Guatemala has the honor to be transected by the collision of two major tectonic plates, the North American Plate and the Carribean Plate. They are still moving, one pushing up and over the other, leaving an easily visible fault in the surface of the earth, called the Motagua Fault, that runs right across the whole country. See photo 1. This fault runs right near Antigua, and is responsible for its distinguished history of earthquakes. There was a fairly big one in 1717, and another in 1751. In 1765 they had an 8.2 that ruptured the earth all the way into Chiapas. Then the Big One hit on July 29 1773, leaving most of the city of Antigua in rubble. With that, the Antiguans had had it. Formerly the capital city, Antigua was essentially abandoned for many ... read more

Greetings to all Old Gringo fans, from Antigua, Guatemala. We snowbirds are nesting a little farther South than usual this year, in the uplands of south-central Guatemala. Years ago, in Chiapas, I said that you could see the landscape change when you cross the Rio Grijalva just before Chiapa de Corzo (in the narrowest part of Mexico, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec). There are tall wild fig trees on the banks of the Grijalva, full of monkeys eating the figs, and crocodiles waiting below for a monkey to make a mistake. No more cactus, no more of the dreary arid landscape that fills all of northern Mexico. You are quite suddenly in the Central American jungle, with plentiful water, gorgeous flowers, and vegetation so dense you can only see a few yards. This is doubly true in ... read more

After our big day on the Golden Horn, we departed on our circular tour of Turkey. The map of our first day's travel is attached, because it took us through some very interesting geography. We left Istanbul going West through the little European piece of Turkey, along the north coast of the Sea of Marmara and down into the Dardanelles peninsula to Gallipoli, the grim birthplace of modern Turkey. Here the Turks smashed an invasion by the British Empire in 1915 and sent the Brits home in absolute humiliating defeat. They had thrown 469,000 troops into the effort, losing 141,000 dead and wounded, and absolutely nothing to show for it. The Turks lost about double that number, but they gained their national identity and a leader, Mustafa Kemal, the father of modern Turkey. Americans don't know ... read more

An amazing Turkey tour website I blundered into an absolutely amazing website that has panoramic pictures of many scenic things in Turkey. There are at least hundreds, maybe thousands of these panoramic views, of all kinds of things to see in Turkey. I have spent a few hours with it and I have only seen a small part; Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque, and many rooms inside Topkapi. It doesn't absolutely replace being there yourself, but it comes fairly close. In some ways it is better. Just click here and you will go right to it. After you click, you will see a page called "Sites in 3D". Click on Topkapi Palace. You will see a plan of Topkapi surrounded by many things to click on. The "Main Gate" is a good place to start. ... read more