Wouldn't it have been interesting to have had the Internet when we were in the Peace Corps. I probably wouldn't have read nearly as many books from our PC paperback locker, which I enjoyed a lot. I remember reading de Toqueville's "Democracy in America," which I probably wouldn't have read otherwise. I noticed in our Peace Corps training yearbook from ASU that you listed travel as one of your interests. You've done very well in following up on that interest. Since Peace Corps, I've lived in Nebraska, Wisconsin, Texas, Illinois, California, and Washington. Went back to Brazil in 86 and visited Poconé, Cuiaba, Rio and Salvador.
Poconé changed a lot. Electricity, phone service, TV, public water supply, the works. It was redeveloping it's gold mining industry, and was prospering as a base for tours to the Pantanal. I was able to locate a few co-workers and some old friends. It was a good visit. No plans to return right now. Linda and I both got Library degrees, and we split in about 1980. She's been working as a librarian in the Philadelphia area for many years. You were right about her role on the Jeep trip. Her language skills were very good, and she ended up majoring in French/Spanish following the Peace Corps. I'm not sure who went on the trip to the ranch with you, but we missed that. We were in a Jeep with Chester Weir that broke down overnight somewhere in the hills of São Paulo (state) and we got separated from all but Brian and Mary Bowser. We did stay at the hotel in Presidente Prudente, but not the ranch. I sure don't remember the name of the hotel. The trip was a genuine adventure. I've been working as a public library director for nearly 30 years, and have settled in Santa Rosa, following retirement as Director of the Sonoma County Library. My retirement career is working as "interim library director." To date I've had assignments in Spokane, Dixon and Kentfield. For some strange reason I can still speak Portuguese fairly well whenever I run into Brazilians. I've since picked up quite a bit of Spanish in Mexican travels, and studied Italian and Swedish to facilitate travel to those countries. I haven't stayed in touch with any of the Mato Grosso PCVs. A few years ago I tried to contact Jim Creasman when I was in the Phoenix area, and missed him, but he later telephoned me for a chat. I went to a reunion of returned PCV's from Brazil in Palo Alto about 5 years ago, and despite the good attendance, I did not run into anyone I knew. I've gone by the old Sigma Nu house a couple of times in Tempe. I don't have any plans for Brazil in the near future. I went to Sweden with my brother last May and visited the birthplace of our paternal grandfather. Greece is next on the list. My partner is 1/4 Greek and she'd like to go to Greece after the Olympics in 2004. One of my hobbies is train riding, and I once thought it would be a great adventure to take a train from São Paulo to the Pacific Coast. I could stop in at Miranda (MT) where we spent about a month acclimatizing following the Jeep trip. Best wishes, Roger
MT 64-66
September 2003
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