging as there were few hotels in India! It’s great to be back with Grand Circle.” In his current role, he draws upon his previous experience when designing itineraries for ship and on land.<br/>But before an itinerary can begin to be conceived, there must be a ship to accommodate it—which, not surprisingly, is considerably more complicated than visiting an automobile dealership. “The number of ships on the market is relatively small,” says Simon, “so it’s quite a task to find the vessels.” The challenge is compounded by the fact that Grand Circle has set very particular standards<br/>with travelers who have cruised with us before— particularly aboard the 50-passenger Artemis, Arethusa or Athena, which we built specifically to suit our needs. “Those ships have been hugely successful, and are unique in the market,” Simon explains. “Our travelers talk about them as ‘feeling at home,’ so we need to be able to make adaptations that create a similar ambiance aboard the other ships that we acquire.”<br/>These adaptations, of course, are contingent upon the overall condition of the ship, and whether it complies with a host of regulations. “It is very much a team effort,” says Simon. “We work with<br/>a combination of outside experts and our own nautical, technical, and hospitality teams.” If inspections show that the ship simply isn’t in good enough condition, we take our business elsewhere.<br/>After a successful purchase, the amount of work required will vary from ship to ship. “It usually involves taking the ship completely out of the water for a thorough inspection, cleaning, and painting in the Grand Circle Cruise Line style.” The hospitality team looks at each area and recommends changes to bring the ship up to the level of the rest of our fleet. For example, in the spring of 2016, before its first departure, the Clio will be getting a bigger restaurant that offers the opportunity for al fresco dining. It also needs updates to the kitchen and buffet area to meet U.S.<br/>56 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","Public Health standards. “Lastly, and very important in today’s world, we install WiFi throughout the ship as well as a satellite so we can offer the best possible connectivity wherever we are in the world.”<br/>As for deciding exactly where a ship should<br/>sail, the team gathers input from travelers, Program Directors, and our regional offices.<br/>In the case of the Clio, travelers have shown<br/>great interest in visiting the British Isles on<br/>land tours, so we researched a ship itinerary<br/>in the same region. “There are many things<br/>to consider,” says Simon. “Sea conditions,<br/>wind, tides, and hours of darkness and light<br/>all impact arrival and departure times in port. We try to berth the ship so it’s possible to walk off and enjoy the local environment.”<br/>The team also looks for opportunities to bring local flavor onboard the ship as well. “On Maritime Jewels of the British Isles, we have a school choir come aboard in the Isles of Scilly,” says Simon. “We<br/>also tailor the meals to give travelers a chance to experience something local, like Welsh rarebit or bubble n’ squeak.”<br/>Of course, as with any undertaking this complex, things occasionally go wrong. Simon remembers<br/>a particular “nail biter” when the Corinthian was in dry dock just a few days before sailing. “We found that the delivery of our smoke detectors was incorrect,” Simon recalls. “We clearly could not sail without them, so our nautical and purchasing teams had to source them at very short notice.” They pulled it off—but only with hours to spare. “My main learning is the value of teamwork,”<br/>says Simon.<br/>Simon is also quick to credit the importance of the ship’s crew in keeping things running smoothly.<br/>A team at Grand Circle Cruise Line headquarters<br/>in Dubrovnik, Croatia is responsible for recruiting crew members, including both<br/>nautical/technical staff and hospitality. In total, the Clio will have 23 nautical/technical and 35 hospitality crew members hailing from all over the world—including the U.S. “By hiring a multinational crew, we can bring in people from areas known for a particular level of expertise,” Simon explains.<br/>For example, Eastern Europe is known for its excellence in training hospitality workers.<br/>The first positions to be recruited, though, are on the technical/nautical side—beginning, of course, with the<br/>Left: Stromness, a 17th- century trading port in Scotland’s Orkney Islands, is just one port of call that will welcome the Clio on her maiden voyage.<br/>captain. “In addition to safe sailing and oversight of operations, we also look for a captain who can talk to our travelers and share experiences. The life of a captain is truly fascinating, and all are characters!” After that comes the recruitment of officers, engineers, electricians, motormen, fitters, deck hands, and an onboard doctor.<br/>The hospitality team is responsible for the restaurant, bar, cabin service, reception, kitchen, and galley. “These are the crew most of our travelers interact with every day,” says Simon. “Training and knowing how to care for the American traveler is key, and we have a dry run with a ship entering the fleet for the first time to make sure everything is as it needs to be.”<br/>Thanks to the hard work of Simon and our nautical, technical, and hospitality teams, the<br/>Clio will be ready to sail at our high standards<br/>this July, when it embarks on its first departure<br/>of Maritime Jewels of the British Isles. And from purchase to embarkation, every team member has been instrumental. “No one person can possibly do everything,” says Simon. “Having a strong team around you—and one that works closely together— is key to success.”<br/>For our hospitality crew members, as shown here on the Corinthian, no detail is too small in creating the right ambi- ance for our travelers.<br/>Left: The travelers<br/>and crew aboard the<br/>M/V Athena wave farewell to the port of Korcula, Croatia.<br/>Learn more about Grand Circle Cruise Line’s M/V Clio—includ- ing two new ocean cruise itineraries—at www.gct.com/clio.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 57<br/>","Adventure Update<br/>News Briefs from<br/>OAT and Grand Circle Cruise Line<br/>Looking ahead to 2017—many<br/>departures available to reserve<br/>While there’s still plenty of time to reserve your next trip in 2016, we’re in the process of opening our 2017 departures for sales— including both OAT adventures and Grand Circle Cruise Line Small Ship Cruise Tours.<br/>You’ll be seeing information about 2017 on our websites in the coming weeks. For an updated list of trips that are available to reserve, visit www.oattravel.com/2017 or www.gct.com/smallships2017. You can also call your Sir Edmund Hillary Priority Line toll-free at 1-877-220-2610 and talk to an Adventure Specialist about availability. For the best choice of departure dates, you can pre-reserve your 2017 trip and we’ll call you as soon as it becomes open for reservations.<br/>Our videos & films bring your<br/>destinations to life<br/>Video and film have the power to convey<br/>a sense of place in a way that words and photographs simply cannot. That’s why we’ve partnered with David Conover— filmmaker, conservationist, and founder of Compass Light Productions—to curate a comprehensive collection of more<br/>than 900 videos and films, each highlighting various aspects of our adventures. In addition to the videos we produce ourselves, which include destination highlights and Trip Leader insights, we’ve gathered more than 200 films from The New York Times, BBC, CNN, Public Television, and other independent filmmakers, for a truly diverse view of the people, culture, and lifestyles<br/>of our destinations. Visit www.oattravel.com to spark your curiosity and get inspired for your next great adventure.<br/>NEW: Customize your trip, and make every<br/>adventure your own<br/>We all have preferences when it comes to airlines we’d<br/>rather take ... or airports we prefer to avoid ... or cities we’ll<br/>go out of our way just to visit again. When you reserve<br/>your next adventure, there’s so much you can do to make<br/>your journey your own. For example, add more time in a favorite city for independent exploration. Depart from one<br/>U.S. city and return to another. Request an upgrade to business or premium economy class. Or combine two or more trips without returning home.<br/>When we create your air itinerary, we’ll make every effort<br/>to offer you non-stop flights and acceptable connection times. But if for any reason you wish to change the itinerary we create for you, just let us know, and we’ll give you additional options. It’s that simple. Visit www.oattravel.com/customizeyourtrip<br/>to learn more.<br/>58 DISPATCHES•SPRING2016<br/>","Where in the World?<br/>Continued from page 10<br/>ANSWER:<br/>Khettaras (or qanats), southern Morocco<br/>Since ancient times, civilizations on both<br/>sides of Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains have understood that their survival ultimately depended on their ability to find water— something that could be challenging in an arid or semiarid environment. The semiarid city of Marrakesh, for example, receives an average of just 10 inches of rain per year (compared to 30 inches in the milder city of Tangier).<br/>For this reason, Morocco’s drier areas often<br/>relied on khettaras—intricate networks of<br/>tunnels and wells that were similar to Iran’s<br/>qanats and Algeria’s foggaras. While no one<br/>knows exactly how the concept of khettaras<br/>arrived in Morocco, scholars know that they<br/>have been used for centuries. In fact, the first<br/>record of khettaras being used in Marrakesh<br/>dates back 900 years to the city’s founding.<br/>Drawing water from six local rivers (as well as from melted snow in the High Atlas Mountains), it was Marrakesh’s impressive khettaras that facilitated the creation of the city’s famous oasis of Palmeraie—once 32,000 acres filled with about 150,000 palm trees.<br/>Unfortunately, due to drought and neglect, many of the area’s khettaras are no longer in use. In Marrakesh specifically, there were 500 working khettaras in 1970. Today, almost half of these khettaras are in disuse. You can view the khettaras for yourself, and learn more about how life in Morocco’s deserts is changing, on our Morocco Sahara Odyssey adventure.<br/>In the Know<br/>Continued from page 17<br/>ANSWER:<br/>1) a; 2) d; 3) a; 4) b; 5) d; 6) b; 7) a; 8) b<br/>Have you been published?<br/>Did you experience a life-changing moment during an OAT adventure? Now, when you write a story about your discoveries and have it published on select travel websites or blogs, travel magazines, or in a local paper, you can enjoy a $100 travel voucher towards your next OAT adventure. To claim your voucher, your story must:<br/>• Be published online so that we can share it instantly with other interested travelers • Mention OAT’s website (www.oattravel.com)<br/>• If published in a local newspaper, have a circulation of at least 25,000 readers.<br/>Limit one voucher per trip. Guidelines subject to change. For more information or to participate, please contact Priscilla O’Reilly at poreilly@gct.com or 617-346-6841.<br/>DISPATCHES•SPRING2016 59<br/>","398-0000<br/>"];