Between 1982 and 2012, I took 95 major trips to foreign and domestic destinations as tour designer and leader. My tours were tailored to include experiences not enjoyed by the average traveler. Bet you didn't see what we did! This book is about: Traveli

Around the World in 80 Years

A New Travel DiaryBy Elva Nelson

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Elva Nelson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4772-3338-2

Contents

Introduction........................................vAcknowledgements....................................viiDedication..........................................ixPeru................................................1Cancun..............................................6South Africa........................................9Japan...............................................15China...............................................20Greece..............................................27Egypt...............................................31El Dorado...........................................36El Dorado #2........................................38Norway..............................................39Philadelphia Flower Show............................43Philadelphia Extra!.................................46New England.........................................47Hawaii..............................................50Costa Rica..........................................54Floriade............................................57The Pacific Northwest...............................62Australia...........................................65New Zealand.........................................68Fiji................................................71Chelsea Flower Show.................................73Denmark.............................................77Scotland, England, Wales............................81Weymouth............................................87Inland Waterway.....................................89Italy...............................................92Ireland.............................................96Barging In France...................................100Northern Capitols Of Europe.........................106The Sea Cloud.......................................110Old World Europe....................................114South China Sea.....................................118Antiqua.............................................122Paris With Elsa.....................................125Spain And Portugal..................................129Greece And Her Islands..............................133Alaska..............................................136Houston Highways....................................139South America.......................................141Scotland And England, 1999..........................145On The Crystal With Elsa............................148Black Sea...........................................151South Of France.....................................154Provence............................................158Venice To Barcelona With Nelson.....................160Loire Valley........................................163The Big Trip For Life...............................166Crossing Canada.....................................168Hudson Valley.......................................171Final Note..........................................177

Chapter One

PERU

Our plane landed in Iquitos, Peru, along the Amazon River. A small town important in the lumber trade, it resembled an early prospecting town in the American West—primitive, with muddy streets. The first horrible sound was from a pig being slaughtered down the street. We were ushered to a boat, much like the one in the movie The African Queen, and motored down the enormously wide Amazon River for hours to a tributary where we transferred to dug-out canoes. The river is used by the natives as a highway, which proved an interesting sight as they traveled past us. We pulled to the shore and had the first view of our lodge. It sat on stilts and had a very high thatched roof. In the rainy season, the waters come right up to the doorway and the piranha fish are actively aggressive.

Our sleeping quarters were small with very short wooden beds covered with mosquito netting. A screen like hardware cloth was stretched across the room at ceiling height beneath the thatch. There was a shower to be shared by other guests, which was a trickle of river water stored in a 5 gallon tub above. The temperature was high, the humidity higher and the water lukewarm. Not such a refreshing shower to us, but even worse to a dignified fellow traveler named Madge Horn, who told us how hard it was to take off her girdle and put it back on in that shower stall. She was one of the most respected members of Texas Garden Clubs. She had jet black hair and rode her horse every day on her ranch in Del Rio, Texas. She always said that we looked like a herd of cattle waiting at the barn door before our meals at state conventions. At night we heard strange noises but could not see anything when peeking out from under the mosquito netting. It was only after we were on our flight home that I was told that the screening was to prevent the snakes in the thatch from falling on to us while we slept. It was better that we did not know or see them when we were there. The colorful Macaws and other large birds in the lodge were also a form of snake control.

Potatoes are native to Peru. They have hundreds of varieties in every color: purple, black, yellow, red, and we had them at each meal, along with strange, nameless meats. We suspected that the chicken they said we were eating may have been snake or another exotic. Our ventures into the jungle were often on wooden boards to avoid quicksand, in which you slowly sink into oblivion—just like in the movies. Blooming amaryllis plants, growing wild, greeted us in the jungle. No need to buy the bulbs, watch them slowly grow and finally bloom into a magnificent lily-like flower; nature does that work in the Peruvian jungle. Then there were the ant trees, trees that house ants that will eat the flesh off your body if you are tied to them by the natives which were a punishment for infidelity in the native culture! An anaconda resided in the lake that we rowed on one day in a dug-out canoe. We could not find him, but our guide sold me her triangular paddle as a remembrance. Years later, when the movie Anaconda came out, it brought back memories of our trip; the Indians rowed out of the mist with paddles just like mine.

The visit to a small native village, with tiny residents, was like a mutual inspection experience. The Indians, very short in stature, sparsely dressed, like the pictures in National Geographic, offered many items that they had made, including a working blowgun that I still have on the wall in my back hall. The men asked for cigarettes—no luck because none of us smoked. The children were curious but stayed close to their mothers.

Leaving the lodge, by the same route that we had arrived, left us hot, sticky and not quite acceptable to attend the grand reception party held for us when the Texas Flower Show judges arrived in Lima. The United States Consulate building had been bombed the week before our trip, probably by rebels connected to an opposition party.

The building happened to be a few blocks from our hotel in Lima. Naturally, I had to see it for myself, and it was worth the walk. Most of the damage was at the front entrance where glass and debris were still scattered. There was an interesting building across the boulevard from our hotel that we learned was the jail. People were coming and going at all hours. Apparently, prisoners were not fed in jail so their families were allowed to bring them food. There was a beautiful park between our hotel and the site of the flower show. In the evening the grass seemed to come alive with movement from all...