South American Tour: Hurcho, Peru 1965

Tuesday, January, 11 1965 Hurcho (WAH-choh)

Up at 7:30. Ship was still anchored out in bay. The sea is quite rough and it is cold for the tropics. We are sleeping under one or two blankets each night the ship is quite a distane from shore. The thick fog keeps coming in and obliterating the shore and the ships on hared around us then it lifts for a while and then falls. The Captain said at breakfast there was a mix up. (Par for the course in S.A.) He had been told in Lima that lighters and stevedores would be available for unloading today. However, there was an early morning conference in passengers lounge and the schedule was to unload and load another Norwegian ship today. There is no channel deep enough for freighters to come to the docks and I don't believe the docks would be strong enough to hold a ship of this size in rough weather. There is a large plant here that makes fish meal for fertilizer and stock food. The product is shipped out in 120th burlap bags. Most ships can't handle it because the odor permeates other cargo and results in damage claim and there are millions

of firas who live off the product. We, the Finnertys and Margaret decided to go to town a small rowboat sized craft came for us at 9:30. It was powered by a Briggs-stratton motor and makes about 4 miles per hour. Tariff: 100 soles ($4.00 American) for 5 people. Then a special taxi to the main part of town for 5 soles ($.20). It wasn't much of a town - mostly narrow streets. 3 foot sidewalks, street stands and small dirty shops. We tried to buy colored picture postcards at some of the places. I was sure there was one in town. Most shop keepers didn't know what we were talking about "color tarjeta postal" we finally settled for black and white foto prints in a camera shop which were the size of a postcard. Unique a town of 25,000 where one cannot buy a postcard. We walked around the town for 2 and a half hours and decided we had enough so we started bargaining with taxi drivers. The first four wanted 10 soles so did the fifth but he reduced to five and we went to the docks. The water taxi that brought us ashore was there so we boarded it and returned to ship. Had lunch and took a nap. Invited Captain and Chief Engineer for cocktails. The Steward made pisco punch for Millie discovered she had picked up a real sunburn in the water taxi this PM. If it fits ship's schedule we will go to town tomorrow and take taxi (colleativo) to Lima which is 132 KLM (80 Miles) on PanAm Highway. fare: 1.00 American.

Wednesday, January, 13th 1965 - Huacho, Peru

Nice Day, partly cloudy. Everyone including the Capt. is confused we expected the stevedores to start loading cotton on our ship at 8 am, but they are still working on another ship. There was a possibility that the ship would leave without taking cargo. The decisions are made in Bergen, Norway. Anyway, our motor trip to Lima is out. Around noon word came that loading would start at one and it did apparently. There is only one full crew of stevedores in the town (share the work in reverse) to handle the cargo on shore, place in on small four wheel dollies, tow in by tractor to end of dock, unload with help of winch and boom and pass to 4 men in lighter. Then tug comes and tows lighter to side of ship, stevedores deck crew operate ships winches and boom to pick up cotton from lighter and transfer to one of five holds of ship where stevedore had crew pack it away. They were handling bales of cotton weighing 5-600 pounds each. There are 8-10 lighters working. I would estimate there are between 75 and 100 stevedores supervisors and checkers in a full crew. In the late afternoon, Hazel Lewis and Marian Peake returned from trip to Machu Picchu. They hired taxi in Lima for trip to Huacho paying $15.00 for ride. At 6:30 PM Ray and Alice Mortin returned. They had some trouble with plane connections and had to buy tickets on airline other than the one which they had already paid for. This was from Cuzco to Lima. To buy the tickets he had to go back into town of Cuzco. At Lima he was able to secure full refund on unused tickets as girl admitted the plane had been oversold. Its a good thing Ray speaks Spanish fluently. So he can shout at them in their own language. All four were supposed to rejoin ship in Ilo but agent told them they could pick it up at Huacho and they left Lima right away.

South American Tour Lima, Peru 1965

Saturday, January 9th Quayaquil to Lima

Up at 5 this morning. It seemed hopeless to get a hold of our passports and make 7 am plane. All of us started phoning. Millie contacted Miss Lola who said she had located our passports and gotten Velasquez's phone number. Millie phoned him and he just wouldn't cooperate, because we had gotten him out of bed and it was the railroads fault for not running on Friday, not his. She begged pleaded and cried but "no go." Then we tried Castro and called the American Consul. Finally, a change came over him a taxi showed up at the hotel, driver had note with my name on it and word "passport." I grabbed Tom Finnerty and away we went. The driver could not speak English so we did not know where we ended at Valasquez Office and he was sitting calmly at his desk. It was now 6 am. I had not even combed my hair...I don't know whether the taxi was the one Braniff sent or not. They had had one out all night trying to locate Velasquez and had found him and he had the four passports. He had taken Finnertys to get them a Peruvian Visa and supposedly the same for Millie and me. Although I had a Peruvian landing card and I already had one. The just wanted the passport for security until we paid for the tour. Finally he started to prepare the landing cards for the Finnerts (I filled ours out in Denver after buying the card from Steamship co. for $4.00 Tom's cost $5.00. then he made out a bill for plane to Quito etc. came to $102.00. It was ten minutes to seven. Tom had called Bea and told them to check out, pay the hotel bill and bring luggage to airfield. We arrived at 7, the girls were there. Then found the plane. It was a New York & Miami one would be an hour late. McBancroft, our ambassador was there also.

We Purchased our plane tickets from Miss Lola and thanked her profusely for the excellent help. She was really a gift from the gods when needed. (She had spent several years there and had some travelling difficulties of her own so she knew what to do with our problems). It took the jet one hour and 30 minutes to cover the 1000 miles to Lima, Peru. We had an excellent breakfast on the plane - the first meal we had had since breakfast in Quito. Off the plane and through immigration (good passport -- the next one is going to get an argument when he wants my passport) and customs. Customs just patted our bags and said OK. But gave Tom and Bea's a good going over. After buying some Peruvian dinner at the airport we took off in a hotel taxi for Gran Hotel Bolivar. Excellent rooms on sixth floor and then a couple of Pisco Punches in tap Room -- the first one on the house. Wives went shopping, Tom and I went for hair cut - Chinese barber spoke Spanish but no English. Karen, our granddaughter who is making a four month visit in Peru came to the Hotel with her Hostess Senora Lopez and her two daugthers, Ana who had spent four months in Karen's home in Tucson and Marie (13 years) also Jose the 15 year old brother. We had lunch in Hotel - $48.00  and they invited us over to their home for a surprise party for Karen's 11th Birthday. In the meantime Joey Murz phoned. We met him in Tucson he works for ASARCO and spent 10 years in Peru. He was going to the party and would pick us up. Then Heather Sprague phoned. They were also coming to the party and she invited the Lopez family, Karen aned us to Lunch on Sunday. We took a nap, dressed and left hotel with Joey for party, around 5. the party was an example of Spanish Culture and manners. There were 11 Peruvian girls there with adult friends dropping in all evening. Many of them brought Birthday gifts. The girls danced square dance, tangos, cha-cha etc. One played accordion. Food never stopped coming with soft drinks. The Lopez took us to hotel about ten Mr. Lopez who also works for ASARCO, is Caja Metro, 844 Kms north,  where the company has a branch. He is an Engineer.

Sunday, January 10, 1965 Lima

We were called at 8. Had breakfast, packed, checked out of hotel and left baggage at desk. The Lopez with Karen called for us at ten and we toured Lima and surrounding residential areas and the beaches ending up at the Spragues at 12:30 for lunch. Left Spagues with Lopez stopped by Hotel for bags and ran into Tom Finnerty. he said they had picked up a tour agent who was arranging trip for them to Cuzco and Machu Pichu, 3 dars for $109 and $30 more would get them to Ilo to rejoin ship. With the Comedy in errors on the Quito Andrean trip so fresh in my mind I wasn't too interested in the Spanish brand of tour agents but Millie warmed up to it as she wanted to see the Inca headquaters which was so well hidden that it wasn't discovered until 1911. So we told Tome to get two trips for us and then we left for the ship in Callao in the Lopez car. Mrs. Lopez parked car outside the gate and we picked up luggage and walked over to gang plank, there a guard stopped us and called a customs officer. Jose and his mother jabbered away in Spanish with the two officers. It appeared I couldn't take the luggage on board until it had been inspected by customs, this customs officer couldn't do it and the officer where it would have to be done was booked until Monday. The discussion went on for 15 minutes. I went on board to get the bursar, he went to get some one else. I returned to the melee when I notice Jose carrying the luggage up the gang plank. He said they had changed their mind they could inspect the baggage and would do it in my cabin. I opened one bag and that was it. It cost me two cartons of cigarettes. I still don't know what it was all about. The bags had been inspected when I landed the day before and carried the approval stamp.

At 6 PM the Bursars informed us we would have to let him know definitely whether we are staying on ship or taking another land trip. It appears the ship must carry papers as well as the agent with the exact whereabouts of their passengers. One cannot stay away over night without a definite reason for the police. This was news to us. Millie walked along the dock for 5 blocks to a phone ot call Tom Finnerty to see if he had gotten our reservations for Cuzco. Then she learned Tom had been inquiring around and found that the planes used on part of the trip were having maintenance trouble and were frequently delayed. The manager at the Bolivar Htoel told him it was not a trip to be taken on a tight schedule. Tom and Bea backed out and we considered our trip postponed.

Monday, January 11, 1965 Lima

Had a good sleep on the Porsanger. Difficult to get up for breakfast, but made it. Rays Mortin and wife had left at five for Cuzco trip. The Nelsons were going in a separate group but they had a joint Peruvian landing card and it wasn't acceptable to the powers that be. They had to wait for immigration to open. Dorothy Wilson is going with them. We walked five blocks to a phone to call Rod Sprague, mgr of Northern Peru Copper Co and tell him we wouldn't be in Ilo, Peru until Friday. He was trying to arrange a trip to the smelter. Also phoned Karen that we would send her camera which she had left on the ship, to the agents office in Lima. Later learned it went to agent in office in Callao. Hope the Spaniards can figure it out for her. The Finnerty's showed up at 11 am and walked aboard with their luggage without immigration looking there way. Shortly thereafter Senora Ida de Avirta and daughter came abroad. They were friends and neighbors of the Finnertys in Arcadia Calif. and now returned to live in Lima. Our 11 am sailing was set back to 3 PM so they took us for a ride around Callao, returned to ship at two. had sandwiches in our cabin. Ship took off at 3:15 pm for Huacho which is north of Callao but passed on the way south because too many ships were waiting. Then we took a nap until 5:30. had dinner on ship and chatted in lounge. Shipp approached Huacho at 8:45 PM and dropped anchor. The City Lights were very attractive. Will see the town in the daylight tomorrow. The sea is slightly rough due to the cold Humboldt current rushing north along the coast. Streams from the antarctic and cools off the coast line along the tropics and also makes for excellent fishing in Peru. It also rolls the ship somewhat in this unsheltered harbor.

 

South American Tour: Quayaquil, Ecuador (1965)

Wednesday, January, 6th 1965 Enroute to Quayaquil, Ecuador

This was the day we would cross the equator. The Captain announced it would be shortly after noon, so the ceremony was set to follow the noon luncheon. We received an "official" summons to attend the trial in bathing suits. We spent several hours in preparation so that the polywags could appeared as captured pirates of Henry Morgan's Crew: we waited until all the others were seated then we entered thru the kitchen door. There all of us were tied and roped together and led by Morgan at a funeral dirge pace. Then we marched twice around in complete silence. "Lags," Martin said later that he was afraid we had stolen the show. After the luncheon we convened on the after deck. Each neophyte is brought before King Neptune tried for some offense and, of course, found guilty, and sentenced to execute certain duties. The Captain and Chief attended the entire performance.

Thursday, January 7th 1965 Quayaquil, Ecuador

The ship docked at Quayaquil at 7 AM. The Finnerty's and we had packed for a trip to Quito. We left after breakfast and walked over to Customs on the dock. Had to wait until an officer arrived. Passed OK. Then to ships agents office. He turned us over to a Senor Olmedo Velasquez of Servetour. 

Thursday, January 7th 1965 Quayuaquil to Quito, Ecuador

Valasquez was to line up a plane trip to Quito and return by train the following day. here is what South American Travel Association says about train trip:

The plane was to leave at 12 noon. We waited, waited, waited, in the agents office for Taxi. According to Spanish Customs its a waste of time to hurry. The taxi showed up at 11:40. Fortunately, the plane was late, left at 12:40. The fare was 508,80 sucres - $28.00. we were in Quito in one hour and 30 minutes. We were above the clouds all the way so we didn't get to see the Andres. Went to Humball Hotel in center of town, took a taxi tour around the town, had a guide who spoke good English - son of a general in Ecuadorian Army and back to Hotel. Told the Clerk we would check out tomorrow morning and take train back to Quayuaquil. He looked queerly and said softly there is no train to Quayuaquil tomorrow. From here on in confusion reigned. If we waited over to Saturday for Train, then there was no plane to Luna all weekend and we could not rejoin ship. Karen's birthday was on Saturday and she was delighted in Lima and we had promised to be there for her birthday.

Airport Ticket

Uruguay Peso

The Finnerty's ran into a civil engineer in the Hotel who was from Montevideo (Uruguay). He spoke excellent English and he helped us with our problem. We tentatively decided to hire a taxi and return over the service highway which makes a similar trip to the train. We had several calls from ship's agent to Guayaquil who had evidently discovered the tour agents error in the train and wanted to know what we where going to do. We didn't know either. So we went to Hotel Quito for dinner and took Juan Gonzales the chap from Montevideo with us. Had steak - only fair. It had started raining while we were in the hotel and was still raining. The taxi driver was waiting for us. So home and to bed. Room quite cool - but no heat in Quito.

Friday, January 8th 1965 Quito to Quayaquil

Up at six. Decided to taxi back to Qauyaquil. Packed, had breakfast, paid hotel bill and loaded luggage in trunk of 1954 Pontiac Eight and away we went for Qauyaquil 266 miles away. Had to advance the driver $1000 for gas and oil. We soon discovered on a slight grade that the motor was not in good condition no power, and we had two Andean Mountain ranges to go over. Nevertheless it was beautiful and unusual. We have never seen the farming on the steep sides of a mountain, the weather, at one place we ran into an Indian ceremony. we heard music and looked up on the side of the mountain and there they were some with painted faces,others with masks. When the car stopped all of them, about 50 came down the slope and surrounded the car. Then came the inevitable hand-out we paid off and got going. The Andes are not in the rugged class except where they go about 15000. They are heavily foliage and much of it is under cultivation, most of it on slopes so steep it does not seem possible to plow but plow they do.

We saw small active volcano. Later in the day the driver missed a road and we went on for miles, no signs, no town, no houses, no gasoline stations and the needle quite bobbing around. We found a station before it was too late and had a coffee and roll. It was 4 pm and we were 125 miles from base. We were averaging 25 miles per hour. At no time had the driver pushed passed 75 kms or 50 miles an hour. Back on the road. It hadn't been good since we left the Panama Highway in mid morning. Now it was worse. The driver zigged and zagged to dodge the chuck holes.

While at breakfast this morning we had a phone call from Larson agent in Quito. He said had a request from the agent in Guayaquil to check on our time of return to our ship. I told him we were leaving by taxi within an hour and the driver thought we should be in by seven. Had some one check on our plane reservations, plane to Lima, hotel for tonight, and get our passports ready. To emphasize I had Millie repeat the whole thing.

The driver got lost several times came in on wrong road which added 50 miles to trip had to change a tire and slowness of car resulted in it being 11:30 PM before we arrived.



Our hotel reservations were for June 7, not for tonight but there was plenty of room. No plane reservations on Braniff for Lima and the tour agent couldn't be located. We spent the next 2 hours telephoning. Millie found one bright spot in the Spanish and that was Senorita Sofa al Braniff Air lines in Quayaquil. She was most sympathetic and offered to help. She said she would be tied up for an hour with Braniff planes coming in and departing but said she would attempt to located the man with our passports. (We were scheduled to fly out to Lima at 7 am, but we couldn't land without passports), At 1:15 we decided to get some shuteye and leave it to Braniff.

Grandma's cabin.

August 30th, 2014

Three Emerys, five Scotts, Frank Bost, and Grandma decided to go up to Grandma's Cabin for the Labor Day weekend. It is located in the White Mountains of Arizona in a town called Pinetop-Lakeside. It is a place that Grandma brought and we have been visiting since I can remember. It is awesome. In the summer it offers cooler temperatures than Phoenix or Tucson. That means we spend time outdoors hiking and playing volleyball. In the winter it is used for skiers and snowboarders. I am not either, but I will still visit. One of the things I love best about the Cabin is that we all bring our dogs. The dogs love the cabin because of the outdoors activity and family.

After a night of bowling we got up 6 in the morning, Melissa, Bernie and had two things in mind: coffee and packing the car. The plan was to rendezvous with Frank, Dad's old college roommate and family friend, on the on ramp in Gilbert. It went off without a hitch!

Since we were all tired and hungry the trip was a little bit of a doozy. Just as we were leaving the phoenix area we found out that Carson and Megan decided not to go to the cabin at 6 in the morning. So now the trip is the three Emerys, three Scotts, Frank and Grandma.

We arrived at the cabin around lunch. By the time we unpacked the car the Scotts and Grandma arrived. Briana immediately started weeding weeds and raking leaves! Karen made delicious chicken salad with grapes and cherries on the side. Yum!

After lunch Bernie, Melissa, Frank, Karen and I went hiking. Grandma and Jim stayed to relax, Bre was still weeding! She wanted to get leaves ready for HOSA later that evening.

The hike was at Billy Creek a nice trail that can be as long or short as you like especially if you get lost, which has happened in previous travels. Also, on previous travels we stopped by the creek for a cool break. Carson and I were wading around in creek when we heard from the edge of the creek that were crawdads in the creek. The two of us weren't too concerned until something brushed by us in the water. We both screamed in panic and jumped on to a rock that was small for one but miniscule for two. After trying to balance together we fell back into the water. Neither of us stayed long Carson went to one side of the creek and I went to the other in record time. Needless to say the story is repeated every time we return to the trail and creek.

This hike wasn't as eventful. We walked about two miles in and turned around. We took a slight different route back and ended up trekking in the forest a bit when we ended up at the wrong trailhead. See its always fun!

We stopped at the Safeway on the way back for some supplies for Monday's breakfast. We ended up forgetting to get S'Mores supplies which caused a bit of a hoopla for the rest of the evening and dinner. So much so that Frank, Bernie and Melissa made an emergency trip to get supplies!

After the hike we did a little relaxing and a lot of chatting until it was time to make dinner. It was Grandma's meal but everyone pitched in and dinner was lovely. Streak, salad and baked beans; there was supposed to be bread but we used it on lunch!

While dinner was cooking Bre and Karen started the fire at the HOSA (hub of social activity) and they burned some of the leaves that Bre raked that day. At first it made quite a bit of smoke and Grandma was worried because its the first year in a few that the fire levels were moderate.

After dinner we sat around the HOSA and chatted about everything. There was also the emergency run to the store for s'mores supplies. So of course there were s'mores which was a task. Melissa was stuck supplying all. Karen couldn't eat crackers so she sandwiched the marshmallows between chocolate and it worked out as well as one would think.

Around nine everyone start to get ready for bed. Guess we were tired from getting up early and all the hiking/work. What a fun first day!

August 31st, 2014

My puppy Jojo loves to wake me up at 5:45 am every morning, so once again I was up before 6 am. I took him, Reggie and Angie (two other dogs) outside and sat on the porch so people could wake. One thing about the cabin is that the walls are thin so its easy to wake everyone up, so going outside was the only option. But it was cold! In the fifties. After a summer in Phoenix fifties is cold! So, I ended up sneaking back inside for socks, shoes and a jacket. I got some more water for the dogs while I was at it. When I was back outside, I read a little bit, but mostly watched the dogs run around and play. The neighbors dog was behind a chain link fence and the dogs played with him through it. 

Around 7 am, everyone else started getting up. Frank was packing to go, he only planned to stay one night, and everyone else was staring sleepily into their coffee cups. It was Melissa and Bernie's turn to cook a meal. They decided to make eggs and bacon; with raisin toast and raspberries as sides. Yum! 

After breakfast the two couples, Melissa and Bernie, Karen and Jim got ready to go golfing. Their tee time was 11 am. Frank packed his car. As for Briana, G'ma Mary Lou and I we were on a mission to go to the store. I needed to get Sangria ingredients, G'ma wanted to get Briana gloves because she was still doing yard work! And she was getting a washer for the hose. When Bernie sprayed down the HOSA, the night before, he said he got a shower from the hose.

The trip to the Safeway was not eventful, but we had to stop at the dollar store for the gloves and washers (which they didn't have but they had a new hose sprayer). Then, we went back to the cabin. I began preparing the Sangria. I had never made Sangria before, but the friend I got the recipe from said it was easy. It was! I was done in about ten minutes. It had to chill overnight (or at least an hour) so I left in the fridge. 

Then, I helped Briana with the yard work. By help I mean to say that I put four armfuls of leaves into the bags and then we were done! Woohoo! Just nickname me the Clean Machine. 

For lunch we had leftovers. I took some of the steak and made a sandwich, Briana had chicken salad, and G'ma made a large salad from the various greens we had yesterday. Briana set up the hammock and ate her lunch there then she read some of her book before taking a little nap. 

G'ma and I worked on a crossword after lunch, and I only looked up the answers a few times. Still the puzzle didn't get finished, and G'ma eventually said to throw it out! Then, we also decided to take naps. The dogs decided to nap too, hooray!

We woke up just as the golfers were getting back. Melissa, got an Eagle on a par three! Woohoo! We let her celebrate for a while, then told her that an eagle on a par three was a hole-in-one. She thought a Birdie was two under par and an eagle was a one under par. Jim also made a Birdie on a par three. 

With the golfers back I poured the Sangria. Everyone had some except for Bernie. It was delicious and I was told to make more! So I did, but by the time the hour-chill time had lapsed the girls were onto wine so it didn't go over as well. 

That night it was Karen and Jim's turn to cook. They made white-bean chili. It was made corn free so the meat was pork instead of chicken. It was delicious. I had two bowls, but I probably should have stuck with one. I volunteered to do the dishes and Briana helped me by drying them and putting them away. When we were finished, we went out to the HOSA. 

It was more boisterous this evening and we all said that Frank missed the fun night! We sang songs, made s'mores and chatted about many things from finances to retirement to celebrity nude photos being leaked from the cloud. At one point Briana and Karen made a dash to the corner store for milk and Kahlua so that G'ma could make White Russians, the drink is iconic at the HOSA, by the end of the night they were White Wussians.  

September 1st, 2014

Pinch and a punch, for the first of the month! 

Once again I was up before 6 am, but this time it was not Jojo's fault. Reggie came over and told me he needed to go outside. He would have gone back to bed afterwards, but because he woke me up he work Jojo up, and once Jojo is up he is up for a few hours. I made sure to wear shoes this time and then took Reggie, Apollo and Jojo out (Apollo is Karen and Jim's greyhound. He is older so I was surprised he came with us). 

After I took them outside, I went back inside to cut up some fruit and start my fruit salad. Briana and I were in charge of breakfast. We were making gluten free pancakes, fruit salad and bacon! The fruit salad was strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and bananas. So I knew I only have a few things to cut up. So I left Jojo outside and Reggie went back to bed with my parents, for the most part, and I cut up fruit. I left some of the strawberries and bananas, because I wasn't sure if Briana wanted to make pancakes with fruit inside or not. (We decided not so I added the rest later that morning) After I cut the fruit I poured OJ over it and let it soak. 

Then I went back outside. I laid in the hammock and caught a few zzz's and read a little more. Jojo figured out that he could go under the porch so he spent a lot of time running under there. Reggie would stand on top of the porch and run around overtop of him, looking down at him through the boards. He could get under the porch as well, but he liked being on top better. Silly.

Once everyone was awake and had a cup of coffee, Briana and I made the rest of the breakfast. It was delicious. The pancakes were gluten free and corn free so I think they were made with rice flour. They tasted delicious, some gluten free foods do not taste good, but pancakes are fine! 

After lunch we decided to make it an early day, and so we cleaned up the cabin and headed off. The problem was that Briana had done so much yard work that we had ten bags of dried leaves. We spent some time trying to figure out where to dump them, and eventually we found a dumpster that didn't have a no-dumping sign on it. Though we still unloaded the bags, like we weren't supposed to dump them anyway! We all left so fast we didn't even say good-bye to any of the Scotts or G'ma!