Searching For The Real Indiana Jones

Lost In The Amazon: Searching For The Real Indiana Jones

Peter Von Puttkamer

Ever wondered what it would be like to search for a lost city? To get lost in the Amazon Jungle hunting for clues and relics that could lead you to a groundbreaking discovery? Read on to find out what happened to Col. Percy Fawcett, the real Indiana Jones.

Filmmaker Peter Von Puttkamer knows. Puttkamer is the producer and director of "Lost in the Amazon", part of the PBS series "Secrets of the Dead".

In this AOL Travel exclusive interview, Puttkamer takes us inside the Amazon as he and adventurer Niall McCannsearch for the original Indiana Jones, famed adventurerCol. Percy Fawcett. The legendary Fawcett disappeared in in the depths of the Amazon while searching for a lost city Fawcett named "Z".

Inspired to strike out and hunt for a lost city? It might not be as difficult as one might imagine...

Peter Von Puttkamer tells AOL Travel that "Ancient religious sites or geoglyph sites, are a part of a 160 sq mile city state emerging from the Amazon jungle. It's between 800 and 2000 years old. No one knows exact meaning and function of this geometric sites - earthworks (some 20 ft deep) spread out across the land, once in the jungle now emerging as farming continues to pull back the forest canopy."

Von Puttkamer says that amateur armchair adventurers can input specific coordinates into Google Earth and actually see the earthworks being discovered if zoomed in far enough.

Cruzeirinho
Located about 6km east from Boca do Acre city Airport.
Coordinates: S 08 50' 38", W 67 15' 11"

Geoglyph site Mustafa One
250m wide quadrangular structure, crossed by a 12m wide NE-SW oriented road.
Coordinates: S 08 52' 32", W 67 14' 42"

Mustafa Two
Coordinates: S 08 53' 15",W67 14' 42"

Mustafa Three
It is a 100m wide square, with a road leaving it in the south direction, vanishing after 120m.
Coordinates: S 08 53' 11",W67 10' 19"

Boca do Acre One
Located 16km north-east of the Cruzeirinho site Coordinates: S 8 43' 13",W67 10' 34 Another example was located at Ranch Paran´a on the east side of the BR-317 road in the state of Acre, not very far away from a tributary of the Iquiri River, but clearly in terra firme S 09 47' 13.5",W67 20' 35.2"

Coordinates provided courtesy of the discovering scientists Denise Schaan, Alceu Ranzi and Martti Parssinen who are working on the site.

"Lost in the Amazon" airs on PBS' "Secrets of the Dead" series on April 20, 2011 at 8pm.

NEW: St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum

Pirate Museum Moves to New Florida Digs

by Fran Golden



St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure MuseumAvast Ye Mateys! Fans of all things pirate will want to visit a newly opened museum in the historic Florida city of St. Augustine.

The St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum is the brainchild of former Philadelphia 76ers president Pat Croce, who has a passion for both basketball and pirates.

"It just happened when I was a kid. I fell in love with Errol Flynn and "Captain Blood" movies," Croce tells AOL Travel News. "I would write a skull and cross bones in notebooks, and the nuns would smack me. And I was a pirate for Halloween as a kid."

As his wealth grew from businesses, Croce, an entrepreneur and motivational speaker, started collecting pirate artifacts including one of only two original Jolly Roger flags known to exist (the other is in Finland), the only authentic pirate chest in America, a journal from Captain Kidd's last journey, and real weapons and pieces of eight.



About six years ago, Croce opened Pirate Soul in Key West to display his collection, with exhibits featuring not only memorabilia but Disney Imagineer-designed animatronics, interactive displays and technologies such as creepy 3-D sound, all used in an attempt to re-create the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730).

The museum was popular, but given Key West's somewhat remote location, hours from Miami, it didn't attract the family and school group tourist crowd that Croce was hoping for, he says. He decided to close up shop and move the museum to St. Augustine in northern Florida, the oldest city and port in the U.S.

"I love Key West. I have a home in Key West. But you go there to party. In St. Augustine, heritage is number one. And families go there."



St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum

The former museum's exhibits are back in the St. Augustine venue. But there are also new displays outlining local routes where famous pirates walked the streets, plundered and pillaged – Sir Francis Drake and Robert Searles even burnt St. Augustine to the ground in 1586 and 1688, respectively.

Added attractions at the new museum, which is located across from a 17th century fort, also include a participatory treasure hunt, 17th century cannons that fire (in electronically simulated fashion) and pirate movie memorabilia.

"We now have Hollywood pirates, props from "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Hook," and "The Goonies," Croce says. "I took it up a notch."

Movie items on display include Captain Jack Sparrow's sword and cursed Aztec coin and Captain Hook's hook.

Among nearly 800 museum-quality artifacts are borrowed historical items from the State of Florida collection including gold, rings, jewels and sword handles.

Croce is still collecting too.

"I just got some really cool coins from the 1715 fleet off the east coast of Florida," he says.

What Six Airlines Won't Offer YOU...

Why Don't All Airlines Have a 13th Row?

by David Parker Brown

Have you ever noticed while flying that some airlines have a 13th row and others don't? Some of the reasons why might surprise you.

Airlines around the globe that do not offer a 13th row actually make up a short list that includes: Air France,Iberia, Ryanair, AirTran, Continental Airlines, andLufthansa. Some aren't even sure when and how the policy came about and others have a very interesting explanation.

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines actually has some of its aircraft with a 13th row and others without. Alaska decided to order Boeing 737-800s and, "due to cancellations by other airlines, Alaska was able to practically buy the first couple right off the assembly line," said Geoff Pettis, Manager of Interior Engineering with Alaska Airlines. "However, this compressed time frame meant Alaska was not able to spec out [design] the cabin as would have normally happened."

To keep the layout consistent, Alaska continued to order new 800's without a 13th row, "but not because of any superstition," Pettis said.

AirTran does not offer a 13th row because passengers had expressed a desire not to sit there. That will be changing when the carrier is acquired by Southwest Airlines later this year. Southwest has stated the seating configuration will be reconfigured on AirTran's aircraft, including the addition of a 13th row.

The number 13 is not the only unlucky number for some cultures, and airlines have responded to that too. Lufthansa, which is based in Germany, does not have a 13th or 17th row. "The reason is that in Italy and Brazil, 17 is regarded as unlucky," Lufthansa spokeswoman Jennifer Janzen explained.

Currently Continental Airlines does not have a 13th row. "Many years ago, apparently, someone decided we wouldn't have a row 13 in our fleet," spokesman Andrew Ferraro told AOL Travel News. "We maintained the row numbering system for consistency as we brought new airplane types into the fleet."

But with the merger of United Airlines and Continental, row 13 might start disappearing on United Airlines's fleet as the two airlines align their seat row numbers to ensure consistency with their new brand.

"I believe the goal of airlines omitting it is to help reduce anxiety that fliers may have," said Matt Daimler, Founder of Seatguru.com. He also pointed out that rarely does the row number actually match the number of rows in an aircraft anyway, given factors such as the extra space taken up by first class.

A Magical & Secret Place Inside Mexico

The 'Magical' Mexico You Don't Know: 

San Cristobal de las Casas

Beyond the clubs of Cancun lies a remote and mysterious place that boasts swanky restaurants and first-class hotels.

by Matthew Firestone

                                                          All this week, Gadling will be bringing you coverage of the *other* Mexico. Beyond the margarita-fueled coastal tourist traps lie ancient ruins, colonial cities and culinary hot spots. So, leave your preconceived notions at home, and get ready to head south of the border to explore the other side of Mexico.
In 2003, Mexico's Secretariat of Tourism (SECTUR) unveiled the Magical Villages Program. This promotional campaign highlights destinations that offer visitors a 'magical' experience through historical and cultural beauty and richness. One such place that fulfills these characteristics is San Cristobal de las Casas.

Located in the Chiapas highlands at an elevation of nearly 7000 feet, San Cristobal has always been thought of as a rather remote and mysterious place. Enclosed by dense pine forests, and accessed only by serpentine mountain roads, San Cristobal is anything but an easy-to-reach destination for the time-pressed traveler.

But that is exactly why you should it seek out.

In light of its re-discovery by shoestringing backpackers in the 1970s, San Cristobal now boasts stately accommodations, swanky restaurants and an intoxicating bohemian chic. It is also home to a proud indigenous community, and very briefly served as the launching point of the failed 1994 Zapatista uprising against the Mexican government.

San Cristobal de las Casas lies at the center of an ancestral Mayan region that gave rise to the modern-day Tzotzil and Tzeltal peoples. The city itself owes its origins to the Spanish conquistador Diego de Mazariegos, who established the settlement of Villareal de Chiapa de los Españoles in 1528.

In subsequent years, the military outpost quickly grew into a full-fledged city. The driving factor was the surrounding agricultural lands, which cultivated wheat, coffee, cacao and other lucrative cash crops. In 1535, the settlement was renamed San Cristobal after its patron saint, St. Christopher, and designated as the capital of Chiapas.

Great wealth flowed into the city, fueling the construction of lavish churches, grand plazas, cobbled streets and row upon row of gilded mansions. But indigenous populations remained on the fringes of European society, a fact of history that centuries later was incorporated into the political ideologies of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN).

On the morning of January 1, 1994, Subcomadante Marcos led armed Zapatista insurgents into San Cristobal where they proceeded to free political prisoners and raze police buildings and military barracks. Despite this initial success, they were chased out of the city the following day by the Mexican army. Ten days later, the Catholic diocese in San Cristobal brokered a ceasefire between the Zapatistas and the government.

The Zapatistas are now primarily focused on pacifist community organizing amongst the various indigenous groups in Chiapas. The Mexican government and armed forces have also largely shifted their attention towards fighting the drug cartels, which pose a much more significant threat to the country's stability.

As such, regional security is arguably stronger than it has ever been, which means that travelers need not fear the roads into San Cristobal. Instead of being on the lookout for bandits and checkpoints, you can focus on the densely jungled hillsides, the sweeping valleys full of agricultural bounty and the towering pine trees that herald your arrival in San Cristobal.

A small, compact city of no less than 140,000 souls, San Cristobal is perfectly suited to exploration on foot, particularly along the central pedestrian promenades. While there are only a few tourist attractions in the classic sense, the entire city is akin to a living museum.

Each turn of the corner brings to life this stunning example of Spanish colonial architecture. The beauty is in the details - vibrant facades, wrought iron fixtures, ceramic roofing, bubbling fountains, trussed vines and flowering trees.

Beyond the steady stream of well-heeled tourists, San Cristobal plays host to a creative community of artists and artisans. It also serves as a marketplace for food products and household goods, luring in villagers from the Chiapan countryside. Mayan dialects trump Spanish, and market goers are often colorfully draped in traditional hand-embroidered textiles.

And now for the nitty-gritty:

How to get there: The nearest commercial airport to San Cristobal lies in the city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, approximately 50 miles west. From here, there are regularly scheduled bus departures to San Cristobal, with a total travel time of about one to two hours. Long-distance buses also connect San Cristobal with major cities in Chiapas, Oaxaca and the Yucatan. Bus travel in Mexico is generally safe, affordable and surprisingly efficient.

Where to stay: The grittier outskirts of San Cristobal have a few barebones bunkhouses, but splurge on a night or two in the wonderfully restored buildings lining the historic center. Depending on your preference, you can bed down in a former hacienda complete with lush gardens and elegant dining halls, or opt for smaller yet more intimate B&Bs and boutique inns.

What to eat: San Cristobal has a sizeable resident ex-pat population, which ensures a surprising number of cosmopolitan dining and drinking options. The pedestrian throughways are lined with brick-oven pizzerias, Argentinean steakhouses, French bistros, Lebanese sheesha lounges and even a Belgian chocolatier! And in case you were wondering, yes, there are in fact excellent Mexican restaurants in San Cristobal.

Still think that Mexican tourism begins and ends along the often overhyped coastlines? Think again as some of the country's most spectacular destinations lie inland, awaiting to be discovered by savvy travelers. If these veritable diamonds in the rough sound appealing, then make the effort to discover what lies in the *other* Mexico.

Taking Bath Towels from Hotels Will Soon Not Be Possible

Warning for Those Who Take Hotel Towels

by Kim Foley MacKinnon 

Those oh-so-fluffy hotel towels may seem hard to resist taking home, but guests who do so should know that new technology might be tracking that linen straight to their doorsteps.

Linen Technology Tracking, a Miami company, has patented a washable RFID chip that can be sewn into towels, robes and bed sheets. The chip allows hotels to keep track of their linens, reducing loss and helping with inventory.

The New York Times reports that Linen Technology Tracking's executive vice president, William Serbin said three hotels in Honolulu, Miami and Manhattan are currently using the chip, but did not want their names used.

Serbin, however, told the Times that the Honolulu property, which introduced the technology last summer, has reduced theft of its pool towels from 4,000 a month to just 750, saving more than $16,000 a month.

Besides the obvious theft deterrent, the company says the chip can also benefit hotels by reducing inventory time and labor, improve control and savings within the laundry process and help with the management of linen purchases.

Considering linen is one of the hotel industry's biggest expenses, and bound to get bigger with the rising cost of cotton, the embedded chip may prove to be extremely popular with hoteliers.

As Usual: Carnival Cruise Lines is Market Share King

Carnival Cruise Lines is Market Share King

According to Cruise Market Watch

Market Share

The total worldwide cruise industry is estimated at $29.34 billion for 2011, a 9.5% increase over 2010.

2011 North American Cruise Market Share

In 2011 the total North American cruise market is estimated at $17.46 billion. This includes North American passengers (6% are from Canada) and foreign travelers departing from North American ports.

2011 Rest-of-World Cruise Market Share

An additional $11.88 billion is derived from the rest of the world.

• ~$7.8 billion Europe (65.7%)
• ~$2.7 billion Asia (22.8%)
• ~$0.7 billion South America (5.6%)
• ~$0.6 billion Australia (5.1%)
• ~$0.08 billion Middle East/Africa (.8%)
• 
  

Market

As with any business, you begin by looking at your market.  Then you listen to what it has to say.  If you don’t someone else will.  This page is a first step in that process.

U.S. Cruise Market

Cruisers:

• ~ are slightly older (46 vs. 45)
• ~ have higher household incomes ($93,000 vs. $79,000)
• ~ have higher education (69% college grad vs. 62%)
• ~ are most often accompanied by spouses and a growing number by children under 18
• ~ spent $1,880 per person for their cruise, air and all on-board expenses
• ~ are considerably more likely to engage in every form of travel, taking 39% more vacations per year than non-cruisers
• ~ can be segmented into destination, luxury, premium and contemporary

By year end 2011 the cruise market will reach 19.2 million annual passengers worldwide. Looking forward to 2014 that number is projected to reach 21.6 million. 

Sources: U.S. Market Demographics from TNS, Cruise Lines International Association 2008 Cruise Market Profile Study.

Market Segments

The graph below illustrates a number of variables that predict cruise behavior, and how they might aggregate to form market segments.

Explorers- The segment we love to love.  These folks take four or more vacations per year, have disposable incomes and take longer cruises, exotic cruises and cultural learning cruises.  Education and social causes are important to them.  So are making friends and socializing.  It’s a smaller and more saturated segment, but one that is lucrative and important to satisfy to retain their business. This group also represents future opportunity, as more couples become empty nesters and retired upscale boomers.

Admirals- These folks have selected their preferred cruise provider and seek a traditional experience.  They tend to ritualize their travel experience and don’t usually experiment unless their favorites start to become stale or so radically different the attributes they admired become unrecognizable.  Great cruise consumers,  they tend to be older and a good, loyal customer base but offer less opportunity for growth.

Marines- This desirable yet elusive segment is made up of upscale, motivated and active young professionals.  They are most likely to snorkel, para-sail, surf and rock climb. Whether new or experienced cruisers, they are always auditioning better ships.  They are intellectually curious, media-involved, and they perceive value in not only the appearance of being active but also the reality of learning and being challenged.  Cruise companies can grow well in this segment.  They are the logical target for active ship design strategies as well as expanding Internet marketing.

Little Mermaids – This segment is made up of upper middle class families.  They are experiencing an increase the pace of daily activity and a crunch for time.  With every non-working moment devoted to family errands (stopping at the Home Depot to pick up an attachment for the air pump for the kids pool or running to Target for a new basketball for the son’s friends birthday party) they are looking to maximize leisure activity as a family experience that includes opportunities for real quality-bonding.

Escapers – This is a desirable segment and probably the core of the cruise market.  They are just looking to get away.  All-inclusive is just fine.  No complications, no worries.   From their point of view, after having spent a hectic year in the rat race with traffic jams, bad tempered people and an abundance of things that need to be done, they have earned the pleasures of doing nothing but sitting by the pool, seeing a few sites and relaxing.  They are somewhat price sensitive but will always find the money for the trip they deserve.

Souvenirs - These folks have jobs (not careers) and lives (not lifestyles).  Because the exact line isn’t as much a priority for them as price, their cruise habits skew toward just taking a trip more than specific destinations or activities.  Lacking intense interest in the world outside they are primarily focused the internalized experience of the moment.  They tend to take a cruise vacation only when there’s a “really good deal” that everyone’s talking about.

Adrift – There is a group of people in every society who are disconnected from travel commerce, not curious about what’s going on in the world and not likely to posses the disposable income.  This segment is a realistic target for the attention of breweries and bait shops – not cruise line marketers.

Jerusalem: Nails Used to Crucify Jesus Found?

Canadian-Israeli film director Simcha Jacobovici holds one of two nails he believes were used in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Did Journalist Find 'THE Nails' Used to Crucify Jesus?

By Linda Gradstein

Contributor


JERUSALEM -- Controversial journalist Simcha Jacobovici says he may have found the nails that were used to crucify Jesus more than 2,000 years ago.

He chronicled his Indiana Jones-type search in a new documentary called "The Nails of the Cross," which was screened today at a news conference in Jerusalem and will be broadcast in the U.S., Canada and Israel in the coming weeks.

Jacobovici presented two first-century Roman nails that were bent "in a way that is consistent with crucifixion." He contends that these are the same nails found in the burial tomb of Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest who is associated in the Gospels with the crucifixion of Jesus, although he found them at a lab in Tel Aviv University.


Israeli archaeologists discovered the tomb of Caiaphas in 1990. In the tomb were 12 ossuaries, small stone coffins used to store bones. Two of the ossuaries had inscriptions with the name Caiaphas, and scholars believe the tomb does belong to the family of the high priest.

In the Israel Antiquities Authority's report on the discovery, they mention two 8-centimeter iron nails that were found in the tomb. One was discovered on the ground; the other was inside one of the ossuaries and had limestone residue from the ossuary. Around the same time, Tel Aviv University received a delivery of two nails that fit the description; Professor Israel Hershkowitz, a researcher in bio-history, put them in a safe there.

"Based on the size, shape and condition of the nails, it is possible that these were used in crucifixion," Hershkowitz says in the documentary.

Jacobovici has won three Emmys and hosts "The Naked Archaeologist," which airs on the History Channel. He says he spent two years tracking down the nails.

"There were two nails discovered in Caiaphas' tomb that went missing, and two nails that showed up at Tel Aviv University that match the description and the time period," Jacobovici told AOL News today. "I can't say 100 percent that these are THE nails used in the crucifixion, but I connected the dots, and it's certainly possible."

While nails are frequently found in residential areas, they are rarely found in tombs.

"I can think of only one other site, in Jericho, where iron nails were found in a Second Temple area Jewish tomb," said Israeli archaeologist Gaby Barkay of the Hebrew University. "And we excavated more than 1,100 caves."

How the nails got lost is not clear. In the film, Gideon Avni of the Israel Antiquities Authority says that his organization conducts more than 300 excavations a year with tens of thousands of finds, and it is easy to imagine that the nails simply got misplaced.

Since its discovery, the Caiaphas tomb has not been accessible to the public. The tomb was sealed and a park built over the site.


Jacobovici, who was born in Israel but spent much of his life in Canada, is a controversial figure. Eight years ago, he collaborated with James Cameron on a movie called "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" in which he says that a burial site discovered in a Jerusalem neighborhood is the original burial site of Jesus and his family.

The Israel Antiquities Authority, which oversaw the Jerusalem excavation, has its doubts. First of all, officials there said, it's never been proven beyond doubt that the tomb was the burial place of Caiaphas. It also said that nails are commonly found in tombs.

"There is no doubt that the talented director Simcha Jacobovici created an interesting film with a real archaeological find at its center, but the interpretation presented in it has no basis in archaeological findings or research," the authority said.