In the Spirit of Eldorado

Guess what?

It was really the Finnish board game "Eldorado" from the 70's which led my way to the mysteries of South America. I got it as a present from my relatives. "Eldorado" was a good way to study geography. The south american map and on a map the south american countries marked - their cities, mountains, rivers and lakes, like the Andes and the Lake Titicaca. With the help of cards you could fly from a city to another city or take a boat. Sometimes you also got surprise cards, nice or nasty ones. According to the card you got into trouble or you were lucky and something nice happened to you. How nostalgic...Well, the game is now on the place of honor on the wall of my corridor at home.

Few years ago Kari Mannerla , the founder of the legendary Finnish board game "Afrikan tähti" from the 50's (The Star of Africa), founded just before his dead another south american related board game "Inkan aarre" (Treasure of the Inca). Also at my home and waiting for kids to play it (with me, of course).

The other very special issue in my latin american history was the book "Inkan testamementti" (Legacy of the Incas) of the German writer Karl May. It also helped me to learn more German as I read part of the books of Karl May in German. Even if Karl May wrote many books about the Americas, he never himself visited the Americas! But my "Dream de las Visitas en America Latina" came very true...