From: LALFORD@FSU1.CC.FSU.EDU
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Nicarra's travels
Date: 30 Sep 92 03:31:07 GMT

Nicarra finally returns to Callahans.

"Wow, this has been quite a while since I last properly had time to sit in 
the Place and just chat.  We have just been on the go long enough and the 
Place has been a long distance call from most of it.  So I have been 
limited."

"At any rate, since leaving Australia (welcome to the new folks since the 4 
July), we have been traveling around quite a lot.  (By the way, this is 
likely to be quite long.  I won't notice if you want to bail out now. :-) )"

"We spent the first two weeks just visiting folks and the place Ross is 
supposed to be doing this sabbatical.  Not that we've been back there yet, 
but it will happen soon.  Then we went to a place called Mountain Lake 
Biological Research Station.  This is up in the mountains in Virginia.  It 
is fairly remote and quiet there, no locks on the cabin doors (what!  a 
place left in the states where you don't have to lock up! :-) )  Ross spent 
most of his time working but I spent a lot of time hiking.  Plenty of trails 
in the area, well marked and easy to follow.  I had a list of birds seen in 
the mountain lake area, binoculars and lots of time.  I did see some-but not 
all- of the birds on the list, along with lots of white-tail deer and many 
little chipmunks.  There were a few rainy days which I spent reading/feeding 
the chipmunks.  You can get those little guys to eat out of your hand."

"From there, we went on to Harrisonburg Virginia and visited some old 
friends for a couple of days.  That was a short time when I had computer 
access again (I was trying to bounce usa message to world, did it work?)  
We went on to Baltimore for a night, then to Washington DC where Ross caught 
a plane to Hawaii (for a conference).  I drove our borrowed car south 
stopping in Durham NC to visit a couple of people that are still there, then 
on down to Fort Myers to stay with my folks again.  A few days later, I 
drove on down to Miami, to meet Ross and we stayed at his mother's place.  
He left for Brazil about the 18 September."

"I was in Miami until very late the 23 of September.  For those of you who 
missed it, very early the 24 of September hurricane Andrew blew through 
Miami/Homestead.  I must have been on one of the last planes to leave the 
airport, we were scheduled to take off at 7:45 and didn't get airborne until 
8:30.  Must have been a connecting flight that they were waiting for but it 
was very scary.  Sitting and hoping the winds didn't start blowing yet.  
Especially when I was to deliver a package to some people in Brazil that 
included airplane tickets to Australia for about 8 different people.  But 
the flight did make it out."

"I went to Brazil from the 24 September to 30 September.  It was an amazing 
week.  The people Ross needed to met in Brazil had everything planned.  I 
was flown out to a little town called Alter de Choas (don't ask how to 
pronounce it.  Even now Portugese is not a language that I can manage not 
to mangle.)  This town is in river savannah area.  After 6 years in 
Australia, the amount of water around this area was simply astounding.  
Permanent rivers always flowing, and huge!  We spent a couple of days there.
Looking at areas that cane toad research is done, climbing the highest hill 
in the area, went to a museum dedicated to local indian art work (the man 
who started this museum and is still building, buying new items directly 
from the tribes and expanding it is an American who has married a Brazilian 
indian.  Very interesting man to listen to.)  We flew back to Manaus, then 
went out for an over night trip to a local rainforest.  Very similiar to the 
Australian rainforest, but somewhat less aggresive vegetation."  Nicarra 

grins to the Aussies in the crowd.  In North Queensland, there are two 
plants that one must be very careful of.  "We then spent a day on a cruise 
down to 'the mixing of the waters'.  The river that runs beside Manaus is 
black water, the Amazon is white (really yellow) water.  At the place were 
the two of them meet the waters swirl together, but for quite some ways, 
they don't merge completely.  We saw the pink dolphins of the Amazon (they 
really are pink).  The rest of the boat tour included a walk to see giant 
water lilies, a canoe trip (and there were many many birds to see), and then 
lunch.  It was a great deal for $20 per person.  We toured some of the city, 
including the fish market that doesn't even open until 11 at night (this is 
so the fish aren't sitting out in the market in the heat of the day.)  And 
our final morning was spent looking at a museum and at a small collection of 
native animals.  It was quite a busy time."

"Ross went on to Venezula while I returned to the US.  I had decided to go 
to the world science fiction convention in Orlando (since we have been based 
in Florida when in the US, I knew this would be a great chance to see one.)  
It was great.  I did see a few people there from the Place, including Eoin, 
Lynn Gold, Windsinger and The Bard.  I saw many authors there; L. Sprague De 
Camp, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Lois McMaster Bujold, Connie Willis, 
Spider Robinson, C.J. Cherryh, Andre Norton and more!  There were movies, 
videos, panels discussions, book readings, filking and gaming going on most 
of the time.  Parties that lasted well into the night.  A dealer room with 
tons of fascinating stuff.  An art room.  In other words, far too many 
things to do, but I managed to get to most of the things that I wanted to.  
Had to leave a few things early though, so I could get to another event on 
time.  I would definately recommend this as something to do if you are 
interested in sf at all."

"I heard Sunday, while waiting for the Masquerade, that Fritz Leiber died.  
I will miss him, he was one of my favourite fantasy authors."  Nicarra 
sighs.

"During this time, I was wondering what exactly happened down in Homestead.  
You see, Ross's mother and sister lived there and I had planned on leaving 
some of our stuff in their care while in South America.  Andrew was headed 
that way, but I did have a hard time believing that it would continue in a 
straight path.  So we put the stuff in well protected closets, and I hoped 
for the best.  I didn't really worry much about it though until the flight 
back, when I read in the New York Times that the Homestead Air Force base 
was destroyed.  (No, I am not that heartless, it is just that we didn't see 
much news in Brazil, and you never really truly expect a disaster to happen 
to someone you know.)  Then it was my folks that meet me at the airport, 
which was very worrying!  It turned out that Ross's sister lost a porch to 
the storm (and the eye went over their place), there are pieces of concrete 
block missing, a couple of cracks due to the stress when the porch roof went 
but the house itself made it through just fine.  And his mother's apartment 
made it through the storm fine, then the solar water system broke and soaked 
everything in the place after the storm.  The car we had been using lost the 
front windscreen, which is why my folks thought it would be just as easy for 
them to pick me up at the airport.  Otherwise, they would have had to go to 
the Keys to get me, since that is now where my mother-in-law is.  When Ross 
got back to the US, the car had been repaired, so he went down to the Keys, 
got our stuff, and drove up to Fort Myers."

"Since then, we drove back down to Miami about four days later, Ross was on 
his way back to Australia for three weeks.  I have seen some of the damage 
left by Andrew and it is amazing.  Also a bit scary, since Townsville is in 

a cyclone prone area too.  Some houses were just rubble.  And you very 
definately do not want to stay in a trailer, we went by one trailer park 
that most of the trailers were completely destroyed, and the few left 
standing were very damaged.  Some of the area is just not recognisable any 
more.  It is going to be a long time before the mess can be cleaned up."

"Well, that has been my report on what has happened since the fourth of 
July.  Did anyone miss me? :-)"

Nicarra 
Newsgroups: alt.callahans