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Most all incoming PCVs, at least from 1962-70, stayed at the
Hotel Florida located just off Rua Catete on Rua Feirreia Viana
about a block from the Governor's Place.
I visited the hotel in 1986. It had not changed at all from
the Peace Corps years. While I was walking around the lobby area,
I was approached by one of the staff who asked if I was a Voluntario da
Paz. When I told him I was, this fellow's face lit up and he went
on and on about the "good old" days when the hotel was home to PCVs.
This fellow, whose name I do not recall, was an elevator operator and
had been going up and down in that elevator for some 20+ years. I
think he was even wearing the same uniform! I regret now not taking
this fellow out for a few beers and doing an "oral history". The
stories he must have had.
The old bartender, who must have hated us all as he never smiled or had
a good word to say, had just retired. I was surprised to learn
that he was still alive as he "seemed" like an old man back in the late
60s.
I visited again in 1999. The hotel had been completely renovated.
If it weren't for the name out front, you could walk by without
realizing that it was the old Hotel Florida.
It is owned or managed by an Italian company. There is even a pool
on the top floor. All of the old staff have gone, and the
new staff, young, chique with very attractive, new uniforms!
The Peace Corps office was located on Rua do Russell about a 15 minute
walk from the hotel; just around the corner from the famous
Hotel Gloria (page in Portuguese & English).
The movie theater, which you passed walking to the PC office is no
longer there. The Novo Mundo hotel has been renovated. In
1986, I recognized the building where the PC office had been located,
but in 1999 due to the renovation of several of the buildings on Rua
Russell, I couldn't be sure.
Gene Whitmer
MT/ES 64-67
BR15
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