October 2019

Monday/Tuesday, 10/7/8. On Monday I drove down to George Washington’s Grist Mill and Distillery.  Nice easy tour.  Wouldn’t buy the product though.  “Making it like the father of our country used to” is not advised.  They have low production and high demand, so the price is excessive if your intent is to drink it.  If your only goal is to stick in on a mantlepiece, then it’s a fine souvenir.

Lunch with old co-workers.  We’re all getting old together.

  • My room is halfway up.

I paid for a fancy credit card which gets me into many airport lounges.  How the 20(?) percenters live.  Free food and drinks, comfortable chairs.

I’ve long considered Boeing 767 to be the worst plane.  Flight to Rio de Janeiro confirmed my opinion.  I did my civic duty and traded my empty three seat row with an empty two-row.  Family of four, one a crier, all got to sit in the same row.  Even with an empty seat, the plane stinks.  Five inch screen?

I don’t know if I’ve ever walked further to get out of an airport.  Uber was fine.  Hawkers on the highway.  Driver actually bought a bag of puffed rice from one.  We weren’t moving much anyway.  Surprisingly few Japanese cars.  Good number of Chevys and Fords. I think I saw an Olympic venue falling apart. The velodrome? Now a shanty town or farmers market.

Airbnb’s view superb.  But today was muggy, cloudy, windy.  Huge waves.  Had a beachside snack.  Not third-world cheap. Massive beach.  I was just wandering waiting for the Airbnb to be ready.  Overdressed.  No one mugged me, so that’s a plus.  Haven’t found a single person outside the airport who speaks English.

  • Windy. Big slope down. Wasn’t wearing the proper footwear. Maybe tomorrow.
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Sunday, 10/6.  On the road again.  The Blog continues.  As a reminder (to myself), I maintain this blog as more of a ship’s log than a beautiful essay on world travels.  Sentences may not be complete, flowery language may be missing.  Hopefully the photos will show what the prose does not tell.

I’m writing this from a hotel room in Annapolis.  There was a convenient juxtaposition between a Naval Academy mini-reunion (43 years) and my trip.  Met old friends and their better halves. Watched an incredible football game.  Spent far too much money on far too much food and wine.

Four days in Rio de Janeiro on my own, then an 18 day Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) tour of Patagonia, beginning with Bueno Aires.  An extension will take some of us to Iguazu Falls, a competitor of Victoria Falls in size and beauty.  The base tour includes a four day cruise in and around Tierra del Fuego (Cape Horn, Strait of Magellan, etc.) with twice daily zodiac rides to shore.  OAT warns to distraction the varied weather we may have.  I’ve got layers of cloths and thick skin.  Our Trip Leader has already communicated twice by email and once on the phone.

Patagonia is well known not only for it’s variety of nature but also the diversity of humanity.  Natives (rare), German, Spanish (Basque), British, even Italian.  They brought their culture and it all meshes sloppily (I’m told).  Nature, though, is the prime purpose of the tour. I’m sure we’ll gain more reasons to believe that the earth is warming. Adding to the excitement is Argentina’s political problems and collapsing economy.  I look forward to it all.

It all begins Tuesday morning on Copacabana Beach, which is now playing second fiddle as an attraction to nearby Ipanema Beach.  Every web site warns of the dangers of Rio.  I’ve got a day and a half of [protected] tours.  Otherwise I’ll be on the beach, where danger is less than elsewhere.

  • 43 years ago these were the Navy/Marine Corps’ future. Desperate times.
  • The new future, from a new present. Stood throughout the game. Who are these guys?
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