{"id":63,"date":"2009-04-27T08:30:31","date_gmt":"2009-04-27T13:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/?page_id=63"},"modified":"2021-06-10T16:03:23","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T15:03:23","slug":"journalism","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/?page_id=63","title":{"rendered":"Articles"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"l-llama-oro-del-peru\"<\/a>The history of ancient Peru in ten objects<\/a>\u00a0British Airways Highlife magazine<\/p>\n

As a new, state-of-the-art national museum opens, Hugh Thomson travels across the South American country \u2013 and discovers the artefacts which echo the past of remarkable, strange and often hostile civilisations.<\/p>\n

“When I first started coming to Peru<\/a>\u00a035 years ago, it\u2019s fair to say it was not for the museums. While great treasures were stashed away amid the dry and dusty displays, most exhibits had woefully misleading labels.\u00a0But over the last decade there has been an extraordinary transformation.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"adamsA stairway to heaven in Sri Lanka \u00a0<\/a>\u00a0Financial Times\u00a0\u00a0(subscription only)<\/p>\n

Hugh joins Buddhist pilgrims on a night-time ascent of the country\u2019s holiest mountain, Adam’s Peak<\/strong>: \u00a0one of those experiences that felt both timeless and numinous \u2014 a rewarding contrast to the beaches, luxury hotels and tea plantation tours that have pushed Sri Lanka on to countless magazine lists of hot destinations to visit this year.<\/p>\n

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\"IMG_0202<\/a>The Forgotten Dream – The Jesuits in Argentina<\/a>. \u00a0 Financial Times\u00a0\u00a0(subscription only) – see Hugh’s copy<\/a><\/p>\n

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The state of Misiones in Argentina is an anomaly \u2013 a long finger of land sneaking out from the north east of the country between Paraguay and Brazil, covered in dense Atlantic forest and far removed from the wide-open pampa<\/em> roamed by gauchos and cattle. \u00a0Most people come here for the Iguaz\u00fa Falls… but further south lie the far less visited ruins which gave the state its name:\u00a0 the Jesuit missionary settlements that for 150 years provided a utopian, if controversial, alternative for native Indians to the slaughter enacted elsewhere on the continent<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\"ProspectFootpaths are neglected national treasures <\/a>\u00a0Th<\/span>e Times\u00a0(subscription only) – see Hugh’s copy<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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As the world and its dog prepares to take the traditional Boxing Day hike, it\u2019s a good moment to take stock of one of our most under-rated resources \u2014 the nation\u2019s footpaths.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"IMG_5111Out of a Clear Grey Sky\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0Intelligent Life Magazine (The Economist)<\/p>\n

One day in 2007, a meteorite landed in a Peruvian hamlet<\/strong>. And it wasn’t just any meteorite. Hugh Thomson visits the locals and tracks the fall-out.<\/p>\n

‘The meteorite appeared as a fireball with a smoky tail, coming out of the clear sky above Lake Titicaca. It could easily have fallen in the lake itself. But with a last burst of energy, it carried across the water and this sphere of compacted iron and pyroxene and feldspar and kamacite buried itself in the plain of Carancas.<\/p>\n

Valentina’s son, Jos\u00e9, I later discovered, had seen the meteorite fall. He had been standing in a field nearby, watching over their sheep. A man of few words, Jos\u00e9’s first thought as the fireball slammed into the ground was “this is how the world ends”. ‘<\/p>\n

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\n<\/a>\"_73200117_c0045011-ancient_beech_woodland-spl\"<\/a>.The Sherwood syndrome<\/a>\u00a0 Aeon Magazine<\/p>\n

We picture ancient Britain as a land of enchanted forests<\/strong>. That\u2019s a fantasy: axes have been ringing for a very long time.<\/p>\n

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\"Walking<\/p>\n

In England\u2019s green and pleasant land<\/a>\u00a0 The Spectator<\/p>\n

The idea came to me after I had just got back from South America after a long trip to Peru.\u00a0 Perhaps because I was badly jetlagged, everything about England looked strange, different<\/strong> \u2014 and certainly worthy of as much exploration as I would give to a foreign country.<\/p>\n

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Peru: Inca icons get pride of place<\/a>\u00a0 The Independent<\/p>\n

This week Peruvians are celebrating an event that most thought would never happen: a new and splendid museum is opening in Cusco<\/strong> to house the “treasures of Machu Picchu” which are finally returning to Peru after spending the last century in the Connecticut city of New Haven.<\/p>\n

\u00a0.<\/p>\n

Finding the Lost City<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Geographical<\/p>\n

For the 100th anniversary of Hiram Bingham\u2019s discovery of Machu\u00a0Picchu,\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Hugh Thomson tells the tale of how a US explorer and academic came to\u00a0uncover one of the greatest architectural achievements of pre-Columbian civilisation.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Magic circles: walking from Avebury to Stonehenge<\/a>\u00a0 The Guardian<\/p>\n

A new walking path links Britain’s two greatest prehistoric sites, Avebury and Stonehenge, and is as epic as the Inca Trail.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Great Stones Way is one of those ideas so obvious it seems amazing that no one has thought of it before: a 38-mile walking trail to link England’s two greatest prehistoric sites, Avebury and Stonehenge, crossing a landscape covered with Neolithic monuments.<\/p>\n

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Lima, Peru: The ‘City of Kings’ reigns again<\/a>\u00a0 Daily Telegraph<\/p>\n

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Lima must have one of the most fabulous sunsets in the world. <\/strong>It helps, of course, that the city faces due west across the Pacific, so the setting sun can flood into the beaches and pick out the last surfers elegantly essaying a few lines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Up above on the cliffs, paragliders spiral past the smoked-black windows of the nearby hotels, many of which have infinity pools on their rooftops.\u00a0 It all seems very Californian….<\/p>\n

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Faberg\u00e9 Eggs in One Basket<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 The Times (subscription only)<\/p>\n

Museums do make life easy. Four years ago I tried to reach the fabled site of A\u00ef Khanum on the shores of the River Oxus in northeastern Afghanistan<\/strong>, the Greek city built by the followers of Alexander the Great.\u00a0 Despite having a former bodyguard of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir, with us, we were beaten back….<\/p>\n

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Peru’s jungle treehouse<\/a>\u00a0 The Guardian<\/p>\n

I was not quite sure what I expected from the Amazon.<\/strong> It’s become such a romanticised ecological symbol \u2013 a flagship of all we stand to lose \u2013 that it’s hard to see the trees for the wood.<\/p>\n

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Hunting with hawks in Oxfordshire<\/a>\u00a0Financial Times (subscription only)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something mesmeric about the way a bird of prey alights on your arm<\/strong>. It\u2019s to do with both the tremendous speed of approach and the stalling when it lands, an almost filmic effect of fast and slow motion.<\/p>\n

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Adventure ride will put some zip into the Lake District<\/a>\u00a0 The Times (subscription only)<\/p>\n

For many of my younger years I took part in the fell-running \u201cmanhunts\u201d held in the west of the Lake District<\/strong>, in which a few runners are chased down by the rest of the pack.\u00a0\u00a0 One early morning, I stood on the top of Fleetwith Pike. Below me, coming up the Honister Pass and fanning out, were the hunters. I stood deliberately on the very top of the peak so that they could see me silhouetted. Then I blew the horn.<\/p>\n

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Stonehenge is vital to the nation. It should be spared the cuts.\u00a0<\/a> The Times (subscription only)<\/p>\n

Stonehenge was given to the nation in 1918<\/strong>. So far, almost a century later, the nation has done a remarkably bad job of looking after it.\u00a0 The situation at the site is, in the words of one leading archaeologist, \u201can embarrassing, abominable, inexcusable mess\u201d. For decades, plans have been put forward to improve the site and then postponed.<\/p>\n

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\"Dervla<\/p>\n

Around the world in 80 years.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hugh Thomson, a contender for the Dolman Travel Book Award, discusses the art of travel writing with Dervla Murphy<\/a>\u00a0 Daily Telegraph<\/p>\n

Dervla Murphy rarely gives interviews<\/strong>. She is one of our most senior and prolific travel writers \u2013 more than 20 books in a half-a-century career \u2013 but she is extremely publicity-shy, from an age before blog and spin were part of a writer\u2019s toolkit. She\u2019s not a J\u2009D Salinger \u2013 there\u2019s the odd public sighting or visit to an Irish bar \u2013 but this was her first interview for many years.<\/p>\n

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Our overcrowded trains are a disgrace:\u00a0 It\u2019s no wonder MPs want to travel first class<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 The Times<\/p>\n

My journeys from hell?<\/strong> Waiting days for a series of cancelled boats in Ziguinchor, Senegal, at 100F in the shade, 6 out of 10. A bus trip across the Peruvian desert that lasted 24 hours, 8 out of 10. The train from Birmingham to Edinburgh, 10 out of 10. And not just because it was the last I did. Or because it cost hundreds of pounds. But because it could so easily have been better.<\/p>\n

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\"(c)Win hearts and minds in Afghanistan to win the war\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Times<\/p>\n

Troop numbers are not the top priority.<\/strong> We must build schools, wells and factories
\nif ordinary people are to back us.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Moctezuma, the Aztec dictator.<\/a>\u00a0 The Times<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Cort\u00e9s\u2019s regime change was good for Mexico.\u00a0 <\/strong>Moctezuma was a brutal and bloodthirsty dictator. It\u2019s no wonder neighbouring tribes helped the Spanish to overthrow him.<\/p>\n

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There’s a whole wide world out there still waiting to be explored <\/a>\u00a0The Times<\/p>\n

Are there still unknown corners of this world to be discovered?<\/strong> Is there any purpose to sending out large-scale expeditions to explore far-flung places?<\/p>\n

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\"(c)<\/p>\n

Mexico City Dreams<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 The Traveller Magazine<\/p>\n

It may seem strange, in a tough, fast city that is so large and has such extremes of wealth and poverty<\/strong>, but I think of Mexico City as a place for dreamers.<\/p>\n

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Tequila tales<\/a>\u00a0 Financial Times<\/p>\n

T<\/span>equila used to be a real man\u2019s drink, straight up and raw<\/strong>; the only accompaniments allowed were a pinch of lime and salt. One of PG Wodehouse\u2019s pre-war characters ordered \u201ca shot of that Mexican drink that they call \u2013 no, I\u2019ve forgotten the name, but it lifts the top of your head off\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reins in Spain<\/a>\u00a0 The Guardian\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bertrand Cauchy is a well-known figure in northern Spain: dubbed the “horse-whisperer of the Pyrenees”<\/strong>, he is celebrated for his ability to placate even the most difficult of steeds. But it was his reputation for placating even the most difficult of horsemen that led me to Cauchy’s home in Aragon….<\/p>\n

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\"(c)Revolution road<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>The Guardian\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

on the legacy of Pancho Villa in the Chihuahua deserts:
\n<\/strong>It was the start of the Mexican national holidays, and we were celebrating in a small Latino bar in El Paso, Texas, before heading “south of the border”, as Frank Sinatra used to sing: “Down Mexico way … where the stars above came out to play.” A few more banderas and we’d be seeing stars before we even got there.<\/p>\n

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Little treasures<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 The Guardian<\/p>\n

on Belize\u00a0and sailing down the cayes.
\n<\/strong>The yellow boat was called Ragga Gal and was small and shallow-keeled, not much more than 30ft in length. “We’re sailing later today, at 10. There’s still a berth left. Three days to sail down south to Placencia.”<\/p>\n

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Festive spirits<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Guardian<\/p>\n

Peru:\u00a0 Qoyllurit’i,\u00a0 “the festival of the snows”.<\/strong> Three days and nights of intense celebration with music and dancing culminate in a night-time ceremony on Andean glaciers 17,000ft high.<\/p>\n

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The Island of the\u00a0Sun\u00a0<\/a> The Sunday Times<\/p>\n

I was on the shores of the Island of the Sun, on Lake Titicaca, at 12,500 feet<\/strong>. The Island of the Sun is so called because the Incas believed it to be the sun’s birthplace.\u00a0\u00a0 Nothing can compare to the quality of light over Titicaca; the clear air at high altitude combines with the fast-moving clouds and weather systems to create a constantly shifting theatrical display of such a deep blue that the resulting photos often look as if artificial filters have been used.<\/p>\n

all photographs above (c) Hugh Thomson unless credited otherwise<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Home Is Not Where the Heart i<\/a>s \u00a0Very Magazine<\/p>\n

The word \u2018home\u2019 has such a warm log-fire glow to it; it\u2019s a concept we unquestionably accept as desirable<\/strong>: \u2018all back to mine\u2019 goes the cry \u2013 for that\u2019s where my heart and possessions are.<\/p>\n

But homes can be claustrophobic, containing, diminishing – they can trap us in a routine of self-perpetuating accumulation, accelerate time so that we lose it in the dullness of daily routine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The history of ancient Peru in ten objects\u00a0British Airways Highlife magazine As a new, state-of-the-art national museum opens, Hugh Thomson travels across the South American country \u2013 and discovers the artefacts which echo the past of remarkable, strange and often hostile civilisations. “When I first started coming to Peru\u00a035 years ago, it\u2019s fair to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":721,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"page-without-sidebar.php","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-63","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":124,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3712,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63\/revisions\/3712"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}