Winter has come to the clubhouse in Kempton and the fields around town are frozen and white. The Arizona clubhouse has seen quite a bit of rain in December but now the days are bright and fairly warm.

The nearby Adventures Unlimited bookstore in Cottonwood participated in the “Chocolate Walk” sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce in early December. The store had more than 400 visitors file through (some became customers!). A book signing by local authors of a history of Cottonwood was held for the following Sunday. Drop in at 1020 N. Main Street when you are in the Sedona-Cottonwood-Jerome area. Give them a call at: 928-639-1664. Sorry, they are closed on Sundays. Check out their new website at: http://www.adventuresunlimitedbooks.com

Jennifer and I met up in Peru in early November with Megalithomania’s Hugh Newman and the Peru-Bolivia WEX manager, Brien Foerster. We toured around Lake Titicaca, including Puma Punku and Tiwanaku, and then the Cuzco area with a great bunch of travelers, over 30 in number. The trip for me ended with a great visit to Machu Picchu with the whole bunch. Brien is the author of the book A Brief History of the Incas. His website is  http://www.hiddenincatours.com and it has information on his special tours and other activities in South America.

Right after the tour, Hugh, Brien and I did several episodes for Season Four of the History Channel show Ancient Aliens. We spent a couple of days at pyramid sites around Lima and then flew to La Paz, Bolivia to do an episode on the ancient technology evident at Tiwanaku and Puma Punku. Season Three of Ancient Aliens is still airing and I appear in many of the episodes.

The producers of the series, Prometheus Entertainment, also flew me down to Villahermosa in Mexico, the main area of the Olmecs. From there we drove to the Mayan city of Palenque where we stayed for several days. We shot several episodes of Ancient Aliens and they plan to air these episodes, along with Peru and Bolivia episodes, starting in February. So check your local listings and tell your friends to tune in for some amazing new material!

In September, Jennifer and I attended a conference in Visoko, Bosnia, on the mysteries of Bosnia, including stone balls, strange tunnels and the Bosnian Pyramids. We visited megalithic walls at Dauson near Mostar and more. It was a fascinating trip that also took us to the old walled city of Dubrovnik, Croatia, and Amsterdam. Look for more info in the upcoming issues of World Explorer.

We are still going through all the amazing photos and film footage of the WEX January trip to Peru and Bolivia. We went with engineer Christopher Dunn, author of the popular books The Giza Power Plant and Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt. We had a great group of WEX members, 11 in all, who joined us in exploring Cuzco, Sacsayhuaman and Machu Picchu. We had our expedition bus take us to many megalithic sites around the Sacred Valley and then headed in the same bus to Lake Titicaca, where we took a hyrdrofoil across the lake to the Bolivian side. From there we visited Tiwanaku and Puma Punku as well as the Museum of Precious Metals in La Paz where we saw the astonishing Fuente Magna Bowl with Sumerian writing on it (see the article in issue Vol. 5, No. 9). Christopher and I examined the megalithic structures at Tiwanaku and Ollantaytambo for signs of machining and other ancient technology.

Last year we launched the Nepalese-printed edition of my book Yetis, Sasquatch and Hairy Giants. The spring of 2012 is a good time to visit Nepal and experience the mysterious temples of Kathmandu and the majestic heights of the high Himal. Govinda, at the WEX Club offices in the tourist-friendly Thamel section of Kathmandu, can help plan every aspect of your visit. Check out the latest adventure travel news and expeditions offered by Adventure Pilgrims Trekking at www.trekinepal.com or give them a call at: 977-975-107-7190.

Filmmaker and WEX member Steve Zagata has started the WEX Twitter page. Check it out at  http://www.Twitter.com/Wexclub . Steve shot footage in Peru for our new DVD Ancient Technology in Nazca & the Andes. This work joins the other installments in the Ancient Technology series, featuring fascinating material filmed in Egypt, South America, Mexico and Central America. They are all available at: www.adventuresunlimitedpress.com

In late September we visited the Frontier Bookshop in Amsterdam, which is doing good business in the fashionable Jordaan district. Several of the crew, including director Herman Hegge were headed to a peace conference in France to participate and ply theirs wares. When in The Netherlands, check out the bookshop that is near Anne Frank’s House, located on a canal just north of the Westerkirk. The address is Leliegracht 42, 1015 DH Amsterdam. Tel: (+34) 020-3309151. Visit the website at:  www.frontierbookshop.nl.

Canadian WEX manager Jim Honey continues to run his Sangrael bookshop-café-curio store in Elora. The address is 137 Metcalf Street, Elora, Ontario. The phone is 519-846-2999. See their new web pages at: www.wexclub.ca.

Real estate is still a good buy, so now is a good time for the World Explorers Club to snatch up clubhouses around the country. Is there a WEX clubhouse to be acquired in your town in the near future? Be sure to contact us with any ideas about starting a retail outlet or clubhouse!

Also, send in your classified ad; remember up to 25 words are free for WEX members. We are always looking for stories or news clippings, so send those in, too! So settle back near the fireplace with a steaming mug of hot chocolate and get out the latest issue of World Explorer!

—David Hatcher Childress, Explorer