South American Explorers, headquartered in Ithaca, New York, was a nonprofit travel, scientific, and educational organization founded in 1977. Its goals were advancing field exploration and research in South and Central America on subjects such as biology, geography, anthropology, and archaeology, and promoting field sports such as mountaineering, rafting, and caving.
The organization published the quarterly South American Explorer magazine, and sells maps, guidebooks, trip reports, and other materials.David Gonzales, "South American Explorers Club a Wealth of Information," Chicago Tribune, March 14, 1999 There are clubhouses for member use: Lima and Cuzco in Peru; Quito, Ecuador; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Origins
South American Explorers was founded by journalist Donald James Montague as the South American Explorers Club in 1977. Before founding the organization, Montague did a stint in South Korea with the Peace Corps in the 1960s, then joined United Press International Television News (UPITN) as a New York City-based assignments editor.Interview with Donald James Montague, May 11, 2012 Linda Rosa claims to be co-founder and to have largely funded the initial enterprise. Tired of his desk job, Montague decided to organize a camera crew in South America because it was the source of the agency's "worst film," and he figured it would be easy to do better.Tim Cahill, "The Adventurer's Continent: The Rags-to-Rags Story of the South American Explorers Club," Outside magazine, April 1983 The crew would consist of himself and two friends he'd met in South Korea, Jane Berger and Dale Forster.
The crew landed in Lima in 1971, not long after the 1970 Ancash earthquake. Earthquake.USGS.gov After filming a wide range of stories in Peru for UPITN and other organizations, they began covering events throughout South America, including Juan Perón's 1973 return to Argentina after 18 years of exile in Spain. Soon after, the camera crew shifted its base of operations to Buenos Aires, but when Peron died in 1974, the state-sponsored Dirty War made conditions particularly unsafe for journalists. Montague chose to disband the camera crew later that year and headed overland to Peru.
In Lima, Montague met with the Don Griffis, the business manager of the weekly Peruvian Times (then called the Lima Times because of conflicts with the military regime of Gen. Juan Velasco Alvarado). Peruviantimes.com Montague proposed starting an "explorers club" and magazine, where the members would be the source of articles. Griffis wasn't convinced but offered Montague six months of "subsistence allowance" to see if the idea would take off. Back in the U.S. Montague and Rosa visited the New York Explorers Club, which was supportive of his venture but declined to offer reciprocal membership because the South American Explorers Club would accept women, while the New York Explorers Club did not at the time. Explorers.org In Washington, D.C., Montague enlisted the help of Linda Rosa, whom he had met in Guayaquil during a camera expedition with UPITN.
Lima, Peru
In the summer of 1977 Montague and Rosa were back in Lima, and found offices at 146 avenue Portugal in the city's Breña neighborhood for the newly christened "South American Explorers Club" (SAEC). With the assistance of Teddy Ronalds, founder of the Las Dunas hotel in Ica, the SAE attracted a group of supporters that included businessman and collector Miguel Mujica Gallo, Museorperu.com explorer John Hemming, horse breeder Fernando Graña, Peruvian Horse Review, Vol. 3., No. 4, Winter 1976 surfing pioneer Carlos Dogny, Transworld Business, February 17, 2012 and Felipe Benavides, 1974 winner of the J. Paul Getty Award for Conservation Leadership. All became honorary founders of the SAEC. The club's advisory board included Washington Post foreign correspondent Joanne Omang, Tulane University UPI journalist Daniel Doherty, and archaeologist Maria Reiche.
During the summer of 1977 the "South American Explorers Club" was formally established; memberships were pegged at $25, while subscriptions to its planned magazine would be $10. For the first issue Montague wanted to start off with "something big." After attending a gathering of Lima-based explorers, he spotted a curious detail on a NASA satellite photo released in 1976. This feature became the center of "The Dots of Pantiacolla," written under the pseudonym Ursula Thierman. South American Explorer, No. 1, October 1977
Located somewhat right of center, near the base of the central mountain range shown in this photo, is an amphitheater-shaped outcropping. The area circumscribed by this elliptical formation encompasses some three square kilometers. Within this oval are ten unexplained dots.... Exactly what they are is not known.
The article would launch several expeditions to the area. Present for the magazine's birth was author and adventurer Tim Cahill, who "assisted in putting out the first issue of the magazine by sitting around uselessly drinking innumerable bottles of Crystal beer." There was no advertising to speak of other than a few classifieds, which cost 2 cents a word, 50 words maximum. The completed magazine was set on the Linotype machines of the Lima Times and printed on their presses. The run was approximately 1,200 copies.
At the end of a six-month trial period the club had attracted only 87 members.
Three $500 life memberships would sign up over the coming years: Max Eiselin, a Swiss sporting-goods magnate and leader of the 1960 expedition that first ascended Dhaulagiri, seventh highest mountain in the world, Swissinfo.ch, retrieved May 11, 2012, HRH Colonel Prince Chalermpol of Thailand, an orchid collector, when Rosa returned to Lima in the early 1980s to manage the clubhouse in the absence of Tom Jackson and James Hudnall, friend of Felipe Benevides, who was in Peru in 1977 as part of a Greenpeace whale Rescue crew escorted by Benevides.
The magazine published two more issues in Lima before funding ended, and Montague and Rosa transferred the organization's headquarters to the United States, to decrease postage costs and because free lodging in Denver, Colorado had been offered by Steve Morrow, UPI's Lima bureau chief.
Denver, Colorado
Montague and Rosa arrived in Denver in late 1978 and soon found suitable offices at 2239 East Colfax Avenue, at the intersection of York Street. The building, offered a low-rent refuge to a number of progressive organizations, including Friends of the Earth, the Sierra Club, the Colorado Open Space Council, and the "Institute for Radical Studies," all in warren-like spaces over the "New Yorker" bar. A 1979 article in the Rocky Mountain News, "Explorer Club Cuts Red Tape by Getting Out of Peru," describes it as "a cramped office with scrounged equipment.""Explorer Club Cuts Red Tape by Getting Out of Peru," Rocky Mountain News, October 4, 1979, page 88
With Denver now the club's headquarters, the Lima clubhouse became a resource for members during their travels. They could leave get advice, leave bags, and read or write trip reports. While the Lima Times no longer supported the SAEC financially, they donated a small reference library to the clubhouse and Don Griffis's daughter Ellie provided occasional assistance. Peruvian Times Club membership stood at 140.
The fourth issue of the South American Explorer, April 1979, was the first published in the United States. Articles included "Jungle Pharmacy," by Nicole Maxwell, author of the 1961 book Witch Doctor's Apprentice. New York Times, retrieved May 11, 2012 Don Montague contributed an article under the pseudonym Ursula Thiermann" wherein he proposed a solution to the mysterious Dots of Pantiacolla. South American Explorer, April 1979
In the fifth magazine, dated December 1979, alpinist and double-amputee Norman Croucher talked about the thermal advantages of not having lower legs during high-altitude ascents.Norman Croucher, "If the Foot Fits...," South American Explorer, No. 5, December 1979 Dan Buck, former assistant to U.S. representative Patricia Schroeder, contributed an article titled "The Trek to Chavin."
When the 1980s dawned, the club finally turned out its sixth "quarterly" magazine — two issues a year over three years of life. Explorer Robert Randall offered the humor-filled "Tales of the Tiger,""Tales of the Tiger," South American Explorer, No. 6, Page 4 and Neil Gow wrote about Peru's "Golden Age of Guano.""Golden Age of Guano," South American Explorer, No. 6, May 1980 Dan Buck offered a history of the South American Handbook.
By this time the club had begun to attract mainstream attention. The Denver Post published an extensive article, "Magazine Introduces Continent to Readers.""Magazine Introduces Continent to Readers," Denver Post, December 14, 1981, page 88 Tim Cahill, present at the club's dawn in Lima, wrote "The Adventurer's Continent: The Rags-to-Rags Story of the South American Explorers Club" for Outside magazine. As the organization became better known, its stable of writers increased. In issue 8, Australian cartographer Kevin Healey, ITMB.ca wrote about mapping South America in "Carte Blanche.""Carte Blanche," South American Explorer, No. 8, August 1981, page 16 Anne Meadows, later the author of Digging Up Butch and Sundance,, Anne Meadows wrote "Better Pink than Extinct," about South American flamingos."Better Pink than Extinct," South American Explorer, No. 8, August 1981, page 19 And Honorary founder John Hemming, at the time director and secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, contributed "The Draining of Lake Guatavita,""The Draining of Lake Guatavita," South American Explorer, No. 8, Page 25 which was drawn from his book The Search for El Dorado.
In 1985 the organization moved to larger offices in what was then known as the John Hand Building, at 1510 York Street. Colorado Free University By this time Ethel Green of the Lima Clubhouse moved to Denver to become the manager there, while Betsy Wagenhauser, Rob Rachowiecki, Mark Thurber, Betsy Wagenhauser took over in Lima. During this time the organization and its magazine began to attract a wider range of writers, many early in their careers. These included Daniel Alarcón, who penned a corrosive article on Lima; Johan Reinhard, discoverer of the Mummy Juanita and winner of the Rolex Award; Easter Island expert Georgia Lee, D. Bruce Means, now president of the Coastal Plains Institute; Kim MacQuarrie, documentary filmmaker and author of Last Days of the Incas; and National Geographic photojournalist Loren McIntyre. Also found in the table of contents were Robert L. Carneiro, Nicolas Jaeger, Vince Lee, Kenneth R. Wright, Hugh Thompson, Mark Plotkin, Stewart D. Redwood, Hilary Bradt, and Paolo Greer.
During the time that the Shining Path was active in Peru, the SAEC served as a source of information about the safety of areas of the country.Carl Somers, "Q and A," New York Times, January 28, 1990 In 1989 they expanded outside Peru for the first time, opening a clubhouse in Quito, Ecuador.Harvey Hagman, "Explorers Club to Open Office in Ecuador," Washington Times, May 26, 1989
Ithaca, New York
In February 1992, the club moved its U.S. headquarters from Denver to Ithaca, New York. Montague cited numerous reasons for the shift, including his having been born in Duchess County, New York and the presence of a strong Latin American studies department at Cornell University, but a potentially decisive factor was that he "just didn't want to die in Denver." Montague left Denver over the strong objections of Rosa who just had a baby daughter Emily Rosa and could not easily leave her nursing job, telling her the move was to accommodate the wishes of his wife whose parents lived in Ithaca. Rosa thought it unwise to move to New York where the New York Explorers Club could finally sue the SAEC over its use of the term "Explorers Club," as they had once threatened in the past.