Yungai: Natural Disaster

It was almost 39 years ago at the end of the rainy season in Peru (the months of January-May) that the highland town of Yungai of the Ancash Department in Peru suffered a natural tragedy that merits a mention in this blog post. Because it is such a solemn place I did not place a cache here. No one in Yungai was expecting what happened on 31 May 1970. It happened on a Sunday afternoon while most of the people of Yungai were fixed to their television sets watching a soccer game. Meanwhile, high on snow-covered Huscaran Mountain a huge section of the mountain, both ice and earth, shock lose in a brief earthquake. This was about 30 kilometers to the west. Yungai lies at the confluence of two valleys and their associated streams. In a very short amount of time a wall of ice and mud came crushing down on the unsuspecting citizens of Yungai. Many died on this day, trapped in their homes, in a bus and smothered in the streets of Yungai. Over 50 feet of mud cover the town. There were some people in the southeastern corner of the town that were able to run to the cemetery hill that over looks the town. They were the few who were saved from the disaster. Today the site of this disaster is considered Campo Santo (Holy Ground) due to the many loved ones lost almost 40 years ago. This was not the first time that the mountain had given way. On 10 January 1962 approximately 3,500 people were killed nearby when a similar disaster took the nearby town of Ranrahirca. You can read about that disaster in the June issue of National Geographic. For more information on the Yungai disaster visit: http://www.moon.com/destinations/south-america/peru/huaraz-and-cordillera-blanca/callejon-de-huaylas/yungay

Unintentional Night Caching in Florida and a lesson learned

I made a trip to the Orlando area to participate in a conference at the John Wycliffe Center. As is typical the conference took advantage of most of the day and even went into the night. It didn't leave must time for geocaching so I got up early on the first day to go out and find a few. I didn't know what time the sun came up so I set my clock for 5:30 a.m. I got up in the dark and discovered that the sun just wouldn't come up. After piddling around all I could, I decided that with a keychain pen light I might be able to find the first cache. The first one was On the Way to Weewahottee (GC1GZKW) located just half a mile from the apartment where I was staying. I got into my rental car and headed out. The cache description said the cache only involved about 20 feet of bushwacking. Hey I can do this even in the dark...as long as there are no alligators. The cache is located on a paved secondary road bordered by some trees and then cow pastures. There were no houses nearby. I parked beside the road and followed my needle into the trees and vines. With the clue I was able to discern where the cache would be. With several flashes of the pen light I found the cache. Nice cache! I made the drop of a TB, signed the log, no trade and turned to leave. Just then I saw headlights shining on my car. A car went by immediately followed by another. Just as I though all was well the second vehicle stopped behind my car. I crouched quietly in the dark just 25 feet away. Then the truck pulled around my vehicle and stopped. I saw the image of the driver get out. He knocked on the driver's window. Then he hollered out into the woods. The tone of his voice (read frustration, suspicion and maybe anger) convinced me that I didn't particularly want to meet this guy. I stayed still and quiet and he finally drove away slowly. Not knowing if he would turn around again or call the police I decided it was time to get out of there. It was still pitch dark. I didn't want to risk using my pen light so I moved swiftly through the vines and trees to get out to my car. Somewhere along the line I ran into some branches and vines that tangled me up. I twisted my head around and slipped through an open space, got to the car and backed out to a little turn-around space with the lights off while watching the truck slowly move up the road. I got out of there. About half a mile down the road I realized that my glasses were missing! What do I do? I can see at a distance but can't read a thing without them. I went back but it was too dark and it would prove too hard to find the glasses. I returned to my apartment and prayed that the Lord would help me find my glasses. These were a new perscription and would cost me to replace. It seemed like forever when it got light enough. I went back over to the GC and spent almost a half hour on my knees feeling around for the glasses. A few cars came by making me feel particularly awkward. I couldn't see clearly enough to find the glasses. They just didn't seem to be there. I went back to breakfast at the conference center where I met up with some colleagues. I convinced two friends with 20/20 vision to go back with me at the break. These guys aren't geocachers so it also gave me the opportunity to teach a little about the sport. We started looking around the GC and pretty quickly one of them found the glassess, not in the woods but right in the road where the passenger side tires of a vehicle normally pass over the road. It had been four hours since I lost my glasses and there they were in the road undamanged. To say the least, the rest of my day was a good one. It had gone from hunting caches to hunting glasses. I returned to the meeting giving thanks to God for returning my glasses intact. During lunch I was able to break away and find three more caches. I have decided to ammend my geocaching practices in Florida. There might be alligators out there. There might be wild muggles too! In the famous words of Charlie Daniels, "I think I'm gonna reroute my trip. I wonder if anybody'd think I'd flipped if I went to L.A., via Omaha"...

Image borrowed from Flicker Commons: typical Florida country road similar to the place where I met the mad muggle.

A Pirate's Welcome For Sonny,Sandy, & Sean

I was listening to Podcacher, the geocaching podcast by Sonny, Sandy and Sean in late March and heard that they were taking a vacation in Orlando, FL about the time I was going there for a meeting. They announced that a group of local geocachers were hosting an even so the geocaching community in the Tampa area could get to know them. I had already arranged to visit the Sea Breeze Community Church in St. Petersburg and would be there. I made plans to attend. The event was great. I arrived at the Varsity Club restaurant/pub in Clearwater, FL at 5 p.m., signed the log sheet, got my nametag and asked a couple that looked as though they were alone if I could sit with them. It was great to make friends with Rick and Gloria. They were guest from far away just like me. I had a great evening meeting and getting to know other geocachers, some from the area and some snowbirds from the northern states. Sonny, Sandy and Sean came and visited around the tables. It was nice to meet them after listening to their podcast program from over a year now. During the course of the evening the host geocachers even had a drawing for prizes. I was first and it wasn't even a drawing. They gave me the gift for coming the furtherest (from Ecuador). I was impressed. What a blessing. I received a CD/MP3 player. A fellow from Michigan gave me his pathtag as well. I had a great time! I think I'll try to participate in a few more of these caching events when I come home to North Carolina in July for our next furlough.

Peruvian Jungle Cache

From the coast to the jungle of Peru in an hour. Thanks to Lan airline it's an easy trip. The jungle humidity sure was a blast in the face as I stepped off the plane. My friend was there to pick me up and within minutes we were at his house. After a good night of rest we got down to business during the morning. During the afternoon we took off to hide a geocache somewhere around Pucallpa, Peru. A healthy number of tourist come through this jungle port town on the Ucayali River. We headed out to the west of town to Yarinacocha, a large lake. Tourist frequent it. Try is I might, there were muggles walking, on motorcycle, sitting, sleeping, sharing a meal everywhere I turned. We headed back into town thinking that maybe the clocktower park on the river front would support a cache. Wow! The muggle density there was five times worse that Yarinacocha. We walked around and looked the port area over but it just wouldn't last the day if planted here. On the way home I asked Marty if they had a local cemetery. That's right, the only place I could think of in this bustling town where there might be a moments peace would be the cemetery. Marty confirmed that he sometimes has gone there to walk and think because there aren't many folks there. Now in a cemetery in the US I might place a simple cache in a respectful place like a tree or bush but not on a grave. In most Latin cemeteries the graves are above ground and every square inch is occupied. There aren't many spaces for a respectable cache in a Latin cemetery. Fortunately as we drove towards the house we saw a wooded area with a sign "Parque Natural de Pucallpa". This was it! A couple of acres of wooded land with nature trails and little signs telling you the names of the different trees. At last Pucallpa has its first geocache. Now how long will it take for someone to find it? 

Above Lima

Early before the rush hour traffic Arnold and I left the Miraflores section of Lima, over near the coast, and drove towards the desert mountains to the east. We passed through old colonial Lima. As we traveled Cierro San Cristobal (Saint Christopher) loomed ever greater against the skyline. Along the base and along the climbing road to the top were the Pueblos Jovenes (developing communities). What's unique about these are the brightly painted multicolored buildings. The blues, yellows, pinks and other colors were a refreshing break from the brownish gray dessert sand that is this part of Lima. We wound our way passed the 12 stations of the cross that mark the way up to the top of the hill. At the top we had a dynamic view of the dusty city of Lima. It was hazy but we could make out the Pacific Ocean to the west in the distance. Why had we come? Two reasons: to see the view and to FTF (first to find) Above Lima (GC1K2A0). We parked at the top and marveled at the view. Following the instructions we back tracked down the mountain about 50 meters to the GC. As described the cache was hidden in a small cave-like crevice. All around were remanents of incense bowls and sacrifices of food and beer. Must be part of the pilgrimage made up the hill at times. After some dusty searching we found it! We FTFed a cache that was placed three days short of three months ago. Yeah, if your counting and your FTF count is too low for you, come to South America to boost it! We had a great morning and saw a part of Lima that most never see. Thank you Gorranata for the cache!

Entry to Mordor Cache placement and a special visit

It's always a blessing when family comes to visit. Rick wanted to show his parents what geocaching is so off we went to the biggest concentration of geocaches in Ecuador: Parque Metropolitano overlooking Quito. Rick picked one of the hardest caches in the forrest and put his mother out front to lead the way. She took us right to it and within minutes had the cache in her hand. Way to go Olivia! I've gone with folks who've spent a half hour looking and then given up. While Rick and crew headed out to find another cache I took a detour and found a hiding place for what is to date my favorite cache hide. I just submitted it and have called it the Entry to Mordor. No spoilers here for anyone thinking of coming to Ecuador. Anything I say here you can read on the cache page. I'd never been down this particular trail and soon found that it wound down into a "huicu" (Quichua for a ravine or large gully). At the bottom there is a small creek that flows out of a dense humid highland forrest. The entrance was so beckoning that I had to crouch down and go in. Almost immediately I lost all satellite reception. The place is dark, dank and eerie, reminding me of some of the scenes in the series Lord of the Rings. I continued up the stream as I looked for a good hiding place for a small plastic container. I even had to climb up a place where when it rains hard there would be a small waterfall. Finally I found the right place some 50 meters inside the densely covered ravine. This one is for folks willing to possibly do a little wading in ankle deep water and get a little dirty. Hiding caches is a close second to actually finding them. This was fun. BTW, I met a geocacher recently at a geocaching event who has hidden over 800 caches. That's serious work. Well, this was #35 for me, all in South America.

Caching in Costa Rica

I made a trip to San Jose, Costa Rica to participate in some training. I had a great time! Add to it that I was able to take a little time to find four caches in and around San Jose and Heredia. I walked out to the Latin American Bible University, a round trip of four miles, and found the first one. The next day I drove out to Heredia and found The Place to Be in 1763 (GC1DVX0). It was hiden in a muggle-intensive area right on the main city park. It was a Saturday afternoon and there wasn't a seat open in the whole park. I worked my way through the Cathedral and out into the church's side park. It gave better access to the cache without being observed as readily by the hundreds of people just on the other side of the fence. From Heredia I tracked up into the hills looking for and finding YWAM Twin A (GC17CAC). The cache is on the property of the mission base of Youth With a Mission (YWAM). This is a beautiful property where young Ecuadorians and North Americans come to be equipped to do ministry in several Central American countries. I stopped in to ask for permission to look for the cache. Just as I expected, the four young men, one North America and the others Costa Ricans, had never heard of geocaching and were somewhat amazed that a person would drive all the way up to where they were to look for a tupperware box. I had them take my GPSr and track to the GC. We found the cache, I logged in and dropped a TB. They all wanted the website so they could learn more about the sport. I had a good time getting to know these guys. From high over Heredia I drove down to the edge of San Jose and fought the Saturday afternoon traffic to get to SJO Layover (GC1EQCP). This one was put in by Reefpilot, an airline pilot who flies into several of our countries. Sure am glad he's placing some caches during his layovers. It was dark when I found the GC and started looking for this nano. There were some night guards at a business directly across the street. I felt rather conspicuous feeling around the fence in the dark with them observing me. I believe that I was able to get the cache, sign the log and replace it without them knowing what was going on. It took a walk around the block to sign the log and then swing back by to replace the nano. This may be my last trip to Costa Rica so it was great to be able to hit a couple more caches!