14th Posting
Autor: Buster Hale | Publicado: 2011-08-12T14:08:00-04:00

Things bureaucratic. I have become so accustomed to things taking a long time in Brazil that I almost forgot how wonderful the USA is. First, when I got to Miami on Sunday morning, I heard my name on the loudspeaker to come to the gate for the Memphis flight. I went to the gate and the young gate agent asked if I had a coupon, which, of course, I didn't since I had an electronic ticket. He said that without a coupon I could not get on the flight. I looked at him square in the eye and told him that the boarding pass had been issued in Brazil and that I had flown all night and intended to go home. He mumbled something about his supervisor and the bottom line is that after a lot of Spanish (most of which I understood) I got on the flight without doing or saying anything else.

Second, I decided to change my cell service in the US for a variety of reasons, but I wanted to keep my cell number. I had researched this on the internet and thought it would be a fairly long process. But it was very simple. First thing on Monday morning, I went to the new cell company and within 10 minutes I had a new provider and even arranged for a bank draft. I did not need to go to the old company. The cell phone worked immediately without any problems. This country is wonderful.

Campaigning. While I was in Brazil, my younger brother Steve announced that he was running for the Mississippi Senate. Steve is a former mayor of Senatobia and has been involved in local and state politics for most of his adult life. (Our father was a county supervisor for over 30 years and politics runs in our blood.) Since I had not been able to campaign for him, I agreed to go to one of the polling places in Batesville and hold a sign on Election Day, August 2. Of course, it was the hottest day of the year with a temperature in excess of 100 degrees. But, I had plenty of water, a lunch, and a tent. I stayed the full twelve hours from 7AM to 7PM and thoroughly enjoyed it; the nice ladies at the Panola County Health Department next door even let me use their facilities. I kept thinking that all the heat in Brazil had prepared me well for this day. And, most importantly, my brother won the Democratic primary and will face a Republican in the November general election. I wish I could be home for that.

Returning to Corumbá. I left for Brazil on Monday, August 8. The return was pretty uneventful other than leaving Atlanta two hours late due to thunderstorms. But due to tail winds, we were only about an hour late arriving in Sao Paulo. My bags arrived with me and I was drinking coffee about an hour after landing. I had plenty of time to catch my connecting flight to Campo Grande and even had a McChicken at McDonalds for lunch. Junior and Renata met me at the airport in Campo Grande to drive to Corumbá.

While I was in the US, I watched a video clip from the local TV station in Corumbá about a group of women who raise orchids for extra income. The place is on the highway from Campo Grande. Junior readily agreed to stop and did not give up until we (more truthfully he) had asked at least 9 people for directions; the last three said they had seen the piece on the television. When we finally found the place, the ladies were very impressed that I had watched the piece about them from the US. I bought a little orchid and am going to try to raise it. I got a mini-course in raising orchids and promised to take good care of it.


More on all my classes later.