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Herald & Lantern 19 January '83

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Riot, Ruins, Riches Greet Tour Group

By M'fllen Rowland First of two articles In the early morning of (fc-t 15, '82, Ruth and Her man Kapp of Stone Harbor, Father Will.am Shelton of St Barnabas Church. Villas, and artist extraor dinaire Fury Feraco of the Villas, left Kennedy Air port via Avianca Airlines for a 22 day tour of South America They arrived in Bogota, Colombia, at 6 30 p.m Bogota time They were met by their American Kx -press Co guide, a native of Santiago, Chile, who was < conducting his 149th tour of the continent THE CITY' IS a potpourri of contrasts in architec tural layers, with colonial homes, towering skyscrapers and working class houses at the lower level Narrow streets and four lane highways run side by side. To the south lies the commercial district, to the north huge mansions with barred win dows, surrounded by glorious gardens They visited the gold museum, which houses 25,000 pre-Columbian ar tilacls and the country's ‘most valuable collection of eye popping emeralds

CRIME IS rife: our friends likened Bogota to the Alaskan Gold Rush - 900 people are murdered in the emerald fields annual ly They kill each other regularly when if becomes known a precious gem has been founa When they make a find they pop it into their mouths or conceal it elsewhere on their person rather than risk imminent death The wealthy pride themselves on being chic and wear designer clothes, while peasant clothing is spotted on visiting villagers Our quartet par ticularly loved seeing the summer home of Simon Bolivar and the diminutive furniture used by the fine boned liberator ON ARRIVING in Quito. Ecuador, they learned their timing was bad The day before the price of gasoline fuel had doubled and what is known as South America's mosf historic city was in a revolutionary stale Upon deplaning they were warned they were in trouble and the bus driver feared getting them to their hotel safely Bases and largi automobiles were be ing incited with stones and

Molotov cocktails or overturned Streets were block ed by piled-up burning tires. TOURISTS WERE warned by their guide to stay in the hotel, but he didn't know our fearless foursome well. They started out on foot and while they were prevented by the poting students from seeing the Equatorial Monument, where one can stand with a foot in each hemisphere Father Shelton and Fury Feraco did manage to see two churches, these were San Francisco (where 24,000 human skeletons were found interred in an order ly fashion in the catacombs) and Santo Domingo, while Ruth and Herman fearfully awaited their return In the meantime their guide contacted American Express in New York and received permission to try to smuggle the entire group into the Cathedral LaCom pania after dark They were transported by small cars by varying routes to circumvent the students This was not wholly sue cessful Six cars started out and three of them got to the back door OUR FOUR FRIENDS were among those who were admitted Their entrance was worth the terrifying aftermath LaCompania is the wealthiest church in the _ Western Hemisphere and magmfi cent beyond description — it is "solid gold front floor to ceiling," according to Father Shelton However, terror was on its way Somehow the revolutionaries learned they were inside and kept them captive and under seige for l 1 -.- hours Among other things it was the first lime they had ever been ex posed to a howling mob and tear gas FERACO COOLYsumm ed it up by saying. "It was the first lime I ever attended a not " Their memories of Quito were not completely clouded by that experience They hasten to add that at 9.250 feet, Quito enjoys a perfect climate perpetual May Following the excitement they flew to Lima, which has three d ifferent climates, depending on elevation One can go deep sea or fresh water fishing, be in the tropics or snowcovered mountains or spend time gambling at the marvelous race track IT HAS LOVELY col omal homes, is clean, with a low crime rdte and no beggars Only one drawback they were warned to drink nothing but bottled water Seven out of 27 broke the rule and were wracked by Montezuma's Revenge Here the underprivileged have more care than ever before Catholicism is the dominant religion, put Peru has had freedom of religion since 1916 The churches are among the most wealthy in South America In Lima the changing of the guard has continued at the Presidential Palace since the time of the Conquistadors NEXT STOP was at Cuz co — elevation 11.400 ft ' They were given Coccoa tea ' a denvitive of cocaine) as a sedative on arrival but they still suffered oxygen starvation to a degree This is an archeological

paradise, with a new site found daily The most visited city in Peru was the capital of the Incan Civilization and is the oldest city in the Americas. Conquered by Pizzarro in 1534, it has been greatly modernized Lovely houses, built on founda lions of Incan palaces, support many television antennas. THE MOST remarkable parts of the Incan past which remain are the stone foundations and the Incan descendants dressed in ponchos who stroll the streets with their llamas There was no written language in the Incan civilization and while it had not discovered the wheel yet there was genius in Inca construction of walls, without mortor, to withstand earthquakes which plague this part of the

world

The most famous of there is the Stone of Twelve Angles, which could not be cut today without use of a laser beam. Limited amounts of gold are shipped out weekly The gold is brought in by miners Sundays and flown out Mondays. NEARBY (75 miles on narrow-guage railroad) Machu Picchu lay un discovered for four centuries until it was found by an American. Horace Bingham, led by an Incan guide. There 20,000 people vanished without a trace. Because it is surrounded by 1000 foot precipices and snow-capped mountains, it was never discovered by the Spanish and is considered to have been a refuge for nobles, priesLs, and Virgins of the Sun It can be reached only by climbing 1,500 feet or tak mg a bus on a road built with 13 hairpin curves to view the Urubamba Canyon. head waters of the Amazon and one of the most beautiful sights in the

world

The concluding article in this series will tahe the in trepid tourists to other wonders in Chile, Argen lino, and Urugunry

Health Watch

by Dr Robert G. Beitman

Hundreds of thousands of Americans die because they do not take advantage of the many important discoveries in the field of cancer detection. While wo do not haye a final "cure" for all cfjncfcrs, many can be halted and many cured, provided they are found early enough. A natural human tendency is to postpone checking into little things that may be wrong. For example, a small lump in the breast. In fact, sometimes we’re not sure it’s there at all. Or perhaps, some blood in the bowel movement ft seems to come and go, and we tell ourselves "perhaps it’s nothing" For many of us, along with these ra tionalizations comes a small voice saying, "perhaps it’s cancer." We are secretly afraid and we avoid finding out the truth SINCE FEAR of the unknown can be far more frightening than fear of the known, here for your information are some basic facts about this dreaded disease Many positive things have been discovered which tell us that rather than "protecting ourselves from the truth," the best chance to save our lives may be investigating these symptoms. as quickly as porsible! To begin with, cancer is not a single disease It is the name of a group of diseases in which certain of our cells begin to change their structure, multiply and spread in ways our bodies’ defense systems are unable to handle THE DANGER of cancer is that as it grows it in vadcs and destroys normal tissues, making tissues and organs unusable This can happen in ^virtually any part of thq/hody A maligant tumor is what we call a collection of cancer cells. When cancer begins, the cells Jfre usually found in a small, definable site, "localized." This is the best time to find a cancer. It can often be removed, never to appear again.

If the cancer continues growing, undiscovered the malignant cells may spread into neighboring organs, or break off and spread to other parts of the body, carried through the lymph or blood systems We call these additional cancer sites "metastases.” Once this spread has occur red, the chances for cure are lessened, although in certain cancers there may still be hope. IT IS EXCITING to recognize that cure in treating many forms of cancer has been steadily progressing. Not long ago, virtually everyone with cancer was doomed to an early death For example, early detection and removal of cancer of the cervix now results in total cure in almost 100 percent of cases. Early detection and treatment of cancer of the colon can save 60 percent of patients with the disease In acute lymphoctyic leukemia, which used to be* considered a fatal childhood cancer, drug therapy can now cure half of all cases In Hodgkins Lymphona, a cancer of young adults where abnor mal blood cells collect throughout the body, if treated in the early states, 80 per cent of cases can be cured Malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer, can now be cured in over 50 percent of cases, if detected early There are many more examples THE BOTTOM line for each of us is to listen to the frightened little voice which asks "Is it cancer 7 " Since one out of five Americans now die of cancer. I know with regret that some of us will recognize .cancer's warning signs in ourselves or those we love Visit your family doctor and report the symptoms that are worrying you It may turn out to be nothing, or possibly some other health disorder. But if it is cancer, you may save your life by finding out now Next column "The War ning Signs of Cancer"

News.* Digest

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his sons, Sean and Corey, resigned last week as part of an arrangement negotiated by the Breslins' attorneys and county prosecutors Assault charges against Sean and Corey and coverup charges against their father were dropped The chief n&s been on the force for 35 years and chief for seven years Hrmt Parade On OCEAN CITY’ — The city will be able to hold its annua! Night in Venice boat parade this summer without the help of the Ocean City Yacht Club Public Relations Director Mark Soifer told Council in a memorandum last week that the parade can be held with minor changes and probably at no extra cost to the city The Yacht Club, which in past years organized the parade, withdrew from the event after a dispute with the city over the proposed starting time Surcharge Mixed CAPE MAY — City Council rejected a mercantile tax surcharge recently okay*<5 by the slate legislature and adopted by the three Wildwoods The law allows either 150 or half the mercantile license fee, whichever is the lesser, to be used for promoting tourism Council said it would provide little money and a big headache/4

Still Probing

MIDDLE TOWNSHIP - A police probe concluded nothirtg illegal happened at two parties at thW Whitesboro Recreation Center over /the Christmas holidays Township committee continues to in vestigate the parties, which prompted Committeewoman Patricia Peterson to fire four recreation staff members

Talk To Me OCEAN CITY — The county tax board has given the city a one-year extension on the property revaluation that wds to have been completed by Dec 1, according to Assessor James E Andrew He blamed "problems with the state computer trying to talk to the Appraisal Surveys computer " The revaluation is to be finished by Sept l and take effect in 1984

Curbside Curbed OCEAN CITY — Due to increasing cost, curbside collection of recyclables will end here for about four months Collection will begin again when the county Municipal Utilities Authority begins pickup Mean while, the city will provide central drop-off points for residents to dispose of glass and newspapers