Kim MacQuarrie's Blog: Peru & South America Blog

The post Bolivian Festival Dancers in La Paz appeared first on Kim MacQuarrie Author and Filmmaker.

Pablo Escobar, Muerto, by Fernando Botero

From my travel journal: Medellín, Antioquia:

My driver and I walk about the prison area, the air fresh from the recent rains, the sun out now, El Poblado like an erector set of pink rectangular skyscrapers set amidst dark green slopes below; we walk past the guard towers, once staffed by guards Escobar had hired, past abundant vines with light green leaves and silver-dollar-sized orange flowers, then approach a giant cement wall, part of the prison that Pablo built. On the lower wall is a giant billboard of sorts, with a photo reproduction of Pablo in prison wearing a Russian fur hat, behind the very bars he had paid for; above and behind the prison are thickly- forested hills, offering avenues of easy escape, which Escobar took advantage of the night that he fled the prison and went into hiding again.

The Benedictines have fastened, here and there, plaques with moral lessons for visitors, such as “He who kills another without authority or just cause condemns himself to death.” Or another, this one fastened onto the wall of a ruined building: “Ruins of what was [once] one of the pleasure rooms, with its round, revolving bed, of Mr. Pablo Emilio Escobar.”

The problem was: money could buy Pablo everything–except for the respectability he craved and a long life. His life was cut short with a hail of bullets at the age of 44.

Pablo Escobar’s “La Catedral” prison

Next up:  Colombia: Amid the Sacred and Profane

The post A Visit to Pablo Escobar’s Prison, La Catedral, Part III appeared first on Kim MacQuarrie Author and Filmmaker.

The Death of Pablo Escobar, by Fernando Botero

From my travel journal: Medellín, Antioquia:

Pablo [Ochoa] and I arrive on the dirt road finally at the cluster of buildings that used to house Pablo Escobar, his brother and other Medellin Cartel associates. But the road to the buildings is blocked by an empty kiosk and a gate with a chain lock. No one is manning the kiosk. So we drive further up the hill to a cluster of new buildings, that lie above the prison. The buildings are part of a Benedictine Monastery that was built about five years ago and we part before a small, A-frame chapel built of wood. From inside comes music in form of Gregorian chants. Far below us, in glimpses through the clouds, rise the pink skyscrapers of El Poblado, a wealthy suburb of Medellin.

Inside, the chapel is empty, the music turns out to be a recording and there are wooden pew benches. On a wall is a statue of Christ, surrounded by pictures of the stations of the cross. A 40ish man approaches us. He’s a bit lean and gaunt and tells us he a priest. He offers to give us a tour but not before another cab arrives and a shirtless man gets out, covered in tattoos, makes his way inside, and kneels at a pew. He looks like a gangster and has traveled all of the way up the mountainside to pray.

Six nuns live here, the priest tells us, leaving the tattooed man to pray. he leads us to the nuns’ houses, which look like they are made of gingerbread. They have small gardens before them. No nuns are visible, but the gardens have large, elephant-eared plants that are purple in color. “We brought them from the forest,” the priest tells us, gesturing to the dark trees that cling to the hills. He shows us the confession room, the library of donated books, and finally to his office, which doubles as a small store. Inside is a glass counter and shelves on them are various handicrafts the nuns make: rosaries, key chains with the images of saints, etc. All of them are for sale.

“Colombia will soon have its first saint,” the priest says, and gestures to a portrait on the wall of an attractive woman wearing a white habit with a beatific face.  The portrait is that of Laura Montoya [converted into a saint in 2103 by the Pope], who was born in the region and worked with indigenous people. “Would you like to purchase something?, the priest asks.

I purchase 15,000 pesos worth of rosaries, keychains, and other knick knacks. My driver then asks the priest if we can visit the prison below.

“I’m sorry,” he says, “it will have to be another time. There are electrified fences,” he says gravely, putting the money away.

We walk outside, looking down at the prison complex, and the green field before it, and below that forest and the winding road and the city of Medellin in the distance, swathed in clouds.

“Look there,” my driver Pablo says, pointing at the field. “that’s Escobar’s soccer field.” The field is non-descript, overgrown, but with two while goal posts at either end. “They found a body buried there after his escape,” Pablo says, in a low voice. “It was cut into pieces.”

“Maybe so,” I reply, “but it’s a hell of  place to be buried. There’s probably no other soccer field with better view in the world.”

We drive back down the road and drive past the kiosk again, but this time there is someone inside. My driver asks if we can pass through the gate; the guard is friendly, pulls out some keys, undoes the lock and chain, pushes the gate open, then waves us through. Obviously, he has not spoken to the priest. We drive inside, park, and get out. There’s no sign of electric fences anywhere. Just a sign put up by the Benedictines counseling against “envy.” Pablo and I look at each other.

“The priest lied to us,” I say.

Pablo nods.

“I think he just wanted to sell you some stuff,” he replies.

Looking up at the dented cement walls that look a bit like Hitler’s bunker, I can’t help but think that if a Colombian priest is more concerned with selling indulgences and lying to visitors than with telling the truth–then why should anyone be surprised at the behavior of Colombian criminals?”

Next: A visit to Escobar’s Prison

The post A Visit to La Catedral, Pablo Escobar’s Prison, Part II appeared first on Kim MacQuarrie Author and Filmmaker.

The Kon Tiki 2 prepares for its maiden voyage in the port of Callao (Lima), Peru

Kon-Tiki Expedition Raft Trip Revived with Trip to Easter Island

Oct 29, 2015

El Comercio

(Translated by Kim MacQuarrie)

(Note: I met Thor Heyerdahl in 1988 up in Tucume, in northern Peru, as he was excavating among the Moche pyramids. I spent about three days helping him to clear the site and he was a very gracious host. One of the chapters in my forthcoming book, Life and Death in the Andes, addresses Heyerdahl’s voyages and theories and also chronicles my search for the reed boat builder who built Heyerdahl’s rafts for his Ra Expeditions. I found him still alive and well, 82-years-old, and living in a village alongside Lake Titicaca. I also investigate whether Heyerdahl’s migration theories were ever substantiated. Much has been learned since his 1947 raft trip from Peru to the Marquesas Islands).

Enthusiasm reigns among the members of the Kon Tiki II, an expedition consisting of two rafts bound for Easter Island from [the port of] Callao early next month. The crew of 14 hails from Peru, Norway, New Zealand, England, Russia, Chile and three other nations and emulates the modes of navigation used by the ancient Peruvians.

The two rafts are named the Tupac Yupanqui and the Rahiti Tane and were made with logs brought from Ecuador. The construction took a month in the company’s shipyard, the Industrial Marine Services (SIMA), located at the Callao Naval Base.

Like the original 1947 expedition, the balsa logs arrived in Peru from Ecuador

The expedition commemorates the adventurous spirit that accompanied the [original] Kon Tiki expedition in 1947, which also sailed by raft from Peru to Polynesia. One of the major differences between the expedition that departs on the 1st or 2nd of November will be that on the first trip a wooden rudder was used, while the current one will use waras, which are planks of wood [centerboards] inserted down through the raft’s bottom into the sea and [that steer the craft].

The exact date of departure of Kon Tiki II depends on the completion of the procedures that will be implemented on board and on the weather conditions, explained Admiral Cesar Linares Roca, General Director of Maritime Interests of the Peruvian Navy.

The other big difference from the 1947 expedition, which was led by the Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl, is that the current trip is not just one way.

Easter Island lies approx. 2,300 miles from Lima, Peru

“We will sail a total of 5 thousand nautical miles, 2,000 of which correspond to the journey to Easter Island. In total, the whole expedition will take between 4 and 5 months,” explained Torgeir Higraff, expedition leader of the Kon Tiki II and also a Norwegian .

For Admiral Linares, Kon Tiki II will serve to rediscover our roots as a country linked to the sea. “Through its maritime activities the culture of a country is reflected, and Peru is a maritime country. The expedition will allow us to see how the ancient Peruvians dominated [the art of] navigation,” said Linares.

THE TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED

During the trip, seven people will ride on each raft. One raft will carry only men; the other will have a mixed crew. The food will be based on fish, dried preserves and cornstarch. The crews will also collect rainwater. Three additional expedition members will accompany the return.

While they will sail by means of wind strength and the directional capabilities of the waras, the rafts will also be equipped with modern technology: satellite communication and beacons will allow maritime authorities to monitor the trip. Admiral Linares of the Peruvian Navy explained that he has coordinated with the Chilean Navy to monitor the Kon Tiki II while the two rafts are in the waters of that country.

Each raft is 15 meters long and 7 meters wide and possess a load capacity of 20 tons. They will be ‘baptized’ before launching them in the sea. With the expedition will travel many scientists, particularly oceanographers, who will take samples of water temperature and carbon, among other variables. “Scientific observations of water will have special relevance because it will be during the El Niño” said Higraff, the director of Kon Tiki II.

Among the crew are four women. One is them is the Norwegian, Kari Dahl, captain of one of the rafts, who said she was very excited to be about to cross the Pacific Ocean. “Spending several weeks at sea is synonymous with tranquility,” said the navigator.

In 2006 another raft, called the Tangaroa, left from Callao to Polynesia [and successfully arrived in Polynesia, carrying the grandson of Thor Heyerdahl, Olav Heyerdahl]

One of the rafts in the Peruvian naval port of Callao, just outside of Lima

The post Kon Tiki 2 Rafts Set Sail from Peru for Easter Island appeared first on Kim MacQuarrie Author and Filmmaker.

The Kon Tiki 2 prepares for its maiden voyage in the port of Callao (Lima), Peru

Kon-Tiki Expedition Raft Trip Revived with Trip to Easter Island

Oct 29, 2015

El Comercio

(Translated by Kim MacQuarrie)

(Note: I met Thor Heyerdahl in 1988 up in Tucume, in northern Peru, as he was excavating among the Moche pyramids. I spent about three days helping him to clear the site and he was a very gracious host. One of the chapters in my forthcoming book, Life and Death in the Andes, addresses Heyerdahl’s voyages and theories and also chronicles my search for the reed boat builder who built Heyerdahl’s rafts for his Ra Expeditions. I found him still alive and well, 82-years-old, and living in a village alongside Lake Titicaca. I also investigate whether Heyerdahl’s migration theories were ever substantiated. Much has been learned since his 1947 raft trip from Peru to the Marquesas Islands).

Enthusiasm reigns among the members of the Kon Tiki II, an expedition consisting of two rafts bound for Easter Island from [the port of] Callao early next month. The crew of 14 hails from Peru, Norway, New Zealand, England, Russia, Chile and three other nations and emulates the modes of navigation used by the ancient Peruvians.

The two rafts are named the Tupac Yupanqui and the Rahiti Tane and were made with logs brought from Ecuador. The construction took a month in the company’s shipyard, the Industrial Marine Services (SIMA), located at the Callao Naval Base.

Like the original 1947 expedition, the balsa logs arrived in Peru from Ecuador

The expedition commemorates the adventurous spirit that accompanied the [original] Kon Tiki expedition in 1947, which also sailed by raft from Peru to Polynesia. One of the major differences between the expedition that departs on the 1st or 2nd of November will be that on the first trip a wooden rudder was used, while the current one will use waras, which are planks of wood [centerboards] inserted down through the raft’s bottom into the sea and [that steer the craft].

The exact date of departure of Kon Tiki II depends on the completion of the procedures that will be implemented on board and on the weather conditions, explained Admiral Cesar Linares Roca, General Director of Maritime Interests of the Peruvian Navy.

The other big difference from the 1947 expedition, which was led by the Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl, is that the current trip is not just one way.

Easter Island lies approx. 2,300 miles from Lima, Peru

“We will sail a total of 5 thousand nautical miles, 2,000 of which correspond to the journey to Easter Island. In total, the whole expedition will take between 4 and 5 months,” explained Torgeir Higraff, expedition leader of the Kon Tiki II and also a Norwegian .

For Admiral Linares, Kon Tiki II will serve to rediscover our roots as a country linked to the sea. “Through its maritime activities the culture of a country is reflected, and Peru is a maritime country. The expedition will allow us to see how the ancient Peruvians dominated [the art of] navigation,” said Linares.

THE TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED

During the trip, seven people will ride on each raft. One raft will carry only men; the other will have a mixed crew. The food will be based on fish, dried preserves and cornstarch. The crews will also collect rainwater. Three additional expedition members will accompany the return.

While they will sail by means of wind strength and the directional capabilities of the waras, the rafts will also be equipped with modern technology: satellite communication and beacons will allow maritime authorities to monitor the trip. Admiral Linares of the Peruvian Navy explained that he has coordinated with the Chilean Navy to monitor the Kon Tiki II while the two rafts are in the waters of that country.

Each raft is 15 meters long and 7 meters wide and possess a load capacity of 20 tons. They will be ‘baptized’ before launching them in the sea. With the expedition will travel many scientists, particularly oceanographers, who will take samples of water temperature and carbon, among other variables. “Scientific observations of water will have special relevance because it will be during the El Niño” said Higraff, the director of Kon Tiki II.

Among the crew are four women. One is them is the Norwegian, Kari Dahl, captain of one of the rafts, who said she was very excited to be about to cross the Pacific Ocean. “Spending several weeks at sea is synonymous with tranquility,” said the navigator.

In 2006 another raft, called the Tangaroa, left from Callao to Polynesia [and successfully arrived in Polynesia, carrying the grandson of Thor Heyerdahl, Olav Heyerdahl]

One of the rafts in the Peruvian naval port of Callao, just outside of Lima

The post Kon Tiki 2 Raft Sets Sail from Peru for Easter Island appeared first on Kim MacQuarrie Author and Filmmaker.

Map of the Inca Empire and location of discovery

A team of Spanish explorers and scientists, using satellite imagery, discovered in mid-September a previously unknown Inca site some 150 miles north of Cusco. Using computer imaging software, the expedition reached a mountain top and discovered some 50 structures and an Incan cemetery complete with skeletal remains. In addition, near the summit, the team discovered structures that resemble those involved in human sacrifice, or capacocha, found elsewhere in the Andes. According to the team, it’s possible that the site was used by Incas after the initial conquest of the Inca Empire by Francisco Pizarro, during the period of nearly forty years when a rump empire of Inca guerrillas existed in the Vilcabamba area. In 1572, the Spaniards invaded Vilcabamba, captured the final Inca emperor, and beheaded him in the main square in Cusco.

Published in El Pais, you can read more about the Spanish expedition here.

Discovery site in Peru’s Vilcabamba Mountains

The post Spanish Team Discovers Lost Ruins of Inca Guerrillas appeared first on Kim MacQuarrie Author and Filmmaker.

La Catedral Prison

From my travel journal: Medellí n, Antioquia

I met Pablo Ochoa—not the Colombian drug king, but the name of my cab driver—sitting in the fifth cab in a long line of cabs in  Envigado, a suburb of Medellin where Pablo Escobar grew up. I wanted to visit La Catedral, the prison Escobar had first built and then had spent a year and a half in, located about an hour up a green mountainside. The first driver shook his head and said he needed a larger cab. The second shook his head and said it was too far and that the road was narrow and bad. The third and fourth drivers said the same. Pablo—59 years old with gray hair and intense, dark eyes—looked me over suspiciously and nodded.

“Sixty pesos” he said, pointing up at the distant green mountain, craggy and imposing.

We drive up a winding road, past pine and Eucalyptus trees and big, elephant-eared plants lining each side of the road. Pablo grew up in Evigado and has been a cab driver for 31 years. He speaks with a thick, paisa accent and keeps peering at me with a very intense stare in the rear view mirror.

Moss begins appearing on tree trunks and ferns line the road as we keep climbing, the air becoming cooler. Sections of the paving are washed out from the rains and we ease past them slowly in the car. Gradually Pablo becomes more relaxed, even cheerful, the higher we climb. He begins to enjoy himself and starts to play the role of tour guide.

“Here’s a good place for a photo,” he would say, and we’d stop and take a look at Medellin stretching below us between the trees, its pink, rectangular skyscrapers lit by the sun and cumulus clouds boiling above. Rain threatens overhead and at another tree-choked bend he stops and points at a thick wall of vegetation.

“Do you see that?” he asks. I shake my head. Finally, I spot what he is looking at: on a tree limb and with a cluster of insects in its mouth is a “soledad,” a fist-sized bird with a foot-long tail, like a mot-mot, green with a black face-mask. I’m impressed that Pablo spotted it, so well does it blend into the vegetation.

Soledad (Momotus momota)

“Take a photo,” Pablo says.

“Got it? Ha amañado?”, he asks. “Are you content?”

After about an hour he stops the car again on the narrow road. We get out and look through a gap in the trees. Pablo points at something in the distance, higher up.

“La Catedral,” he says. “Pablo Escobar’s prison.”

Visible beneath the crest of mountains and overlooking Medellin below, a group of gray buildings protrudes from a clearing. It was here that Escobar agreed to be imprisoned, but on his own terms: he chose the location, he chose the design, his own workers built it, and he hired his own guards to run it. No one Escobar did not control was allowed anywhere near the prison. What’s more, the location allowed him to spot anyone approaching along this long, winding road, affording him plenty of time to escape. Which he eventually did.

Next Up: Part 2

The post A Visit to La Catedral, Pablo Escobar’s Prison (Part 1) appeared first on Kim MacQuarrie Author and Filmmaker.

La Catedral Prison

From my travel journal: Medellí n, Antioquia

I met Pablo Ochoa—not the Colombian drug king, but the name of my cab driver—sitting in the fifth cab in a long line of cabs in  Envigado, a suburb of Medellin where Pablo Escobar grew up. I wanted to visit La Catedral, the prison Escobar had first built and then had spent a year and a half in, located about an hour up a green mountainside. The first driver shook his head and said he needed a larger cab. The second shook his head and said it was too far and that the road was narrow and bad. The third and fourth drivers said the same. Pablo—59 years old with gray hair and intense, dark eyes—looked me over suspiciously and nodded.

“Sixty pesos” he said, pointing up at the distant green mountain, craggy and imposing.

We drive up a winding road, past pine and Eucalyptus trees and big, elephant-eared plants lining each side of the road. Pablo grew up in Evigado and has been a cab driver for 31 years. He speaks with a thick, paisa accent and keeps peering at me with a very intense stare in the rear view mirror.

Moss begins appearing on tree trunks and ferns line the road as we keep climbing, the air becoming cooler. Sections of the paving are washed out from the rains and we ease past them slowly in the car. Gradually Pablo becomes more relaxed, even cheerful, the higher we climb. He begins to enjoy himself and starts to play the role of tour guide.

“Here’s a good place for a photo,” he would say, and we’d stop and take a look at Medellin stretching below us between the trees, its pink, rectangular skyscrapers lit by the sun and cumulus clouds boiling above. Rain threatens overhead and at another tree-choked bend he stops and points at a thick wall of vegetation.

“Do you see that?” he asks. I shake my head. Finally, I spot what he is looking at: on a tree limb and with a cluster of insects in its mouth is a “soledad,” a fist-sized bird with a foot-long tail, like a mot-mot, green with a black face-mask. I’m impressed that Pablo spotted it, so well does it blend into the vegetation.

Soledad (Momotus momota)

“Take a photo,” Pablo says.

“Got it? Ha amañado?”, he asks. “Are you content?”

After about an hour he stops the car again on the narrow road. We get out and look through a gap in the trees. Pablo points at something in the distance, higher up.

“La Catedral,” he says. “Pablo Escobar’s prison.”

Visible beneath the crest of mountains and overlooking Medellin below, a group of gray buildings protrudes from a clearing. It was here that Escobar agreed to be imprisoned, but on his own terms: he chose the location, he chose the design, his own workers built it, and he hired his own guards to run it. No one Escobar did not control was allowed anywhere near the prison. What’s more, the location allowed him to spot anyone approaching along this long, winding road, affording him plenty of time to escape. Which he eventually did.

Next Up: Part 2

The post A Visit to La Catedral, Pablo Escobar’s Prison appeared first on Kim MacQuarrie Author and Filmmaker.

Journal Entry: Medellín, Colombia:

Walking towards Botero plaza from my hotel, men selling plums and avocados and pears on wooden carts, each with a microphone and speaker system, each competing for air space: “plums at 15 pesos the kilo!,” the street median strewn with vendors selling shoes and knickknacks, amid the exhaust and cacophony of sounds—like being in a giant stadium—the smell of urine, the occasional strong smell of marijuana, a man with vestigial arms wearing a blue t-shirt, homeless people stretched out, dozing on cement using plastic sheets as ground cloths, people coming and going, buses careening, taxis and trucks honking, the colossal metro structure pure brute cement arching overhead and sweeping past, the occasional roar of passing trains, then the giant Botero bronzes appear, set in twin rows in front of the red-bricked church: life-sized bronzes of men and women, a horse, a dog, a reclining nude, the women heavy haunched and solid, everything heavy-haunched and solid, as if made from bags of pulverized squash, yet their skin finely finished and smooth; people leaning against the staring sculptures reading newspapers, others looking in wonder if a tourist snaps a picture of one of them, as if discovering that the sculptures exist for the first time, first looking at the tourist, then looking puzzled at the sculpture, rains washing and streaking the bronze patinas, old men sitting on the cement steps leading to the metro, taking in the crowded streets, like old birds flocking together, young girls with long dark hair and cardboard signs strapped to butts suggesting “200 pesos/min”—the going rate to make a call on one of their cell phones, everyone milling, milling, chatting, reading, eating, the cafes full, the streets full, the curbs full, the sidewalks full, the plazas full, hordes of pigeons abruptly swinging into the sporadically and then zooming back down again.

Twenty years ago, Pablo Escobar’s sicarios roamed this city, imposing with revolvers the will of a single man and the illicit empire that he’d created. Today, I’m off to find the prison that at first he turned into a luxury residence, despite being incarcerated there, and then that he escaped from. Only to become a target again of the Colombian police, the army, and even the CIA.

Next up: a visit to La Catedral Prison

The post Medellín, Colombia: Pablo Escobar’s Home Turf appeared first on Kim MacQuarrie Author and Filmmaker.

Condo floor, night before departure, with half-packed suitcases

Although this wasn’t my first trip to South America, the voyage down the Andes was going to be my longest and in many ways the most challenging as far as what kind of gear to take. I was traveling solo, yet needed to pack South America travel gear for camping and hiking in rural areas such as parts of the ancient Inca roads that still spread down South America’s spine. I also needed to be able to dress and function in cities where I would be interviewing people, so I needed city clothes and recording gear. I also was gathering material to write a book—so I needed a reference library as not all the books I wanted to take were in digital form. And of course I would be traveling everywhere from sea level to up to more than 16,000 feet. When I first got started in filmmaking, I wouldn’t go anywhere without heavy plastic pelican suitcases, so tightly sealed that you could put food in them and grizzly bears would ignore—or could withstand heavy rains in the jungle. Times had changed, however, and such cases were simply too heavy.

In the end, I settled upon two, lightweight, semi-hard spinner suitcases, 28 inches high, the kind with four small wheels on the bottom. Into one, I put all of my camping gear: frame backpack, sleeping bag, stove, ground cloth, sleeping pad, etc. Into the other I packed my city gear. Into a third, carry-on spinner, I packed my portable library, camera gear, etc. Pretty heavy and cumbersome, overall, but it worked well nevertheless and survived the trip. For what it’s worth, this is what I took:

A REI Flash 65 Backpack with metal frame

Cabela XPG Ultralight, 2-person tent & Footprint

Cabela Boundary Waters Rectangle Long Sleeping Bag, 0 degree

Thermarest Z-lite sleeping pad

Poncho Villa softshell poncho

MSR Whisperlite International stove

Asolo Hiking Boots

XLR camera (Canon)

Canon Vixia HD camera

Canon powershot S100

Digital voice recorder (Olympus)

Unlocked cell phone (with various SIM cards purchased along the way)

Laptop

Portable drives (pocket-sized, 1 Tb)

And, of course, the indispensable moleskin notebooks, pocket sized—great for jotting down impressions as they occur along the way.

Next Up:  Arrival in Medellín

The post South America Travel Gear appeared first on Kim MacQuarrie Author and Filmmaker.