Memories of Argentina, Columbia and Venezuela

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~ 1700: The Conquistadores Stirrup

Most of the brass Conquistadores Stirrups sold in eBay probably are simple and cheap imitates, even if they have been created as worn out shoes with lots of repairs. I remember the stirrup shoes my mother acquired around 1960 in Caracas, Venezuela were also worn out and repaired. Those days imitates probably were seldom for the absence of tourism in this part of the world. As usual each shoe has two triangular holes for the drainage of the shoe after a ride in the water. The repairs seem to be improvised, using different metals by mixing iron, copper and brass for repairs. The repairs inventively have been done for heavy duty use and not for decorative improvements. This sufficiently proves their authenticity.

Fig. 1: Repairs on Conquistadores stirrup shoes

The puzzling thing however was an decorative inscription KOS which may have identified the owner or the troops of the stirrups. In the web some similar KOS-pairs of shoes marked KOS, but no explanation is given for the inscription. "KOS Conquistador" is also referred to a song Procol Harum Conquistador, but no explanation is being given. In Spanish K-words are rather seldom. The only words that start with the letter K in Spanish are borrowed words like kilometer, kilowatt, kilogram and kiosk.

Fig. 2: KOS-inscription in Conquistadores stirrup shoes

Fig. 3: KOS-inscription in Conquistadores stirrup shoes

1785: The flag's design by Francisco de Miranda1 (Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador)

Of course I remember the national Venezuelan flag and the national anthem Gloria al Bravo Pueblo (Spanish) , which in the sixties had been played at the end of the television transmissions. It took some decades to understand the history of the flags design by Francisco de Miranda, who according to his own notes must have discussed the backgrounds of symbolism with Goethe2. During a party in Weimar in the winter of 1785, Goethe had a late-night conversation on his theory of primary colors with the South American revolutionary Francisco de Miranda. This conversation inspired Miranda, as he later recounted 3, in his design of the yellow, blue and red flag of Gran Colombia, from which the present national flags of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador have been derived4. The following details of Miranda's biography have been documented in Wikipedia: Miranda, who had bought himself a commission as a General of the Spanish Army around 1771 (something not unusual in the European armies at the time), became interested in the American Revolutionary War, while serving as Captain of the Aragon Regiment and aide-decamp to General Juan Manuel de Cajigal y Monserrat, (17391811). Under Cajigal, Miranda participated in the 1781 Battle of Pensacola, which saw British West Florida fall into Spanish hands, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He participated in the Capture of The Bahamas and carried news of the island's fall to his superior Bernado de Galvez. Galvez was angry that the Bahamas expedition had gone ahead without his permission and he imprisoned Cajigal and had Miranda arrested. Miranda was later released, but this experience of Spanish officialdom may have been a factor in his subsequent conversion to the idea of independence for Spain's American colonies. He later returned to the United States in 1783, where he met, among others, George Washington, Thomas Paine, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Knox, and Thomas Jefferson, embarking from Boston for England on December 15, 1784. Fascinated with Miranda's account of his exploits in the United States Revolutionary War and his travels throughout the Americas and Europe, Goethe told him at his visit 1785 that, "Your destiny is to create in your land a place where primary colors are not distorted.

1 Symbolism in Antipodal Colors - explaining the backgrounds to Goethe's Color Theory 2 The Hermetic Codex II - Bipolar Monotheism 3 Miranda gave at least two sources of inspiration for his flag. In a letter written to Count Simon Romanovich Woronzoff (Vorontsov) in 1792, Miranda stated that the colors were based on a theory of primary colours given to him by the German writer and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Miranda described a late-night conversation which he had with Goethe at a party in Weimar during the winter of 1785. 4 See Flag of Colombia#History

He proceeded to clarify what he meant5: First he explained to me the way the iris transforms light into the three primary colors [] then he proved to me why yellow is the most warm, noble and closest to [white] light 6; why blue is that mix of excitement and serenity, a distance that evokes shadows; and why red is the exaltation of yellow and blue, the synthesis, the vanishing of light into shadow. It is not that the world is made of yellows, blues and reds; it is that in this manner, as if in an infinite combination of these three colors, we human beings see it. [] A country [Goethe concluded] starts out from a name and a flag, and it then becomes them, just as a man fulfills his destiny. In these quotations the color red already has been defined as the synthesis of the elementary, antipodal symbols yellow ( bright light) and blue ( dark shadow). According to Goethe the flag, the flag's symbolism ( its three basic colors) and the name are to be seen as the fundamentals for the country. In fact the world seemed to have been built from three colors in which the red color is the synthesis of both antipodal elements yellow and blue.

The stripes' Height

Although Goethe specifies yellow's relative weight as equivalent to the antipodal partner blue the first flag of Gran Colombia has been designed with a much broader yellow stripe in its relations to red & blue. In fact we would expect the yellow stripe to be as high as the blue stripe and we might even expect the red stripe to be designed at a double height as blue and yellow. Instead Francisco de Miranda may have designed the first concept with a 50% area of yellow and the other 50% as a symbolic purple element, consisting of each 50% of both red and blue. In this case the design may basically symbolize the antipodes yellow and purple, in which the complex symbol purple has been reduced to its fundamental elements red and blue. Antithesis: another explanation refers to the yellow sun, arising above the blue ocean and the red-brown soil, which have been depicted in the flag's central illustration.

Fig. 4: First flag of Gran Colombia, 18191820. Stripe ratios 2:1:1

This file has been published in Wikipedia by Shadowxfox and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

5 also quoted from Wikipedia 6 Probably to be understood as light (represented by yellow) in contrast to shadows (represented by blue)

1866: Correos de E.E.U.U. de Venezuela7

1866-1870 The Contrasea imprint

Figura 5: Scott 18, Yvert 15 Medio Real

A feature of this series is a remarkable overprint used as a safeguard against fraud. It consists of two lines of diamond letters 6 mm. apart, the top line always repeating the word Contrasea, the bottom line Estampillas de Correo.8

7 See the complete documentation at Stamps - Correos 8 Explanations extract from : The Correos Stamps of Venezuela

On January 1, 1866, another set of adhesives was issued, returning to the armorial design. This time the stamps are perfectly square, and the arms is placed on a solid ground together with a ribbon containing the motto Dios y federacion (God and Federation) within an octagonal frame, the whole being set in a square frame. The inscription is a more ambitious one, reading Correo do los E.E.U.U. De Venezuela. (Post of the United States of Venezuela). The values are: 12 centavo yellow-green, 1 centavo blue green, 12 real rose or brown violet, 1 real vermilion, 2 reales yellow. The 12 centavo and 12 real stamps exist tte-bche, the 1 real and 2 reales were cut diagonally and used as 12 and 1 real respectively. Although the stamps are issued imperforate some values are met with perforated privately. The 12 real is known to have been issued in July 1870, printed on a very much thicker wove paper, and April 1897, the Timbre poste proved with its customary (sometimes wearisome) minuteness that the lithographer, Felix Rasco of Caracas, had made a second transfer causing a lot of small differences. It is in this second transfer that the tte-bche stamps appear. By the way, the sheets contain 135 stamps in 15 rows of 9. January 1, 1874, a new issue was brought out. Same design as 1866 series, but the 12 centavo is omitted and a 2 centavos added, the new set printed in partly different colors. A feature of this series is a remarkable overprint used as a safeguard against fraud. It consists of two lines of diamond letters 6 mm. apart, the top line always repeating the word Contrasea, the bottom line Estampillas de Correo. In 1875 the lettering was made a trifle larger. There are numerous errors and misprints, for instance Estampilla, Correos, omissions of capitals, reversion of lines (Contrasea as bottom line), placing overprint upside down, etc. The 1 real stamp occurs tte-bche five times on a sheet of 150.

1872: Jos Hernndez: El gaucho Martn Fierro (Argentina)

Dated 1972 my father acquired a beautiful leather-edition of the 2,316 line epic poem El gaucho Martn Fierro. The poem was originally published in two parts, El Gaucho Martn Fierro (1872) and La Vuelta de Martn Fierro (1879). The poem supplied a historical link to the gauchos' contribution to the national development of Argentina, for the gaucho had played a major role in Argentina's independence from Spain.

Fig. 6: First lines of El gaucho Martn Fierro (1872)

The full text has been published in the web. Full book in original language and in the English version.

Fig. 7: El gaucho Martn Fierro (1872), edition of 1970

Fig. 8: Note in El gaucho Martn Fierro (1872), edition of 1970 A special note refers to a still existing address for the CCC-company (Casa Corazon Cueros S.R.L.). The book also provides us with additional information, such as a letter from Jos Hernndez to his friend Jos Zoilo Miguens9 , a bibliographical list of Jos Hernndez and an 18-page lexicon and glossary to the work.

Carta escrita por Jos Hernndez a su amigo Jos Zoilo Miguens

Fig. 9: Lexicon and Glossary to the Martin Fierro Edition of 1970

1957: Arrows and a bow (probably Venezuela)

From one of his early journeys 1957 or 1958 to South-America my father was able to carry back home some long weapons: 6 arrows and a bow. The arrows and bow are approximately 1.5m long. The rear ends are not shown in the photographs:

Fig. 10: Six arrows (probably from Venezuela) The shafts have been balanced in a perfect way. Each shaft has its own diameter chosen for the special hunting purpose. In particular the attachments of the metallic and wooden points are remarkable:

Fig. 11: Attachment of the metallic arrow

Fig. 12: Attachment of the wooden arrows

The bow is made of a very flexible black piece of wood. The rope and the knots probably are in their original state. I do not remember to have exchanged the rope or even loosened the rope.

Fig. 13: One end of the bow

Fig. 14: One end of the bow

Fig. 15: Central knot at the bow

1959: South-American Music10

December 1959 my parents moved to Caracas, Venezuela and enabled me to enjoy a few months of living in a beautiful colorful, tropical paradise with a rich nature and joyful people. At the age of 12 their music impressed me and I started hearing the vinyl records my father piled in our living room. The music set provided High Fidelity by Philips AG9015 amplifier with 2 AD5046N loudspeakers, but compared to modern systems the audio sound was rather simple...

Fig. 16: Philips AG9015 amplifier

Fig. 17: AD5046N

In fact my father did not really collect these records, but stored the discs for his work in large boxes. In the course of time a vast collection of unsorted vinyl records piled up to a huge number of records and I was unable to hear all of these pieces of music. A few of the LPs however had been enclosed into my heart and in the seventies I often listened to these tunes in my spare time and at travels. Unfortunately the vinyl records now started a degrading process by producing more and more distortion, cracks and other noise. I decided to record some of the most impressive tunes to a tape-recorder to avoid a progressive distortion from playing vinyl records.

Fig. 18: Philips Tape recorder 110V/60Hz

10 Just Another Archive of Vinyl Discs

I revisited the Caribbean area around 1980 and with the help of my father I searched for some new version of the songs I liked. This however seemed to be rather difficult. Most of the SouthAmerican music had suffered from commercializing processes. The music had changed and I disliked the result. Globalization may have destroyed a lot of traditional music. My father and I realized we probably were keeping a number of unique records in our archive. However we had no idea of saving the treasure for coming generations. A lot of records are generally available pop-songs, country music, blues and classic music, which is widely spread all over the globe. I knew these records were available at the common market. The problematic conservation had to be planned for south-American music, which had been recorded between 1950 and 1970. Around 2000 my father handed me his collection, but I felt unable to select the most valuable records and to digitize the singular tunes. Probably the YouTube-platform had not been invented anyway. I remember to have selected a number of unwanted records in order to make some storage-room for other more valuable materials. The 16th of March 2008 I started the selecting and digitizing process for this South-American music and uploaded the videos to a YouTube-account jwr1947. I stopped the digitizing phase after well over 100 old vinyl records at September 2009. One year later the YouTube-platform reports a grand total number reads: 539.563 (corresponding to approximately 1200 reads / day). For a few months I followed the comments to the reads an the number of stars. In order to communicate with the Spanish audience I had to use a web-translator to improve my rather poor knowledge of this wonderful language. Most of the videos have been supplied with a rather crude graphical content. By a lack of good photographs I used old black & white photographs from my own archive. Some Venezuelan people protested and suggested I should use new photographs from their website, which resulted in a new version of the song with attractive graphical contents, e.g.: Brisas del Torbes - por el pueblo tachirense. Others were very grateful for the music which had been recorded decades ago by their fathers, grandfathers and uncles, e.g. in: Vasija de Barro -Danzante EcuatorianoTexts, contents, overviews and photographs of these vinyl records had been documented in various separate storage areas at Google-groups (Folklore sudamericano and Documentation to Lorenzo Herrera (father and son) and JWRs_Schallplattenarchiv). Unfortunately the Google groups-storage has been closed a few years ago. In 2009 the following (most popular) songs had been being clicked at a rate of 30-60 reads / day): Ansiedad (Vals) - (23.920 reads in 2 years) Brisas del Torbes - Quinteto Contrapunto (1963) (26.687 reads in 2 years) As Rosas Do Meu Caminho - Amlia Rodrigues El Polo Margariteno - Quinteto Contrapunto (1962) 4. Pasaje - Juan Vicente Torrealba y sus Torrealberos Canchunch florido - Quinteto Contrapunto Gelta, juera y las empanadas (1958) (2.719 reads in 1 year) Amalia Rosa - Quinteto Contrapunto 15.466 reads in 1 year) Yo Vendo unos Ojos Negros - Los 4 Hermanos Silva (ca. 1960)

The statistics may vary in the course of time, if a song's popularity raises or falls, which may be identified in the statistics for the number of reads / year.

1959: Tamanaco (Venezuela)

December 1959 we enjoyed a stay at the *****-hotel Tamanaco and I still remember the chief's grim face (at the moment covered with dust after more than 50 years) if I see the tiny sculpture in my room. It is labeled at the front side Tamanaco and at the backside Cacique Venezolano S XVI11. Tamanco had a good reason to have a grim face.

Fig. 19: Tamanaco (circa 15 cm tall)

Tamanaco was a native Venezuelan chief, who as leader of the Mariches and Quiriquires tribes led during part of the 16th century the resistance against the Spanish conquest of Venezuelan territory in the central region of the country, specially in the Caracas valley. He is one of the most famous and best known Venezuelan Caciques (Spanish: Indian chief). Tamanaco was apprehended alive and sentenced to death by hanging. However, Garc Gonzlez de Silva, in charge of Caracas' city hall "did something". Among the discussion a captain named Mendoza suggested an alternative: he proposed to let Tamanaco chose between hanging or fighting a trained-killer dog, ironically named "friend," that Mendoza owned. All liked the idea and proposed it to Tamanaco. He accepted the challenge and is reported to have said "the dog will die by my hands and then these cruel men will know what Tamanaco is capable of" However, the fight was uneven and Tamanaco died of the injuries he suffered in his throat.
11 cacique (jefe) indio venezolano de mediados del Siglo XVI.

1960: Postcards (mainly Venezuela)

From a postcard-collection a few dozen old views of the Venezuelan landscape and people have been scanned and transferred to a Google-database: Venezuela-postal cards from 1960.

Fig. 20: Postcard-sample from Venezuela

1960: Machete (Columbia)

Around 1960 my father gave me the south-American machete as a present. I am not sure whether he bought it in Venezuela or at a trip to Columbia. I used it for gardening work to cut the high grass reeds in my garden.

Fig. 21: Machete from Manizales The blade has been decorated with hunters chasing a bison-herd:

Fig. 22: hunters chasing a bison-herd

A imprinted label A*1, Incolma S.A. - Manizales) has been decorated with a horse's head and a trumpet. The serial number is No. 351:

I found a similar sword in Vintage Machete INCOLMA Manizales S.A. Columbia and by a strange coincidence another sword also must have been registered 351 and sold at eBay: Vintage Incolma Sword S.A Manizales No. 351 | eBay (which of course has not been initiated by me). The raw material seems to have been produced in Solingen, but the paper label has been worn out too much to read the company's name:

1960: The Cedula (Venezuela)

Foreigners had to carry an identity card named Cedula de identidad. Each time we left the urban area the cards had to be shown to the checkpoints named alcabala (control posts at the entrance of the city)12. Probably the government used these checkpoints to control the travel activities of revolutionary bandits. Only a few roads did lead to the rural areas. Some of the secondary roads were rather primitive. In the sixties the now famous and rich German Colonia Tovar was located in the remote mountains, hardly accessible at all and in fact a small and poor village.

Fig. 23: Cedula de identidad, Venezuela (1960) The Venezuelans used a strange addressing system, in which there were (and are?) no street-names and numbers. We had to orientate ourselves to square areas, named cuadras of manzanas. We lived in Edificio Manaure, Calle Carabobo, El Rosal, Caracas.

12 Venezuela - door Mr. W.J. van Balen (1955)

1960: The Mrklin Imports (Venezuela)

In the sixties most of the toys had been imported from the US-markets, but some qualified products such as electronic kits and railroad sets had been selected from German manufacturers. At our arrival in Caracas my brother and I received a railroad set. This set had been imported from the famous Mrklin13 company at Germany and curiously enough the catalog including the price list of our set in Venezuelan Bolivars has been preserved. The Venezuelan Bolivar currency had been notoriously inflationary at a rate of circa 25% 14 and it must be impossible to print catalogs with stable prices as usual in European countries.

Fig. 24: Price list Mrklin in Venezuelan Bolivars 1960-1961 Those days the prices for the locomotives 3031 and 3005 were 52 respectively 68 Bolivars 15. Those Bolivars however were real Bolivars and the Fuerte with a 5 Bolivar-imprint was a heavy silver coin, today worth 50 US$. The current Bolivar Fuerte was introduced in the year 2008 in order to make financial transactions simpler and to curtail the high rates of inflation. Earlier Venezuela currency was Bolivar which was introduced way back in 1879.

Fig. 26: Mrklin locomotive 3031

Fig. 25: Mrklin locomotive 3005

13 Mrklin filed for bankruptcy on 4 February 2009, but on 5 February 2010 announced a return to profitability. 14 Historically, from 1973 until 2012, Venezuela Inflation Rate averaged 26.5 Percent reaching an all time high of 115.2 Percent in September of 1996 and a record low of 3.2 Percent in January of 1973. - Venezuela Interest Rate 15 The complete Mrklin price-list and floor-plan have been included in the appendices

Components
Of course the transformers had been chosen for the Venezuelan market with a mains voltage of 110V. The frequency however had been specified as 50Hz, which reminds me of the strange situation of the use of 110V/50Hz mains in European cities such as the Dutch city of Roermond around the fifties.

Fig. 27: Mrklin transformers 1960-1961 for 110V/50Hz

1960/2012: The Teleferico at Mrida (Venezuela)

The Mrida Cable Car (Spanish: Telefrico de Mrida) was the world's highest cable car. The base station is located in the Venezuelan city of Mrida at an altitude of 1,640 meters, and its terminus is on Pico Espejo, at 4,765 meters. The whole system was opened to the public in 1960; it was closed indefinitely in 2008, with a declaration that it had reached the end of its service life and is being rebuilt. I remember the oxygen masks at the staircase in the cable car building and was sad to her of the closure of the Telefrico. November 24th,, 1991 a cable failed in the fourth section of the system and crashed a cabin, in which two passengers were killed. Representatives closed the Telefrico. The construction of a brand-new cable car is underway with a 2012 reopening planned.

1960: Venezuelan Tripod Seat

The tripods have been designed around 1960. The seat height is 36-44cm. The tripod's legs are 60cm long and are made of wooden sticks, with a diameter of 3,5cm. The leather is approximately 3,5 mm, ranging from 2 up to 4mm.

Fig. 28: Venezuelan Tripods

Fig. 29: Compactness

A special iron tripod screw has been used as a fixture for the three legs. The screws have been provided with a stopper to prevent loosening of the tripod-structure.

Fig. 30: Three screws have been provided with a stopper

1961: Coins
Even the old Venezuelan coins have been better than they are today and I remember they carried proud names: 5 Bolivares were named Fuerte 1 Bolivar was named Bolvar 0,25 Bolivar was named Medio 0,10 Bolivar was named Mocha 0,05 Bolivar was named Puya.

From 2008 the bolivar is named Bolvar fuerte (stong Bolivar), although the coins lost 3 decimal positions (1 Bolvar fuerte replaced 1000 Bolivares). In spite of its name the Bolivar fuerte is not strong at all. It is strong in inflationary power at an annual rate of 25% inflation. Only the silver Fuerte (below) is carrying a real monetary value in its silver contents.

Fig. 31: Fuerte (silver, 5 Bolivares)

Contents
~ 1700: The Conquistadores Stirrup.....................................................................................................1 1785: The flag's design by Francisco de Miranda (Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador)....................3 The stripes' Height......................................................................................................................4 1866: Correos de E.E.U.U. de Venezuela.............................................................................................5 1866-1870 The Contrasea imprint...............................................................................................5 1872: Jos Hernndez: El gaucho Martn Fierro (Argentina)..............................................................7 1957: Arrows and a bow (probably Venezuela)..................................................................................11 1959: South-American Music.............................................................................................................14 1959: Tamanaco (Venezuela)..............................................................................................................16 1960: Postcards (mainly Venezuela)...................................................................................................17 1960: Machete (Columbia).................................................................................................................18 1960: The Cedula (Venezuela) ..........................................................................................................20 1960: The Mrklin Imports (Venezuela)............................................................................................21 Components...................................................................................................................................22 1960/2012: The Teleferico at Mrida (Venezuela).............................................................................23 1960: Venezuelan Tripod Seat............................................................................................................24 1961: Coins.........................................................................................................................................26 Appendix I - Pricelist Mrklin 60-61 in Venezuelan Bolivares..........................................................28 Appendix II - Mrklin Floorplan .......................................................................................................34

Appendix I - Pricelist Mrklin 60-61 in Venezuelan Bolivares

Appendix II - Mrklin Floorplan

The floor-plan had been designed to automatically select a free station at the locomotive station 16 with three stations. The incoming locomotive had to pass a contact rail which triggered a logic relay network, activating the threefold railroad switch.

Fig. 32: Floor-plan of the Mrklin railroad system

Fig. 33: Mrklin locomotive station part number: 7028

16 7028 Spur H0 Mrklin Lokschuppen