Paul Harris

Medellín: over ‘the top’

2008-11-07T08:40:00.004-05:00

The expansion of Metrocable is bringing prosperity to marginalized communities and the potential for more tourism in Medellín.

Published in The City Paper, Bogota, November 2008

A trace of speeding silver ‘bullets’ passes over the sprawling slums of Colombia’s second city. But far from being part of the turf wars of old, these ‘bullets’ are gondolas and pertain to Metrocable, a cable-car project bringing new life and opportunity to Medellin’s most marginalized communities.

The Comuna 13 - formerly a no-go urban battleground infamously stormed by state troops supported by tanks and Blackhawk helicopter gunships on May 21st 2002 - is the most recent Metrocable beneficiary and where Line J was launched this year. The steel roofs of its houses are diaphanous and serene under the early morning sun as Metrocable takes me 4 km into this long forgotten corner of the city, rising and falling over precipitous slopes that reveal green bursts of vegetation amid the humble red brick structures, dwellings built by those displaced from rural Antioquia and elsewhere.

Metrocable’s transportation time and money savings, mean many inhabitants can now participate in the city’s economic life, and talk is now of a social miracle unfolding in the Comuna 13. “It was costly to travel before. Metrocable has brought life to these barrios,” says Elian, a Christian volunteer who makes house calls on the elderly.

The cable-car has also brought banks to the area, an initiative allowing businesses to formalize and access loans, boosting the city tax take, which is reinvested in other improvement projects such as urban space generation. This transformation can clearly be seen in Comuna 1 where Line K was launched in 2004 and where the three black pilars of the Biblioteca de España (Library of Spain) was opened in 2007. “Some 9,000 m2 of urban space has been created in the Line K area, increasing it from 1.3m2 to 3.2m2 per 100,000 inhabitants,” says sociologist Juan Alvaro González.

Metrocable is an ingenious solution for the limiting physical reality of the valley city: carrying people over rather than around or through the mountainous terrain.

“Antioquia has very few possibilities for roads because of the topography. Roads are expensive, they are jammed with cars and there are always landslides, so you have to go over the top,” says a Comuna 13 resident.

The role of Spiderman in this web-spinning tale is played by the city authorities who developed Metrocable as a means to integrate and bring economic opportunity, access to work and greater understanding to the comunas that have been beyond the pale for much of Medellin’s recent history.

The economic impact of Metrocable has been very real. “Line K has brought an annual saving of $10,000 million pesos on transport for the people in the area of influence, as they no longer have to take several buses to get anywhere, and there has been a 300% increase in commerce,” says González. An urban planner who didn´t want to be identifed, cautions that not everything is hunky dory, as Metrocable has seen land values jump. Land around Line K stations was previously $40,000 pesos per square meter, but this has risen to $130,000-$150,000 per square meter. “Increasing land value is displacing the displaced as businesses seek the choice spots near the metro stations,” she says.

Through land legalization and social management processes, project planners have sought to extend the benefits of land ownership to the communities. “Eighty percent of the land was illegally occupied, but a process of legalization has helped people obtain land titles where they built their homes, which has reduced intra-family violence. Ownership means inheritance and the ability to legally define who gets what when a parent dies,” says González.

With two lines in operation, Metrocable is not done yet as its 2006-2020 development plan calls for Medellín to be strung like a guitar. Next year a 4.6 km tourist line to Arví Park and the Valle de Aburrá nature reserve will be inaugurated.

A line which will see the recuperation of 17,000 hectares of forest with the planting of over 1,600 native trees, allowing tourism development in a zone of natural beauty. “This is where the famous silleteros of the Medellin flower festival grow their flowers, and we want to help preserve these traditions,” says the sociologist.

Another line under study may extend Metrocable to the Rio Negro international airport, a development that would really make Medellin one of the high flying cities of the world.

Memo from Medellin

2008-11-07T08:36:00.003-05:00

Colombia’s second largest city has shed its image as a dangerous place. Paul Harris writes a memo of this new Medellín moment.

Published in The City Paper, Bogota, September 2008

Medellín is a name that conjures exotic images of the days when drug baron Pablo Escobar made it a red zone by declaring war on the state, putting a bounty on the head of the police and using teenage killers or sicarios to settle scores. “It was crazy as the police were killing each other for the bounty Escobar put on them,” remembers journalist Lorenza Gil.

The hail of bullets that allowed the city to breathe again one Friday afternoon in December 1993 is marvelously depicted by another famous city son Fernando Botero in La muerte de Pablo Escobar (The Death of Pablo Escobar). “I awoke to a noise I thought was kids letting off firecrackers, but it was the police shooting Pablo. Property prices in the city doubled that weekend and there was a three-day party,” says US lawyer and gambler Richard Westerly.

The Escobar days deeply marked a fatherless generation and are a common theme for artists like Botero and writers like Fernando Vallejo Rendón and Jorge Franco.

While Pablo’s death was the start, the revolution in Medellin’s fortunes came with improving security under the Uribe presidency and the city fathers who bet that the city could be something else. The ragged ladies of the brothels near the Parque Berrio (Berrio Park ) were supplanted by the voluptuous bronze forms gifted by the Botero donation, lending the city an image to build upon. “The Antioquia Museum has always been there but no one ever went. Now it has become part of our identity and a reference for the city,” says Gil.

Former Medellín Mayor Sergio Fajardo Valderrama (2004-2007) projected a new metropolis to the world and began social investment programs that primed it to evolve into an international business center and changed its landscape through expanding highways, the Metro and inaugurating the super cable car Metrocable.

And then there are the landmark buildings, such as the new BanColombia HQ under construction, the Library of Antioquia and the towering black blocks of the España Library.

This softening of Medellin’s crispy rind has enabled the bandeja paisa to become far more diverse through the influx of what entrepreneur Lina Insaza calls “healthy money”. The city is no longer adverse to the ostentatious outward signs of wealth that its citizens once avoided. Sneakers are pimped and showy with bling whereas “in the bad days, people didn’t walk because the sicarios would kill you for your Reeboks,” says Gil, and the car bomb bang has been replaced by the screech of supersized low-profile SUV wheels that spin as they horse power up El Poblado’s rain soaked hills. “Having a big car meant you could be a target for kidnapping, but with the fall in the US dollar, everyone is buying them now,” says Insaza.

Money and emergent narcissistic self-confidence are evident in the technicolour braces straightening smiles citywide and the giant-size billboards with visions of ‘fast’ fashion which distract our days, warm our nights and hark of a new Paisa feminism. “The internet and cable TV have given us the opportunity to internationalize and women have started to value themselves more. They want to work and earn their own money and will not stay home with the kids,” says Insaza.

The nefarious side of this recently minted equalitarianism has seen the buy, buy, buy impulse of consumerism wave bye bye to many traditional paisa values. Medellín is a silicon valley uplifted by the surgeon’s art as the de rigeur gift for many teenagers are kikas or breast implants, easing the city transformation from a red zone to pink zone. “There is greater promiscuity and girls, even from good families, are sometimes called out as escorts in order get a new pair of jeans,” says Insaza.

The Carrera 70 nightspots, once the hang out of gangs, are safe and thriving in this new age, while the residential neighbourhood Parque Lleras has mutated into an international restaurant and bar hotspot where one can groove to house music all night long at B Lounge, El Deck or Click, or Latin flavours at Oz, for those who disdain Mango’s dancing cowgirl midgets.

Promo teams roam the city streets showing Medellin is now speed dialing and not speed dying, as seen by the blue eight-foot Movistar ears reprising Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights in Parque Lleras ... or is that the aguardiente?

Wedding speech for Gavin and Claire

2008-06-29T19:49:00.004-05:00

Good afternoon and welcome to Rolvendon. My name is Paul, and Gavin has asked me to say a few words of thanks on this special day.

When Gavin asked me to do this, just a few weeks ago, my first thought was farrrrkkkk!!!! I’m a little nervous about making this speech. In fact this must be the fifth time today that I have stood up from a warm seat with pieces of paper in my hand. But I live in South America, and so if this speech doesn’t go well I will soon be well out of harm’s way, so bare with me.

Nigel, who conducted the service, said that today was the first time, in all the years that he has been doing this, that he has seen a bride drive herself to the wedding. And that it was the first time he had seen a bridge arrive in a van. I understand that for those of you that are drinking, Claire will be offering a taxi service at the end of the night.

Gavin and Claire have been courting for 14 years. For some reason Gavin wanted me to talk about the hare and the tortoise, but I swear that lunch was chicken, so that’s not going to happen. Sorry Gavin.

In preparing this speech I looked at what other people think about marriage and weddings. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said many things on the subject including “Marriage: this I call the will that moves two to create the one which is more than those who created it”. If anyone understands that, please can they explain it to me. I think what he was trying to say was that the whole is greater than the sum of the two parts, but the comment I like most was by US journalist Helen Rowland who said a wedding is “the point at which a man stops toasting a woman and begins roasting her,” and with 14 years of preparation, I am sure you will agree that Clarie and Gavin have served up and excellent dish today.

However, thinking about it, after 14 years, instead of the Wedding March, perhaps we should have been listening to the Hallelujah Chorus. 14 years is a long time, and by the way they look today, they must have started dating when they were ten. I was certainly surprised. When he told me he was going to do it in a barn, I said, ‘Gavin, I think you have been living in the country too long’.

Gavin and Claire met in Derby, where Claire was studying art and Gavin was working in a bar. As Gavin observed, “Not much has changed really, she's still the creative one, and I'm the piss-artist.”

Claire has been a part of Gavin’s life ever since I have known him. Gavin and I met in 1998 playing pool in the Prince Albert pub on Coldharbour Lane in Brixton, London a place that has to be the antithesis of this quaint English countryside. At the time, Gavin was studying his MA in graphic design at Central St Martin’s and I was studying an MA in printing and publishing at the London College of Printing, creative occupations that have been an enduring thread of our friendship. And it was Claire who was responsible for Gavin being in London in the first place as she wanted to move South from the Midlands and Gavin followed.

Gavin has spent the majority of his professional career as a freelance designer while I have spent most of mine as a freelance journalist, but this speech is by far one of the most difficult writing assignments that I have ever had. However, freelance journalists charge by the word, and as I like the sound of my own voice and have written a lot, by the time this speech is through, I expect there to be big cheque waiting for me, so thank you for that Gavin.

The fact that Gavin and I both work as freelancers in related creative disciplines has cemented our friendship and enabled us to collaborate on a range of prize-winning books about graphic design and other subjects. We have produced 13 books together since 2003, projects that have been stimulating to work on, and that have produced beautiful results.

Although living on the other side of the world does not present Gavin and I with the opportunity to meet or talk frequently, when we do, our conversation is direct and intimate as we discuss hickey’s and binding screws, crotches and hairlines, even stroke weight and finishing techiques, straps, flaps and bellybands, … These are all printing terms, by the way, and part of the rich and fascinating vocabulary that is part of our trade, for which I have developed an obsessive eye.

Gavin and I also have a shared obsession about printed materials that penchant for American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis, an infamous and controversial book that was the subject of Gavin’s final project for his MA ten years ago. As part of this, Gavin produced an edition of the book printed in binary, just ones and zeros and about this thick. Apparently Brett Easton Ellis, who is fastidious for detail and who included detailed lists about the clothes the characters wore, heard about this book and commented “how anal”.

One of the leitmotifs in the book is the sociopathic antihero’s love of music – a passion that Gavin and I share - or rather muzak in Patrick Bateman’s case, puerile pop in which he finds deep meaning, and although Ellis wrote with great irony while eulogizing the merits of the disposable hits of the 1980s by people like Genesis and Whitney Houston, he had a lot to say about love, such as these observations about Huey Lewis and the News:

“Things looked up for Huey and the boys on the second album, 1982's Picture This. The album hits its peak with "Do You Believe in Love," which is the best song on the album and is essentially about the singer asking a girl he's met while "looking for someone to meet" if she "believes in love." The fact that the song never resolves the question gives it an added complexity that wasn't apparent on the group's debut.”

For many people here, it may have seemed that Gavin and Claire were never going to resolve the question of whether to get married or not, but happily, we now know the answer to that. Sharing your life with someone you love is one of the most important ways that we can better ourselves and grow, and although the marriage question may have dallied for a while, Gavin and Claire have been sharing their lives and growing together for many years.

In fact, they are now sharing surnames. Claire is now Claire Ambrose-Gordon, and Gavin is now Gavin Ambrose-Gordon, or as he pointed out to me with a tinge of disappointment, GAG. Even their dog Benny is joining in and will become BAG. … Well, you may not like your new initials Gavin, but at least it means there is one GAG in this speech that works, so thank you for that.

Gavin told me that the idea today was to have an unconventional wedding and this was reflected in the dancing entertainment. The original idea was to have a lap dance for everyone but unfortunately the wedding budget didn’t stretch that far, so only I will be getting one.

Latin America, where I live, has sensuous, vibrant dances such as salsa, meringue and samba, and when people ask me what the national dance in England is, I have to try to explain the … erm …sensuous qualities of … erm…Morris dancing, another great challenge.

The term Morris dancing is derived from moorish dance, perhaps from the Moresca pageant that celebrated Ferdinand and Isabella driving the Moors out of Spain in 1492, about the same time that Gavin and Claire first started dating.

I remember that as a child at school, Morris dancing was something that we looked forward to with a mixture of excitement and fear as it was an activity that always saw the blood rise. As this was about the time that Star Wars came out, this was usually in the form of a split lip, bloody nose or cut hands as this traditional English dance in the school hall turned into a light saber battle scene in the Death Star hanger. Fortunately there were no serious injuries today.

I will soon be returning to the relative safety of South America, and in drawing to a close, Gavin and Claire I would like to leave you with some words from one of the greatest writers from that continent, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who said, “the problem with marriage is that it ends every night after making love, and it must be rebuilt every morning before breakfast”. Having said that, I hope that you continue to build your lives together and have a happy and prosperous future.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure you will agree that Gavin and Claire are wonderful, generous people and a fantastic couple. So please raise your glasses and join me in a toast to the bride and groom, Claire and Gavin, Mr & Mrs Ambrose Gordon.
ENDS

Racial, regional rivalries threaten to tear Bolivia apart

2007-10-28T09:19:00.001-05:00

Paul Harris, Chronicle Foreign Service
Sunday, October 28, 2007
(10-28) 04:00 PDT Santa Cruz, Bolivia --
Bolivia Troubling fissures have appeared in Bolivia's politics that make some fear the nation may be headed for a nasty breakup.

In recent months, there have been several showdowns between residents of the eastern lowlands and President Evo Morales, the nation's first indigenous president since the Spanish conquest. Morales aims to redistribute the nation's wealth from the east to the western provinces inhabited by the nation's indigenous majority.

Just this month, thousands of residents of Santa Cruz, Bolivia's wealthiest eastern city, seized Bolivia's busiest airport from soldiers sent by Morales. Airport workers, who had demanded the cargo handling fees that are paid monthly to the national airport authority, had threatened to block flights, which precipitated Morales' sending in troops. Santa Cruz Gov. Ruben Costas called on residents to retake the airport and thousands responded, waving green-and-white Santa Cruz flags.

Also this month, O Globo, one of Brazil's largest newspapers quoted an anonymous Santa Cruz state official bragging that a 12,000-strong anti-Morales militia was hidden in the jungle, awaiting the right time to strike against the government.

And last month, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Sucre to push for the city to become the full-fledged capital of Bolivia as it was before a civil war in 1899 moved the executive and legislative branches to La Paz, 250 miles away. Afterward, some 10,000 Morales supporters arrived, chanting "Death to those who want to divide the country."

Since Morales, a 47-year-old Aymara coca farmer and union leader, assumed power in January 2006, he has attempted to wrest control of the east's natural gas fields to develop the western highlands. The Altiplano, as the region is called, is inhabited by Aymara and Quechua Indians, who make up 55 percent of the country's 8.2 million population. The majority live below the poverty line in a country with an annual per capita income of $3,100.

As the economic center has migrated eastward in recent years, deep-rooted racial rivalries have intensified the regional split, many analysts agree. Jim Shultz, director of the Democracy Center, a nongovernmental organization based in the city of Cochabama, likens Bolivia's current political environment to the first years after Nelson Mandela became president in South Africa, replacing the apartheid government.

"We have seen historic cultural, ethnic, political and economic differences between the largely indigenous western highlands centered in La Paz and the more European, mixed-race flatlands centered in Santa Cruz erupt into a battle of wills that threatens political deadlock," Shultz said. "We are seeing a series of political aftershocks following the earthquake of his (Morales') election."

Santa Cruz, which is the agricultural hub of Bolivia, wants more autonomy from La Paz and a larger share of the natural gas revenues it generates. In short, provincial officials are irate over Morales' attempt to centralize power and focus on indigenous rights.

When eastern politicians called for greater regional autonomy, Morales produced plans for more indigenous and municipal autonomy that would circumvent regional power. "Morales' opponents hate him so much that they cannot see straight anymore," said Shultz.

To institutionalize indigenous rights, Morales wants a new constitution that will guarantee indigenous representation in Congress, recognize their communal property and give the Aymara and Quechua decisional power over exploitation of natural resources on their lands.

"Morales has taken the expectations of the excluded sections of Bolivia ... to look for a more equal and less unjust society," said former Hydrocarbons Minister Andres Soliz.

But Santa Cruz's U.S.-style consumerism doesn't blend well with Morales' vision of a communal state ruled by the Indian majority. Last month, the president appeared on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," denouncing capitalism as "the worst enemy of humanity."

"Morales has brought great symbolic force and made an historic leap for indigenous people to feel part of Bolivian society," said former President Carlos Mesa. "Indigenous autonomy and political inclusion are positive, and we should celebrate them, but Morales has not realized that he is president of all Bolivia."

Some political analysts say the east-west conflict may keep the so-called Constitutional Assembly, an elected body that is drafting the new constitution, from concluding its work by its Dec. 14 deadline. Some critics say Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism party will try to strong-arm the assembly into making the changes they want.

"There cannot be a Constitutional Assembly when one side tries to dominate the other. ... No one will believe in it. No one will trust it," said La Paz historian Carlos Toranzo.

But Horst Grebe, president of the La Paz think tank Prisma Institute, predicts political horse-trading eventually will produce a new constitution that will not include the institutionalization of indigenous power that Morales wants.

"It will be an agreement with no deep constitutional reform, that does not please anyone but protects the country from institutional failure," he said.

At the same time, many analysts doubt the political impasse will lead to civil war, banking on Morales to rely on his union background as a shrewd, pragmatic negotiator to arrive at a solution that benefits both sides.

"Morales pushes to the limits to obtain what he wants," said Eleanor Murphy, an analyst at Control Risks Group, an international consultancy based in London. "His demands start very high and then he negotiates down."

But historian Toranzo says continued political conflict could produce isolated acts of violence as indigenous protesters press for the government's program. "A failure of the Constitutional Assembly may serve as a trigger that could lead to battles between different interest groups," Toranzo said.

Political analyst Shultz disagrees.

"Never underestimate the ability of Bolivia to look like it is about to go over the cliff and not go over the cliff," he said.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/28/MNVTSRGO8.DTL

This article appeared on page A - 15 of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Che myth at 40

2007-10-28T07:09:00.001-05:00

A dozen workers manhandle a 4-metre statue of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara into position in La Higuera’s village square, a collective effort that sees his cigar-clenching hand rise in the sky to celebrate the 40th anniversary on October 9th of his death in this remote corner of Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department.

Hundreds of visitors from around the world have made their way to La Higuera, the site of Guevara’s execution, for a weekend of events that show the legend of the Argentine revolutionary is alive and well. But while President Evo Morales sees Guevara as a kindred spirit who fought for the rights of the poor, Bolivians harbour mixed feelings about him.

In La Higuera and nearby Vallegrande where his body was displayed to prove he was dead, people have ‘sanctified’ him and talk of Saint Ernesto. “Because Che was a doctor, people think he has miraculous powers and light votary candles to him,” says tour guide Gonzalo Flores.

Bolivia’s Marxists say Guevara is more important than ever as inequality among people grows. “Che is never going to die because he always promoted change,” says sculptor Rodolfo Aranibar who donated the statue. “Che is alive because there are children that go hungry and because man keeps exploiting man,” says Ivan Herrea, director of the Che Vive group.

Soldiers that battled with Guevara’s revolutionaries think it inappropriate to celebrate the man they pursued while they fight to obtain state pensions in recognition of their efforts to stop his insurgency. “The government is paying homage to a foreign invader and it is shameful that neither it nor the armed forces recognize those that died doing their duty,” says General (retired) Gary Prado, who as a Bolivian army captain, captured Guevara’s guerrilla force at Nancahuazú in 1967.

Guevara’s spirit persists within the younger generation as it does with teenagers across North America; with the Marxist dialectic watered-down into ‘revolution light’, a symbol of protest without the blood and bullets, achieved by wearing the iconic image created by Jim Fitzpatrick in 1968 that is based on a 1960 Alberto Korda photo. “Che is a mythical figure that represents questioning, rebellious youth rather than the Cuban revolution,” says historian Paula Peña, director of the history museum in Santa Cruz.

Fitzpatrick’s image is known the world over. In Santa Cruz, it can be found on the banners for the Blooming and Oriente Petrolero soccer teams. “Some people admire Che because he is in fashion but he means nothing to me. What Che did is not well-known but everyone knows the t-shirts,” says Amanecer Tedesqui, a young internet entrepreneur. The image has popular appeal which is why “in the elections for class president at public universities some candidates put the Che image against their names to show they are prepared to fight for their ideals,” says Roberto Aguirre, national editor at Santa Cruz newspaper El Deber.

Guevara’s message still resonates in some of the poorest parts of Bolivia, such as the impoverished Villa Primera de Mayo neighbourhood in Santa Cruz whose main street is Ernesto Che Guevara. “This is one of the few recognitions of Che, but he is already dead so he is not a political problem. Most people are worried about more basic things such as inflation,” says Aguirre.

For Gary Prado, Guevara is little more than a media creation. “If it wasn’t for the media, no one would remember him. I had Al Jazera asking me about Che. What on earth has Al Jazera got to de with Che?” he asks.

The Guevara story has captivated the West since the 1978 publication of Travelling with Che by his companion Alberto Granado, which spread to a new generation with the 1994 publication of Guevara’s Motorcycle Diaries, turning him into a mythical figure, a beckon of hope. “The death of Che has been a permanent feed for [Castro’s] revolution,” says Peña. “This guerrilla was sent to Bolivia as a sacrifice as Castro did not want to deal with him in Cuba. There has been a concerted effort to create and develop the Che myth to compensate for Castro’s failure in Latin America,” says Prado.

Having had successive military and right-wing governments, interest in Guevara in Bolivia has been relatively recent. “Until five years ago, Che was just a fact on a page of history, but this began to change as people saw the economic potential of exploiting his history and death,” says Aguirre,

“Tourism,” is the succinct response about what Guevara means, says Carlos Vargas, manager of economic development in Vallegrande. “Most people were detractors of Che but now they see in him the opportunity to develop tourism in the region. We hope people will come for the Che Route and stay to do other tourism activities,” he says. It is a recipe for success as “everyone wants to get close to the Che myth and go to the places where he was,” says Peña.

Close up includes first-hand anecdotes from people present at the events such as farmer Manuel Cortes, who still lives 30 metres from the school where Guevara was executed: “At 11am, two soldiers walked past carrying rifles and two beers. They drank and talked about who should kill him. I heard shots. Two bursts. They killed [Simon Cuba] Willy and then Che,” he says.

Afternoon tea in London

2007-10-26T12:20:00.000-05:00

Few things are more English than taking tea, a staple that is both refreshing and relaxing and has natural compounds beneficial to health, which perhaps explains why the Tea Guild estimates that each person in the UK drinks three cups a day on average, an intake that verges on obsession.

The institution of taking afternoon tea is undergoing a renaissance in London as people seek to escape the breakneck pace of life in the modern metropolis and indulge in a touch of unashamed luxury at one of the English capital’s top hotels where one experiences five star service from liveried staff that are polite to a fault, among a beautiful setting.

The distinctly British twist of taking afternoon tea was invented by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford (1783-1857), who began to take tea and small cakes to quell the hunger that arose in the afternoon while waiting for dinner, which was served late. The idea caught on with other ladies-in-waiting of Queen Victoria and became an established social occasion.

Afternoon tea is elegance. One is transported back in time to an era when life seemed slower and more refined, to indulge in some of the finest and rarest teas in the world, and nibble at sandwiches and cakes, and of course that unique English indulgence: scones, a rich, biscuit-like pastry that is eaten with clotted cream and jam, perhaps with a glass of vintage Dom Ruinart champagne to add a celebratory touch.

Tea itself is a word derived from the Chinese Amoy dialect word tay, and drinking the beverage became popular in Britain following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, according to exhibits in the Brahma Tea Museum near Borough Market, when it was an expensive luxury product enjoyed by the aristocracy and wealthy. Many 17th and 18th century paintings feature teacups, tea strainers and tea caddies as symbols of wealth.

The craving for tea was so strong that British silver reserves were depleted buying Chinese tea. Britain turned to trade opium grown in India to pay for its tea addiction and fix its balance of payments problem, resulting in the 1839-42 Opium War, after which Britain introduced tea to India, whose plantations it could control.

WHY AFTERNOON TEA IS GREAT

“Afternoon tea is English. It takes you back in time to the golden time of the British aristocracy. There are not many places that provide this and most places in the world don't do it well. It is a little piece of heaven where people can take a break in their day and indulge in a luxury meal that is fabulous value for money. It is quite a treat,” says Renaud Gregoire, food and beverage manager at Claridge’s.

The hotels stick to the traditional components of tea, scones and sandwiches but each one offers subtle variations. “We have become more creative and do very elegant themed teas that follow the social calendar, such as a floral theme for the Chelsea Flower Show. We changed the non-vintage champagne to a rosé and we gave the pastries a twist so that they looked like flowers, and introduced floral teas into the menu. For Wimbledon we will provide a celebratory lawn tennis tea featuring champagne and strawberries,” says Gregoire.

The Dorchester introduced a wicked choc afternoon tea in May that starts with a chocolate martini, has a chocolate tea that French choclatier Luento Santoro makes from the shells of South American cocoa beans that is only served at The Dorchester.

NEW BREW

Afternoon tea has become popular once again “because it makes everyone feel special and elegant,” says tea expert and writer Jane Pettigrew. It is an opportunity to dress nicely and behave well, linking us to a time of elegance and gentility when those taking part behaved with courteous manners and kindness, so it is an antidote to the rough and tumble of ordinary life,” she adds, or as Brett Perkins, public relations consultant at the Dorchester puts it, “tea forces you to sit for two hours and just stop while with lunch, people run in and run out in one hour,” he says.

This resurgence has been catalyzed in part by the Tea Guild through the introduction of its annual tea awards. “The Tea Guild has put us in competition with each other, so the hotels have really worked harder. There is more interest in tea as well. In the past we had a selection of five or six teas an now we have over 30 and keep introducing new ones and training staff so that they know the teas better,” says Gregoire.

The Pavilion at The Dorchester won the Tea Guild’s Best Afternoon Tea in London award this year, and is the first hotel to have won it three times. “This is really competitive and the prize is fought out between the five star hotels,” says xx. A recent redesign of The Pavilion at The Dorchester created an orange and amber interior with draped curtains, pillars topped with golden floral capitals, which contrast with the palm fronds and statues of African figures that line the room. The atmosphere is 1930s colonial with waiters in tailcoats and white tie, giving the impression of people escaping the hot tropical sun.

Sitting in the tea salon at Claridge’s in Mayfair, one cannot help but be transported to another era by the 1930s Art Deco style of the room created seven years ago by Jerry Despont. Mirrors crowned with silver ostrich feather motifs line the walls with recessed lighting that yields a soft glowing light, with the room dominated by a magnificent Dale Chihuly chandelier sculpture that features 800 blown glass flutes that is suspended over a huge vase of red flowers and green foliage. Hushed conversation and the tinkle of monogrammed silver spoons against bone china accompany the piano and strings that provide a soft musical backdrop that leave one feeling that Jay Gatsby is somewhere in the room.

Afternoon tea has lost its stuffy, aristocratic image as dress codes have relaxed from formal to smart casual, extending its appeal to a new generation, although men still need a jacket and tie at The Ritz! The older ladies wearing pearls still take tea but you are just as likely to see designers, media planners and groups of young women taking a break from shopping, as well as tourists. “We get a lot of business people because lunch at tea they can take their time to discuss business while lunch is something they complete in an hour,” says Gregoire.

The popularity of tea is such that booking in advance is essential at weekends. “We are booked three months in advance at weekends. Monday used to be a slow day but we are now booked solid on Monday's as well as demand has been increasing for four or five years,” says Gregoire.

TEA

Earl Grey is the most traditional afternoon tea, but each hotel offers a selection that rivals their wine lists for choice. Organic teas are increasingly popular and menus have appellation teas such as Tencha, a Japanese green tea described as “the Dom Perignon of tea” by Claridge’s “that Victoria Beckham has started to drink”, and others from India, Ceylon and China, and even Tregothnan, a tea from Cornwall, England. Fortunately, a tea sommelier is on hand for those that cannot tell their silver needles from their pouchong. “Lapsong souchong has a strong smoky taste that many people do not like it, so a Siam tea may be a better choice,” advises the Dorchester sommelier.
An even wider selection of teas from the thirty typically offered at London’s top tea spots is available at the Tea Palace near Notting Hill, a modern tea emporium offering the widest selection of teas and infusions in the UK. Oolong, white tea, jasmine, rooibos and white snowbuds are among the 160 teas on the menu.

FOOD

The secret to a good afternoon tea is quality. Claridge’s sticks to the classic finger sandwich ingredients of organic ham, hickory smoked Daylesford chicken, eggs, cucumber, and salmon. “They are light flavours in bite size, crust-less finger sandwiches. We cook the hams and roast the chickens in house and carve them by hand, which is a lot of work,” says Gregoire.

Scones should have a light flavour, as “you should not feel like you cannot walk anymore afterwards,” says Gregoire, and typically are served with strawberry jam, though Claridge’s provides an exquisite pale citrus jelly that it obtains from its Parisian tea supplier that is lighter and less cloying. “We feel it goes better with the scones,” he says.

The scones baked by Claridge’s pastry chef Nicolas Patterson are incredibly light and melt in the mouth, complemented by the light taste of the jelly and the rich Devonshire clotted cream that dissolves over the palette. “The cream and jam complement each other. The jam gives the flavour and perfume while the cream the rich, sweet thing that you crave,” he says.

Bite size French pastries provide an additional sweet touch and are changed daily to give an element of surprise, such as banana cake, rhubarb and berry mousse, chocolate with a lime sorbet, and a fruit tart. “The cakes and jams change seasonally and we are always looking at new things. It is indulgent. It is the kind of food that you would never have at home, so you throw diet out the window,” says Perkins.

So sit back, relax and enjoy a couple of hours in the slow lane.

Puyuhuapi

2007-04-29T11:23:00.000-05:00

The Zodiac dingy bumps and nudges through ice recently calved off the impressive wall of the San Rafael glacier in Region XI that stretches 1.8 km across the eastern end of the lagoon bearing its name. Rising 50 metres above us and a lot more than that below the water, the glacier is a magnificent end to a long weekend of relaxation.

Puyuhuapi Lodge is remote. Located on the edge of a bay in one of Chile’s many fjords surrounded by thick temperate forest that carpets the surrounding mountains for miles around, access is via launch. Here there is nothing but fresh air, cold water and thermal springs, and a little exercise; the perfect place to relax.

Knowledgeable and friendly guides arrange group activities every day such as walks and kayaking but nothing too strenuous. The guides lead two treks to Ventisquero Colgante, the hanging glacier in Parque Nacional Queulat the other side of the fjord that receives up to 4,000mm of rain a year.

A muddy trail climbs through the forest, periodically giving views over the milky blue glacial lake below and after about 1.5 hours, one emerges from the dark cover of the forest to look at the wedge shaped edge of the glacier slowly dripping through a gap in the shear mountain cliff, with waterfalls cascading at its side. There is always a sense of achievement from reaching the end of a trail and being rewarded with a view that merits the effort.

Two treks lead out from the hotel into the thick forest of ferns and native tree species that include coigues, tepas and mañíos in addition to larch and bamboo. Frequent rains in this part of the world mean the trees are encrusted with rich green mosses and lichens, and many fungi species grow in a rainbow of colours including bright purples and fiery reds. A rich, earthy smell hangs in the forest air, periodically perfumed by the presence of an herb plant. Grassy glades provide an opportunity to see some bird life and we were lucky enough to see an owl waiting for prey. “The guides are very knowledgeable about the history and nature of the place,” says Ian, an English computer programmer who works with the British Geological Survey. “The attitude of the staff is excellent. They are always smiling and pleasant,” says Richard, a retired pilot from Chalfont St Giles in England.

A handful of sit-on-top kayaks are available for paddling around the pristine bay. While there is a tide, there is little current which means there is no danger of getting stuck anyway. A couple of small islands are within easy paddling distance and can be circled within a couple of hours, passing over vast beds of mussels that cling to the islands and the shallow channel that passes between them. In the sunshine, it is glorious, although the weather cannot be guaranteed.

Puyuhuapi Lodge tries to bill itself as an activity centre but while kayaking and trekking are available, they are very much second fiddle to the spa. The kayaking and trekking and enjoyable but serve to burn a few calories and heighten the appetite for the excellent catering while forming a pretext for soothing ones muscles in the spa. In fact, many guests visit the lodge having hiked in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine and want nothing more than to soothe their muscles and take advantage of the excellent catering. “The company markets the lodge as an adventure place but it is definitely not that. They do a few walks and you can do things independently so you don’t have to be part of a group,” says, Matthew a travel agent from Banbury near Oxford in England who was on his honeymoon.

The site benefits from three types of water: sea water, fresh spring water from mountain waterfalls and hydrothermal water from a volcanic source at Melimoyu volcano, and all three find their way into the three outside pools of different temperatures. The hottest pool is a little grotto under dense foliage of shrubs and ferns at a toasty at 38C. The grey mud in the grotto wall contains minerals that make for an impromptu exfoliating face pack.

Another pool, at a more moderate 35C provides a sweeping view of the bay and the wood-frame Chilote style hotel that is covered with wooden shingles. The region is covered with the vivid pink and purple Magellan Fuchsia Fuchsia magellanica and as I scull around the warm water looking at the snowy peaks on the other side of the fjord a flesh of petrol green catches my eye: a hummingbird is zipping around the fuchsia, a surprise in the cold Patagonian climes.

While warm water is very soothing, staying too long in its lulling embrace is not recommended, and so I exit and take the stairway down to the sea to take a cold plunge. And cold it certainly is. A few quick strokes into the bay is enough to feel the cold bite into the flesh and I am soon turning around to get back into the warm pool.

The spa complex itself has something of the charm of The Prisoner, with guests in white toweling dressing gowns padding around in slippers. I was number 4E. “You get straight into your bathrobe and have the welcome in the spa with natural mineral water,” says Richard.

The spa is vast, with a large pool with a fountain that pumps out warm water like a fire hose with which you can massage your back and neck, and two Jacuzzis set overlooking the bay, are like boiling cauldrons of relaxation. They heat up so much that even a plunge into the icy pool does not draw the heat from your skin.

And for some additional pampering, a range of treatments and massages are available. “The treatments were very nice but not that deep. They were aimed more at beauty treatments than reflexology,” says Jeanne, a masseuse from Banbury, on her honeymoon.

The same thermal water is used to provide heating throughout the hotel so while it is nice and fresh outside, inside remains good and cosy, a feeling that is complemented by the quality and inventiveness of the food in the restaurant with dishes such as salmon baked in white wine that was succulent and delicious. “We are vegetarian and they tried very hard to make meals for us,” says Gill, Richard’s wife.

But the weekend did not end before one more high: a visit to the San Rafael Glacier. With an early morning start, we boarded the catamaran that would whisk us there at over 20 knots per hour, arriving just after lunch. San Rafael Glacier was discovered by Europeans in 1674 and is a magnificent sight. The beauty of a catamaran is its maneuverability that allows it to cut and turn between the icebergs with ease, pushing ice aside with its twin bows and cruising ever closer to the ice face.

With a couple of zodiacs, groups of ten people are whisked even closer to the ice face although never within range of harm, but being in such a small craft so close to the water provided a heightened sense of adventure compared to some of the other vessels that bring people to the glacier. Periodically a loud crash and splash is heard as ice calves off the glacier and a new iceberg is formed, followed by a whoosh as ice from the glaciers’ bottom under the water breaches the surface.

After spending a magical three hours at the glacier it was time to leave. As if on cue, the sun broke through the overcast sky as a drizzle started to fall and a rainbow arched up and over the San Rafael.
ENDS

Colombian gold rush

2007-02-15T19:00:00.000-05:00

If country can limit its internal violence, the precious metal could make for rich pickings
Paul Harris, Chronicle Foreign Service

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

(02-06) 04:00 PST Segovia, Colombia -- Sweat pours off the back of Luis Villegas as he shovels mineral-rich ore into a sluice. Next to him, another man pans for gold and a third pours mercury from a yogurt carton into his pan to separate the gold from the ore.

Behind them, three wooden poles, thick as telegraph posts, that form part of an old-fashioned stamp mill perform their ceaseless dance, pounding the gray, gold-bearing rock into a fine grit.

It looks like a scene from California's Gold Rush. In fact, it's modern day Colombia, where -- with the exception of the yogurt carton -- small-scale miners still use virtually the same technology that brought riches to San Francisco more than 150 years ago.

"What I find astonishing is Colombia's gold mines produce over 1 million ounces of gold per year and yet it has no major gold producer," says Peter Bolt, director of Cambridge Mineral Resources, a London company looking to bring modern mining techniques to the country.

Colombia may be on the verge of its own gold rush, mining experts say.

Colombia's gold reserves haven't been tapped in part because of 50 years of armed conflict involving the army, left-wing guerrillas, right-wing death squads and drug cartels, a lethal mix that made mining dangerous. But as security measures put in place by President Alvaro Uribe prove successful in quelling violence, the clamor for the precious yellow metal is proving irresistible.

As much as 40 percent of Colombia has not even been geologically mapped. Industry experts think there are rich pickings to be had.

"A steady flow of mining companies into the country has begun, and the potential of Colombia is there for all to see (with small-scale) gold mines spread across the length and breadth of the country," Bolt said.

The three belts of Andean cordillera that straddle Colombia have yet to feel the drill bits of modern exploration equipment. Miners are convinced "that there exist large undiscovered reserves," says Archak Bedrossian, an international gold consultant and trader.

Peru, Colombia's neighbor to the south, produces about 210 tons of gold per year. Some believe Colombia could surpass that.

"There is more gold in Colombia than there ever was in Peru," said Ian Park, president of Compañia Minera de Caldas, a Canadian-owned mining company

Of the 23 tons of gold that Colombia mines each year, 15 are produced in the west-central state of Antioquia. The Segovia and Frontino mining districts are there. Ten tons is panned by small-scale miners who produce less than 1 to 2 ounces of gold per day using the antiquated methods brought to the region by fortune-seeking Cornish miners from England in the 19th century, just like the Cornishmen who flocked to California during the Gold Rush.

Antioquia's picturesque green hills, on which cattle graze between plots of sugarcane, have been the heart of Colombia's gold production for centuries. Many of the indigenous gold ornaments and objects that hypnotized Spanish conquistadors hundreds of years ago came from this region.

Asomineros, a mining trade group, estimates that there are 1,500 small-scale gold workings employing 200,000 miners in the state. Men can be seen standing thigh-deep in the creeks, shoveling gravel into sluices in the hope of finding gold flakes and nuggets.

"I have some luck, enough to get by," said Hernan Ortega, a sun-bronzed man in his 40s, as he took a break from hoisting shovels of rock from the fast moving stream.

In Marmato, in Caldas state to the south, the hills are riddled with adits, the tunnels supported by wooden beams that the miners excavate to follow gold veins.

The humid, dimly lit tunnels are small and hazardous to navigate. Miners push handcarts all day to haul out ore and waste rock. Temperatures reach 122 degrees Fahrenheit. With no power tools, almost everything is done by hand.

Industrial-scale miners seek a mother lode, a deposit that contains a gold-bearing vein sufficient to produce in commercial quantities for several years.

"The veins being exploited typically average 2 meters in width and contain 15 to 20 grams of gold per ton, with bonanza grades above 1,000 grams locally," said Colin Andrew, Cambridge Mineral's managing director.

In laymen's terms, that means there's a lot of gold here.

Having spent more than $45 million to date exploring its Angostura gold property near Bucaramanga, in Santander department, the Canadian company Greystar Resources has found a multitude of veins containing 10 million ounces of gold.

"We have identified over 120 veins in the deposit (including) 60 higher-grade shoots where the veins intersect," said Greystar Executive Vice President Frederick Felder.

Wherever there is gold production in Colombia there are ancient stamp mills nestled into the mountain, the mechanical dinosaurs that were first used more than 500 years ago and that linger into the 21st century. Antioquia alone has 500 of the stamp mills, similar to those first used in Renaissance Europe, Asomineros estimates.

The government hopes that an influx of foreign investment will create jobs, modernize mining techniques and make the industry more productive.

One of the biggest challenges is curbing deadly environmental practices that are integral to Colombia's antiquated mining tradition. Authorities want to restrict use of toxic mercury and cyanide, substances used for ore processing that are now openly dumped into streams.

"Exploitation of Colombia's great gold potential has to be with modern technology that allows higher mineral recovery and better social and environmental conditions," said Carlos Uribe, director of Asomineros.

At a small mill near the Quintana mine where Cambridge Mineral is exploring, miners add mercury, a neurotoxin with highly toxic vapors, to the wok-size steel pan that is used to agglomerate gold particles, using their fingers to mix it into the grit.

"The people have problems with mercury, it stays in their bodies," said Antonio Castillo, mine manager at Quintana.

Once the grit has been panned away, the remaining liquid is poured into a piece of cloth and the mercury squeezed out through the fabric to leave a ball of gold-mercury amalgam. The miners perform the task without gloves or masks to protect them against the fumes that damage the lungs, kidneys and brain.

Much of the mercury ends up in local rivers, threatening a legacy not unlike that which California faced from its Gold Rush years. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that 3 million pounds of mercury entered Sierra Nevada watersheds during the gold boom.

In Segovia, a threadbare mining town of 60,000 about 120 miles from Medellin, every shop has a sign in the window that says "we buy gold." In the central plaza stands a golden statue of a woman, Mother Earth, from whose belly a miner removes ore with a pick.

The arrival of foreign mining companies will see the picks gradually be replaced by power drills. Mother Earth has a lot more gold to give.

Colombia December 2006

2007-01-28T18:11:00.000-05:00

Colombia is a beautiful country and here are a few images from my visit there in December to show it. These are from the Gold Muesum in Bogota and from the Christmas lights in Medellín.

Government patches Huanuni but more problems loom

2006-12-03T11:45:00.000-05:00

By Paul Harris in Huanuni
Hundreds of miners pack into a courtyard outside the offices of the Huanuni mining company in the high plains of Bolivia’s Oruro department, pushing past nervous riot police with semi-automatic rifles to register with state mining company Comibol, as part of a government plan to end a month of bloody confrontation that saw its 6,000 tin miners explosively set against each other.
Huanuni, 13,700 feet above sea level, seems like just another run-down and impoverished Andean town whose 19,000 largely indigenous inhabitants cling to existence under the punishing sun, but it shouldn’t by this way as Cerro Possokoni that rises over the town is one of the richest tin deposits in the world.
Tin is a metal used in solder for electrical appliances and electronics, and that forms the corrosion resistant coating on steel cans used for food preservation that sells for $9,700 a tonne.
Sargent Carlos Quenallata, 42, the latest victim of this internecine struggle, was taken hostage by self-employed cooperative miners, beaten and died two days after an explosive charge detonated near his stomach November 13.
Natural resources have a key role as President Evo Morales attempts to jump start Bolivia’s economy and spark desperately needed growth for the country to climb out of the poverty trap. The mining cooperatives were key supporters in Morales’ ascendancy to the presidency but the country was rocked when 16 people were killed at the Huanuni mine as opposing groups of miners threw dynamite at each other October 5 and 6 to gain control of the deposit.
“The miners are cold-blooded, they are not afraid of dying. They are the most powerful and disruptive element in the country. The cooperatives think that because [President Morales] is one of them that they own the mine. When they protest the people are scared, said Luis Mansuda, an Oruro taxi driver.
Morales responded to the violence with a decree nationalizing the Cerro Possokoni deposit October 31, terminating access to cooperative miners and forcing them to become employees of state mining company Comibol that operates the Huanuni mine. Over 3,200 cooperative miners have so far signed up and judging by the crowds thronging the company's offices to register, they appear to be in good spirits about it, all smiles and relief. "We are destroying ourselves as we work as small miners," said Fermin Calgue president of Karazapoto, one of four cooperative unions at Huanuni.
Once registered and trained cooperative miners will swap 15-hour shifts under extreme physical conditions for eight-hour shifts earning average pay of 3,300 bolivianos ($413) with health insurance, pensions and other benefits a month compared to 500-10,000 bolivianos as cooperative miners. "The idea is to absorb workers from the four cooperatives that work the upper levels of Cerro Posokoni,” said general manager Hector Arandia, which has been well received by many miners. "The majority are in agreement with joining Comibol because we suffer too much loading the mineral on our backs. Eighty-five percent of our miners are from Huanuni so we cannot go anywhere else to work. We will now work as brothers," said Calgue.
Not all the cooperatives are happy, with up to 400 members of the Playa Verde cooperative seeking continued access to the deposit, although the government has given a firm no. "At Huanuni there is not one square meter or one minute more for the cooperatives," said mining minister Guillermo Dalence, who said the request is from miners that have "the privilege to access high grade places inside the mine where they can take very rich mineral and with just two shifts earn their monthly income". "They think only of themselves. They want to get rich in a couple of years and leave," said Calgue.
Government action may solve the social/political problem at Huanuni but it creates a pending economic problem that could erupt in the future. Implementation of the decree increases Huanuni's workforce from 800 to 5,000 workers, quadrupling payroll costs, eating into its $800,000 a month profit and threaten its long-term viability if production does not increase. "This is a political solution, not a technical solution. We have tried for eight months to work out a technical solution but the government wants all the cooperatives to enter the mining company. Five thousand people is inefficient," said Calgue.
The government will pump $9.67 million dollars into the company to fund development and increase production from 800 to 1,500 tonnes per day of ore by mid 2007, although it is unlikely that the company will receive future government funding. "There are only the funds in the decree," said ministry spokeswoman Romina Montoya. Mine manager Hector Arandia admits that his biggest challenge will be generating investment capital from profits going forward. "We have to be self-sustaining after this initial investment," he said.
For Calgue, $9.6 million will not be enough. "The company needs more heavy machinery and equipment, and to condition all areas of the deposit for mining as it is full of holes," he said adding that wood is needed to shore up the tunnels made as miners worked along veins in an unplanned and uncontrolled manner.
Access to foreign investment is out of the question due to the political nature of Huanuni. Huanuni is an emblematic project on which the government has staked its political capital as it establishes it as a mining sector development model. "This will be a model of how we can have mining success in Bolivia in state hands. We can be self-sustaining so it is not necessary to have foreign or private investment. We will demonstrate that Huanuni is profitable," Arandia said.
Whether Huanuni can deliver is open to question. "With 5,000 employees, if they don't increase their production [soon] they are threatening their future," said David Rivero, general manager of the Vinto smelter/refinery that buys tin concentrate from Huanuni.
Finding a workable solution to the mining problems could be the key to stabilizing Bolivia. Miners have become the predominant social protest group, emerging as widespread mine closures forced laid-off miners to scrape a living from metal rich veins after metal prices sank during the 1980s. The other main choice was to migrate to the eastern Chapare region to grow coca.
The question now is whether President Morales can follow the political and social success he scored with the nationalization of the hydrocarbons sector that saw energy companies such as BG Group and YPF Repsol pass controlling stakes in their projects to the state, with a turnaround in mining. He may find that rolling over international oil and gas companies is a walk in the park compared to confronting 60,000 cooperative miners that are disposed to take things into their own hands to further their aims. "We are worried about [nationalization]," Calgue said.
ENDS

We are the best so pay us!

2006-09-22T13:42:00.000-05:00

By Paul Harris in Antofagasta

With a strike at Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, in its second week, striker morale remains high as they have no doubt as to the merits and eventual success of their claims. While the union and company management inch towards a new three-year collective contract, they do at least agree on one thing: that Escondida workers are the best in Chile. That cuts little ice in Antofagasta, the hub of Chile’s copper industry, a divided city in which there is a large dose of envy rather than sympathy for the miners’ above average salaries and generous bonuses, as Paul Harris reports from Antofagasta.

An encampment of tents housing an estimated 1,200 striking miners nestles in the grounds of Escondida’s sports complex, a baton round away from the company’s stylish copper coloured office block on the outskirts of Antofagasta that police are protecting. The encampment appears more like an army base than a picket line with workers camped together by section: haul truck drivers, oxide plant operators, sulphide plant operators, with discipline maintained by union officials. Far from sitting around, teams of miners have been active in the community cleaning beaches and painting a mural that is a homage to Escondida and the importance of copper mining to Chile. “We do these activities to keep occupied, maintain order and to keep attentive,” said hydraulic shovel operator Luis Valdes.

The camp demonstrates a high level of preparation, organization, discipline and solidarity amongst the strikers and an intention to hold out for what they want. “We began saving for four months to provide a kitty of 300,000 pesos per worker to fund the action,” says truck mechanic Danilo Noriega. “We are committed to the cause,” said Karla Zuelta, one of 11 women that work at the mine driving the massive 240-tonne haul trucks.

This is perhaps the best organized and well prepared strike in Chile’s history, a testament to the preparations undertaken in consultation with Law Investment Commerce Consult (LICC), a consulting team that includes lawyers, economists and finance experts that has helped the FMC union gets its finances in order and draft a collective contract proposal based on an economic analysis of Escondida and its owners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

Chile’s unions have entered the modern age. “The union needs to fix its line of negotiation and argue it well from a solid base and based upon a long-term economic analysis, so we contracted a commercial advisor. This is an innovation, we have to modernize,” says union secretary Pedro Marin.

Escondida executives are unsurprised. "Escondida is a very professional company and we have the best professionals in Chile. They are very well prepared people and so it is no surprise that they are well organised in asking for what they want as they are the best," said Escondida corporate manager Pedro Correa.

The strikers are proud of their role in making Escondida the best mine in the world, but they want to share in that success. “When the copper price was at 76 cents a pound we pulled in our belts as the company asked us to with the austerity measures but now that the price is high the company says that it has to take care for the future so we are never going to share in this business,” says assistant controller Eduardo Diaz. “Escondida is a world force. If the copper price is in the clouds, we deserve to share it. We are only asking for 1 percent of the profits,” says mechanic Bernado Lobos.

The union claims that just 1 percent of Escondida’s profits – some $2.9 billion for the first half year – would be enough to meet its pay claim, which it lowered August 16 from an initial 13 percent rise to 10 percent to move towards an agreement. That is the profit on three days production. “They talk of the great family of Escondida but I do not feel like a child of this company at the moment. We are not important as human beings to them but we are a fundamental piece of this business, but a piece that is replaceable,” said one worker who did not want to reveal his name for fear of company reprisals.

Workers carry a card outlining the company’s core values that is signed by company president Bert Nacken that includes relations of mutual benefit that “create value for all parties” and that are based on relations of mutual respect that includes “open communication, the disposition to share”.

“The company’s attitude to our claim shows that this is worthless,” the workers said.

The miners attribute this to a change in senior management when Diego Hernandez became president of BHP Billiton’s base metals division and moved the regional headquarters to Chilean capital Santiago a couple of years ago. Chile, like other South American countries, still suffers from colonial-era class divides between the educated caudillos that executives tend to be drawn from and the mass of the working population, which is amplified by managers keen to provide the results demanded by their international pay masters. “When the company arrived [in Chile the American management] was very good to us. The change of administration to Chilean managers was a problem, from Diego Hernandez down,” says Diaz.

The union maintains that it is defending the rights of the country to benefit from its copper rather and sees increasing workers pay as one of the roads to achieve that. If miners earn more, money will filter through the economy and enable pay rises to be realised for other jobs. “How can Chile develop if they do not raise wages?” asks Noriega, pointing to a message written in large white letters on the hill overlooking the Escondida offices that strikers installed during the first days of the strike: ‘the copper is ours to the death’.

Adriana Ramirez who makes crab pies at the Jacques Cousteau sea food shack at Coloso in the shadow of Escondida’s concentrate load out terminal agrees with the miners. “I think it is good what they are asking for, for all of Chile,” she says.

Workers earn between 300,000 and 800,000 pesos a month before bonuses and are claiming a 10 percent pay rise and bonus package of about $30,000, which has generated little support amongst Antofagasta’s non-miner population, and has divided the city, according to taxi driver Joan La Fuente. “People think that they are crying like the child that does not want the toy it is offered,” he says. My father works at Escondida and we argue about this. Many people are envious because work at Escondida is well paid. Antofagasta is expensive but with 800,000 pesos a month you can live well,” he said.

Miners maintain that is just reward for the negative aspects of working 12-hour shifts at over 3,000 metres above sea level away from their families in a copper mine. “At that altitude the work conditions are very difficult and many people suffer from arterial hypertension,” says Lobos, something the company vigorously denies.

More galling for the miners is the disruption of shift patterns to their families and that contributes towards an estimated 40-50 percent of marriages failing, according to the union. “You miss everything. Birthdays, holidays, Christmas and Easter. Once every three years I get to spend Christmas with my family,” said Lobos. “No marriages last till people are 70. We all die alone and the men die first,” says Diaz.

Unlike many of their peers, mother of four Faviloa Sepulveda and her husband have held their marriage together through the 15 years he has worked at Escondida, but she has first hand experience of the risks miners run. “My father worked in the mines and he had a heart attack when he was 53. My husband is 44 and I don’t want him to have one. [Miners] get a lot of depression working 12-hour shifts at altitude. [My husband and I] talk about leaving the city as [Antofagasta] is not kind to the miners but we have four kids and the money is there in the mine,” she says.

Faviloa says that the miners’ wives will continue supporting the union and their husbands until they have a satisfactory solution. That may not be as soon as the copper market would like given that the union has a multimillion dollar war chest. “I cannot say how much we have but it is several million dollars, which is enough to maintain the strike until the end of August,” Marin said.

The outcome of the Escondida collective contract will set the tone for other contract negotiations later this year at state copper company Codelco’s Andina and Codelco Norte divisions. It will also raise the bar for Chile’s other private mining companies, whose executives privately fear the outcome both from the likelihood that they will have to pay their workers more and the possibility that they will lose personnel to Escondida.
ENDS

Bolivia’s coca policy going bananas

2006-05-27T17:30:00.000-05:00

Chimoré, Bolivia — A fireball shoots into the canopy of the Chapare jungle as soldiers torch a coca maceration pit, one of seven the unit destroys each day in the war on drugs.

Although President Evo Morales is maintaining the “zero cocaine” policy favored by Washington he draws the line at the U.S.-financed “zero coca” program. Since he took office January 22 Morales says Bollivia should be allowed to export legal coca-based products to stop the plant from finding its way into maceration pits.
Addressing the European Parliament this month (May), Morales asked why is coca “legal for Coca Cola but not for native peoples and peasants?”

Far from a rhetorical question, finding a workable solution to the coca issue is intrinsic to the country’s social, political and economic fabric, says Jim Shultz of Cochabamba based NGO the Democracy Center. It is also the main thorn in the side of Bolivia’s relations with the United States, according to US Embassy officials in La Paz.

As the populist Morales attempts to appease Washington and his political base, he has opted to continue with the consensual rather than forced coca eradication program of years past implemented last year by his predecessor, Carlos Mesa.
Like Mesa, Morales, who remains the president of the nation’s six coca growers federations, believes forced eradication creates social conflict and human rights abuses. Instead, security forces are concentrating on stopping the supply of chemicals used to produce cocaine as well as the destruction of cocaine laboratories and maceration pits.

Morales is also spearheading an international campaign to remove coca leaf from the list of controlled narcotics under the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotics. He hopes that Bolivia in the near future will export legal coca-based products, such as the tea that is available at the U.S. Embassy in La Paz that helps visitors cope with the effects of high altitude. Taking a packet of that tea out of the country is illegal.

The EU is sympathetic to Morales’ cause but he faces a Herculean task convincing the United States. Anne Patterson, assistant secretary for international narcotics says Washington will veto any attempts to amend current international law as it maintains its strict antinarcotics policy. "I do not think this idea is going to prosper in the future and the U.S. is not going to support the idea either. In our opinion, there is not international support for this idea. The treaties, the importnat treaty is very clear about the point, and so I am not goig to say more," Patterson said during a visit to Bolivia in early May.

Bolivian companies are ready, willing and able to develop coca products for export. La Paz based tea producer Windsor Hansa Ltda, a recipient of USAID funding, generates 10 percent of its $1 million annual sales from coca teas. Edgar Barco, medical advisor at La Paz based coca derivative products company Coincoca says “our industry is a natural pharmacy” but it suffers from “the stigma that it is synonymous with cocaine.”

Laboritario Hahnemann, in La Paz, the only Bolivian company with a license to export medicinal products to the United States, exports remedies using native plants such as maca and cats claw and would like to export coca-based products. “An excellent market for these products would exist, however while the US has a policy penalizing this product, there is no possibility of exportation,” said operations manager Jamil Rodas.

But according to a European diplomat, Washington has adopted a “new diplomatic stance” since Morales became president. It “does not mean that they are happy, but they have opted to wait and see and approach the problem with dialogue with the government.”

This détente is giving Morales room to stabilize his government, something the country desperately needs, given that it has gone through five presidents in five years. “There is an open dialogue (between the United States and Bolivia) and we are very relived about this. There are strong differences of opinion so it could fall apart, but they are sitting down and talking to each other. Both sides are really trying,” said Kathryn Ledebur of Cochabamba-based NGO Andean Information Network.

Washington remains unhappy about the discrepancy between Bolivia’s controlled substances law 1008 that permits 12,000 hectares (29,652 acres) of coca to be grown in the Yungas region north of La Paz for traditional uses such as tea and mastication and the 26,500 hectares (65,482 acres) that the U.S. State Dept says Bolivia grows (up from 19,600 hectares in 2000). It is assumed the difference is used for cocaine production.

Compared to Colombia and Peru, Bolivia is small fry in cocaine production. From the mid-1990s its cocaine production capacity has fallen from 255 metric tons to 70 metric tons according to the 2006 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) released by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. Colombia is thought to produce about 430 metric tons while Peru is the largest coca grower at 38,000 hectares (93,898 acres) under coca cultivation.

However, eradication has slowed as coca plants are now taken out at the root, a more labor intensive process than the past practice of using chemical herbicides.
“We eradicated more before but we do not have deaths now. The level of eradication has fallen noticeably but is compensated by the form. There is no violence,” said Bolivian Lt. Col. Jose Soliz of the Joint Task Force. He and other soldiers say that “if the farmer denies us permission we cannot enter his land.”

Kathryn Ledebur of NGO Andean Information Network, that seeks peaceful long-term solutions to the social conflicts, injustices, and inequalities created and exacerbated by the U.S. war on drugs in Bolivia, counters that despite cooperative eradication “coca production is not growing at a faster rate than it did under enforced eradication.”

Bolivia’s anti-narcotics force known as FELCN (Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Narcotrafico) now focuses on intercepting drugs and chemicals. In 2005 it seized 11.5 metric tons of cocaine/base, 540,774 liters of chemicals needed to manufacture cocaine such as acetone and diesel, and 298,815 metric tons of sulfuric acid and bicarbonate of soda. It also destroyed 2,619 cocaine laboratories. So far this year, in Chapare, 1,082 maceration pits that make cocaine base have been destroyed and 1,086 hectares of coca have been eradicated.

Coca production could increase given that Morales has protected the one cato (40x40 meters) of coca that each family is allowed to grow in the Chapare and Yungas regions. In a country in which more than 65 percent of inhabitants live in poverty, the 40,000 families in the Chapare are happy about this. Coca has been the lifeline for the miners-turned farmers from the western mining regions that were displaced following the collapse of metal prices in the 1980s. “People can subsist with the cato. In some areas it is their only income and people want the cato protected,” said Edwin Castillo, administrative official in remote Chapre village Puerto Villaroel.

Coca is the perfect subsistence crop says Ledebur as it grows easily in unfertile soil, provides up to four harvests a year and is easy to transport.
“Coca growers want to put food on their tables. With their cato they can earn $80-$120 per month per family,” she says.

The success of the cato means Morales is “stuck between a rock and a hard place,” said Jim Shultz of The Democracy Center. He is under “enormous pressure from cocaleros to increase coca production because this increases their members income,” he said.

Despite coca federation claims that self-regulation has caused no rise in coca production, the United States disagrees. Its International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) report says that after years of declining coca production, it is now on the increase again. It says that in 2005, Bolivia’s coca cultivation increased eight percent overall — the fourth consecutive year of increase — even though the Government eradicated 6,000 hectares of coca. Still, Coca Growth is much less than before. But with about 26,500 hectares of coca planted in all Bolivia in 2005, this is still less than the highs of the early 1990s. In the chapare alone, according to the U.S. State Department, the areas planted with coca have fallen from 35,300 hectares in 1990 to 5,800 hectares in 2005 due to eradication policy.

One of the reasons for this decline is that, according to USAID, the area planted with legal crops such as bananas and pineapples have increased from 36,000 hectares in 1983 to 150,000 hectares in 2005 in the Chapare region. USAID pumps funds into the region to convert coca production into bananas, pineapples, oranges and palm hearts, but as coca is a higher value ‘crop’ many farmers like Edwin Castillo, who grows bananas and oranges, still grow the 40x40-meter cato the law allows because “it pays more and is easier to grow,” he said. “I have four hectares of bananas and produce 180 cases a week. Bananas are more work than coca. It is constant work,” added Geronimo Quispe, a farmer and father of four from the village of Nueva Canaan, who earns $124 per month.

Bananeros, through a growers association known as Caban, complain of being marginalized by the government. President Morales effectively ignores alternative crops as their success undermines his pro coca message that farmers have no alternatives to coca. His uneasy relationship with the bananeros stems from the road blocks organized by cocaleros in 2001 to impede banana exports when then, as now, he was leader of the coca federation.

“President Morales intends to damage the export of [bananas] to Europe to defend his thesis that people can only survive by growing coca in the Chapare. If we open the European market, his thesis about coca falls,” said Caban leader Miguel Zambrana.

Mountain biking the world’s most dangerous road

2006-05-27T16:41:00.000-05:00

The cold mountain air ripping past my face draws tears from my eyes as my mountain bike plummets down the Yungas Road as it carves its way down the precipitous Bolivian Andes. The majestic scenery is straight out of Lord of the Rings, but at 50 mph, my eyes are fixed firmly on the road ahead so that I don’t end up as another white cross beside the road. Welcome to the world’s most dangerous road.

Walking through downtown La Paz, between the dried lama foeti of the Witches Market, the robust Cholita women wearing bowler hats and the pickpockets lingering for their next victim with a bottle of ketchup or a mouth full of spit, Calle Sagárnaga screams out offers of mountain bike trips down the world’s most dangerous road. On offer is the chance to cycle 64 km down the Yungas Road that heads north out of capital La Paz from 4,700 metres above sea level in the snow-capped Andes down to the atrophying heat of the Amazon jungle near at 1,600 metres. This road is putting Bolivia on the adventure tourism map, attracting those seeking thrills in an exotic location underpinned by a very real element of danger.

This is why I am sitting in a minibus with ‘Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking’ painted on the side, at an hour of the day that seems far too early with an international group that includes English, French, Canadians and Americans, dissipating the clouds of sleep with Marvin Gaye and The White Stripes, while chewing coca leaves to minimize the effect of the altitude.

Gravity took its first paying customer in July 22 1988 and as its business has grown from four to over 80 bicycles, the Yungas Road has developed into one of the most exciting and talked about activities in Latin America, with an estimated 13,000 people cycling it in 2005.

We are blessed with a sunny day and clear blue sky at the summit as the three guides (including two gringos) unload the bikes and we get ready to ride. While I have done off-road mountain biking before, many in the group haven’t and I can see that a few nerves beginning to creep in as people get ready to confront a road with a reputation for giving severe punishment for any error. Some babble nervously as others clam up in introspective silence, but when Kory Kramer, our guide from Michigan, USA, gives his ‘fear of God’ speech, he has everyone’s attention.

“Keep your eyes on the road because if you look at the beautiful valley below, that is where you are going to go. We had a German guy last year who rode off the cliff without making any attempt to brake. We rescued him and asked him what happened and he said he was looking at into the valley and just went over,” he says.

Kory says that the key to enjoying the ride is to keep within your ability, and he talks about rules of the road, how to mount and dismount, what to do if a truck comes, or a car comes, riding position, riding style and how to corner. “You have disk brakes so you do not need to use a Kung Fu death grip to stop. With a Kung Fu death grip you will go over the handlebars, so just use a couple of fingers and feather the pressure on and off,” he says.

The villages we will pass also add their own four-legged hazards, he says. “There are pigs and there are dogs running about, so if you see domestic animals slow down. You don’t want to hit a dog at 40mph,” says Kory.

Gravity’s founder, New Zealander Alistair Matthew, says the fear of God speech is the key element to ensure that everyone has a good day. “The fear of God speech is to keep people focused and to stop them from getting too excited. It is when you are not concentrating that is when you are going to fall, and you can fall anywhere from 4 metres to 800 metres off the edge,” he says, adding that, “we work up the drama. People don’t want to feel it is too easy. We are about myth creation here,” he says.

Suitably briefed we form a circle and offer a tribute to Bolivian earth goddess Pachamama and ask her for a safe journey. We swig some raw alcohol and spit it out on the ground, offering her alcohol so that she won’t take our blood.

THE RIDE

The first part of the ride is a smooth and fast asphalt section that gives us an opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the bicycles under relatively controlled conditions, particularly the bodyline for riding at speed, such as leaning into corners with the inside pedal raised so as not to catch any rocks, and of course feeling out the brakes. I opted to pay the extra for a bike with full suspension and enjoy the extra comfort and control it gives me as the road squiggles down the mountain.

We are so high up in the mountains that we ride through pockets of cloud, losing sight of the sheer valley walls that rise around us save for damp black rocks that peep out once through the mist, before bursting into the sunlight that shines down on the lush green valley below. The cold air biting into my face is compounded by the wind chill of speed and I have to twist my head so that the rush of air clears the tears forming in my eyes. My desire to look at the scenery is tempered by Kory’s speech but I cannot resist snatching glimpses of the beautiful landscape.

The Yungas area hosts coca plantations and so the road has a couple of police checkpoints as part of the government’s effort to restrict the movement of precursors, the chemical raw materials used in cocaine production. We pass through the Unduavi checkpoint and stop at a hamlet called Pongo where the guides check the bicycles and brief us about the next stage. The feeling of speed is addictive and has hooked everyone in the group. “I was a bit tense at first as this is fastest that I have been on a mountain bike,” says Jane from Nottingham. “This is free-falling on a bicycle, the ultimate two-wheel adrenaline rush," says Canadian lawyer Ben.

After 20km we pass from asphalt onto an uneven dirt track that just wide enough for a truck to pass. Riding out of the saddle, my legs are getting a real good shaking and suspension seems to have been the correct choice after all.

Riding on dirt at speed is a very different challenge, and I almost don’t adapt quick enough. I approach a right-hand corner and brake hard, but not early enough and I enter the corner too fast. My speed means I run wide from the track cleared by the passing of countless trucks and buses and takes me into the gravel banked up on the outside of the curve. I have entered the margin of error, the 30cm of gravel that delimits the edge of the road from the empty space of the valley below. I am riding too fast to brake hard while turning on the gravel and can feel the tightening effect of fear that comes with the knowledge that I am in a bad place. I fight the impulse to tighten up, try to keep loose, and lean hard into the mountain, using my body weight to get round the corner. All this happens in an instant.

This is stupid. I am riding too fast. I remember the words of Alistair the night before: “It is not actually a dangerous road. What makes it dangerous is people getting over excited.” Danger is relative of course, but with the Yungas road, if anything does go wrong, the chances are your that your F**ked, and with a 10- to 20-degree angle of descent, whoo!, the speed just keeps on coming on!

The road curves and turns so much that I lose sight of the rider in front of me. The person behind me has probably lost sight of me and so the thought occurs to me that if I went over the edge now no one would ever know until the next rest point. A sobering thought.

We pass under the patchy cloud and into a warmer climatic zone with rich greenery clinging to the sides of the valley that glistens under the Andean sun. The mountains rise vertically around us and waterfalls cascade in white ribbons down their sides. The distant sound of falling water impregnates the air and mingles with the low static murmur of the tyres on the gravel and the occasional warning blast of tri-tone truck horns. Bamboo and ficus grow in abundance and a host of other plants and vines cling to the mountains and black, iridescent yellow and blue butterflies flit about. We have descended several hundred metres and the air tastes fresh and sweet, and is scented with eucalyptus. It feels good to be alive.

The road passes through picture postcard scenery with views to die for as I look forward at the road squiggling ahead into the distance, or peep into the valley below that has a vertical drop from the road averaging about 400 metres.

We stop about half way down to snack on chocolate and a banana before entering a section with the exquisite San Juan waterfalls falling over the road from over a hundred metres above, cloaking the road in a diaphanous rainbow mist. The water is ice-cold and each drop stings as they hit me like a lead weights as I pass underneath.

As the road nears the bottom of the valley we see the village of Coroico, our destination, perched atop a spur. The road gradient softens and the gravel becomes a dusty surface that Kory says is more dangerous and slippery that the muddy sections.

Almost as if to prove this point, we pass a group of riders with Downhill Madness, another operator, who are gathered around an Australian girl who has just had a hard crash. It looks as though her bike slid out as she tried to turn with too much speed and she went slamming down on her right hand side. Her head is badly swollen, her eye closed, she has cuts all over her right leg and arm, and she is in a lot of distress but fortunately Kory is there to give her first aid since there is no sign of her group’s guide. We wait in silence as Kory helps her, the exciting fizz of our descent flattened by the reality of when things go wrong. “This is a sobering moment,” says Neil from Nottingham.

We ride the final section into Yolosa and gladly swap our mud covered bicycles for the cold beer that is waiting for us at the end of the road.

HOW DANGEROUS IS THE DANGEOUS ROAD?
The Yungas road has put Bolivia on the action adventure map. The many hundreds of deaths in vehicle crashes on the road serve to draw people from around the globe to flirt with danger. It is only as a result of this rush, and the explosion in number of tourists and operators, that people have died biking it. A handful of deaths over the years Alistair, a die-hard mountain-biker, admits that since he took his first paying customer in July 1988 that he has “created a monster”. “It is a legend, a myth. It is not about mountain biking in Bolivia; it is about the world’s most dangerous road.”

Gravity has grown from four to over 80 bicycles and an estimated 13,000 people cycled the Yungas Road in 2005, but just how dangerous is the Dangerous Road? Alistair is uncomfortable with the ‘Death Road’ sobriquet “because we have never had a death and we don’t think it is necessary to die on the road,” he says, because he takes safety very seriously including not riding in the rainy season, training his guides in first aid and rescue techniques and giving them regular days off.

Safety in part depends upon how much operators invest in their equipment. “Some companies operate with $50 bicycles but we import $1,000 Kona bicycles from the US, the mountain bike equivalent of a Clydesdale horse,” he says. On top of this, Gravity uses original Hayes hydraulic disk brakes that run $220 a pair and pads that retail at $22 a pair. “We go through 2,500 pairs a year. Other companies take sneaky shortcuts and may have a $1,000 bike with 50 cent recovered brake pads,” he says.

This difference was painfully clear for the Australian girl. She crashed because of brake failure; the brake plates had no pads on them, leading Alistair to speculate that they had been resurfaced with a substance that is little more than chewing gum and grit. Luckily for her, she had slid into the cliff. If she had gone the other way…

Safety boils down to individual responsibility and to this end travelers are perhaps their own worse enemy, seeing little difference between the different tour companies. “Tourists cannot assume that the difference between a $25 and $50 tour is the quality of the lunch. This is Bolivia. They cannot assume that there is a minimum safety standard here like there is in the US or Europe. The difference between what is promised by the operator and the product that is delivered can result in death, and since there is no investigation or follow up on accidents, there is little incentive for an operator to even try and meet the minimum safety standards that the tourist might assume will be in place,” he says.

The paradox is that in part it is the lax safety standards of many operators that have made the Yungas Road so popular. “Mountain biking could become a major attraction of the country but if there continues to be the safety issues to the level that exist it will turn people off. Or it will create the myth of the world’s most dangerous road,” he says.

No change of pace

2006-01-14T13:15:00.000-05:00

Seems like it's been a couple of months since I last posted. 2005 was a full year with visits to Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, and then three weeks in Brazil in December that took in five major cities and a number of smaller ones that left little time for sightseeing.

It is hardly surprising that I have had little time to buy anything for my new apartment, as you can see, although the main things have now been completed: the floor, the painting and the blinds. I should go and buy some furniture but it's so hot here that it seems more sensible to work on the tan as all will for anything else fades.

2006 is going to be another hectic year. Gavin and I will be working on at least three more books this year, I have a trip to Buenos Aires coming up and I am putting together some projects for Colombia, Bolivia and Brazil that will hopefully come together. And I hope to visit Europe in the July or August for a week's work and three weeks holiday, one of which I want to take a week in Spain or France, and maybe a week or two in Eastern Europe.

I should also be starting a Masters in International Studies in April.

Best wishes for the year ahead.

Paul

Spicing up IT with Open Source

2006-01-14T13:13:00.000-05:00

By Paul Harris in Santiago (November 2005)
Chile is one of Latin America’s leading lights in the development of Open Source software, an upstart that is challenging the domain of licensed software. Open Source software is often labelled “free” software but that is neither accurate nor does it do the concept justice. Open Source may not mean much for anyone beyond the periphery of IT circles but Lan.com and Paris.cl are using it, which may make you curious about what it is and why should Chilean companies know about it?

Open Source software is software whose code is open for all to use and develop with software products generated by the Open Source community generally distributed free of charge, while the public is generally barred from access to code as found in Microsoft products that are traditionally available for a license fee.

In the computer world there are the server back end and the desktop front end. Open Source is having a big impact on the server software market and will become the dominant business model through the success of the Internet in facilitating new collaboration, production and distribution methods, says Tim Delhaes, product architect at Chile’s first Open Source company Humano2. “While Open Source is not an alternative all the time but if you are not considering it as an option you are definitely making a mistake,” he says.

By looking into Open Source you are in good company, he continues. “About 70% of all websites - Google, Amazon and Hotmail – run on Open Source software. Linux, Apache, My SQL and PHP – reffered to as LAMP - are the three infrastructure products that put companies on the net. Why pay for a licence for an e-commerce package when you can get the same software that Google uses for free?” he asks.

Cost is seen as the initial advantage as not having to buy software licenses either represents huge potential savings to companies or a change in their spending habits. Hardware companies love this because IT budgets are spent on hardware. “Software licences are like tomatoes as they have a limited life and then you loose them and have to buy more. The effect of Open Source software on the hardware market is like when you subsidise gasoline; people buy bigger and better performing cars, so big hardware manufacturers like IBM, Intel and Hewlett Packard are making lots of money, with Open Source related revenues of over $3 billion in 2003 according to eWeek.com,” he says.

Eduardo Pooley, Microsoft’s regional business and applications manager, counters that free Open Source software does not have zero cost because of the higher total cost that follows the zero initial payment due to development, training support and other costs that are incurred. “Overall it is still cheaper with a company like Microsoft,” he says underscoring the viewpoint divergence between the traditional and the new.

Open Source is certainly developing new business opportunities in local markets as companies form to provide services with different business models using Open Source such as Red Hat (packages and distributes code in distinct versions), MySQL (relational database server), JBoss’s business model is professional services such as consulting, integration and training while companies like Sugar CRM and Santiago’s Humano2.com pioneer web hosting services. “Open Source today is like the Internet was the moment that Jeff Bezos put books on the web,” says Delhaes.

Paris.cl - the online e-commerce store of retailer Almacenes Paris - works closely with another Open Source firm, Netred, to develop its business and its own developers commonly use Open Source development tools, says Patrico Perez, head of development projects for online sales at Paris’ parent company Cencosud. “Our developers use Open Source tools such as [development toolset] Eclipse a lot. It is very exciting and allows us to do things we couldn’t do before,” he says.

Despite some notable early movers, the IT industry is divided on just how much Open Source will change the industry and how fast its penetration will be. “Open source is still up to five years away from mainstream use in enterprise IT infrastructures, despite the progress made in the commercialisation of the platform,” www.silicon.com blogger Andy McCue said in September quoting a Gartner study.

Microsoft potentially has a lot to loose if Open Source software starts to erode its software license revenue base, but the company seems certain it is not going to loose out in the server market. “Microsoft has not lost out against Open Source. People don’t change Windows for Linux. It is a very dynamic sector and for each front end – the web, email, blogs – there is a server. Linux does well but it is only for techies as most people just want to plug and play. 90% of people just want software to function. How many companies really modify code?” asks Pooley.

DESKTOP

Despite its strength in the server environment Open Source software is just starting to gain strength in the desktop environment. The Open Source web browser Firefox celebrated its first anniversary in Chile in November, which is equal or better than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer in terms of security, velocity and functionality, according to Delhaes, who says it shows that the collaborative production methodology can produce higher quality products at a lower price.

Delhaes says Finnish cell phone producer Nokia is a key supporter of Firefox because it knows every cell phone will soon connect to the Internet and therefore need a browser. “Nokia has the choice between shipping a free Open Source browser like Firefox or paying millions of dollars in license fees to Microsoft for Windows,” he says. Google is even paying $1 to download Firefox with its toolbar.

Paris.cl has been one of the first Chilean companies to respond to the growth in the penetration of Firefox browsers. “In 2004 Internet Explorer accounted for 99.6 percent of our website traffic, this year it is 94.3 percent with Firefox having grown from 0.2 percent to 4.9 percent. The 5 percent implies the whole site has to work with Firefox, which has been the case since October 2005,” says Perez.

5% Firefox may not sound much but it is enough for Paris.cl to see an opportunity for differentiation while ensuring it does not lose potential customers, and from 2006, Perez says the company will undertake more commercial initiatives using Open Source software such as website plug-ins. In countries with higher penetration like Germany (25% Firefox) web businesses cannot afford to ignore it. “You cannot force a user to change their browser, but you can change your server,” says Delhaes.

The growth of Firefox is a big deal according to Delhaes who believes the browser is the desktop of the future, the application through which people access all the tools they need from email (Hotmail and Gmail) to office applications. “Whoever dominates the client interface in which the browser is an essential part, controls access to the network and what applications run,” he says.

Perez thinks Firefox competes well with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. “I think Firefox is more secure and quicker than Internet Explorer because it is less popular and so is less subject to attack,” he said.

Microsoft’s Pooley says there are many popular myths about the company’s Open Source rivals, which he supports with a body of evidence including studies by respected research groups and industry commentators. As Firefox’s popularity grows hackers will take more interest in ransacking it destroying its reputation as secure application, a problem Microsoft has been dealing with for years for its Internet Explorer web browser. “Firefox was secure while it was unknown but attacks and viruses start with volume. It is difficult to have a program that has no problems of compatibility or security once it reaches a critical mass,” he says.

Pooley’s view is shared by blogger George Ou, an advanced networking and server architecture expert. “Now that Firefox has become the first viable contender to Microsoft Internet Explorer in years, its popularity has brought with it some unwanted attention. Firefox not only has more vulnerabilities per month than Internet Explorer, but it is now surpassing Internet Explorer for the number of exploits available for public download in recent months,” he said.
Delhaes counters that because software is produced using Open Source methodologies does not mean it is open to hackers and viruses. All software has failures or vulnerabilities but as more and more people are looking at the source code, there will be fewer and fewer errors.

Businesses adopt new technology at different rates depending on their fears and risk profile. Although part of a larger group, the nature of Paris.cl’s business allows it to accept a higher degree of risk to explore future technologies. The website has a big change coming up as it is working towards migrating from its IBM 4.1 platform to the IBM 5.6 platform to have a full Java [Open Source] e-commerce store. “Big companies are trapped and have no liberty to change [software platforms]. We are not a traditional company, we have more flexibility, are not tied to any [software system] and can take technological change initiatives through developing the parts of the business that are not sensitive to change,” Perez said.

However, he notes that flexibility comes at a price. “We have two development teams and it is costly to develop in parallel,” he says, noting that “in 2006 we are going to seriously analyse whether we can make [Open Source] changes in the heart of the e-store.”

DIGITAL DIVIDE

Delhaes says Microsoft completely misses the point. “Microsoft talks about total cost of ownership or TCO, but it is not a question of how much money but where the money goes. Does it go to Microsoft or stay in your country?” he asks.

The money spent on license fees is staggering: over $120 million a year just by Brazil’s federal government and more than $100 million a year in Chile says Delhaes. Savings on license fees through Open Source can release funds for other uses such as health and education and help breach the digital divide.

Breaching the digital divide is increasingly on the agenda of Latin American governments that do not want to get too far left behind by the developed world. The topic has been given added impetus this year through an initiative by MIT Media Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte with a plan to build a $100 Linux PCs. Argentina has stolen a march on its neighbours and committed to manufacture up to one million of these PCs.

Chile has yet to move on the initiative because of a big software lobby, says Delhaes. “Instead of spending $100 million on software licences the government could give one million $100 laptops to kids in schools,” he says.

Breaching the digital divide is about more than cheap computers and concerns developing local IT industries. Open Source provides a great opportunity by allowing local firms to develop and fix software rather than simply re-installing it or relying on expensive engineers from foreign companies. “By offering the possibility to develop and fix things yourself through Linux server software countries develop their own capacity to fill the digital divide. The dollars stay in country not at multi-national software companies,” says Delhaes. “

However, reports from China, where the government has supported Open Source initiatives, say enthusiasm is waning. “The strong support for the free operating system has been detrimental to the development of software products in the country,” says Zou Bian, a researcher at the Chinese Software Industry Association (CSIA) according to Chinese English language news website China Daily, due to the difficulty of generating income streams. But as Delhaes points out, “there are many business models and not all work.”

Microsoft says it is doing its part too, through its participation in the My First PC initiative that Pooley says removes the three barriers of price, fear and availability. In its first three months 60,000 of the PCs have been sold which contain a simplified, cut-down version of Windows that is one third of the cost of traditional Windows. The PCs cost 249,000 pesos payable in 36 instalments.

What is certain is that through the Internet the Open Source is here to stay and will spread to other sectors says Delhaes. “Open Source software is not an isolated phenomena. Open Source is part of global change in intellectual property. In many industries the Internet suddenly reduced the cost of distribution as well as R&D. The most affected industries – including software, music and bio technology – are undergoing radical changes. This change is creating great opportunities for everyone: customers, IT companies, and governments,” he says.
ENDS

Uribe clears road to El Dorado

2006-01-14T13:06:00.000-05:00

By Paul Harris in Medellin (November 2005)
The kidnapping of a Canadian mining contractor by Colombia’s FARC guerrilla group was the final straw for Toronto exploration junior Greystar Resources. The much publicised kidnapping lasted six-months after which the company, like many other miners, packed up shop and abandoned the country in 1999 amid a deteriorating security situation and a plummeting gold price.

While the reality of Colombia’s civil conflict is not bombs failing through the air as portrayed in the Brad Pitt film Mr & Mrs Smith, horror stories like Greystar’s made Colombia a pariah for most mining investors.

“We went in with a high degree of ignorance of the conditions. We had minimum security and worked on the ‘good faith’ principle,” says exploration vice president Frederick Felder of the company’s early days in Colombia.

But Greystar knew there was gold there, and with a rising gold price, Felder returned with his exploration team in 2003 to find it. Greystar now has eight drill rigs working and the company’s successful return has made it something of a poster child for Colombian authorities keen to show that the country is safe for investors and ripe for investment.

ECONOMIC POLICY

Since he was elected in 2002 President Alvaro Uribe has re-established government control through much of the country with hard-line military intervention and the miners are starting to return following dramatic falls in both the murder and kidnapping rates. "Colombia will be attractive for investors," Uribe told a Medellin convention hall packed with miners November 18. “Colombia is ready to be a major mining country,” he said.

Economic development is a key part of the peace process and Uribe believes attracting foreign investment to kick-start the economy is paramount to bring about change. Political stability is allowing Colombia to start catching up with its Latin peers and direct foreign investment grew 34.7% in 2004 to $2.4 billion. This is better than Peru and Venezuela but behind the growth rates of Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Argentina, according to Eclac, the United Nation’s economic commission for Latin America.

Mining is already 14 percent of GDP. Colombia produces about 55 million tpy of coal of which 50 million tonnes is exported to Europe and the US by Alabama’s Drummond Co and Cerro Cerrajon (owned by three of the world’s four largest coal miners BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Glencore). Even without modern mining Colombia produced about 50 tonnes of gold in 2004. “This 50 tonnes implies gigantic potential to develop gold mining activity,” says Eduardo Chaparro, mining analyst at Eclac, adding that Peru’s gold production 20 years ago was 50 tonnes and today it is over 400 tonnes.

Colombia is gold country and has attracted adventurers, plunderers and pirates for almost 500 years and with gold at US$500/oz and world production falling to an eight-year low in 2004, foreign miners are warming to the country. Colombia’s three belts of Andean cordillera have not been tackled with modern technology but they contain gold, silver, platinum, copper, tin and nickel. It is “very probable that there exist large undiscovered reserves,” says Archak Bedrossian, an international gold consultant and trader.

“The odds of finding a large ore body may be greater than in highly explored nations such as Canada, Peru, Indonesia, the Philippines,” says Dr James Otto, international mining law expert at the University of Colorado.

Canadian financier James Sikora, president and CEO of Primecap Resources, is so impressed with Colombia that he relocated his family to Medellin in July from Edmonton, Alberta so he can work on the gold-silver Golondrina property the company acquired in southwestern Narino department. "There are great projects at really great prices here. We think Colombia has so much potential that we are going to seek a listing here," he says.

MAKING THINGS RIGHT FOR MINING INVESTORS

Good geology is seldom enough to attract mining investment. Miners want stable business conditions and a favourable tax regime, aspects Colombia has been working to improve. A new mining code in 2001 aimed to “bring legal conditions for mining in Colombia in-line with world trends … to obtain better competitiveness as a nation with other Latin American states," says Beatrice Duque, of the ministry of mines and energy.

Mining institutions have also been overhauled which has seen the creation of Ingeominas to unite resource administration and geological services in the same office to improve efficiency and more services are being made available on-line.

Uribe has also implemented some of the most compeititive taxation conditions in the world, not just Latin America. "Congress has approved a law so that we can form tax stability agreements with investors and we are working to reduce taxes,” Uribe said during a remarkable three-hour discourse at the Medellin mining event where he demanded delegates ask him what needs to be done to make Colombia more attractive for miners.

Uribe’s personal commitment is winning converts in many quarters of the international mining community. "Colombia is a lot better than I thought. Seeing President Uribe [in Medellin] was impressive," says Peter Baxter, exploration manager of Vancouver's Bema Gold.
“We regard President Uribe as, perhaps, one of the most driven, dedicated, intelligent and engaging heads of state we have ever come across,” says Colin Andrew, managing director of London-based Cambridge Mineral Resources that announced during the Medellin event that it had signed options on several gold properties in Antioquia department. “Colombia has distinguished itself in the world economy by passing laws facilitating investment and getting rid of red tape associated with forming and operating a business,” says Sikora.

TURNING THE CORNER

Uribe’s efforts are already bearing fruit. Colombia jumped seven spots in the World Economic Forum’s 2005 Global Competitiveness Report to 57 of 117 countries, placing it above emerging mining nations such as Russia, Mozambique, Indonesia and Mongolia. In Latin America it is bettered only be Chile, Uruguay, Mexico and El Salvador.

Mining sector GDP grew 7.0 percent between 2003-2004 while the country grew 3.5 percent. Foreign investment in mining reached $1.246 billion in the same period, and mining exports increased 24.0 percent $3.098 billion.

However, most North American miners spend their dollars in countries that score favourably in the Fraser Institute mining attractiveness rankings. While Chile scores 91 out of 100, Peru 82, Brazil 74, Argentina 59 and South Africa 56, Colombia has yet to be ranked.

Gold giant Barrick Gold, active in Chile, Argentina and Peru, says it is “not ready for Colombia. It is the kind of place where the larger companies look to junior’s to go in and see what is there. Large companies see what comes up and go in and either indirectly fund exploration or take a stake,” says vice president Vince Borg.

COMPETITION WITH OTHER COUNTRIES

Colombia has strong competition for mining investment dollars but it is looking a better bet according to Daniel Linsker, Latin American analyst of UK-based risk consultants Control Risks Group. “Colombia is very institutionalised and offers a more stable political regime, lower taxes and the best security of tenure for mining companies [compared to Peru and Venezuela], ” he says.

Chile is the leading regional mining light generating $16.9 billion in mining exports in 2004 from a total of $29 billion. Mining posted $6.9 billion in Peru from a total of $12.5 billion, but in Colombia mining generated $3 billion of $16.5 billion in exports.

Colombia also beats out most of Africa according to Linsker. “You face the same problems Colombia has in Africa but without the political stability,” he says, and miners are coming around to this thinking. “Whether or not kidnapping outweighs the dangers of malaria, AIDS … or military action is a debateable point, but I would rate Colombia well ahead of much of west and central Africa in terms of its potential and ability to do work. If stabilization continues [Colombia] will become one of the most sought after addresses in the mining world,” says Andrew.

Big mining companies continue to poke around neighbourhoods that make Colombia seem benign. Arizona’s Phelps Dodge is working on a copper project in the DR Congo, which is virtualy at the bottom of political attractiveness and security tables.

THE RETURN TO EL DORADO?

The first major to engage in Colombia is South Africa's AngloGold Ashanti which has amassed a “huge land package” in Antioquia and Bolivar departments through subsidiary Sociedad Kedahda says exploration manager Chris Lodder as it looks for deposits containing over 5 million oz. Bullish exploration by AngloGold Ashanti could create opportunities for other miners according to Bema Gold’s Baxter. "They may pass on opportunities that do not have significant impact on their balance sheet and farm them out to smaller opportunities," he says.

But it is a Canadian junior Greystar Resources that is in the vanguard of Colombia gold mining renaissance, as it puts the troubles of the past behind it and works towards a feasibility study for its 10 million oz Angostura gold property near Bucaramanga, in Santander department, having so far spent $48 million on the project. “It is always good to be in a country that has been overlooked," says Felder.

Colombia has a golden future and with President Uribe permitted and willing to run for re-election in July 2006, many feel it will achieve it.

Safety first

President Uribe has taken great steps to improve Colombia’s security situation and to improve the safety of investors, but this does not mean that the country is out of the woods yet as Felder found out when he returned to Angostora in 2003.

“We returned and found that there were about 300 land mines on the property,” he says. The ties Grerystar Resources had fostered with Colombia’s army following the kidnappings had made the company a military target. Looking for microscopic particles of gold is difficult at the best of times but drilling in densely foliated minefields is not something they teach at mining schools.

“We didn’t know what to do. We had to get a commitment from the military to help us and for two years and eight months we had a team of three people and two dogs working on a metre by metre grid checking for mines,” says Felder.

“We had to tackle a different kind of mine engineering back then,” says company president David Rovig, who can make light of the situation now that the property is cleared.
ENDS

Caramba Colombia

2005-08-16T15:13:00.000-05:00

Don't believe the hype about Colombia. It is a beautiful, wonderful and friendly place to visit. Visiting the Caribbean coast ranks as one of the best and most enjoyable journeys I have had to date. From the warm rain in Cartegena during the storm when I arrived to baking on the beach at Taganga, it is full of life and charm.

Cartegana is an incredible fortified colonial city, whose fortifications were largely inspired by the raiding of Sir Francis Drake. It is very humid but fortunately you can escape to the near perfect tropical islands in Rosario National Park. I went diving: the corals are amazing and the water is so warm that a wetsuit is not necessary, and the air is full of large black frigate birds.

Halfway between Cartagena and Barranquilla is the El Totumo mud volcano in which you can bathe and have a massage. It was very relaxing to be suspended in a 3m diameter pot of viscous mud 15m deep, overlooking a cienaga or lagoon where local people were fishing in their dug out canoes, surrounded by tropical vegetation. Life does have its rewards.

The fishing village of Taganga near Santa Marta is very peaceful as well, apart from the 24-hr music during the weekends. There is wonderful diving hear in and around Tayrona National Park. The snorkeling is good to: we found starfish, an octopus, seahorses and a balloon fish among other creatures. Other than that, there are some good beaches and lots of fresh exotic fruit juices that are made to order by the beach.

I can't wait to go back and write about this place.

Photos will be uploaded as an when.

Chuqicamata

2005-07-11T08:47:00.000-05:00

I have just been to two of the biggest man-made holes in the ground anywhere in the world: the Chuquicamata and Escondida copper mines in northern Chile. At Chuqi, I also got the chance to have a look around the copper smelter and refinery. This is how and where the wires in anything electrical start life. If you look closely at the photo of the open-pit mine you can see the vein of copper mineralisation. It is a thin darker band just inside where the shadow falls.

Fundamentals

2005-07-11T08:32:00.000-05:00

Gavin Ambrose and I have finally completed the Fundamentals of Creative Design series of graphic design books, all of which are available on Amazon. The final two books - Image and Colour - are at the printers and will be available before Christmas. Gavin tells me that the big Waterstone's on London's Oxford St intends to do a big display window of the whole series once these final two books are published.

This series has received excellent critical reviews such as the following from Creative Review (about Layout): "Superb series, authoritative look, filled with examples of recent work that are so bang up to date it's surprising they were even finished before the book was printed."

We have started work on our next series of books, the Fundamentals of Photography. These will have a similar approach to the Creative Design books in that principles will be explained briefly and illustrated to facilitate learning. We are close to finishing the first one, which is about Light.

The first book that Gavin and I produced together was This End Up: Original approaches to packaging design, Rotovision (2003)

brandchannel.com said "Excellent in depth case studies of packages that work and why they work for a wide range of products including CDs, clothing, condoms, food and drink, and beauty items. The authors offer several pages with before and after images, draft executions, and text explaining the challenge, solution, and approach to collateral or extensions."

Karachipampa silver lining for Bolivia

2005-07-04T14:21:00.000-05:00

My three-day epic trip to Potosi, Bolivia was exhausting but eminently worthwhile. It may only be just over 1,000 miles from Santiago but to get there takes almost 12 hours and had be bouncing through five airports through Chile and Bolivia.

Potosi is a beautiful two-hour drive from Sucre, both historic Spanish colonial cities, but it is 4,200 metres above sea level so one walks around with a permanent headache and fatigue, and can feel the blood throbbing in one's veins.

The Potosi mint

However, it was the opportunity to interview Potosi's mayor, the department governor and representatives of the mining cooperatives that was the real jewel, to hear first hand how a mining project could change the lives for so many, in a country where the 90% poverty rate means that about 13,000 children work in the mines.

US miners to give Bolivia new hope

By Paul Harris in Karachipampa

300 people cram into the unused control room of the Karachipampa lead-silver foundry, a white elephant completed in 1983 on the approach road to Potosi, Bolivia’s historic mining town, to witness the signing of an agreement to develop a zinc plant that is hoped will change their lives.

Women in straw hats carrying babies wrapped in traditional colourful woven blankets file silently into the room with their children and husbands, unemployed miners. But this is not another protest in a land of broken promises but as word spread around the city about the signing people turned out in their dozens to hear for themselves how an investment by Arizona’s Atlas Precious Metals (APM) aims to reactivate mining in the region and jump-start the local economy.

Karachipampa, which never operated due to a collapse in metal prices, lies in the shadow of the Cerro Rico “mountain of silver” that was the crown jewel of Spain’s South American empire. But despite its mineral endowment, Bolivia is the poorest country in South America which means boys as young as five miss school to shine shoes and sell newspapers in the streets of Potosi and nearby Sucre, to help their families survive.

The Karachipampa zinc smelter

The renaissance APM will spark is through a $100mn investment to build a plant to produce zinc, a metal that is used to protect iron and steel from corrosion and stops cars from rusting. Used in batteries, zinc can also store six times as much energy as other systems, which increases the range of electric vehicles that states such as California are keen to see more of.

“We are committed to build a 80,000 tpy zinc plant and we may even go for a 150,000 tpy plant,” says APM president Roy Shipes to widespread gasps among the audience. The project is close to the heart of Shipes, a soft-spoken former general manager at copper mines in Peru and Papua New Guinea, who has spent a decade putting the project together.

Atlas will give miners a market for their concentrates on their doorstep beneficially changing local economics by replacing the international traders that buy Bolivian concentrates at a fraction of the market price. Zinc trades at about $1,100/t but Bolivia’s miners only receive $300/t because they are penalised for the lead, silver and other metals the concentrates contain. APM will pay the miners for the silver and lead content of their concentrates as well.

“Traders punish the miners for the impurities in the concentrates so the miners end up with just 20% of their value. With the smelter they will be paid a just price and for all the mineral content, which will start a true reactivation of mining,” said Comibol vice president Antonio Revollo.

Mining cooperatives will also make big savings on transportation costs. Shipping to Peru costs them $54 per tonne, close to Bolivia’s average wage, so this saving alone means an immediate quality of life improvement, according to Felipe Flores, president of the departmental federation of cooperative miners (Fedecomin). “With better prices in the local market everyone will want to work. We feel happy because we will not have to sell our material abroad,” Flores said.

APM will employ 2,500 people but indirect employment will be much more extensive. Reducing mining costs and increasing prices will help reactive 14 mines that have been abandoned for five years [when metal prices sank]. “We estimate that Karachipampa will allow 60,000 cooperative miners to work and bring about 22,000 jobs in transportation and other services,” says Revollo.

Karachipampa will generate about $200mn/year in income for the miners and about $500mn/year for Bolivia. This income will allow Potosi to become one of the best cities in the country in terms of health, education and quality of life in the next 10 years according to mayor Dr René Joaquin. Unemployment will fall from its 8% level and farming, clothing manufacturing and other services are expected to develop as the population swells from 160,000 to a forecast 215,000 inhabitants.

“Karachipampa will recover the hope of the town. Potosi as a town was almost abandoned but now it will have a development boom and will become synonymous with confidence in the country. Mining will give a belt of rural communities the confidence to invest in the development of livestock and fruit farming. Mining centers are consumers of everything,” Joaquin said.

APM is the king pin but not the only mining development changing Potosi. Investments by Denver’s Apex Silver and Idaho’s Coeur d’Arlene will bring foreign mining investment in Potosi to almost $1bn in the next couple of years. “Potosi is not poor, it is rich. All we lack is the opportunity that this type of investment brings,” said Potosi department governor Felix Muruchi.

Such investment is music to the ears of the 11 cooperative mining federations that have waited 20 years for Karachipampa to start up. Importantly for Atlas, this means it has their support. “Social problems are the most important problem and we want the international companies to generate employment to reduce poverty. It is necessary that this comes from a foreigner as international organizations can bring resources to Bolivia,” said Walter Villarroé, president of the national federation of miners cooperatives Fencomin.

As the applause dies down and the municipality band strikes up the women quietly file out of the room with their husbands and children to walk the 7km back to Potosi, a city whose history is inexorably linked to mining. “Potosi is a city where you can invest in mining, make money and really do good, give people jobs and improve their lives,” says Shipes

Inca Lake May 2005

2005-05-10T15:57:00.000-05:00

Inca Lake is near Portillo, a sky resort a few hours north of Santiago near the border with Argentina. The road switches back as it climbs over the Andes giving a view of a mountainside of trucks as they struggle up the inclines.

Trucks climbing towards Portillo

Inca Lake is at 3,000 metres above sea level, which for diving makes it unique and technical.

Inca Lake, 3,000 metres above sea level

It is freshwater so there is less buoyancy, it is very cold and the altitude limits dive time and depth. Oh yeah, the lake has very steep sides and low visability so it is easy to get disorientated, which could potentially be disastrous due to the ease that you can sink. Swimming to the surface from only 10 metres down takes time and is exhausting, in an environment when you need to move slowly to avoid exhaustion.

Preparing to dive Inca Lake

Divers in Inca Lake

Cafe Racers in the Chilean wine region

2005-04-20T19:22:00.000-05:00

April 20

Wild one
Café Racers in Chile’s wine country
Text by Paul Harris
It is 7am and the sun is beginning to fill Chile’s Colchagua Valley with a soft, golden light. Not even the dogs are stirring from where they huddle in the sleepy central plaza as four vintage motorcycles with an average age 42.5 of years are wheeled before the Santa Cruz Plaza hotel. Fuel taps are opened and other adjustments made as the salmon fingers of dawn recede in the sky and yellow sunlight floods into the plaza. A few quick kicks and a 1960 Panther T15 and a 1959 Triumph T100 roar into life.

Between my legs I have a beautiful red 1966 Motobi 175. The kick starter shows no interest in fulfilling its function so I engage second gear and run the Motobi down the street, let out the clutch and bump start it to life. As the engine catches, a little throttle turns the fragile sputter into a full blooded Italian roar, revving harder to warm up the engine as I circle around back to the hotel.

Tomas Bascunan of Santiago’s Café Racer Museum – whose idea the vintage tour was - is trying to kick start the sky blue and chrome 1962 BSA Goldstar DBD34. What a leg-breaker! A 500cc monster that needs a good strong kick of the leg. “This lady was built to run,” Tomas says, pausing to catch his breath between kicks, “but she doesn’t like waking up in the morning, but when she does she is incredible.” With another kick the engine takes and deafening roar howls out of the tail pipe.

With four of us revving, an incredible throaty sound reverberates around the square, a cacophony that is out of time and out of place in the small agricultural town in the heart of Chile’s wine region. First gear is engaged and one by one we file out from the hotel in a procession of noise into the open country of one of Chile’s most beautiful wine valleys, 130 km south of capital Santiago.

Cafe Racers near Santa Cruz
The roads are deserted this early in the morning and as we accelerate up to 90 km/h, the chill morning air floods my visor-less eyes with tears to the point that I cannot see. I tilt my head back to let the wind rush clear them out and whoop for joy as golden fields, verdant green rows of vines and cacti-studied hills pass by. This is motorcycle touring in an elemental form; low distance, simple roads and machines from another era.

Vintage motorcycle tours is a concept developed by the Café Racer motorcycle museum (www.caferacer.cl) in Santiago, a private collection assembled by Francisco Bascunan that numbers over 80 fully restored machines. On any weekend of the year without rain, relaxed pace weekend and day trips will be offered for from four to seven people using a selection of motorcycles from the collection with fine dining at various vineyards to give motorcycle enthusiasts a unique way to see the region. “There is a public that wants to do this and it is a unique way to do a wine tour,” says tour developer Tomas Bascunan. The tours also allow the museum to keep the motorcycles in use and generate an income stream for the maintenance and restoration of its fleet.

Once warmed up the Motobi runs without trouble and the vineyards, fields with grazing livestock, golden fields of maize and cereals, and low farm buildings drift by and the smells of the country fill my nose. Horse locomotion is a common and we pass several horse-drawn carts and mounted huasos – Chilean cowboys – riding in poncho and broad-brimmed hat, with knee-high black leather boots and spurs that look like medieval weaponry. The people are friendly and often wave as we pass, turning with curiosity at the shining antiquities we are riding.

The motorcycles ride differently to modern machines. Changing gear is an action completed without thinking, but these machines have the gear change on the right and footbrake on the left, the reverse of the set-up on modern bikes. Trying to override an instinctive left-foot gear change movement was like having to learn to ride again and initially I kept hitting the brakes in error. “That is why we offer a lesson on how to ride vintage motorcycles before we start the tour,” Bascunan said.

The riding is at an easy pace and only for a couple of hours at a stretch giving ample time to get to grips with the different performance characteristics. As we pass fields of grapevines and farm houses I give myself a rudimentary education of vintage braking systems. The front drum brake comes on spongily but the Motobi’s engine splutters as I slow and change down. More revs are needed, but braking while maintaining revs with the same hand is an art in itself. I compensate with the spongy footbrake and lock-up the back wheel. The children playing with their dogs in the dust wave as I pass, mistaking the grimace on my face for a smile.

Riding vintage motorcycles requires a completely different mentality to adjust to the different riding requirements and to stop doing the things that are common in modern motorcycling. I look for mirrors and try to change up into the fourth and fifth gears that the Motobi does not have, but with the rougher engine sound filling my ears, my riding style adjusts and I start my actions sooner than normal to allow for the extra time they take to stay in control, warming to how much fun it is.

Well, control is relative. A dog ran out in front of me from nowhere (not uncommon in the country) and instinct had me stepping on the gear-changer not the brake pedal while I grabbed at the spongy front brake. Somehow the dog kept out from my front wheel.

With that bit of excitement out of the way I began to enjoy the Colchagua Valley, which is agricultural and typically rural and Chilean. The valley runs 120km from the backbone of the Andes to the Pacific Ocean and is bounded by two spurs of the Andes mountains to the north and south some 35km apart. With a Mediterranean climate, in addition to being a paradise for winemakers, it is perfect country for motorcycling with low traffic volume, and combination of mountainous climbs leading to scenic views before descending into valley straights for a burst of speed.

Pulling alongside one of the other motorcycles I let my eyes linger on details of their bulky, solid forms long since consigned to the designers wastepaper basket, such as the bulbous headlamp of the Triumph and silver springs visible underneath its bicycle seat, or the trumpet-shaped air intake for the carburettor of the BSA Goldstar, how its handlebars sweep back towards the fuel tank bending its rider over so that the two clocks push upwards towards their face like microscope eyepieces.

Cafe racers near Santa Cruz
Heading towards the small village of Nancagua, we start to climb part of a mountain. The steep gradient quickly has the Motobi running out of steam and I work the gears up and down trying to maintain momentum, but with only three gears available, the task has a certain futility to it and I resign myself to a slow climb to the top and feel more than a little envious of Tomas as he bats past on the more powerful BSA Goldstar wearing a grin that extends from one side of his half-cup helmet to the other. Climbing out of the mountain’s shadow on the final bend I stop to see a breathtaking expanse of the valley bathed in sunlight spread out before me, and Tomas now a dot switching back and forth on the road that drops away before me.

I descend, easing the motorbike into the corners before releasing the brakes to let it run on under its own momentum towards the next one as the engine put-puts under the lack of work, gently checking my speed with the brakes, finally circling around into the valley again under the gaze of the Virgin Mary perched on top of a bluff, and on towards lunch.

VINEYARD LUNCH

Many of the vineyards now cater for visitors offering excellent restaurants in addition to tours and tastings. Several including Vina Bisquertt, Casa Lapostolle, Laura Hartwig, Montes, Viu Manent and El Crucero and within a short distance of Santa Cruz.

We pull into the Viu Manent winery that hosts the La Llaveria restaurant for al fresco dining in the courtyard that overlooks a beautiful garden and fountain. Outside, house-drawn carriages wait under the shade of a copse of trees to convey visitors through the vineyards that we had just ridden through on the motorcycles.

On the menu are big cuts of steak or tuna, or Chilean national dish pastel de choclo. The food is excellent, and as this is the end of the ride, a little wine as well. The grand old ladies parked outside prefer a different vintage and like drinking the rough stuff, aviation fuel, because it is leaded.
ENDS
WORDS 1,500

SIDEPANELS

THE BIKES

1962 BSA Goldstar DBD34
A true British cafe racer; whose four speed, 499cc, air-cooled single cylinder engine can reach a maximum speed of 177 km/h.

1959 Triumph T100
A three speed, two cylinder, four stroke air cooled 498cc British beauty with a maximum speed of 150 km/h.

1960 Panther T15
A British three speed, air cooled, four stroke 348cc motorcycle with a maximum speed of 120 km/h.

1966 Motobi 175
An Italian three speed, four stroke, air cooled 174cc engine, with a maximum speed of 120 km/h.

TOURS
The Café Racer Museum will begin offering fully-supported guided tours in Spanish, English, Portuguese and Italian from September. Tours include motorcycle rental, accommodation, insurance, and support vehicle. Training on the more difficult to ride motorcycles can be arranged in Santiago prior to tour departure. For further details contact:

Two-day tours are available any weekend without rain and include motorcycle rental, transfers, insurance, vintage motorcycle riding lesson, hotel, food, visits to a winery, Casa de los Espiritus and Colchagua Museum.

Contact:
Tomas Bascuñan
tbascunan@caferacer.cl
Tel: +56 2 740 0028
Cell: +56 09 277 9841
www.caferacer.cl

SIDEBAR – SANTA CRUZ
Wine tourism is a recent phenomenon in the valley and is centred on Santa Cruz where the majestic Santa Cruz Plaza hotel (www.hotelsantacruzplaza.cl) has grown and been extended to cater for the growing number of visitors. The hacienda style hotel has 44 rooms, two restaurants and a swimming pool. The hotel’s owner is also the patron and developer of the adjacent Colchagua museum (www.museocolchagua.cl) that has an impressive collection of over 5,000 exhibits showing the history of Chile from prehistoric times, through the Spanish conquest, to the present day.

Espiritus de Colchagua makes artesanal fruit and herb infused liqueurs using aguardiente grape brandy. The adobe construction house has an inner courtyard filled where a wide variety of plants grow, most of which provide ingredients for the infusions. A tour and tasting explains how over 20 varieties are created including raspberry, blackcurrant, native red berry murta and boldo, a medicinal evergreen shrub native to South America.

CAFÉ RACER MUSEUM

The Café Racer Museum in Chilean capital Santiago is a private collection of over 80 fully-restored motorcycles, 45 of which are on public display in the exhibition hall. The grand old lady of the collection is a 1906 Moto Reve, a Swiss-made motorcycle built into a BSA bicycle frame, and the baby is more like the sexy beasts we know today, the 1985 Ducati NCR 1985. The roll call of the collection includes marques such as Ducati, BSA, Triumph, Norton, Moto Guzzi, Vespa to Panther, NSU, MV Agusta, Parilla, AJS, Motorb, Adler, Capriolo, Morini, Gilera, Coventry Eagle and Husqvarna. Restoration occurs on site. The workshops are not open to the public but viewing panels in the walls allow visitors to get a glimpse of the restoration process.