Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels 08/08/2022

8/8/2022

Dale Sievert (Gulliver)

Argentina and Brazil
Part 2
February-March 2022

Part 2 - Iguazu Falls--Border of Argentina and Brazil

Perhaps the greatest waterfalls in the world is Iguazu Falls (Spanish in Argentina), or Iguacu Falls (Portuguese in Brazil). The Guarani indigenous group call it Iguazu, meaning great river. The Rio Iguazu (the Argentinian name) forms the border of Argentina and Brazil. The falls is not the tallest, the most voluminous, or the most of anything else. It is just so overwhelming in its entirety. People generally take two days to visit it, as it is so spread out. It is nearly two miles long when one adds up all its courses and channels. It has 275 separate falls, the tallest being 270 feet high. Many walkways allow visitors to walk above the river, especially on the Argentinian side.
This was my second visit to the falls, the first being in February 2003 following my trip to Antarctica. The water level was lower this time, but the falls were still spectacular.

A map of the falls, with Argentina on the right and Brazil on the left

Looking north upriver, with Argentina on the right and Brazil on the left

The Argentinian falls

Walkways over the water

Garganta del Diablo, or Mouth of the Devil, is 2300 feet long, 490 feet wide, and 270 feet high

Looking north to the beginning of the falls

The heart of Garganta del Diablo

Walking on the Argentinian side

Up close on the Argentinian side

Epilogue

If you wish to see an amazing waterfall, visit Niagara Falls. If you wish to see a waterfall that is ineffable, visit Iguazu Falls. No words of praise can do it justice. It reminds me of the old Japanese saying, "Don't say something is beautiful until you've seen Nikko Temple." That means that a high percentage of Japanese people would say Nikko Temple is the most beautiful place in Japan. A person who did not visit Nikko Temple but who saw another fantastic place might describe it as beautiful--but only out of ignorance. I saw Nikko Temple, so I know what the Japanese man of olden times meant.

Next up: Part 3 of Argentina and Brazil, which covers the city of Curitiba plus the Atlantic coast area near the city of Florianapolis.

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Gullivers Travels 06/20/2022

6/20/2022

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Argentina and Brazil
February-March 2022

My life took a bit of a turn on December 30th last year. I decided to go to Lafayette, Louisiana, for six days and nights of Cajun & Zydeco music and dancing over New Year's. Dorothy and I started going there in 1993, and we went there many times. On day three, the 30th, I asked a lady to dance, and she said yes. We hit it off well--and parted company -- 16 days later after touring LA. Miss X (she requested that I not reveal her name until she meets people I know) planned to travel alone in Louisiana for five weeks. She is a native of Brazil, but she has worked for many years in South Africa, Sweden, Israel, England, and Germany (where she has lived for the last 13 years). After Louisiana, she had plans to go to Brazil for several months, where she still has a family. About a week after I got home, she told me she was going to northern Argentina for a few weeks, touring the desert and a few wineries. She asked me if I wanted to join her. My options were no and YESSSS. So, I flew to Curitiba, Brazil, to meet her. After spending a week there, we first went to the famous Iguazu Falls, which is on the border of Brazil and Argentina. Then we flew to Salta, Argentina. We spent two weeks in Argentina, after which we flew back to Curitiba. In all, we spent 32 days together. The future for us is unclear, but more travel might be forthcoming. However, several factors have to work out right for that to happen, so time will tell.

Argentina and Brazil will be presented in three parts, each posted several weeks apart. The first part will be on Argentina, the second on Iguazu Falls, and the last on Brazil. For the benefit of my readers, the original Spanish and Portuguez that I wrote it in will be translated into English. Those of you who took Spanish at Lincoln with either Bill Berringer or Donald Diekelmann will, thus, not have to suffer trying to translate it yourself into English.

Northern Argentina

After viewing Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina, my friend and I flew to Salta, Argentina on February 17th. Salta is fairly close to both Bolivia to the north and Chile to the west. We rented a car and drove on some very good and some very, very, very bad roads, almost always in high desert areas. Many of the desert rock formations were stunning, the like which I had never seen before. My friend is a wine aficionado, so we visited seven wineries, one of which is the highest winery in the world. After weather in the high 60s and sun every day, we returned to Brazil on March 2nd.

Church in Cafayte

Eating some (unnecessary) "Viagra" ice cream

City cemetery of Cafayte

A museum of indigenous people of northern Argentina

In the Colalao Valley

Portulaca flowers

In the Calchanuies Valley

Typical gravel road in the Calchanuies Valley

A very old cemetery in the Calchaquies Valley

A decrepit tomb with wooden coffins stacked inside

In the Angastaco National Monument

The Colonne Winery in Molinos

A cactus very similar to Saguaro in Arizona

A church in Cachi

The Cachi cemetery

The Andes Mountains in the distance

A canyon just outside Pumamarca

A Carnaval celebration in Pumamarca

A Carnaval procession in Pumamarca

A salt flat at 11,200-feet altitude

Epilogue

I thought of a lot of places to travel to in my life. However, by the end of 2021 it never occurred to me to travel to northern Argentina--to drink lots of wine with a wine aficionado, visit lots of quaint cemeteries with a cemetery aficionado, and visit deserts and salt flats with a new friend. Here's hoping there are more pleasant surprises for me. Maybe all I have to do is ask someone to dance. Sure beats the frustration of a dating service--not to mention the cost.

Dale

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Gulliver's travels 04/25/2022

4/25/2022

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Dale Sievert (Gulliver)

Part 3 Utah & Arizona--November 2021

Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona

This 133-square-mile park is on Navajo Nation land in northeastern Arizona. The floor of its deep canyon has been farmed by indigenous people for thousands of years, and it continues to be farmed today by their descendents. This park of red sandstone cliffs was established in 1931. The name Chelly is pronounced as "shay," one syllable and a long a sound.

Spider Rock, about 800 feet high

Farm fields are on the canyon floor.

Near the entrance of the canyon

An abandoned cliff dwelling

Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona

This very remote park is in southeastern Arizona, bumping up against New Mexico. These rugged mountains were the stronghold of the Apache Indians until the 1880s, including Geronino and Cochise. It was established in 1924 primarily to protect its many hoodoos and balanced rocks.

Lichens (symbiotic combinations of an algae and a fungus)

The yellow coloring on the rocks are lichens.

Epilogue

Well, that's all folks--of Utah and Arizona. I almost always drive there, just loving the area and the way out. You might wonder why I spend so much time there. Well, it is just so phenomenally beautiful. The second reason is that every day I spend there is a day I do not have to take the chance of getting run over by some old driver in Florida, South Texas, or "Sun City and Environs"--not to mention "catching" old age from them.

The next Gulliver's Travels will be of my February-March trip to southern Brazil and northern Argentina.

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Gulliver's Travels 04/04/2022

4/4/2022

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Part 2 Utah & Arizona--November 2021

White Pocket, Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona

White Pocket is a one-square-mile wonder within the 459-square-mile Vermillion Cliffs National Monument in Arizona, just south of the Utah-Arizona border. It is part of the Paria (Pa REE ah) Plateau and is composed primarily of swirling formations of Navajo Sandstone. It takes a three-hour-drive from Kanab, Utah by 4WD vehicle to reach. It is only a mile away from The Wave, an even more famous formation requiring winning a lottery to visit. I've already failed to win it three times. I'll keep trying.

The will to live of a Ponderosa Pine is inspiring to a soon-to-be octogenarian.

Next up will be Arizona's Canyon de Chelly National Monument and Chiricahua National Monument--also cool places, so don't miss them. Better yet, go see them in person.

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Gulliver's Travels 03/21/2022

3/21/2022

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Dale Sievert

Part 1: Utah & Arizona--November 2021

You might be thinking, "Haven't I seen this one before?" No, not quite. Yes, I was in Utah and Arizona in January 2021 and posted a Gulliver's Travels of that trip. But there is so much to see in Utah and Arizona that I thought it warranted another trip, so here it is.

It will be presented in three parts, each appearing in separate postings. This first part will be of Utah, and it will have two sections, the first of Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon and the second of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

The five red dots show where the five locations are that I visited and will highlight with photos.

Peek-a-Boo Slot Canyon, Page, Utah

A so-called slot canyon is a narrow channel cut through rock by a river. The river channel is usually devoid of water, only wet after rains. Utah and Arizona have many slot canyons of varying lengths and depths. They invariably twist and turn due to the tremendous force of the rushing water and accompanying rocks and other debris that transform the relatively soft sandstone into intricate and beautiful formations. As they are always narrow and steep sided, they are deadly when flash floods occur.

The entrance to the slot canyon

Dale NOT ready for a flash flood

Ancient Indians carved footholds for climbing the canyon walls.

Closeup of the Indian footholds

The exit from the canyon

Banded coloration of rocks near the canyon

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah

This area is part of the huge Colorado Plateau, sandstone formations created over a 90-million year period in shallow seas. Tectonic forces forced it to rise up to two miles in height 15-20 million years ago. The Grand Staircase refers to a series of five smaller plateaus, each higher than the next, the first one being in northern Arizona and the fifth one being the Paunsaugunt Plateau, which contains Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah.

The variation of colors and rock types stem from millions of years of depositions of varying types of materials over millions of years.

Whitish rocks lack the iron compounds of the more common reddish rocks.

Voodoos are strange rock formations with harder, slower-eroding rocks on top of softer, faster-eroding rocks.

Part 2 and 3 of Utah and Arizona will follow in subsequent weeks--so hold your horses.

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Gulliver's Travels 01/31/2022

1/31/2022

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Dale Sievert

Eastern Canada
and
Upper New England

I remember very well in grade school being intrigued by Leif Ericson discovering what is now North America, specifically, the northern tip of Newfoundland. In September I finally went to visit the site. I flew to Burlington, Vermont and then drove first to Montreal. Then I went to Quebec City and up the Gaspe Peninsula in New Brunswick. After that, I toured Prince Edward Island before taking the ferry from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. Then I headed south for a brief trip through Nova Scotia, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Newfoundland

Americans pronounce the name NEWfoundland, but its residents pronounce it NewfoundLAND. Bet you never knew that. But Leif (pronounced LEEF, not LIFE, but who knows how HE pronounced it) Ericson (also spelled Erikson) and the 35 men who landed there around 990 called it Vinland, owing to the many grape vines they found. The flat marshy land they lived on until approximately 1050 was called L'Anse aux Meadows (I don't know what that means, so tell me if you know, but just don't show off). Actually, they were not supposed to land there, as in attempting to sail from Norway to Greenland their ship got blown off course. Serves them right for saving money by not buying a Garmin. And why go to Greenland, a God-forsaken icebox? Because back then it was much warmer there, so much that agriculture was practiced. My question is: who got the blame for that "global warming," as the use of fossil fuels was minimal then. I'm not taking sides on that issue, just wondering why it was not the icebox of today. That, and what did the polar bears eat if the Arctic Ocean was likely ice-free in the summer and it was far harder to hunt seals.

Overlooking the settlement of Leif Ericson and the other Norsemen

Reconstructed sod houses of the Norsemen

The walkway passes through the remains of the Norse village.

The raised ground areas were foundations of buildings.

New Brunswick and Nova Scotia

In 1979 our whole family visited these maritime provinces, so I figured it was time to return. I noticed just one change: the residents no longer speak with a strong Irish brogue. The countryside is as beautiful as ever, thank heavens.

Along a road in New Brunswick

Halifax Public Garden in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Famous Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, on the Atlantic coast

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, is an old fishing town on the Atlantic coast

City street in Lunenburg

Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick, on the Bay of Fundy, which have the highest tides in the world at 50 feet

Upper New England

I entered New England at the New Brunswick and Maine border, then went north for a long way before turning south and going as far as New Hampshire. Then I went back north, then west into Vermont before ending up in Burlington, Vermont to fly home. The fall colors were incredibly beautiful, but my camera was on the fritz, so I got no great photos.

Mt. Katahdin, the tallest mountain in Maine, at 5267 feet

Lobster lunch with friend Bob in Maine

American Stonehenge, a 4000-year-old settlement in NH with many rocks lined up for astronomical alignments

Canterbury Shaker Village, NH, founded in 1792, whose last member died in 1992, has 25 buildings.

At Mt. Washington, NH, at 6288', the highest mountain in the Northeast

The highest wind speed in the US, 231 MPH, occurred here.

A cog railroad takes passengers to the top.

Epilog

Well, that's one more trip finished. The next GT will be of my favorite Utah plus eastern Arizona, which I did in November last year. I also spent three weeks at the end of December and early January in Louisiana, but that will not be posted.

I leave on February 8th for Brazil, and on the 15th I fly to northern Argentina with a new friend. There, mountains, deserts, salt flats, and wineries beckon us.

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Gulliver's Travels 12/13/2021

12/11/2021

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Dale Sievert

South Texas

In April I visited South Texas, primarily to see the famous wildflowers along the highways. I also visited LBJ's ranch a bit north of San Antonio, after which I drove west to visit Big Bend National Park, which extends to the border with Mexico along the Rio Grande River. After waiting for decades, I finally got to visit Judge Roy Bean's famous "Law West of the Pecos" in Langtry, along the Rio Grande River. Next, I toured Corpus Christi and Austin before returning to San Antonio. Finally, I took a day trip to the delightful town of Castroville, a bit west of San Antonio.

Big Bend National Park

This park, comprising the Chisos Mountains and the Chihuahuan Desert, hugs the Rio Grande River along the border with Mexico. It was formed in 1935 and is 125 square miles in area. It does not possess the grandeur of most national parks, but does have a rugged beauty that many people enjoy. Its tallest mountain, Mt. Emory, is 7625 feet high.

The limestone, sandstone, and shale in the park are as old as 500 million years.

This formation is called Donkey Ears.

This is a tributary of the Rio Grande River, which is close by.

Judge Roy Bean

Phantly Roy Bean, 1825-1903, was the Justice of the Peace for Val Verde County, Texas. He was known as Judge Roy Bean. Though he was not an actual judge, he filled the role of a judge from his saloon, the "Jersey Lily," in the small town of Langtry. Besides actual state and county laws, he meted out fines for other "laws" he made up himself. Thus, he was known as Judge Roy Bean, Law West of the Pecos. The Pecos referred to the Pecos River, a tributary of the Rio Grande.

Texas Wildflowers

Texas is famous for its displays of spring wildflowers along its highways. President Johnson's wife, Lady Bird Johnson, was very active in promoting the growth of the wildflowers as part of her highway beautification efforts. She was also active in removing highway billboards.

This is a field of primarily bluebonnets, the most famous Texas wildflower.

Beep beep! A roadrunner

Spanish Missions in San Antonio

The Catholic Church of Spain established many missions in the 1700s in what is now Texas. What became the city of San Antonio had its share, the most famous being what is now known as the Alamo. The missions were largely self-sustaining, each with large areas surrounding the centralized church for raising crops and animals

San Jose Mission, built in 1782

Interior of Mission San Juan Capistrano, begun in 1731

The Alamo, begun in the 1790s and the site of the battle for Texas independence in 1836, where Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie died with 187 others in a losing battle against General Santa Anna.

River Walk in San Antonio

The famous River Walk along the San Antonio River extends 15 miles, five miles of it in the center of San Antonio. Its development began in the 1930s, but it was extended in recent decades. Its center has a great deal of businesses catering to tourists, including boat trips, restaurants, hotels, and shops. It is especially pretty at night, as there are enormous amounts of light displays.

Castroville, "The Little Alsace of Texas"

In 1844 Henri Castro led about 50 men about 25 west of San Antonio to settle a new town. Most of them had immigrated from the Alsace region, in the northeast part of France, which borders both Germany and Switzerland. Today about 20 of the houses they constructed still exist in modern Castroville, all retaining the appearance of the styles of dwellings common to Alsace.

The Landmark Inn, begun as a tavern in 1849 by Cesar Monod in 1849

This house was built in 1752 by Alois Walter.

Epilogue

Well, now I've gotten South Texas out of the way, so I'm a little bit closer to seeing everything in the US I just must have to visit. It's not my favorite part of the country, but I am certainly glad I got to see lots of nice places there.

Next up will be a short piece on the Maritime Provinces of Canada and a bit of northern New England, where I visited in September.

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Gulliver's Travels 11/08/2021

11/8/2021

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Dale Sievert

Alabama and Environs

At the beginning of this year, I had two great fears relating to Covid (that is, in addition to dying of it). One, developing severe arthritis of my thumbs from constantly twiddling them while sitting idle at home. Two, dying of boredom while sitting idle at home. So, prevented from my usual foreign travel through the winter, self-preservation led me to plan

four trips, one each month, to the southern US. The first, in January, was to the Southwest, which I published in the last Gulliver's Travels. In February, after flying to Nashville I drove the historic Natchez Trace through Mississippi, then visited friends in Lafayette, Louisiana. I then spent most of that trip in Alabama. That trip will be presented in the current Gulliver's Travels. In March, my grandson and I first visited Gary and Barbara Heiman at their home near Columbus. We then toured Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. That trip had too few interesting photos for a separate GT. My last trip designed to stave off arthritis and boredom was to south Texas (which will be highlighted in my next GT).

Helen Keller

As a student in grade school and in high school, I was always intrigued by Helen Keller--by what she accomplished with such enormous "handicaps." If only those with no such "problems" could be as productive as she was in direct proportion to their relative abilities.

She was born in West Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1880. At 19 months she developed an illness that led to her becoming blind and deaf. At the age of seven she became the pupil of Anne Sullivan. Helen famously learned what "written" words (actually, finger movements) meant when she realized that the finger movements of Anne, spelling w-a-t-e-r, represented water. The rest was "easy" for her.

A statue of Helen learning the meaning of w-a-t-e-r

The Keller home

The Tuskegee Airmen

When I taught economics at Milwaukee Area Technical College, I often suggested that perhaps we should not use crude oil (first called "rock oil," or petroleum)--because it is black. We should only use "white" oil, such as whale oil. I also suggested NOT using "muck soils," such as those abundant in some parts of Wisconsin--because the soil was black. Instead, we should only grow crops on light-colored soils, such as the sands of central Wisconsin. Of course, all the students realized how foolish that would be, as the people of the world would be denying themselves the benefits of "black resources," namely, petroleum and muck soils. Of course, another "black resource" that people commonly DID deny themselves the benefit of was black LABORERS. I know of no better example of how such black people were finally allowed to benefit everybody else: when the US Army Air Force allowed blacks to fly fighter planes against Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe. A total of 932 graduated from the program in Tuskegee, Alabama, and 355 flew as P-51 fighter pilots--with an amazing success rate. I was genuinely moved by being at the spot where such an absurdity began to be realized by those who were harming themselves.

Moton Field ("home base," but most actual training took place at nearby Kennedy Field and Tuskegee Army Air Field, no longer in existence)

Booker T. Washington

Some 40 years ago, I bought a used book, "Up From Slavery, by Booker T. Washington, which sounded interesting. I re-read it every decade or so, as I find it fascinating. Thus, I just had to visit Tuskegee Institute, a college for training black teachers, which Washington founded in 1881. Such history.

One of the main buildings at the institute.

This was the first building of the institute

Carnegie Hall at the institute, which was built in 1901 as part of Andrew Carnegie's program of funding public libraries in the US.

Montgomery, Alabama

I vividly remember Governor George Wallace, at his 1963 inauguration, saying "...segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." Someday I was going to have to visit that spot. So, I did. And I took a photo of the beautiful building where George said it. What changes we all have seen in our lifetimes.

The Alabama state capitol building in Montgomery

The 18th Century Wave-Farley-Hood home, three blocks from the capitol

Moundville and the Mississipian Culture

American Indian culture began a major shift at the beginning of the 11th Century, or 1000 A.D. They began to build relatively large cities, and many had rather large mounds, often pyramidal in shape. One of the largest was in present-day Moundville, Mississippi, where 29 mounds were built, with most still intact. Another was near present-day Jefferson, Wisconsin, called Aztalan, where one large mound stands. And the largest city built was about 10 miles east of St. Louis, called Cahokia. It had about 12,000 people at its peak, and it had 120 mounds, of which 80 still remain, the largest a hundred feet high.

INTRODUCTION SIGN AT THE PARK

A SIGN ABOUT THE CULTURE

Some of 29 mounds at the park

Epilog

This wasn't my best trip, and it wasn't my worst. But it (and the other three of last winter) just might have been some of the most valuable to me--that is, they helped me get through the winter that so many had difficulty enduring. Let us hope such a disaster never repeats itself.

Next up-south Texas. Some pretty places, plus some rather unusual places, as well.

Dale

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Gulliver's Travels - The Southwest Part III

9/19/2021

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The Southwest

Part III Arizona and New Mexico

After a long delay (due to traveling, working on gardening, and our reunion), here is the next section of the trip I took in January 2021 to the Southwest. It includes visits to Coyote Buttes in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument in Arizona, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona, Saguaro National Park in Arizona, Chiricahua National Monument in New Mexico and Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. All stun one's visual senses. I like being stunned.

This photo and the next four are from Coyote Buttes in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument.

There are a lot of weird shapes here (NOT referring to the human kind).

These two photos were taken in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona.

This photo and the next three are from Saguaro National Park in Arizona

This photo and the next two were taken in Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona.

The entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, home to 100 separate caves

This photo and the next three are from The Big Room, 4,000 feet long, 625 feet wide, and 255 feet high.

Epilogue

I might be done chronicling this trip--but I am not done with the Southwest. I am going back in November to try to "win the lottery" for "The Wave," an incredible sandstone formation an acre in size. Only 40 people per day are allowed in. I failed twice before to get in, but "Try, try, again" is my motto. If I don't get in, of course, I will try again. Later in that trip I will tour eastern Arizona, which I have been hoping to get to for over 20 years.

As this Gulliver's Travels comes out, I will be in eastern Canada, going as far as Newfoundland. It is a trip I had to cancel last September because of Covid. I am going now because I had to cancel my planned trip to Europe, as Poland, one of the countries on my itinerary, would not allow me in due to Covid. Ah, the foibles of travel in the Covid era.

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Gulliver's Travels 03/29/2021

3/29/2021

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The Southwest

Part II -- California

Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and I agree(ed) on one thing: President James Polk should not have gone to war with Mexico in 1846. When I went to Utah, California, Arizona, and New Mexico in January, I should have required my passport to enter Mexico. Nonetheless, those "stolen states" have incredible natural beauty, so I enjoyed it, either it be Mexico or the United States. (But I still hope that we allow California to secede. If it doesn't, I'm for kicking them out of the Union. Wisconsin then can regain the leadership in milk production--and Wisconsin dairy farmers won't have to unfairly fight against the massive California herds that benefit from subsidized water coming from the Sierra Nevada. There, I got THAT off my chest!).

I visited two national parks in California: Death Valley NP and Joshua Tree NP, plus a couple of national monuments. I also drove for a ways on old Route 66 west of Needles--as I did in 1946 and 1961. Both its pavement and my body have aged approximately the same--but from different kinds of abuse.