The Green Energy Revolution

With continuing high gas price and threat of stagflation, energy and economic issues has begun to top the 2008 presidential election agenda. Ten days ago on July 17^th, former Vice President and 2007 Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient Al Gore gave a speech in Washington D.C. on A Generational Challenge to Repower America: “… Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years…”

It is comforting to see leaders like Al Gore recognize fundamental national and global problems beyond petty politics and devote to the pursuit of viable solutions relentlessly. Al Gore articulated well in his speech that accomplishing this single and easy-to-understand goal would address simultaneously all three crises we face – economic, environmental, and security. He noted that as technology advances and the prices of fossil fuel – oil, gas, coal - increase dramatically, some alternative energy sources are becoming much more competitive and attractive, thus the goal is now becoming realistic. What he is also counting on perhaps is the public sentiment for and the momentum of “Change”, echoing Barack Obama’s popular “Yes We Can”. Al Gore also repeated his call for the most significant policy change on TAX - “We should tax what we burn, not what we earn” - to replace a significant part of payroll tax by “carbon tax”. Depending on how each of us reacts and what we will do and vote for in near future, we will find out soon enough if this country will respond in force to his grand challenge.

Meanwhile, it is probably useful to examine some facts and fundamentals to convince ourselves the direction of this bold initiative makes sense. First off, energy is the most fundamental currency for human’s sustaining and gratification. At minimum, we survive and grow by taking in food and nutrients that are powered by sunlight or solar energy. Beyond survival, we all engage in all kinds of activities to better and enjoy our lives that consume varying amount of energy (and alter our environment).

The last global revolution happened over 230 years ago when James Watt’s improved steam engine allowed for a 5 folds increase of engine efficiency and inaugurated the Industrial Revolution. That and other innovations brought us to the modern society as we witnessed impressive productivity gains via mechanization (and later, automation), first by external heat engine and then internal combustion engines that is still widely used today with various types of fuels. While we continue to invent new technologies, install infrastructures, and improve various components of the systems, the reality is, from the point of view of energy, we are still living through this two centuries old industrial revolution with incremental and selective improvements. In particular, it is not an exaggeration to say 20^th century has been the century of fossil fuel with oil being the single most dominant and talk-about energy source today.

There is only one small problem: there exists a finite supply of fossil fuel and it takes a very long time and rare lucks for the nature to create them. Given all that, it is intuitive that it is just a matter of time when we approach the point of exhaustion of the supply. What is not so intuitive but most critical however is not the moment when you about to run out the resource. It is the moment when the production rate (often measured by Billions of Barrels per Year) of the supply begins to decrease which happens a lot sooner than when we effectively exhaust the resource itself. This is not an easy concept to comprehend but is a proven scientific theory – the celebrated Hubbert's Peak (Oil) Theory that was first validated in 1971 when U.S oil production reached its peak and has now been used and applied globally and to some resources other than oil as well. For more details, see the excellent exposition Hubberts Peak - Impending World Shortage first published in 2001, by the Princeton Professor Emeritus Kenneth Deffeyes.

The reason we should worry about when the peak oil occurs is simple: when production rate reaches the peak and starts to decrease, you will see fundamental change of the behavior of the system and “bad” things including sharply increasing price, volatile speculations, and resulting negative chain reactions are sure to start to happen. The range of estimates by experts of the Peak Oil for global oil production varies between yesterday and 2020+. While that the exact and actual moment could be off from the predictions a few years and that there may be 10’s billions of barrels more of oil reserves here or there, one thing we do know is that the (Global) Peak Oil is going to happen in our life time for most of us; we just can’t wish it away or drill it away. Don’t let any politicians or businessmen mislead us by ignorance, short-sightedness, or alteria motives. Keep in mind that for US oil production, we passed the Peak Oil long time ago and have become critically dependent on oil imports, like it or not!

The second fundamental is a law of physics - “Conservation of Energy”. If you look at where the energy comes from and did it go with today’s technology and infrastructures, you will get quickly a pretty good idea what is going on. According to Wikipedia's World Energy Resources and Consumption, the world now consumes more than 0.5 zeta joules (i.e. 5 x 10²⁰ J or 138,900 TWh or Trillion-Watt-hours) a year with 86% of it satisfied by fossil fuel, led by oil (0.18 zeta joules) and followed behind by gas (0.11 zeta joules) and coal (0.12 zeta joules). Excluding about 30% that was lost during generation, conversion, and delivery, about ½ of the utilized energy is being used for sustaining industrial activities from agriculture, mining, manufacturing, to construction and about 30% of it for personal and commercial transportations. All in all for U.S., the electricity consumption in 2008 is expected to be about 3.900 TWh, including the loss (to get a perspective, there are about 100 millions households in U.S. with an average household consumption in electricity alone in about 10,000+ KWh.) Considering that total U.S. energy consumption in 2008 is expected to be around 30,000 TWh (~20% of the world consumption), one can see that Al Gore’s challenge is quite modest as it represents a mere 10+ % of country’s total energy consumption. Further, electricity infrastructure is least complex so far as the social, political, and business operations are concerned; thus making it the best choice as the entry point.

Indeed this will be a great start - the beginning of the Green Energy Revolution. The significance and parallel step of “manufacture of plug-in electric cars” called for in Al Gore’s speech should not be underestimated either. Once new electric grid powered by renewable non-carbon energy sources becomes available, we can reach the bigger prizes like personal and commercial transportation (excluding air) that account for about 25% of the total energy consumption and rely on fossil fuel almost exclusively today.

21^st century promises to be an exciting century. My prediction: Barack Obama will be elected President in 4 months; new energy and tax policies will be in place in 2 years, 90% of our electricity and 20% of our vehicles will be powered with renewable non-carbon energy sources by 2020. For this to happen, we must seize the moment and respond to Al Gore’s call in some fashion as complex, large scale and long term issues need to be solved by persistent political wills and efforts. If the above discussion and Al Gore’s 30 minutes speech are too serious and dry for you, you can take 5 minutes to view comedian George Colin’s satire Save the Planet. I am sure if nothing else, it shall appeal to your self-preservation nature, make you laugh and get you more interested in this challenge.

Talk to you soon!

Down Under

In 1979, the movie The China Syndrome made popular the (unscientific and impossible) notion that it is possible to reach “the other side” (china) of the world through the earth crust and core (in the event of a nuclear meltdown). Actually, if you look at a globe model, you know you would more likely to get to Australia than China when you dig a hole through earth!

We just returned from an exciting 2 weeks vacation in down under, that is, Australia. It is the only country in the world that occupies a whole continent, albeit the smallest and flattest one. Size wise, it is almost as big as United States but has only a little over 20 millions populations like Taiwan, with most of its residents concentrated in a few coastal cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. It is a young country by most measures; it did not become independent from the United Kingdom until 1901. In some senses, one may consider Australia a 100 years younger brother of U.S., not to mention the 2^nd wave of settlement with British convicts was a direct result of American independence from UK.

Majority of the land of Australia (commonly referred to as Outback) are very dry and receive little rainfalls that proved to be quite challenging for animals and vegetations alike. Many of us would recall the popular 1986 adventure comedy movies Crocodile Dundee by Paul Hogan. Behind the adventurous Outback scenes though, there were and still are blood and tears of struggling Indigenous People of Australia (often referred to as “black people”) who have been living there since about 50,000 years ago but got caught up in waves of settlement and colonization (began in 1788) in the last 200 years. Today there are about 2.5% or 500,000 Australians consider themselves descendants (part or full blood) of original inhabitants. Considering there were about that as many or more full blood aboriginal people before the first settlement in 1788, one can infer their decimation due to massacres, diseases, discrimination, and various hardships, not dissimilar to those in many other parts of the world. Their social, economical, and political problems also sounded all too familiar with under-represented and disadvantaged minorities in rest of the world. It was not until 1962, they were granted unqualified rights to vote in federal elections and not until 1970's practice of forced removal of children from their family (so called Stolen Generations) by government agencies and church missions (under the name of “protection”) was finally completely stopped.

One can get a “5-star comfort” glimpse of the aboriginal land by visiting the spectacular Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory that is 3 hours flight away from Sydney. Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock by its colonial name (you can guess: it was named by the explorers after then “governor” Sir Henry Ayers!), is a 1,100 feet high immense, lone standing, bare sandstone formation and sacred to the aboriginal people in the area. The best way to appreciate it is to take a walk around its 6 miles long base. In several caves at its base, you can see some old paintings of the aboriginals in symbols of lizards, emus, water holes, etc. that have been adopted in most art works and souvenirs found in galleries and shops all over the country. You can learn about the aboriginal teachings passed down orally through so called Dreamtime stories and legends of good and evil characters that are imprints on natural rock formations. I liked in particular the Kuniya walk and story about a Kuniya Woman Python (see photo to the right) struck down a Liru poisonous snake avenging her nephew’s death. One should also see Uluru at different times of the day, in particular its firing red in the sunrise and sunset.

Australia is also blessed with awesome natural beauties of sea. The largest coral reef system of the world – the 1,200 miles long Great Barrier Reef is one of the top natural wonders by practically any list. Many of the reefs and islands are reachable by boat in an hour or so from its northeastern coastal towns. Walter Disney-Pixar’s 2003 hit movie Finding Nemo turns out to be the biggest advertisement for the Reefs. Pictures of Nemo is everywhere in Cairns and is constantly mentioned by every water activity guide. The best way to see the reef is of course by going into the water. One can join any of the dive/snorkel tours operated by a few companies in Cairns (and other port cities). In a calm and sunny day, you can easily get 10-15 meter visibility in water and swim along dozens of different types of colorful fishes and seeing all kinds of corals in a literally an unbounded tropical “fish tank”. It is a wonderful experience hard to beat at other places.

The most populated city of Australia is Sydney with over 4 millions of population. It is a beautiful city with diverse culture and residents. The most impressive building and master piece in architecture is no doubt the Sydney Opera House that is right in the Sydney harbor, surrounded by water on three sides. It was designed by a then-young Danish architect Jørn Utzon who won the open competition launched in 1955. The story goes as Utzon’s submission had only sketches of his concepts and was rejected initially. It took Eero Saarinen (the famous Finnish architect who designed the St. Luis Gateway Arch and among other corporation buildings, the beautiful Holmdel Bell Labs building where I spent 28 years of my life) who served on the selection committee, to rescue the rejected proposal; the rest is history.

The exterior “shells” (literally) was so unique and original as the first attempt of complex geometry in modern building designs that practical way of engineering and construction it, based on so-called “Utzon’s Sphere”, was not proposed and validated till 4 years into the project after many failed attempts. Although many of us have seen photos of the Opera House before, one can only appreciate the real beauty and awe of it by seeing it with one’s own eyes from different angles, distance and time. For example, do you know its roofs are covered with over 1 million pieces of glossy white and matte cream tiles (see photo to the right)? I counted that during our stay in Sydney, I had admired it from inside and out in countless ways – in air at a distance (in flights in/out of Sydney), high above ground at a distance (from the Harbor Bridge to the west), at ground level in all 360 degrees from close up to afar by land and water around it, and lastly, during the day and evening lightings! It is truly a master piece and deserving finalist for the new 7 wonders of the world; there is simply nothing like it.

For natural beauty, the kilometer long Bondi Beach (an aboriginal word pronounced "bond-eye", meaning "the sound of waves breaking over rocks") and the cliff walk between Bondi and Coogee certainly top my list. Bondi beach lies 4 miles east of central Sydney and is easily reachable by bus in about 30 minutes. It is probably the most famous Australian sand beach and is well-known for surfing. The 5 Km walk along the paved cliff trail from Bondi Beach to Coogee in the south is breadth taking. It takes you through rock formations, beaches, small towns and parks, and you can take a bus back to Sydney easily. When you are there as tides come in, you can witness, yes, the sounds and tremendous splashes of waves breaking over rocks like the next photo shows.

The easiest way to learn and acquire fascinating closeup views of many unique and rare animals found in Australia continent is to pay a visit to the Sydney Taronga Zoo that overlooks the central Sydney from the hill on north across the harbor. Australia continent is like a isolated natural life science Lab and had chartered a distinct evolutionary path with its inhabitants since it was separated first from Africa continent 167 millions ago, then India 120 millions ago, and eventually Antarctica/South America 40-80 millions ago. Subsequently, creatures on these different land mass have evolved and adapted differently according to the habitats, climates, predator/prey as Darwin lucidly explained in his theory of evolution. In Australia, unlike the rest of the world, Marsupials like kangaroo - the mammals with slower metabolism and pouch for developing offsprings turns out to have fared much better and dominated the placental mammals such as mice, cats, tigers, etc that carry the youth in uterus to full term. Over 200 out of the about 300+ species of marsupials of the world are native to Australia (including the cute Koala) and can be seen in Australia today! So you can imagine how much fun and learning you can get from visiting the zoo.

What is perhaps most “strange” and least understood animals is a subclass of mammals known as monotreme that lay eggs. Guess what, the only surviving monotremes are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea and you can see them in Sydney that is what we did. They are the duck-billed Platypus 鴨嘴獸 and spiny Echidna 針鼢. Here is a photo of a platypus swimming in a tank of the Sydney Aquarium and a photo of two echidnas following each other in the Taronga zoo. Platypus looks so weird that no wonder the British scientists thought it was a hoax when they received the first pelt and sketch from Australia back in 1798. A 2008 May 8th Guardian article reported the result of a recent DNA study that found platypus to be a mix of mammal, bird and reptile with 10 sex chromosomes (contrast to 2 in human)!

Before I go, let me share with you below our itinerary and some of the highlights of our two weeks Australia fun journey. Palya (an Aboriginal Australian word for greetings and goodbyes that has no equivalent in English) and talk to you soon!

Sat., June 21, 2008: arrived in the evening at Sydney after a 14 hours non-stop flight from Los Angeles, CA. Checked into the Travelodge Wynyard Hotel that is located within walking distance to most major attractions and public transportations of Sydney.

Sun., June 22, 2008: In the morning, walked to the Rocks, the earliest settlement of Sydney, and visited the Sunday market. Walked to and toured the wonderful Sydney Harbor Bridge, Circular Quay (pronounced as “key”), Opera House, and the Botanical Garden.

Mon., June 23, 2008: took a ferry to the Taronga Zoo and toured the Sydney harbor

Tues., June 24, 2008: took a bus to Bondi Beach and did the Cliff walk

Weds., June 25, 2008: flew to Cairns (pronounced as “cans”), a port city to Great Barrier Reef. Joined the excellent and popular 2 hours evening Reef Teach talk to learn about fishes and corals of GBR.

Thurs., June 26, 2008: took a diving/snorkeling trip with Passions of Paradise to Michaelmas cay and Paradise reef

Fri., June 27, 2008: took a half day ATV tour at the Blazing Saddles Ranch northwest of Cairns

Sat., June 28, 2008: boat ride to Green Island and checked into the island resort. Dive and snorkel off/at the island in the afternoon

Sun., June 29, 2008: boat ride to Norman Reef for diving/snorkeling by Great Adventures’ Reef Prince

Mon., June 30, 2008: boat ride to Norman Reef again for the day and returned to Cairns late afternoon

Tues., July 1, 2008: took a morning flight to Uluru/Ayers Rock and checked into the Ayers Rock Resort. Took a Uluru Sunset tour. Went to observatory for a Night Sky talk in the evening. Note the sky does look different in Southern hemisphere. For example, one can not see North Star but fortunately there is the Southern Cross constellation that tells the Aussies where is the south; else they would have been hopelessly lost! For its importance, these 5 stars are on the fly of the Australia flag.

Weds., July 2, 2008: got up early for the Uluru Sunrise and walked around the base. In the afternoon, visited Kata Tjuta and stayed through Sunset. Kata Tjuta is located 20 miles east of Uluru and is an equally impressive formation consisted of 36 domes including 5 large ones (see the sunset photo of them to the right).

Thurs., July 3, 2008: strolled in the resorts to see exhibits of the visitor center and various shops. Took an early p.m. flight to Sydney. Had a diner feast at a Cantonese Seafood restaurant in Chinatown with fresh Abalone and Scallop. Yummy!

Fri., July 4, 2008: visited Australian Museum (of Natural History and Anthropology) off Hyde Park in the morning and then took a 20 minutes light rail train to the Airport.

Mesoamerica Cultures and Mexico – the Most Populated Spanish Speaking Nation

Last time, we talked about Inca civilization and our recent visit to Peru. Given the common root of the Indigenous Americans (from Eurasia), I just can’t help but recalling and comparing what we experienced in Peru with those in and around Mexico City last August as well as in earlier visits of other parts of Mexico like Cancun, Cozumel and famous archaeological sites Tulum and Chichen Itza.

For many Americans today, the stereotypical Mexicans are associated with, on one hand, the extremely hardworking immigrants including those who crossed the border to enter U.S. illegally, as well as, on the other hand, reported illegal drug gangs, crimes, and corruptions in parts of that country. My own impression of Mexicans when I grew up in Taiwan were formed mostly from watching movies like the 1966 classic Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (aka The Good, the Bad and the Ugly that made Clint Eastwood a superstar) and John Wayne’s The Alamo.

Mexico has also been quite popular for its convenient tourist-filled border towns like Tijuana next to San Diego, and beach resorts in places like Cancun, Cozumel and Acapulco especially among young American students during school Spring breaks. It seems odd however that given its proximity, size, long relation and partially shared history and economy with U.S., majority of us don’t seem to know too much about its rich cultures and long history of Olmec, Teotihuacan, Maya, and Aztec. We don’t seem to pay enough attention to many of the cultural treasures and historical sites like Chichen Izza and Tulum that were built by Mayans long before Spanish conquerors landed. Note unlike Aztec and Inca Empires (centered at Tenochtitlan and Cusco, respectively), it did take Spanish almost 200 years to control substantial parts of Maya lands largely due to its distributed city-state structures.

A decade ago, we visited Chichen Itza that is now one of the newly elected 7 wonders of the world, located in Yucatan peninsula about 150 miles west of Cancun. Chichen Itza was a major Mayan regional center for hundreds of years (est. 600-1,000 AD) and its Mayan name means "At the mouth of the well of the Itza." Some theory suggest that it was established by a group of people who left Teotihuacan (near Mexico City that we will discuss later in this blog). This magical site is one of few places where you can get a glimpse of the mystic, sophisticated and advanced Mayan civilization dated several thousands of years back.

Chichen Itza was one of the most important Maya cities of northern lowlands in Yucatan in Postclassic period (10^th – early 16^th century). The most famous structure of Chichen Itza is no doubt El Castillo, aka the Temple of Kulkukan (for the Feathered Serpent or creator god). The choice of Kulkukan is by no means an accident: it is identified with planet Venus whose appearances are used by Mayan to predict the future including warfare!

On the Spring and Fall equinox, we were told that, thousands of visitors come to witness the spectacular shadow of crawling feathered serpent down the sides of the pyramid at the rising and setting of the sun. From that and other records (in written language of Mayan – the only known fully developed language of pre-Columbian Americas), one can infer how advanced Mayans were in astronomy and mathematics. Indeed, it is known that Mayan had a more accurate calendar than Western world's!

To experience a fuller spectrum of the Mexican cultures and history, it is certainly most convenient by paying a visit to Mexico City, the capitol of Mexico and one of the most populated metropolitan areas on earth – a whopping 20 millions! One of the must-see archaeological sites is Teotihuacan that is located about 25 miles northeast of the city. While it is known that Teotihuacan reached its peak more than 1,500 years ago, there is still no consensus of who actually first established Teotihuacan although Totonac people have long claimed to be the founder of that city. One thing we do know however is that it had declined and was abandoned mysteriously in 6^th century, considering it was larger than any European city of the same era! The most credible theory and evidences point to the severe drought and famine resulting from the extreme weather events of 535-536. Centuries later, Nahuatl speaking Aztec people found its capital in Tenochtitlan (today’s Mexico City), "reused" the abandoned temples for their own Sun God and Moon God instead, and gave the site the Aztec name Teotihuacan.

By now, you can probably guess how critical and important water was to pre-Columbia civilizations in Mexico. Unlike the Andes highlands of Peru, you will find temples of Rain God in many places here. Tenochtitlan, the capital of Aztec at approximately 2,200 meters above sea level, was a magnificent artificial island built around an islet of Lake Texcoco (that you can no longer see) with interconnecting canals of Chinampa farming technique. One can still imagine just how grand it was by visiting and taking a boat ride (photo at right) of these beautiful working “floating gardens” at the Xochimilco district in the southern part of the city.

Aztec Empire crumbled in 1521 when Herman Cortes led the Spanish conquerors and some indigenous allies to defeat it and killed its king. Cortes founded the Mexico City on top of the ruined Aztec capital Tenochtitlan whose name was lost in memory by most.

Fast forwarded 400 years to the early 20^th century Mexico, we were met by arguably the most famous citizens and biggest attraction in its modern history - the extraordinary Mexican artists couple Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Posters all over the city reminded us the centennial celebration of Frida’s birth. Although we missed the centennial exhibit of her work in Mexico City, we were lucky enough to catch it 6 months later at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

There have been numerous books, films, and articles on both of Diego and Frida, including a wonderful 2002 biographic movies Frida where the talented look-alike Mexican actress Salma Hayek played Frida (and almost won a Oscar for it). I don’t need to repeat the tidbits and trivia such as her deformity of her right leg and foot due to polio at age 5; her severe lifelong lasting pains and over 30 surgeires after multiple injuries she suffered, including a broken spinal column, from a bus ride at age 17; and that she married the womanizing 21-years older Diego over her parents’ initial objection. Their fiery love and the turbulent marriage with each other (and affairs) is legendary. They married each other twice; the first time in 1929 when Frida was 22 and Diego was 41. They remarried again in 1940 after their long separation and final divorce only one year earlier. According to unconfirmed stories, Diego ate some of her ashes after Frida was cremated; that is "madly in love"!

To really appreciate their life, you must see at least the following three places when in Mexico City: 1)La Casa Azul (The Blue House) in Coyoacán district: Frida’s birth and death place and home for most of her life. Walking in this house that her father built, you can feel the unconditional love and support of her parents for her throughout her life. The mirror above her bed reminds the visitors her unyielding will to paint. You will also find her ashes (with few ounces missing?) in a pre-Columbian urn in next room, 2) Museo casa estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo in San Angel district: built by Mexican architect Juan O’Gorman in 1931. The red house-studio of Diego’s and the blue house-studio of Frida’s are connected with a foot bridge on top floor that leads to Frida’s kitchen by stairs. You can picture Frida climb stairs with spinal pain, dragging her crippled legs along from her kitchen to deliver meals she cooked to Diego. 3) Museo Dolores Olmedo Patino, a lovely property in Xochimilco district that has a beautiful garden and collection of their work. Some lesser known early work and paintings other than murals of Diego Rivera can be seen here where his talent is evident as he traveled and spent nearly 15 years as a young artist in European cities such as Madrid, Paris, and experimented in various styles of the time from cubism to post-impressionism. The dedicated room of Frida Kahlo’s work is overwhelming as Frida silently screamed out to the visitors through her expressions of pain and suffering in many self-portraits with vibrant indigenous Mexico colors.

While Frida and Diego are most celebrated painters of Mexico, equally or more importantly they are an integral part of the modern Mexico social political history. In the backdrops of Mexican revolution of 1910 and the Oct 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, they both shared radical social-political ideals and were active in union movements and Communist Party as one could expect. When Diego Rivera returned to Mexico from Europe in 1921, he began to participate in the government sponsored mural programs. He created his own style of murals that tell history of Mexico society and revolutions in bold native Mexican colors and spirit – that set him apart from all the rest. You can see his most important murals at a number of places including the National Palace in Mexico City and some museums in U.S. You should try to pick out Marx, Lenin and Rockefeller from the photo of one of his murals at the right that clearly reflects his social-political views.

Frida Kahlo died on July 13, 1954 at age 47 and Diego Rivera died few years later on Nov 24, 1957 at age 71.

Below let me share with you our itinerary and highlights of our 6 days Mexico City trip taken last summer:

Tues, Aug 21, 2007: flew to Mexico City and checked into Hotel Maria Cristina, a neat Mexican hotel in a quite neighborhood right next to the bustling Zona Rosa district. Walked to a highly recommended restaurant in Zona Rosa to have a taste of the authentic and diverse Mexican regional cuisines (no, no tex-mex!). After dinner, strolled along streets of touristy Zona Rosa.
Weds, Aug 22, 2007: In the morning, visited Zocalo in the Centrao Historico area where the major historical sites of Mexico such as Cathedral Metropolitana, Palacio Nacional, and Templo Mayor can be seen at this huge square. Toured the Palacio Nacional to see Diego Rivera’s famous murals of Mexico history. In the afternoon, visited Museo Nacional de Antropologia, the largest of its kind in the world. It has an impressive collection of pre-columbia artifacts and is a nice way to see records of Mexican cultures. The most famous collection here is probably the “Aztec Sun Stone” or “Aztec Calendar” from 1479 CE, see photo at the right. Another fascinating item is a Mayan jade mask and dress for the deceased royal that reminds me of the jade suits 金縷衣discovered from a tomb in Chinese Han dynasty 2000 years ago.
Thurs, Aug 23, 2007: visited Coyoacan – Museo de Frida Kahlo, Museo de Leon Trotsky, then “floating gardens” and Museo Dolores Olmedo Patino of Xochimilco
Fri., Aug 24, 2007: visited the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Pyramids of Teotihuacan and Antigua Basilica of Guadalupe
Sat,. Aug 25, 2007: visited the Saturday Bazar Sabado at Plaza San Jacinto and Museo casa estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Mon., Aug 26, 2007: flew back to US

In closing, not to be overdone by its Peruvians/Inca neighbors, here is the most popular and beautiful Mexican song Besame Mucho, written in 1940 by Consuelo Velázquez before her 16th birthday and performed by Carlos Julio Ramirez. Also included is the lyric and one of its English translations. Enjoy and talk to you soon!

Besame Mucho (in Spanish by Consuelo Velazquez)

Bésame, bésame mucho
Como si fuera esta noche la última vez

Bésame mucho
Que tengo miedo perderte, perderte otra vez

Quiero tenerte muy
Cerca, mirarme en tus
Ojos, verte junto a mí
Piensa que tal vez
Mañana yo ya estaré
Lejos, muy lejos de ti

Bésame, bésame mucho
Como si fuera esta noche la última vez

Bésame mucho
Que tengo miedo perderte, perderte después

Kiss Me A Lot (English Translation by Valentin Anders)

Kiss me, kiss me a lot
As if tonight was the last time.

Kiss me, kiss me a lot,
Because I fear to lose you,
To lose you again.

I want to have you very close
To see myself in your eyes,
To see you next to me,
Think that perhaps tomorrow
I already will be far,
very far from you.

Kiss me, kiss me a lot,
As if tonight was the last time.

Kiss me, kiss me a lot,
Because I fear to lose you,
To lose you later.

Machu Picchu – the Lost City of Inca Civilization

When indigenous peoples of the Americas migrated from Eurasia over 10 thousand years ago, they settled and evolved at various parts of the continent. While Maya civilization and Aztec Empire thrived in Mesoamerica or today’s Mexico and Central America, Inca Empire emerged in early 13^th century from a tribe in Cusco area of the Andes in today’s Peru, South America. Under the lead of the 9^th Inca (that simply means “king” in Inca language Quechua) Pachacuti (1438-1471) and his successors, Inca Empire expanded and eventually became the largest empire in per-Columbia Americas that ruled much of the Andes mountain region including today’s Peru, Bolivia, most of Ecuador and Chile, and a part of Columbia and Argentina.

We just returned from a visit of Peru to appreciate the remnants of Inca civilization around Cusco, the ancient capital of Inca Empire. The highlight of the trip is the must-see magnificent Machu Picchu, one of the newly elected 7 wonders of the world. It was built around 1450 for the elites (a recent new theory suggests that it is the “Camp David” of the Inca) and abandoned 100 years later with unknown reasons (or, there is no consensus or overwhelming evidence). As colonial Spanish conquerors never reached Machu Picchu, the city was untouched and unknown to outside world until 1911 when a nearby villager Melchor Arteaga took the young Yale University South American History Lecturer Hiram Bingham III to it. The rest is history (except Peruvian government continues to seek the return of all artifacts taken by the Yale University expedition).

What made Machu Picchu truly unique and wonderful is that it embodies and epitomizes the Inca civilization with its astonishing architecture, engineering and not the least, placement of the site and structures integrated with its advanced astrological knowledge, religious beliefs and philosophical concepts. I just can’t think of any other single archaeological site in the world that captures so much in such a small open space. At first sights, one striking feature of the structures, like in other Inca cities and towns, is massive stone works. It is amazing how they were able to handle the cutting and moving of these stones with no obvious efficient tools. After a while, a puzzle surfaced: unlike Mayan, Inca people did not appear to have written record and language. One can't stop wondering how did they manage to pass down and pass on their knowledge and discoveries?

Typical guided tours or picture books can't do justice to Machu Picchu. Tours usually take only about 2 hours to walk you through many parts, but not all, of the city, with colorful histories and anecdotal stories and legends. We are sure glad that we decided early on that we would return to it the next day and take our time to digest slowly every part of the city that took easily another 4 hours without hiking up the impressive adjacent Waynapicchu (also called Huaynapicchu) that is another 300+ meters over Machupicchu. I also wish I had bought and read the wonderful introductory book Cusco and the Sacred Valley of the Incas (that we picked up later in a Cusco book store for less than $20) before I went.

The city is divided into two adjacent areas: the agriculture part with the signature Inca terraced cultivation (more about the advanced Inca agriculture later) and the residential part to the west, separated by short windbreaker walls. Guard house at the high point of the east sits in between near and above a stone gate and the famous Inca Trail surely made the residents feel secure that they would have sufficient time to react to any threat from outside. To make the agricultural area a little more lively for tourists, a few beautiful Llamas with their babies were wondering around and grazed on the terraces that provide us plenty of opportunities to get close and take photos.

The importance of legends, rituals and religion cannot be understated for any earlier civilizations. The myth suggests that the king or Inca is son of the Sun god. Not surprisingly, Temples of Sun is the most important temple that is present everywhere in any of the significant ruins in Inca Empire. Yet at the same time, Inca people developed early the concept of duality similar to Yin and Yang in Chinese. Sun and Moon (and they use both calendars for distinct purposes and built temples for each that sometimes are next to each other), male and female, old and young, … What is also illustrative is the Intihuatana, an astronomical observatory, at the 2^nd highest point in Macchu Picchu. There stood the mostly in-tact giant stone sun dial that hitches the sun on solstices (some argue should be equinoxes) and is as accurately done as at the Temple of Kukulkan in Chichen Itza by Maya civilization (also one of the new 7 wonders) more than 2,000 miles north of equator.

In many temples of Inca Empire including at Machu Picchu, one finds stones carved into three steps that symbolizes the three tiers of life that is central to the belief and concept of Inca people: Hanan Pacha, the world of above (representing the gods of the sun, moon and stars); Kay Pacha, this world (representing this life); and Uqhu Pacha, the world of below (representing death). When you take the three step staircase-like symbol and rotate it in 90 degree three times, you would have completed a Inca Cross, a popular symbol found in many souvenirs that represents the circle of life as Inca people do believe in reincarnation or rebirth (into human). Correspondingly, sacred animals - the condor, the puma, and the snake symbolize the three tiers of the world. With a little help and imagination, you will see these mystic powers manifested themselves in nature landscapes and designed into stone works in Machu Picchu and Cusco.

One plaza in Machu Picchu with three temples illustrate the best different building techniques of Inca people in progression of sophistication and cost: pre-Inca, Inca classic and Inca Royal. The last was built with laser-cut precision of interlocking stones that no mortar was needed and even water and air do not seem to be able to pass through it! These stone buildings with trapezoidal doors/windows and inward-slanted walls are so strong that they survived centuries over all major earthquakes which is not uncommon in the region.

For those who are interested in our trip itinerary, here are a quick summary and highlights that may be useful in constructing your own itinerary when you travel there.

Sunday, May 18: flew nonstop (that takes about 8 hours) from Newark to the capital city Lima on the pacific coast. Stayed overnight near the airport to catch a morning flight to Cusco next day.

Monday, May 19: Fly from Lima to Cusco at 3,400 meters above sea level. Picked up by the local travel agent who took us by van to a secluded beautiful hotel one hour away north of Cusco in Sacred Valley. The elevation is 2,900 meters above sea level that made the acclimation easier. The hotel is right outside a small village and next to the Urubamba river that eventually goes into Amazon river at the north.

Tues, May 20: we first visited Moray, a fascinating ancient Inca agricultural experimentation lab in up to 150 meters deep natural depressions. Inca Empire built this lab for the purpose of advancing their agricultural development and transplantations.

Concentric terraced lots were carefully laid out to simulate various micro-climates with different temperature, humidity etc. It has been reported that the temperature difference between the top and the bottom of the terraces can be as much as 30 degrees Fahrenheit! Plants from different regions and climates were brought here, including the tropical coca trees, to be studied and adapted to the highlands (Moray is at 3,500 meters above sea level).

We then visited the Maras solar evaporation salt mine that has been operational since the Inca days. Natural underground spring about 10 times more saltier than ocean water was channeled through few thousands of terraced shallow pools, evaporated, crystallized and harvested in about one month time. Two photos below give yhou some idea of these two sites that you should be able to tell which is which.

Weds, May 21: driven to Ullantaytambo to catch a morning train to Aquas Caliente, the foothill hub to Macchu Picchu. Aquas Caliente is a tiny hilly town that reminds us of the scenic mountain town Jeo-Fen 九份 north of Taipei city overlooking the sea near a former large gold mine (see the contrasting photos). After lunch, we took a 20 minutes bus rides though 14 zig-zag turns to MachuPicchu at 2,400 meters above sea level. A guide met us and took us through parts of it and told us brief Inca history, concepts and symbols before we called it the day and returned to Aquas Caliente for the evening.

Thurs, May 22: walked to the bus station in the morning to take a bus for Machu Picchu and visit it again. This time we wondered around every spot of the tiny city, took a lot of pictures and regurgitated the stories what we had heard the day earlier and learned in the trip. A panoramic view is seen here that hopefully conveys a little bit the unique sancturial isolation and tranquility (when few tourists are around) of this magic place.

Fri., May 23: strolled around the Cusco main plaza (Plaza de Armas) in the morning. Ran into a group of lovely young students who was heading somewhere through the plaza. To our surprise, their teacher told the students to sing a song for us on the spot when we request for permission to take a picture of them. Throughout our trips, be it in the city or dirt ridden poor villages, parents and kids take schooling seriously; students all dressed neatly in school uniforms with sometimes parents (more fathers than mothers!) escorting them. Did a standard half day Cusco city tour. I will omit the exciting details here, else I will never finish this blog.

Sat., May 24: Strolling ups and downs in hilly streets of Cusco city, visited museums and shops. Practiced bargaining skills and bought some local collections. Went for an evening dinner show with traditional music and dances.

Sun., May 25: did a “standard” full-day Sacred Valley tour that covers a Llama and Alpaca farm and workshop, the big and popular Pisaq Sunday market with fresh local fruits, cooked-to-eat local corns (regrettably we missed the popular local roast guinea pigs that were not yet ready, see photo). The last stop was Ullantaytambo that has one of the most impressive ruins and incomplete Temple of Sun on the hill, guarding Machu Picchu that is 40 km to the west down the river. The highlight visit to a 74 years old women living in an original Inca house and drank her freshly brewed Chicha from a large jar, the popular traditional Inca corn beer, is certainly memorable.

Mon., May 26: we flew to Lima in the morning, did a half-day Lima city tour, had dinner in a restaurant of this most scenic shopping mall - Lacomar I have ever seen; it is on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. We then went to the airport and flew back to Newark in red eye.

When we returned to the sprawling Lima, the capital and colonial Spanish city of Peru, and fast-forwarded 4+ centuries, we were met with a young, dynamic guide of our last day in Peru who is to leave soon for Georgetown University to get his Ph.D. degree in Peruvian history. Through our conversations, we learned a bit in short hours through his eyes about recent history and social, economic and political issues of the country. We heard the disappointment with the former president Alberto Fujimori who ruled Peru from 1990 through 2000 and is currently waiting for trial for corruption and human right violations, although he is still popular among many Peruvians because of his contribution in rescuing the country’s economy from bankruptcy. We heard the reluctant choice of the lesser of the two evils of the current president Alan Garcia who was the president of Peru from 1985-1990 before Fujimori and brought the country to 7000% of inflation and near collapse. We heard the worries of increasing economic gap of wealthy and poor, and increased hurdle in democratization due to politicizing of military by civilian government in last two decades.

We saw streets of Lima city center filled with past glory of Spanish houses and buildings, many of which are not at all well-maintained. We saw the highly publicized on-going efforts and investments by the government to revive the city center and the contrast across the almost-dried Rimac river where over 80% of the 9 millions Lima residents live; it reminded me of pictures of Texas/Arizona and Mexico border separated by the Rio Grande but this is one city. With a good telephoto lens, one can capture emotionless pictures safely of the Lima shanty town on the hill afar, just like in Rio de Janiero two thousand miles away on the other side of the continent. As we were finishing the walking tour, the guide drew our attention to an interesting looking big scary looking solider on horse statue hidden in the trees of the park. It is Herman Cortez! so said the tour guide, the notorious Spanish conqueror and governor of Mexico. What is he doing in Peru??? Supposedly the sculptor Ramsey MacDonald did the statue that was first offered to Mexico government in 1930s who refused the “kind” gesture of Spanish government. Somehow Peruvian government ended up picking it up in 1934 thinking it was representing Francisco Pizzaro, the Spanish conqueror of Peru in 1532 and founder of Lima city. How much more insensitive and silly can one get?

Before I go, I want to share with you the most popular and beautiful Andean Peruvian Song El Condor Pasa. It is the title song of the Peruvian music play El Condor Pasa composed by Daniel Alomia Robles and libretto by Julio Baudouin in 1913. I am sure you will recognize the melody but just like me, probably thought it was written by Simon and Garfunkel who should surely be credited for making it popular world-wide in 1970. The lyrics was in Quechua but I could not find any online performance of it. Below is the text and an English translation (found on http://www.andes.org/songs.html), along with a nice music video of El Condor Pasa created by Espíritu Andino. You will get to see the unforgettable scenery of Inca!

As suggested by the original Quechua lyrics of El Condor Pasa, I wish to call on the mighty condor of the Andes to take me back to the old Inca kingdom of Machu Picchu. Talk to you soon!

El Condor Pasa (in Quechua)

Yau kuntur llaqtay orgopy tiyaq
Maymantam gawamuhuakchianqui, kuntur kuntur
Apayllahuay llaqtanchikman, wasinchikman chay chiri orgupy,
Kutiytam munany kuntur kuntur.

fuga.
Kuzco llaqtapyn plazachallampyn suyaykamullaway,
Machupicchupy Huaynapicchupy purikunanchiqpaq.

The Majestic Bird Passes Overhead (English translation)

Oh mighty condor owner of the skies, take me home, up into the Andes
Oh mighty condor.
I want go back to my native place to be with my Inca brothers,
that's what I miss the most, Oh mighty Condor.

fuga.
Wait for me in Cusco, in the main plaza,
so we can take a walk in Machupicchu and Huayna-picchu.