Category: Travel
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6. The First and Last McTour
Notes on an old traveler’s first ever guided tour (April-May 2022) 1 In the approach of my wife’s seventieth birthday in 2020, I proposed a trip of her choice. In her footloose mid-sixties, she’d joined me in a couple of ‘Rough Guide’ style trips to South America. But at three score and ten, she…
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E. Glimpses of Predeparture (con’d)
In the staffroom at teatime this morning, Sister Chua told an anecdote that corroborated the rumours about how rampant crime is becoming of late. She said a thief recently broke into a convent in Tabora making off with a set of nuns’ habits… Unlike most criminals who flout the law with impunity–– the mwezi [thief]…
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E. Glimpses of Predeparture (intro.)
Introduction: Numerous excerpts from old journals kept in Tanzania and Zimbabwe where I once sojourned have already been posted on this site. These include pieces in ‘Scraps from Tanzania Notebooks’, ‘Scraps from Zimbabwe Notebooks’ and in ‘Scraps of Memoir from Afar’. In taking a second look at the transcripts of journals from those years, I…
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G. Travel Vignettes (intro.)
Before entering a pit, our group was to ascend half-way up the mountain overlooking Potosi, which at 4,050-meter altitude, is itself one of the highest cities of the world. The tour promised a glimpse inside a working mine with an incredible history: over four centuries, the ‘rich hill’ had produced more silver and possibly more…
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G. Travel Vignettes (con’d)
Among families dressed as Disney movie characters, our clothes seemed conspicuously drab. While pirates seemed to dominate, behind us was an Indiana Jones who gave us a once-over with the hard eyes of an Orange County cop. A moment afterwards he turned his head aside and mumbled into his collar. Noting that he was wearing…
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F. Scraps of Memoir from Afar (intro.)
“Who’s the guy?” the bald man asked in heavily accented English as Brandee broke away. “My friend who’s going to Africa.” “Africa?” He shouted above the din, “What to Christ for are ya goin’ to Africa?” “He’s a teacher,” said Brandee, lighting a cigarette. Mugging a scowl, the heavyset man reached out as if to…
Coprolites in Amber (etc.) 