Driving the Friendship Highway across the roof of the world

captions:

1: The Potala Palace in Lhasa

2: Lhasa street procession

3: Monks in discussion

4: Typical Tibetan cafe

5: The Friendship Highway

6: Waiting cars at Nepalese border

7: Road chaos

8: Nepalese countryside

9: Kathmandu

At an average altitude of 4000 metres above sea level, the Autonomous Region of Tibet is the highest region in the world and also one if its most closed societies. Even a chinese visa does not allow automatic access for foreigner visitors and individual travel is simply not permitted. Foreigners still require a special Tibet permit which is only provided through official Tour operators when booking an obligatory organised tour with English speaking guide.
However as China's political grip on the country tightens it is gradually easing restrictions acknowledging the advantages that Tourism can bring. And more and more people are attracted to this sparsely populated region with its endless sweeping deserts to the west and north and majestic snow capped mountain peaks of the Himalayas to the south.
The authorities usually open up the borders in April when the mountain passes are accessible and the spring weather arrives bringing warmer temperatures. Nevertheless Tibet is still a sensitive area and visitors should take heed of warnings not to list their occupation, which is mandatory on requests for permits, as anything likely to upset the Chinese authorities, who can simply shut the border at any time should there be any risk of demonstrations calling for independence.  Political journalists are always looked on with suspicion and may be refused entry.
China National Highway 318, otherwise known as the Friendship Highway, actually begins in Shanghai. It is more than 5476 kilometres in length and traverses China from East to West passing through Hubei Province to Chongqing, then to Chengdu and across the Sichuan region to Lhasa. However it is the final 800 kilometre scenic route that links Lhasa across the Tibetan plateau to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, that gives the Friendship Highway its real meaning.
The road which cuts across the Tibetan plains, crossing three mountain passes above 5000metres before descending to the border town of Zhangmu, was only upgraded two years ago following investment to tarmac the surface by the Chinese Government. It is this section that has now become one of the most sought after  treks by those seeking the ultimate Himalayan adventure; the Tibetan 7-8 day tours which start from and include three to four days in the capital Lhasa followed by a three day drive across the country to the Nepalese border culminating in a visit to the Everest base camp.
The first part of the tour is designed to allow tourists to acclimatise to the 3400metre altitude and spend time in Lhasa which is a modern city of one million people with wide avenues and low rise buildings as well as an increasing traffic problem. Like most Asian cities there is little respect for pedestrians.
Lhasa is home to the two most important Tibetan monuments. The extraordinary structure of the Dalai Lamas, known as the Potala Palace, a world heritage site, is the highest palace in the world and is becoming one of the world's most sought after tourist destinations. Built in the seventh century the original palace was destroyed but rebuilt in the seventeenth century under the fifth Dalai Lama. It is over 117 metres high on thirteen floors. It is divided into two buildings, the white palace and red palace with more than 1000 rooms, where the Dalai Lamas resided and conducted their affairs. Each floor is full of Buddhist statues, tombs, murals and treasures. Visits are guided and to climb the steep steps as well as wind one's way through the narrow halls, prayer rooms and burial chambers  requires some physical effort at this altitude.
Tucked away off Barkhor street in the historic old town, the Jokhang temple is the most sacred shrine in the city dating from the Tang occupation in the seventh century. The halls and prayer rooms are adorned with Tang and Buddhist statues and relics.
Despite a highly visible Chinese military and police presence couped with video cameras everywhere, visitors are free to take photos, so long as they exclude  interiors of the sacred shrines, military and Government buildings, and can wander freely around the city streets in total security mingling with the local population. The bustling market area of Barkhor street is busy day and night with a kaleidescope of stalls and shops offering clothes, tissues, spices, food, jewelery, relics, mandalas and, increasingly, products aimed at tourists.
Religion is engrained into the Tibetan culture and, surprisingly, given the authorities' concern over groups seeking independence, there is no opposition to the monks, their lifestyle, or people, young and old, praying openly in the squares and streets or joining processions that wander around the town centre. Tibet is a land where buddhist temples, monasteries and shrines can be found in every town and village across the country and the people retain their strong religious beliefs and heritage and seem free to go about their daily lives unrestricted. Before we leave Lhasa we are taken to Drak Yerpa monastery perched on a hilltop overlooking snow capped  peaks a short drive from the city centre while the Sera monastery in Lhasa is famous for the monks' unique debating sessions in the walled gardens.
For the three to four day road trek to Nepal, off road four wheel land cruisers, people carriers and mini buses, overloaded with back backs, are the usual form of transport depending on the size of the group which can vary from 2-12 people.
On day 4, after breakfast with just three passengers in our people carrier, we left Lhasa heading south on the first part of our journey along the flat fertile valley following the Kyi Chu river. Our guide points out that Tibet is the source of most of Asia's major rivers including the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong and Yangtse. Before long we reach our first road block where permits and passports are checked. This scenario is repeated at regular intervals all the way to the Nepalese border. The police know who is travelling and where at all times.
After leaving the main road we start climbing and are soon crossing the 4794 metre high Kambala Pass which leads to the sacred Yamdrok lake. At every viewing point tour vehicles bunch together allowing their occupants the chance of photo sessions. We stop for lunch in a village offering typical tibetan food of chicken, beef, yak meat, rice and noodle dishes, with, incredibly, menus in English. Although beer is available, at these altitudes hot tea is recommended. The afternoon takes us on a climb to the Karo Glacier at 5047metres and then we make a gradual descent following the river to Gyantse and finally a flat 90 kilometre drive to the first day's destination, Shigatse.
With a population of 600,000 Shigatse is Tibet's second largest city with a 500 year history. Our first stop is Police Headquarters for registration. Once formalities have been dealt with we visit the vast Tashilhunpo monastery on the outskirsts of the town which extends to 300,000square metres. The monastery, almost a mini township with its maze of narrow passages, living quarters and temples, was built in the fifteenth century by the first Dalai Lama and houses a 22metre high copper statue of the Buddha Qamba.
Being the beginning of the season our hotel had the appearance of being closed with a perceivable lack of personnel and service.  Located on the outskirst of the town surrounded by industrial buildings it was not a good choice and it was too late to venture out for dinner. The diminutive uniformed porter struggled to carry our bags up to the first floor in the absence of lifts but after changing rooms three times we at least had a large double bed on which we placed extra covers and, an added luxury, room heating. fortunately we had some biscuits and fruit and tea was provided in the room.
Next morning after a basic breakfast in a vast empty dining room, where there was still no sign of other guests, we head off towards Everest National park. Despite the long straight empty roads we have to pass through more road blocks. We travel across flat agricultural coutryside where the villages and occasional nomad tents scattered along the highway do not seem to have changed much in a  thousand years. Neither does the agriculture machinery with bullock or yak drawn ploughs.  The terrain become more arid as the road crosses the Tibet plateau surrounded by the snow capped mountains of the Himalayas. We feel the thin air and are reassured to know that each vehicle carries oxygen bottles. We stop at a huge stone slab by the roadside which indicates the 5000 kilometre marker from Shanghai. After climbing a few more kilometres we pass beneath a large sign announcing the entry to the Everest National Park. We are now at 5260metres. We drive through Lhatse and Tingri small towns that straddle the highway that seem unchanged for centuries. We stop for lunch at a roadside Tibetan cafe, with English menus, in Tingri. Mount Everest, or as it is known locally Qomolangma, at 8850metres, is clearly visible towering above the other peaks.
After leaving Tingri and another check point we turn off the main road and begin climbing again. For three hours we bounce along an unmade winding road to reach the Rombuk monastery. At more than 5150metres the monastery is the highest in the world and visitors stop here for the night in order to see the sunrise at Everest base camp, weather permitting. This is the highlight of the tours which are attracting more and more overseas visitors. All the tour operator's itineraries are clear about the available accommodation in and around the base camp which is basic to say the least with little or no heating although blankets are in abundance and some travellers bring sleeping bags.There are no five star hotels at Everest base camp and hopefully there never will be. People come for the experience, a quest on a par with reaching Santiago de Compostella or walking the Inca trail to Machu Picchu.
Mid morning after a three hour rough ride back to the main road atTingri, we turn south towards Nepal.
the terrain begins to change. From the arid plateau we pass through canyons where the vegation turns green with pine forests and ravines with cascading water far below. After driving through Nylam, where we stop at a rare petrol station to fill up, the road enters a deep canyon snaking its way down the valley to Zhangmu, our final destination.
Zhangmu is a border town perched on a hillside with narrow winding streets full of trucks, bikes, taxis, rickshaws and off road vehicles locked in a permanent traffic jam. The last night is spent in one of the few hotels in the town overlooking the valley. After breakfast our driver and guide accompany us the final eight kilometres down the valley to the border. We collect our belongings and queue up with other tourists outside the Chinese customs shed where our guide deals with the Tibet permits and chinese exit visas before we say goodbye and walk across the Friendship Bridge to the Nepalese town of Kodari, our bags being taken care of by a small army of Nepalese youths. We follow our bags down the hill to the customs office which is little more than a ground floor office fronting the street crammed with backbackers. We are asked to fill out forms, hand over photos and $15 in cash in exchange for a visitor's visa. With the precious visas in our passports we finalise the price with one of the Nepalese drivers waiting patiently outside leaning on the bonnet of their cars waiting to take tourists on the final 115kilometre trek to Kathmandu.
I say trek because in contrast to the smooth empty highway in Tibet, the Nepalese Government has not yet invested in its roads. The only route to Kathmandu is a winding, clifftop road that snakes its way above the fertile valley with steep slopes prone to landslides. We bounce over suspension breaking potholed, ditch ridden, dusty tracks, made narrower and perilous by rock falls at each bend where overtaking is life threatening. Despite the unmade road it is full of trucks, colourful buses crammed with locals both inside and on the roof, vans, bikes, rickshaws, tourist vehicules, pedestrians and all manner of livestock cohabitating without incident. When two vehicles meet and cannot pass it creates a backlog of traffic until somebody sorts out the mess.
After one hundred kilometres of a hair raising drive through the lush green Nepalese countryside with the backdrop of the snow capped Himalayas, the road flattens out. Traffic increases and we finally enter the crowded outskirts of Kathmandu squeezing our way through traffic acclimatising ourselves to the noise, pollution and confusion of Nepal's capital. After manoeuvring our way unscathed through the city centre traffic we are  finally dropped off at out hotel, an oasis of calm, to begin another all different adventure.
There are several official tour operators based in Lhasa and Chengdu. But it is advisable to obtain the chinese tourist visa first before seeking a Tibet permit. Getting to Tibet is becoming easier. Regular daily flights operate from most Chinese cities and Kathmandu. However there is now an alternative to flying from Chengu or Xian. The Qinghai-Tibet rail service opened on 1 July 2006 to take passengers to Lhasa on the highest railroad in the world. The 2000 kilometre 24 hour scenic route begins in Xining crossing the 5000metre high Qinghai-Tibet plateau to Lhasa station. It is destined to become one of the most sought after rail journeys. Travellers should opt for the more expensive four berth soft sleepers rather than the hard sleepers. One advantage of the train is that whereas the airlines insist on original permits before boarding the aircraft,  a photocopy is sufficient to book the train collecting the originals from the Tour operator on arrival in Lhasa. Whatever the hotel ratings in Tibet knock off at least one star to compare with western accommodation and while food is good and varied do not expect gastronomic meals.
Finally do not underestimate the effects of altitude made increasingly dangerous by the strong  mountain sun's rays. Hats, sun glasses, protective cream and altitude pills are necessary. Individual travellers to Asia should also remember to carry spare passport photos necessary for visa applications and photocopies of all important documents and credit cards.

A Tale of Two Giocondas

For the past four weeks the art world has been captivated by a mystery with all the secrets of the Da Vinci code. An obscure, uninspiring painting, which has adorned the walls of the Prado Museum in Madrid for three hundred years has become the centre of interest of art experts and critics around the world.

The portrait of a young girl with an enigmatic smile against a solid black background, whose appearance and pose bear a striking resemblance to Leonardo Da Vinci's work of art in the Louvre, has been identified as a second Gioconda or Mona Lisa.
Art experts and critics gathered in the Prado Museum for a special presentation to see for the first time the extraordinary similarity between the original and its Spanish twin as well as learn about the process and techniques used to restore the painting to its original state.
The Spanish Gioconda has actually been in the Museum's possession since the Prado first opened in 1819 when the Royal Collection was transferred to te new museum. The portrait of a young girl against a black background on a wood panel was deemed to be a copy by an anonymous artist dating from the 18th century when this style was prevalent. However Miguel Falomir Faus, head of the Prado's Italian department, believes it has been in Spain since the 16th century.
"There is no firm evidence but according to one hypothesis it was brought from Milan by the Italian scultor, Leoni, or his son, Pompeo Leoni, who were commissioned to create busts of Empero Carlos V or his son Felipe 11." Ironically it origin may never have been discovered had it not been for the Louvre. Two years ago the Paris Musuem curators asked for the painting to be cleaned in preparation for a special Leonardi exhibition which begins at the end of this month in Paris (29 March -25 June).
The task was given to Ana Gonzalez Mozo, head of the Prado's research and Study department, in conjunction with the museum's workshops. "By using modern infra-red technology,x-rays, ultraviolet light and powerful magnifying glasses, signs of an original painting became apparent beneath the black surface," she explained.
The photographic technology determined the existence of a landscaped background with mountains and lakes. Incredibly the black coating had actually helped preserve the original painting. Once the initial cleaning was completed, the delicate restoration process could begin. First the black coating of oxidised varnish and pigments had to be carefully removed, a task which took nearly five months, using organic solvent to bring out the colour and detail of the landscaped background.
As work progresed the distinction between the original painting and the Spanish Gioconda became apparent. It was first thought the background had a Flemish style similar to the artist, Patinir. To allay any doubt experts were called in, but it was evident that the landscaped background, pose and dress of the girl were almost identical to the original Gioconda. The enigmatic smile is there but the Spanish Gioconda seems younger with a slightly thinner face. The colours are brighter, the folds of the dress, the veil and braided hair are more detailed, her eybrows more pronounced and the landscape visible through the transparent veil.
Given the similarities and the materials, the studies concluded that the painting was not just another reproduction but would have been undertaken about the same time as the original. The wood support panel was in walnut, not poplar, and instead of plaster and linseed oil there was a double layer or thickness of while lead, typical of the materials used by Leonardo Da Vinci in his portraits of women: "Lady with the Ermine" in the Czartoryski museum in Kracow, "Ginevra De Benci" in Washington's National Gallery and "La Belle Ferroniere" in the Louvre.
The artists were probably pupils from Leonardo's studio. The two most likely are Andrea Salai (1480-1524) and Francesco Melzi (1493-1572), Leonardo's closest students and companions who often travelled with him and inherited many of his works including the Mona Lisa.
The restoration process has taught experts a great deal about the techniques used by Leonardo in his studio. For this reason the work is considered to be the most important version of the Leonardo school discovered until now. The work was catalogued as "Portrait by anonymous artist, oil on wood panel early 16th century." It will be renamed as "The Gioconda, Leonardo de Vinci school, oil on walnut panel 1503-1516."
The original Gioconda, arguably the world's most talked about painting, came to France when it was acquired by Francois 1 in the 16th century. It went through an exhaustive cleaning process in 2004, the first for fifty years, and was only identified as a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Florentine merchant, Francesco Gherardini, in 2005.
The defining moment of truth will come in Paris when the two Giocondas are exhibited side by side for the first time. But if the Spanish Gioconda is not a copy, then who is she? The engima remains.

This year marks two hundred years since the birth of Charles John Huffam Dickens who was born on 7 February 1812. He was one of the most prolific writers of his time and his novels, which depict life in the Victorian Britain, are as popular today as they were during the Victorian era.
His early life was influenced by the bankrupcty and imprisonment of his father. Forced to leave school to help the family he found employment in a workhouse sticking labels on pots. The experience of the harsh working conditions and poverty were to influence his life and his writing. When a family legacy allowed his father to pay off his debts, the family were able to move home and the young Dickens found a job as a junior clerk in a law firm in Holborn where he learned shorthand. This led to a career as a freelance reporter covering courtroom proceedings, where he gained a knowledge of the procedures, complexity and flaws of the legal system. After four years he switched to political reporting travelling around the country to cover election campaigns.
He began to write stories many of which were serialised and in 1836 one was adapted into his first novel, The Pickwick Papers. On 2 April 1936 Dickens married Catherine Thomson Hogarth. His book and articles had made Dickens famous and well off financially enabling the family to set up home in Bloomsbury where, in 1837, he began writing Oliver Twist.
In 1842 despite his opposition to slavery, Dickens travelled to the USA. He had the opportunity to give lectures, meet dignateries and writers and was invited to the White House to meet the tenth U S President John Tyler.
After a successful four week tour, Dickens returned to London and in 1843 began work on A Christmas Carol, which, when published, became an immediate hit. David Copperfield, Hard Times, Bleak House and Little Dorrit followed all with the same measure of success. Dickens was now both wealthy and a philanthropist, his concern over the plight of the poor plainly evident from his novels and articles. While turning his hand to playwriting he met an actress, Ellen Ternan, with whom he started a relationship. Despite having ten children he separated from his wife, Catherine and lived with Helen until his death.
A Tale of Two Cities was published in 1859 and Great Expectations in 1861. He returned to the USA in 1867, where he gave readings and lectured. However his health was deteriorating. On his return to London he continued to give public readings when his health permitted until on 8 June 1870 he suffered a stroke at his home and died. Although he had wished for a simple burial in Rochester Cathedral he was buried in Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey. His final words were supposed to have been. "Be natural my children. For the writer that is natural has fulfilled all the rules of art."
Dickens was an unsurpassed master of the English language with a remarkable vocabulary and classic poetic style. His stories, due perhaps to their origin as serials, keep the reader in suspense chapter after chapter. Some of the books are undoubtedly autobiographical based on Dickens' own experiences. Their one common thread is the issue of social injustice and poverty during the Victorian age. His vivid descriptions of the harsh working conditions, slums, treatment of women, class division, legal system and economic ijustice had such an impact they often forced the Government to act. His novel, Oliver Twist, actually led to the demolition of Jacob's Island slum described in the book.
He brought to life so many characters whose names remain undiminished by the passage of time: Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Jacob Marley, Pip, Oliver Twist, The Artful Dodger, Fagin, Bill Sykes, Mr Micawber, Miss Haversham, David Copperfield, Charles Darney, Sydney Carton, to name but a few.
His biggest success was A Tale of Two Cities, which dealt with another country's affairs, France, rather than social injustice in Britain. It was his only novel with an international theme. It has also arguably the best first and last chapters of any book ever written.
Although the Victorian age was the height of Britain's economic and political power, the country was deeply divided between the wealthy landed gentry and industrial entrepreneurs and the majority of the people living in extreme poverty.
While the conditions of the poor today cannot be compared to Dickens' time, we seem to be turning the clock back. Governments are run by a privileged elite with vested interests, we are faced with a widening wealth gap in class and economic divisions with a minority who have managed to extract untold wealth, while the middle and poorer classes are facing a decline in their living standards and an increase in poverty.
The workshops may have gone but they have been replaced by call centres and globalisation has shifted the factories to Asia, where children are still being exploited or Africa and South America, where miners work in slave conditions. Back home people are deeply in debt, high streets are falling into disrepair and the homeless are living in the street.
What would Dickens have written about life in the 21st century?

Subsidising The Rich

The capitalist system cartoon published in 1911

The current financial crisis has brought to the surface the inequality between rich and poor which has grown to unsustainable levels. Even some of the world's most wealthiest entrepreneurs like Warren Buffet have admitted the present system is unfair and damaging to society yet Governments continue to ignore the problem.
Despite the Arab Spring, Los Indignados, social unrest, increased poverty and an increasing number of suicides, political leaders have failed to see the writing on the wall, or if they have, choose to ignore it, bowing to pressure and lobbying from an ever more powerful financial sector that operates on a global scale without regulation. The too often, close ties between politicians, bankers and business interests has also led to a huge increase in corruption which is destroying the fabric of our law abiding societies.

The financial sector ceased to be a provider of credit to businesses or people, which is their role in the economy. Instead they pumped our money into securities, bonds, shares, derivatives and other high risk speculative ventures likely to make mega short term gains with the minimum of effort. And now while the banks have to be bailed out and the mega rich 1% of the population continues to increase earnings and bonuses, the austerity measures imposed by European Governments are directed at the middle and poorer classes reducing their ability to spend. Leading economists criticise the moves which they say can only lead to economic suicide. But whenever Governments propose to increase taxes on top earners, bankers and corporate bosses threaten to move to greener pastures and take jobs with them. It is time for Europe's leaders to call their bluff and introduce measures to harmonize taxes. As the present attempts to introduce the Tobin Tax on financial transactions have demonstrated, it will not be an easy task.
It is also time to change mentalities. The greed and bonus culture must be replaced by a more ethical view of how business functions. Banks and corporations must understand that they have to contribute to the well being of the nation and the people in order for everybody to benefit. Selfish interests are destructive in the long term. There must be a more equitable share of the national wealth between boardrooms, employees, shareholders and the state.

The fact is that the middle and poorer classes cannot continue to subsidise the rich. No democratic society can prosper when a tiny percentage of the population grows increasingly wealthy at the expense of the majority. And the crisis has demonstrated that much of the wealth comes not from talent, hard work or performance but through tax avoidance(legal), tax evasion(illegal) and cronyism. Boardrooms of banks and major quoted corporations act like private clubs where members award each other oversized remuneration packages from shareholders' funds which bear no relationship to their jobs or performance and too often receive bonuses, stock options, pensions and severance pay for failure.
Taxation has traditionally been the method used to create a more equal society. But as banking, corporate, sport and entertainment earnings have escalated out of all proportion, so have the means to avoid paying tax. The more people earn the more they want to protect their wealth.
Wealth management - code name for tax avoidance - has become a major industry thanks to Governments granting special treatment for the privileged elite by allowing the financial services industry to invent all kinds of tax avoidance schemes. The time has come to level the tax playing field.
A simple way to reform the tax regimes is to abolish the tax avoidance schemes. The crisis has already forced several European Governments to remove many of the tax breaks, which are illogical and unjust. What is the point of Governments bringing in tax laws aimed at higher earners when they allow them to avoid paying by granting so many tax favours?
But the greatest obstacle to tax reform is the use of tax havens. It needs the support of the European and American Govenments to clamp down on offshore banks and companies to recover the billions in untaxed corporate and private funds as well as the proceeds of organised crime. "There is a building in the Cayman Islands with 12000 companies. Either it is the largest building in the world or there is something wrong." said President Obama. Oxfam has estimated that the poorer nations lose up to $50billion each year to the tax havens and according to the Tax Justice Network Organisation they hold over $11.5trillion and handle 60% of global trade, enough to end the world's economic and social problems.
Under European rules discriminatory measures are not supposed to be allowed but somehow the rich manage to get away with special treatment. One of the worst abuses of tax subsidies is the Common Agricultural Policy which rewards Europe's wealthiest landlowers with millions of euros every year.
Wealth Tax and Inheritance tax duties are anything but a tax on wealth. In the countries which implement these taxes, the wealthiest families do not pay anything like the full amount due thanks to Governments granting them exemptions on their principal assets or allowing the use of offshore based trusts and companies to hide them. The burden of tax thus falls on the property owning middle class leading to an increasingly divided society.
In order to bring about a more equitable redistribution of wealth, European Governments, most of which fix a minimum wage, should place a cap on excessive and unmerited earnings and level the tax playing field. In exchange for lower salaries Governments should reduce income taxes to increase take home pay. This is not only a moral requirement but an economic necessity because no economy can function without the spending power of the middle and poorer classes. Over 2500 years ago Confucius advised the rulers to cut taxation and limit their expenses in order to make the people more prosperous first. Today this advice is more relevant than ever when the future of our democratic societies is at stake.

Walking on water in Peru

From the article published in the Financial Times Nov 11 2011.

Lake Titicaca, located at an altitude of 3800metres in the Andes mountain range between Peru and Bolivia, is the world's highest navigable lake. In 1978 the Government in Lima created the Titicaca national reserve in order to protect 35000 hectares of marshes off the shores of the Lake near the southern city of Puno. These marshes split into hundreds of of islands by narrow waterways and inlets, attract a wide variety of birds, fish, fauna and a unique marsh reed called Totora, as well as being home to the Uros tribe, whose ancestry predates the Inca civilisation.

Today the Uros live among the Aymara people who make up the majority of the population of both southern Peru and northern Bolivia. According to David Sauna, president of the Uros Community, "the Uros people are totally integrated with the Aymara community and speak their language." However the Uros have managed to retain their independence and lifestyle by living on 93 floating islands, which they build and maintain from the totora reeds, some five kilometres off the coast and accessible only by a 20 minute boat ride from Puno.

The tall totora reed grows in the shallow waters near the shores of the lake. The roots of these reeds are cut into chunks below the surface using long knives and when dried, roped together until they form a large mass. They are then anchored with poles driven into the bed of the lake. Layers of reeds are then stacked one on top of the other across the surface to create a base upon which the Uros construct theiur small homes and communal buildings.

Despite the reeds forming a one metre thick layer, stepping onto the islands feels like walking on sponges as feet sink a few centimetres into the reeds. Nevertheless the Uros spend their lives on these islands which have a life span of around twenty years after which the reeds begin to rot. The process then begins again; new reeds are cut and a new island constructed. Should there be disputes between families living on the same island it is easy to cut off a single home and float to another island.

The Uros population numbers around 3000 with up to ten families on each island. The region is divided into two zones: the Rio Willy with 63 islands housing around 370 families, or 2,200 people(where tourists are permitted); and the Ccapi sector, with 105 families and 1.050 people(where privacy is protected). Children are allowed to be educated on the islands until secondary level when they have to attend school in Puno. Several islands have school facilities and one establishment is run by the christian church

Given the small scale of the homes - tent-like structures usually consisting of a single open-plan room - cooking takes place outside on stone slabs laid onto the reeds to protect them from catching fire. Traditionally the Uros' livelihood has come from fishing and hunting wild birds in the marshes using spears made from reeds, but while they still row reed rafts it is not uncommon to see them in wooden boats with outboard motors. While the men are away the women continue the tradition of expertly weaving alpaca and llama wool into intricately, patterned coloured fabrics and textiles which they both wear and sell.

The climate can be harsh. Although the daytime temperature rarely exceeds 18 degrees, the sun is extremely strong while nights are cold often dipping below zero during the summer. There is a short rainy season that lasts from November and March. the Uros dress accordingly and are well known for their colourful woollen costumes. The local population is accustomed to the high altitude and have hearts and lungs larger than people who live closer to sea level. Visitors who are not used to the mountain air often find breathing more difficult and are advised to eat lightly, drink plenty of water and walk slowly. Coca mate tea and coca leaves, said to alleviate altitude sickness, are free in most hotels.

Tourism has developed during the past few years with boatloads of people visiting the islands from Puno. Not only have the Uros picked up a few words of English but they know how to negotiate the price of traditional handicrafts and charge a small fee for inviting visitors into their homes or for a photo. "Tourism has become an important source of income as the unique Uros culture and tradition attract more visitors," said David Sauna.

The highlight of any visit is a guided tour of the islands on the reed made rafts, complete with viewing platform. The final destination is an island laid out with handicraft stalls, fish pond and snack bar. However a side effect of the increase in the number of visitors is extra maintenance costs; with more people tramping over the reeds they need replacing more often.

The Inca civilisation disappeared leaving behind the remains of a once great power. The Uros in their fragile, reed-built homes, have survived and maintain their culture while adapting to life in the 21st century. As Sauna explains: "They preserve their traditional occupation of hunting, fishing and harvesting and play a role in protecting the ecosystem of the lake. So long as the Uros live on the islands their culture will not disappear."

Restored to Life

Photos by courtesy of the Prado Museum Madrid

1: The Wine of Saint Martin's Day By Pieter Brueghel the Elder

2: Detail from painting

3: X-Ray image of painting


The Wine of Saint Martin's Day By Pieter Brueghel the Elder

There are only about forty known works of Pieter Brueghel the Elder(1525-1569) considered the most important Flemish artist of the sixteenth century. So the discovery of an unknown painting is bound to be of major significance, more so when it is the largest ever work undertaken by the Flemish master.

After more than eighteen months of careful restoration this unique painting, called The Wine of Saint Martin's Day, has gone on display in Madrid's Prado Museum. It is only the second known painting by the artist in Spain and it has been granted the privilege of being displayed in a private room until 25 March 2012. Visitors can not only see the finished painting but are given a video tour of the different stages of the restoration procedure as well as inspect the x-ray images used to pin point damaged sections as well as formally identify the artist.

The painting is twice as large as any other Brueghel work. Although the theme is religious the painting depicts a joyful festival, Saint Martin's Day, celebrated evey 11 November. Outside a town a variety of figures, typical of Brueghel's paintings, are crowded together around a large red barrel filling all sorts of vessels. There are beggars, peasants, thieves, the blind, old and young men and women; even a child is seen being given a goblet of wine. The effect is a pyramid of human life. The detail of the facial expressions, costumes, figures and careful attention to the background makes this one of Brueghel's most ambitious genre works.

The painting belonged to the family of the Dukes of Medinaceli from the eighteenth to twentieth century. Its first known owner was Luis Franciso de la Cerda, 9th Duke of Medinaceli (1660-1711), who is thought to have originally purchased it in Italy. It came to the Prado Museum via Sotheby's Spain in 2009 after being discovered by the assistant director of conservation of the Prado, Gabriel Finaldi. He had been asked to look at a work in the home of a descendant of the Medinaceli family and by chance stumbled across a painting which despite its poor condition appeared to him to have the distinct Flemish style of Brueghel.

He suggested that it be taken to the Prado for restoration with a view to ascertaining its origin with an option to purchase.When it was finally attributed to Brueghel using the x-ray technology, the museum had to negotiate the price. Under Spanish law the work would not have been allowed to leave the country and it was acquired by the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

The restoration involved a challenging and complex process. When it arrived at the museum's extensive workshop it was covered in a thick layer of polyester varnish which had to be removed together with the folds and bulges resulting from previous attempts at restoration. The original linen support had to be carefully detached from strips that had been glued around the edges using a humidification process. After cleaning the painting was stretched in a frame for restoration. First pieces of linen were cut to fill the tiny holes caused by damage before the delicate retouching began using pigments to match as close as possible the original texture and colours.

The final result has exceeded expectations and this major work will ultimately be added to the Flemish section of the Prado collection and join Brueghel the Elder's other masterpiece, The Triumph of Death.

The Mexican Suitcase

Photos:

1: Fred Stein

Gerda Taro and Robert Capa at the terrace of the Cafe Dome in Montparnasse in 1936

negative: (c) Estate of Fred Stein: Collection International Centre of Photography

2: RobertCapa

Hemingway with New York Times writer Herbert Matthews and two Republican soldiers at Teruel Dec 1937
negative (c)International Centre of Photography/Magnum Photos: Collection International Centre of Photography

3: Gerda Taro

Crowds at gates of the morgue after the bombardment of Valencia in May 1937
negative (c) International Centre of Photography: Collection International Centre of Photography

The Mexican suitcase

In 1939 a small cardboard box containing 4500 negatives of photographs taken during the Civil War was smuggled out of Spain. Somehow it reached Mexico where for more than 70 years it lay forgotten in a cupboard before being discovered and taken to the International Centre of Photography in New York. After cleaning and processing the images were put on show for the first time in 2010 and subsequently published in two major illustrated catalogues. These catalogues have now been translated into Spanish and this month for the first time ever this remarkable collection of photos of the Civil War can be seen in Spain.
The negatives belonged to three young jewish immigrants from East Europe who had fled from the rise of Nazism to Paris. Through a mutual interest in photography, Andre Friedmann from Hungary, Gerta Pohorylle from Germany and David Szymin from Poland, first met each other in 1933. After working together in Paris, in 1936 they travelled to Spain to cover the Civil War. Today they are better known as Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and David "Chim" Seymour.
The images were taken between 1936 and 1939 and cover not only key episodes of the conflict but depict the hardship of the Spanish people. There are also unknown portraits of Hemingway, Andre Malraux, Frederico Garcia Lorca and Dolores Ibarruri "La Pasionara", as well as members of the international brigade who, like the photographers, had lent their support to the Republican cause.
Towards the end of the Civil War in 1939, to prevent the negatives falling into the hands of the nationalists, Capa crossed the Pyrenees into France and stored the box in his studio in the Rue Froidevaux in Montparnasse, Paris. When the Germans invaded France he had little alternative but to seek refuge in the USA. He entrusted the box of negatives to his close friend and assistant Emerico Csiki Weisz. But he too was forced to flee Paris when the Germans entered the city.
Mexico had generously opened its borders to accommodate thousands of Spanish refugees and somehow the box found its way to the Mexican Embassy and ended up in the hands of General Francisco Aguilar Gonzalez, Ambassador to the Vichy Government.
When the General returned to Mexico in 1942 the box was included with his personal possessions and shipped home without attracting attention. Fortunately the General ignored it too and it lay gathering dust in a wardrobe. He died in 1972 without ever knowing what the box contained. It was not until years later after the death of his widow, that their daughter came across the box and on seeing the contents asked her cousin, Benjamin Tarver, A Mexican filmmaker to take care of it. Tarver realised he had in his possession something unique.
In 1995 Jerald Green, professor at Queens College, New York and a specialist in the Spanish Civil War was in Mexico organising an exhibition of photographs from the war. A visitor remarked that he had some similar pictures. It was Tarver. Sometime later Green received a letter from Tarver providing details of the box he had inherited from his aunt. Green contacted Cornell Capa, Robert's brother, founder and director of the International Centre of Photography in New York.
Following the death of his brother in 1954 Cornell Capa had journeyed to Paris to recover his photos and personal effects from the studio in the Rue Froidevaux but was certain that many were missing. In 1979 he embarked upon a search placing advertisements in numerous journals. This resulted in the recovery of a number of images taken during the war but not the missing negatives.
From what Green had told him he felt sure he was nearing the end of his mission. Yet several more years elapsed before the negatives reached New York. It was not until 2007 when Capa, unable to go personally to Mexico, asked Trisha Ziff, an English born filmmaker living in Mexico and working with the ICP, to follow up the lead and she arranged to meet Tarver in a cafe. It was clear from the negatives Tarver produced that the search was over.
After months of negotiations Ziff and Capa managed to persuade Tarver to donate the negatives to the ICP and she took the box to New York. Remarkably they were still in perfect condition.
The 126 rolls of film and negatives had been protected individually in separate sections in three cardboard boxes. The rolls of film and negatives were meticulously arranged in chronological order with the photographer's name, date and location marked. Cornell Capa was at last able to see his brother's work although he died in 2008 before seeing the photos displayed.
Specialists at the ICP set about carefully cleaning and processing the negatives and in 2010 they were ready to be shown to the public. The ICP organised a major exhibition in New York as well as publishing a comprehensive illustrated catalogue in two volumes which includes essays by renowned Civil War experts together with extracts from the international magazines which published the photos during the 1930s such as Life, Picture Post, New York Post, Illustrated London News, Regard, Match, Le Soir and Vu.
The Spanish Civil War marked the beginning of modern photojournalism and Capa, Taro and Seymour became pioneers in this field. They were deeply involved in the Republican cause and their photos not only provide an historical record of what took place but demonstrate the political as well as the human aspect of the conflict.
Capa's fame as a war photographer was established with his dramatic image "Death of a Soldier" believed to have been taken near Cordoba and his mantra was "If the photo is not good enough, you are not close enough." Although "Chim" took action photographs during the conflict he preferred the human touch,especally children and the underprivileged, a subject he pursued throughout his career. It is only since the discovery of the box with 800 negatives in her name that the extent of of Gerda Taro's talent has finally been recognised since her work was often thought to be that of Capa. The collection includes rare photographs of her taken by Capa and their friend Fred Stein.
David Szymin was studying at the Sorbonne university and had already taken up an interest in photography when Friedmann and Pohorylle arrived in Paris in 1933. They joined the circle of left wing anti fascist intellectuals which included Henri Cartier Bresson, Pierre Gassman and Marie Eisner. Eisner had started the Alliance Photo Agency where Pohorylle worked as a laboratory assistant. It was through Eisner that she met Friedmann and they fell in love. The couple took a room in the Hotel du Blois in the Rue Vavin in Montparnasse and frequented the cafe Dome and cafe Select which were the haunts of artists such as Modigliani, Man Ray and Picasso.
Friedmann taught Pohorylle the art of photography. For a few years they scraped a living and eventually moved to a larger studio at 37 Rue Froidevaux also in Montparnasse. As well as adopting a new name for herself, it was Gerda Taro who invented the name Robert Capa believing it projected a more credible image to sell their photos. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War Szymin "Chim" was asked by the French illustrated magazine, Regard, to cover the war. Without any specific assigments, Capa and Taro travelled with him as independent photographers.
The Civil War not only gave them the opportunity to take up a cause in which they firmly believed but also to become established photographers with a ready market in the expanding sector of illustrated magazines that had seen their popularity and readership expand enormously. The rolls of film show the extent to which they journeyed across Spain during the conflict covering the major battles as well as life in the towns and villages. In addition they found the time to follow the trail of the "Exilio" across the Pyrenees to the internment camps in southern France and return to Paris.
While Capa was in Paris in 1937 Gerda Taro decided to join the Republican offensive at Brunete, a small town about 30 kilometres west of Madrid. Known as the "Blond of Brunete" she was at the front of the Republican advance. But when the Republicans were forced to retreat, in the confusion she was accidently run over by a tank. She died in hospital a few days short of her 27th birthday. She is acknowledged to be the first female photojournalist and also the first to be killed in action. With so many of her photos having been published in the French magazine, Regard, she was treated like a heroin. Her body was taken to Paris where the communist party laid on a grand funeral for her at the Pere Lachaise cemetery.
Capa was devastated by the death of Gerda Taro and although he had other romantic relationships he was always on the move and never married. As a renowned war photographer he returned to Europe with the U S army, participated in the invasion of Sicily and Normandy landings, where he was with the second wave at Omaha beach, before reaching Paris for the liberation of the French capital. In total he covered five conflicts. The Spanish Civil War, Sino-Japanese war in 1938, The Second World War, the 1948 Arab-Israel conflict and Indo China. It was on his last assignment for Life Magazine in Vietnam in 1954 when he was fatally injured after leaving his vehicle and stepping on a landmine. He was 40 years old.
Like Capa, David Szymin made his way to the USA at the outbreak of the Second World War. With a gift for languages he became an interpreter-photographer. His parents had been killed in the Warsaw Ghetto and by the end of the war his name had changed to David Seymour and he was an American citizen. After the war in 1947 Seymour and Capa, together with Cartier Bresson, George Rodger and William Vandivert founded the Magnum photo agency. "Chim" was on assigment in Suez in 1956 with Jean Rey, a French journalist, when they came under fire from an Egyptian machine gun post and were both killed. He was 45.
The Mexican suitcase is their legacy. After a year of preparation the Spanish version of the catalogue has now been published by La Fabrica Editorial and the Pablo Iglesias Foundation in Madrid. The photos are being exhibited until January in the Museu National d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona before moving to the Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao where they will be on show until June 2012 and finally from next July, to coincide with the annual PhotoEspana summer festival, a major exhibition has been planned at the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid.
After seventy years the photos that are part of the nation's history have finally returned to Spain.