By Georgia I. Hesse

BATW Event, Spinnaker restaurant - Photo by Mike Moyle

Some BATW members arrived at Sausalito’s Spinnaker restaurant on Jan. 21 to find new attractions in a familiar setting. The view stretching down the bay to San Francisco sparkled as usual, but the swirl of a wine glass showed off the nose not of a California chardonnay or cabernet but of a spicy Chilean pinot noir or smoky syrah.

One drama for the day was the sipping of a compelling carménère, the signature grape of Chile, a big wine unafraid of accompanying the national favorite pastel de choclo (corn and meat pie) or even an Indian curry or a Mexican mole.

Both meat and cheese empanadas also found themselves on the menu, but from San Francisco’s Mission rather than from Chile.

Sausalito, as it turns out, is a sister city (since 1960) of Chile’s chic Viña del Mar in the Valparaiso region, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I was delighted to discover that fact, thanks to BATW member Lee Daley, who arranged the smashing affair.

A superb PowerPoint presentation by Michael R. Moyle of the Sausalito-Viña del Mar Working Group led off the meeting with an inventive look at the geography of Chile superimposed on a map of the United States. If it were a state, it would rank in size as fifth largest, between Florida and Illinois, stretching almost 2,700 miles long but an average of only 110 miles wide. It’s a skinny and immensely varied land running like a ribbon from Peru in the north to the tip of the continent at Cape Horn, or about the distance from San Diego to Alaska.

Moyle’s photography – of the rarely visited astronomical installations in the Atacama desert (considered the world’s driest, not incidentally) – added to his literary references (Pablo Neruda, Gabriela Mistral, Isabel Allende of San Rafael) and discussion of indigenous tribes and favorite local foods, inspiring his attentive audience to want to take off for Chile right now!

Paula Tejeda - Photo by Mike Moyle

BATW’s thanks are due to Rebecca Chapa, West Coast ambassador for Wines of Chile in San Francisco (www.winesofchile.org), and to Paula Tejeda, owner and founder of Chile Lindo, gourmet delicatessen and coffee shop on 16th Street in the Mission (www.ChileLindo.com) for empanadas.

Interesting and honored guests included the distinguished Rolando F. Ortega, consul general of Chile in San Francisco, and the entertaining mayor of Sausalito, Herb Weiner.

Most of all, perhaps, we are indebted to Jeffrey P. Scharosch of the Spinnaker restaurant for our warm welcome. On a beautiful day, there is no more pleasant place to be.

[Ed. Note: For more about Chilean wines and our wine tasting, see "Savoring Chile, One Sip at a Time" by Carolyn Koenig, in this month's Articles.]

A SENSE OF TRAVEL . . . With Georgia Hesse

Sri Lanka Map

Sri Lanka boasts more names than there are grains of rice in a paddy – Ceylon (British colonial name, dropped in 1972), Serendip (from the Persian fairytale “The Three Princes of Serendib,” employed by Horace Walpole to coin the word “serendipity” in 1754), Taprobanê, Pa-Outchow (“isle of gems” in Chinese), and many, many more.

Sri Lanka is a never-never land, a phantasmagoria, a mythosphere. Dangling like a teardrop off the southeast coast of India, only slightly larger than West Virginia, she crowds into her space primeval jungles where leopards  lurk; swatches of arid desert; wide beaches both boutique-chic in Bentota and Galle and business-bustle in Trincomalee; hill country where brilliant green tea estates stun the eye.

Around Ratnapura, precious gems hide in water-filled alluvial pits in the shadows of 7,360-foot Adam’s Peak, a point holy to four religions: Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Muslim. Each cites the footprint impressed on a boulder at the  summit. Was it made by Adam as the Muslims say, or by Gautama Buddha or by Lord Shiva during a dance or by St. Thomas the Apostle, as Roman Catholics believe? I know only that more yellow butterflies flutter there than anywhere on earth and that the greeting most uttered by pilgrims along the trails to the top is “karunavai”: peace.

Rocks that rose from the ocean in Mesozoic times (150 million years ago, perhaps), brought to the commerce of antiquity a generosity of gems  plucked from the dreams of the Queen of Sheba and Cleopatra,  Elizabeth Taylor and Catherine the Great: rubies, alexandrites, aquamarines, amethysts, tourmalines, cat’s eyes, garnets, zircons, and sapphires, always sapphires, including the 400-carat Blue Belle that adorns the British Crown.

Somewhere in childhood we became enchanted with the ruins of Greece and Rome, of India and of Egypt. Of Ceylon-Sri Lanka we are ignorant. Our books say nothing of Anuradhapura, of Polonnaruwa or Mihintale or Sigiriya. These have the unfinished, random, insubstantial qualities of dreams. Unlike in Pompei or Ephesus, the only structures deserving to endure were those dedicated to the Buddha. Wood and clay sufficed for profane places, houses and shops and arenas which have by now been swallowed by the earth.

Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Human settlement began in Anuradhapura, the ancient capital, in about 500 B.C.E.  In the annals of monumental masonry, the ruins rank second only to the pyramids of Egypt. The king dwelt in a bejeweled palace of 1,000 chambers, but when the city fell in the 10^th century, only the holy Bo tree, the Sri Maha Bodhi, was supported as the relic of past splendors. In its shade, Buddha himself gained enlightenment. Attacked by a bad blight in 1950, it was saved by wizards from the Smithsonian Institution.

Anuradhapura is nearly inexhaustible. Do not miss the Jetavanarama, most massive earthmound of its kind on earth. Bulging atop eight acres, it is larger than all but two of Egypt’s pyramids. Just 32 miles away, the Aukana Buddha  stands four stories tall. His name means “sun-eating.” Visit him at dawn.

Anuradhapura endured for 1,400 years through the reigns of 123 kings. Her successor, Polonnaruwa, lasted for two centuries (the 11^th to 13^th) and a dozen rulers. Its centerpiece, the Terrace of the Tooth Relic or, more simply, The Quadrangle, a grouping of 12 superb structures, stands in the center of the city. The huge “tank” or irrigation lake that served as lifeblood was constructed by a thousand men working 24 hours a day for at least 12 years.

Of all the prodigious artworks of Polonnaruwa, the four 12th-century sculptures known as the Gal Vihara will most startle your senses. Who first imagined attacking a wall of granite with a chisel (?) and “releasing” (previewing Michelangelo) the spirits of Buddha that lived within the stone? One poses proudly, his arms crossed, his expression calm, his body relaxed, standing 23 feet tall. (In fact, this is not Buddha but a favorite disciple, Ananda.)

Sculptures at the Gal Vihara, Sri Lanka

Near Ananda, a 46-foot Buddha reclines, entering into the state of parinibbana, relinquishing human existence and blissfully entering  Enlightenment. (Nibbana we know as nirvana.) His head depresses his pillow slightly; his form as serenely undisturbed as it has remained for nine centuries. When he awakes, we will have passed beyond time.

And now we leave? Not before we have beheld the stupendous red stone monolith that soars 600 feet out of densely green scrub jungle into the high blue of sky. This is the Citadel of Sigiriya, a rocky fortress crowned by a fabled palace that presided here 16 centuries ago – and endured for only 18 years. Its ruins stretch across the bulk of Lion Rock; the site settles into the memory with all the mystery of myth. Once a pilgrim had to ascend through the stony jaws and throat (“giriya”) of a lion (“sinha”), whose shape was sculpted halfway up the monolith.

Today, you mount a stairway between gigantic paws with terrifying toenails. Within a grotto on the western face, bare-breasted maidens smile and frolic; Asia’s oldest landscape gardens survive as do lovely ponds, rippled by a lazy breeze. Hold your breath. Nothing in “Star Wars” surpasses Sigiriya.

The Neiman Marcus Kitchen computer

On Saturday, May 21st, 35 BATW members and friends traveled through 2,000 years of computing history. And, courtesy of Mark Coker of Smashwords, took a peek into the future of their craft.

The May meeting, hosted by the Computer History Museum, began with a generous continental breakfast and special viewing of a unique, decorative wreath fabricated from IBM punch cards that was donated to the collection by BATW member Camille Bounds. In the 1960s, Camille helped her husband pay his college tuition by building these colorful wreaths and selling them outside the local grocery store.

Smashwords founder Mark Coker told how he and his wife wrote a novel and, despite representation from one of New York’s top literary agencies, were unable to sell it to a publisher. The experience inspired Mark, who founded a free ebook publishing and distribution platform to provide an alternative outlet for indie authors and small publishers. (An author uploads a finished manuscript in a variety of popular formats. It is then converted into nine ebook formats and made immediately available for sale.) Smashwords has helped more than 18,000 authors publish, produce, distribute and sell over 45,000 original works. For more information, visit www.smashwords.com.

The Computer History Museum is the world’s largest institution devoted to preserving and presenting the artifacts and stories of the information revolution. Founded in Boston in 1979, the museum is now located in a striking, high-tech building just off Highway 101 in Mountain View. Three docents introduced BATW members to the highlights of CHM’s first permanent exhibit, Revolution: Computing the First 2000 Years, which opened in January. Comprising 19 galleries spread across 25,000 square feet, the exhibit includes more than 1,000 significant historical artifacts, five HD video theaters and 200-plus individual video displays, and represents a $19 million investment in facilities and exhibits. Afterward, members were free to explore at leisure any specific topics that caught their interest.

Two of the more popular displays included the Kitchen Computer and the prototype of the Atari Pong video game. The 1969 Neiman Marcus catalog tried to persuade the housewife who had everything to spend $10,000 to store her recipes (in binary code) on the company’s stylish new minicomputer. It’s probably no surprise to learn that they sold not a single unit. At the other extreme of success, when Atari installed the first Pong game in Andy Capp’s tavern in Sunnyvale, the bar owner called the company after a couple of days to complain that it was broken and his customers were angry. An engineer sent to check on the problem discovered a major design flaw: the small coin box was stuffed full of money and could take no more. The engineer executed one of the fastest bug fixes in Valley history—he installed a larger coin box.

More mathematically inclined visitors were enthralled with an extended dissertation on how Victorian computing pioneer Charles Babbage exploited the method of finite differences for the calculation of 7th-order polynomials to 31 digits of accuracy. Personally, I enjoyed the kinetic sculptural effect of lights flashing on whirling gears as a docent manually cranked Babbage’s 3-ton steel and brass difference engine into life. For more information on the museum visit www.computerhistory.org.

If you were unable to attend the May 21st BATW visit to the Computer History Museum but wish to review the “Revolution: Computing the First 2000 Years” exhibit for a possible article, please contact Marketing Manager Carina Sweet (650-810-1059 or csweet@computerhistory.org) so she can arrange a suitable time.

If you’d like to check out Mark Coker’s presentation on ebook publishing, you can access it easily at this shortcut: http://slidesha.re/lyyJ1z

“A Walk Along the San Francisco Waterfront”

“A New Disney Family Museum Premieres”

“Day-tripping to the Marin Headlands the Marine Mammal Center”

“The Godfather Moves to Geyserville”

Nice work, Pat!

BATW BOD Retreat Pacifica © John Montgomery

“Dancing and Reminiscing in Pacifica” by Ginny Prior

Showing affection on the dance floor isn’t really my style. I’ve seen couples sway in an ardent embrace as their feet move in sync to the beat. That’s not me. It hasn’t been me for a long time.

But on a dark coastal night when the surf seemed to surge through my veins, I have to admit I got amorous. Bodies bumping, arms akimbo, my husband and I danced like the ship was going down — in a bar on the coast of Pacifica.

We have a history with this blue-collar beach town. My husband used to live near the pier in the ’80s. Our hangout back then was Nick’s at Rockaway Beach, a place that’s still popular today.

So when my travel writers group chose this town for a retreat recently, I was eager to see what had changed. Very little, I’m happy to report. You can still get away — completely away — in this town known most notably for fog. But the annual September Fogfest (held ironically when skies are often sunny) is just one of dozens of things you can do in this little piece of paradise just 15 minutes south of San Francisco.

Here are some of my favorites:

1. Since I mentioned Nick’s first, I’ll lead with it. At Rockaway Beach with killer views of the surf, Nick’s has been owned by the same family for more than eight decades. They not only have the best crab sandwiches for miles, their live music packs the place. It’s worth the drive down just to dance and dine and enjoy the healthy salt spray.

2. When it comes to local flavor, A Grape in the Fog is a favorite among foodies and wine fans. Owner Beth Lemke calls it “Tuscany meets the Beach” and her wine bar features more than 30 California wines, along with craft-style beers and eclectic eats. Some surprising movers and shakers, including CEOs of major Silicon Valley companies, find this is a perfect place to unwind.

3. If you’re a fan of fresh fish — it doesn’t get any fresher than when you drop your line off the pier in Pacifica — widely known as the best fishing pier in the state. Bring a pole and buy some bait and you may find yourself eating surfperch or salmon. Feeling crabby? Drop a crab net over the railing (from November through June) and count the crustaceans that crawl inside to join you for dinner.

4. Hike, bike or Segway around town and beyond. More than half the land in Pacifica is protected open space with 1,000 acres alone in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Grab your walking stick and traverse miles of coastal and ridge-top trails that join Pacifica with its neighbors. Rent a bike and cruise along 2.5-miles of paved path north from Linda Mar State Beach to Pacific Coast Highway. Or join a Segway tour from Rockaway Beach that sports 12 scenic switchbacks over Strawberry Hill to Linda Mar.

5. And finally, if you truly believe less is more, just do nothing. Pacifica means peaceful in Spanish. This, alone, should tell you it’s restful. Book a room at the Best Western Lighthouse Hotel and toast the sunset. Slip into the zen as you watch the waves swell, curl and roll to nature’s symphony. And if the spirit moves you, dance like there’s no tomorrow.

For more information on Pacifica, see http://pacificachamber.com/.

Filoli Gardens Fountain © John Montgomery

Sheila O’Connor captures the essence of Filoli Gardens in her most recent Examiner.com article—and solves the mystery behind the name (hint: it’s not Italian). The mellifluous name derives from the credo of the Bourn family, who built the estate—“FIght for a just cause; LOve your fellow man; LIve a good life. You’ll find the article at http://www.examiner.com/world-travel-in-san-francisco/sf-filoli-california-a-place-of-serenity-photos.

Filoli Walled Garden © John Montgomery

“Hop Off the Technology Grid at Filoli” by Mary-Ann Bendel

The April 16 meeting at Filoli Gardens was not the usual one: After a short business meeting, we had a docent-led tour of the estate’s elegant house and gardens in three groups of 10.

The gardens were in full April bloom on a sunny day. Many of the trees and flowers are germane only to Filoli Gardens, and the Irish yew and Camperdown elm trees alone are worth a visit.

The lovely flower beds are planted with scale and color in mind. Low beds of baby blue eyes or forget-me-nots paired with tall red and white tulips created a riot of color. Other April flowers on showy display were foxgloves, wisteria, violas, columbine, clematis montana, lilacs and rhododendron. Roses start blooming in May and continue throughout the summer.

Filoli has an astonishing 1,500 volunteers, and our knowledgeable docents squeezed in a condensed version of their usual tour in just about an hour. Designed by Willis Polk, the house has been used as a location for numerous movies, including Heaven Can Wait, Joy Luck Club and Wedding Planner. Although the property is closed for several months during the winter, it opens for nine days during the holidays for a festive celebration—which must be a great time to see it!

Filoli Gardens gives one a chance to hop off the technology grid for a bit and just enjoy nature for a day.

by Sandy Sims

Colossal Olmec Head 5, 1200–900 BC. Museo de Antropologia de Xalapa, Universidad Veracruzana

It seems no art exhibit is too rare, too distant or too colossal for San Francisco’s de Young Museum. In a little over a year’s time, the de Young brought us the stunning King Tut exhibit from Egypt, the extraordinary Impressionist art from the Orsay Museum in Paris, and now we can walk among the masterworks of the Olmec peoples—art that dates back to 1200-900 BC, including two of the famous 17 colossal heads. BATW members enjoyed a private docent tour of the exhibit on March 12.

After docent Marsha Holm’s brief overview, we headed for the gallery. There at the exhibit entrance, sat Colossal Head 5 (two-and-a-half tons of basalt and volcanic rock and six-feet tall). His almond-shaped eyes, thick down-turned lips and broad nose exuded power; his features conjured parts of the jaguar—the shape of his mouth, his cleft head, and the paws at the edges of his helmet. One couldn’t help but be bowled over by this enormous head and impressed that it was carried all the way from Mexico.

Impressive as these colossal heads are, little is known about the people who created them. No written record exists about the Olmecs. They are, however, recognized as America’s oldest civilization and considered the “mother culture” of Mesoamerica. Archeologists call the region they inhabited Olman (derived from the Aztec word Olin, which means land of rubber), hence the name Olmec. Archeologists believe the Olmecs used rubber balls during ritual games, and surprisingly, some fifteen 3,000-year-old, original balls still exist. Docent Marsha Holm explained that none of the rubber balls could make the trip to the de Young because of problems with preservation.

Archaeologists study a monumental stone head discovered at the La Venta site in Tabasco State, Mexico. (photo © Richard Hewitt Stewart / National Geographic Stock)

The discovery of Olmec artifacts came quite by accident in the late 1850s. A farm worker was clearing land in Veracruz when he uncovered the first colossal head. Imagine the shock at finding such an enormous sculpture just under his feet. To date, 17 colossal heads—some weighing up to 24 tons—have been found in the ground, as if they were placed there in some burial ritual. Initially, some speculated that because of the helmets carved into the heads, these were ball players, but today scholars believe the heads represent rulers. Why they were buried is still a mystery. What’s also remarkable about the heads is that the enormous boulders from which they were carved came from other locations and had to be transported to their burial spot, in some cases dozens of miles.

Archeologists speculate that the boulders were floated on rafts up the nearby river or dragged across land, an undertaking that would have required some 1,500 men three or four months. Visitors can watch a film about transporting possibilities at the exhibit. The two heads in the de Young exhibit are: Monument Q (eight tons) from Tres Zapotes, carved from a porphyritic basalt; and Head 5 (six-and-a-half tons) from San Lorenzo––discovered in 1946.

Monument 1 (seated figure), 1200–900 BC. Museo de Antropologia de Xalapa, Universidad Veracruzana (Reg. 49 P.J. 4023). Object photos: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes–Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia–Mexico–Javier Hinojosa

While the colossal heads are by far the most awe-inspiring artwork of the Olmecs, the de Young exhibit includes over 100 artifacts, some of them very small. For instance a two-inch jadeite art piece with intricate carvings; smooth face-size masks; ear rings; large full-body sculptures representing what is thought to be Olmec rulers (twins); an 8-foot tall, imposing female figure carved inside a niche; mammoth thrones; and much more. Amazingly, this era predates metal tools. The Olmecs used hard rock, water and sand to create their art.

The de Young exhibit is divided by region, according to where the treasures were originally discovered in south-central Mexico in what are today the states of Veracruz and Tabasco.

Archeologists and scholars continue to probe Olmec artifacts to understand this little known and mysterious culture. They’ve found evidence of an aqueduct system, as well as a calendar. Jadeite figures and other rare stones show that the Olmecs traded with distant cultures. One grouping of small, carved men with various head shapes suggest the Olmecs practiced ritual head molding. The frequent inclusion of jaguar-like features in the art suggests the jaguar was an important deity. According to docent Marsha Holm, Richard Diehl, Ph.D., is the foremost authority on Olmec culture.  He’s written several books on the subject.

The exhibit shows some of what has been unearthed of this civilization, both from the land and from scholarly study. There is much to learn strolling among the artifacts and reading the panels. But the work of discovering the story of the Olmec civilization continues.

Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico will continute through May 8, 2011.

For photos and more press information on the Olmec exhibit BATW members can contact Robin Wander at rwander@famsf.org.

– Sandy Sims

Lebanon

I first set foot and heart in Lebanon in the late 1960s when  that antique land was enjoying a time of  relative peace and prosperity, attracting travelers from around the globe who entered via Beirut, which was nicknamed then “the Paris of the Middle East.” Like me, they came lured by history, to pay a call on the Phoenicians, to find again the ancient “land of milk and honey.”

Old Byblos Harbor, which exported papyrus. Papyrus gave its name to paper; Byblos to the Bible.

Truth is, I thought I knew Lebanon. It was very old; older than olive trees; older than recorded history; old enough to have sent sailors from the port of Tyre to found a port in Egypt. They had named it Carthage, which in their language meant simply “new town.” Archeological digs witnessed  that the town of Byblos was born before 5,000 B.C. and that, as a port exporting papyrus, it gave its name to Bible. (“Paper,” of course, is just papyrus writ small.) Tyre and Sidon exported fabrics dyed purple, made from the shellfish purpura (Latin) or porphyra (Greek). Eventually, as words do, this migrated into the phrase “born to the color purple” used mostly for kings and bishops because only they could afford it.

Who wouldn’t love such a place?

downtown Beiruit at night

The Beirut of the late ’60s and following decades smacked of “la belle vie,” showing off its French heritage in food, fashion, and fun. (After all, since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the end of World War I, it had lived under the mandate of France.) One stretched on sunny beaches, water-skied on the sparkling Mediterranean, and indulged the self in the luxurious trappings of the Phoenicia Hotel, where the world that mattered met.

One day, at a construction site on one of the major downtown streets, a workman fell underground and found himself in a Roman villa, complete with wall lamps, sculptures, and the sniff of history. Like any Frenchmen worth their garlic, the Lebanese turned it into a restaurant.

Temple of Bacchus, Baalbek, exquisite detail, monumental size

Ah, Beirut! But it came time for Baalbek and other Roman presences in the Békaa Valley (also home of local gastronomy and wines), for the Cedars (of Lebanon, where else?), and Sidon and Tyre and, and … .

The Phoenicians were uninterested in conquest; they traveled for trade. Yet across their little land (home to the Canaanites of the Bible, remember) tromped the armies of other, more compulsive civilizations: all the really old ones, followed by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamelukes, and finally Ottomans. All these left residues of their cultures behind, willingly or not. Quite willingly, we wandered to look at them.

Temple of Jupiter, Baalbek. Largest remaining Roman site; in antiquity Heliopolis, city of the sun.

The Romans, as usual, built the best and the biggest. Baalbek is their  largest remaining site: ancient Heliopolis, city of the sun. To stroll in its ruins, to sit on a handy column in the shade, to hear the haunting voice of the flute-like mirwiz is to feel the hair rise on the back of your neck, to wonder what it’s all about, anyway.

Here it was certainly about power: The six famous Corinthian columns that soar into the ever-blue sky must have told the hordes who tramped by the Temple of Jupiter that there the Roman gods were in residence. Yet even the columns are dwarfed by the mysterious megaliths that support them; in the world comparable only to the stoneworks of Egypt. The Temple of Bacchus is the best-preserved Roman structure in the Middle East.

Tyre is home to earth’s largest antique hippodrome (where chariot races were staged); it also boasts a superb triumphal arch and Roman aqueducts.

A World Heritage Site, Ouadi Qadisha (Holy Valley) now celebrates the treasured Cedars of God (Horsh Arz el-Rab). Nearby is one of the earliest Christian monastic settlements – in the world, naturally.

lobby of the Grand Hills Hotel & Spa, Beiruit, Lebanon

On that first visit, having purchased along the road a Byzantine master-work (made last week), I was guilty of asking the merchant whether he thought war would come again. “No,” he shook a turbaned head. “Not.” I believed him because I wanted to write that.

Less than a decade later, in 1975, the Lebanese Civil War shook the land of cypresses. But after 1990, peace broke out again and Beirut undertook a costly reconstruction. Then the month-long war between Israel and the Hezbollah raked the civil structure. However, because of its tightly regulated financial system (once Lebanon was “the Switzerland of the Middle East”), it bounced back and in 2009, the country enjoyed 9% economic growth and smiled while welcoming the largest number of tourists in its history.

Lebanon is older than yesterday. I hope it can be as young as tomorrow.

– Georgia Hess
BATW Vice President