Colombia - 19k2 



Feb. 2. Off for Colombia! Ve had a great sendoff at 

 the Union Station. 1/ugene Callaghan came with gardenia, 

 Dorothy Hambidge, Marion Fessenden and Frances White 

 Trith a corsage for Clara and a carnation for me. At 

 train time, Gove and Russell appeared* Train left a 

 little late but we had a good night, except for the 

 inconvenience of my long legs. A reclining coach seat 

 is not long enough for me. 



Feb. 3. After a shave and some orange juice I felt 

 much better. We stepped off the train at Jacksonville 

 and found the temperature to be below freezing. It was 

 also cold at 3t. Augustine and we didn v t feel that the 

 view of the city from the railroad was very attractive. 

 Arrived at Miami nearly on time and found even Miami 

 a bit chilly. After checking in at the Columbus Hotel 

 we walked along the seawall under the coconut palms 

 and watched the boats, mostly pleasure craft, going to 

 and fro. As we crossed Biscayne Boulevard on the way 

 back to the hotel, a gust of wind raised Clara's hat 

 and in my zeal to save it, I broke her glasses. The 

 hotel clerk suggested the Southeastern Optical Co. and 

 although it was then after hours, they ground the edge 

 and drilled a new hole without charge. Dinner at the 

 H 3even 3eas fl and to bed early. 



Feb. Lu We were called at ML and had orange juice 



and hot Postum in a shadowy corner of the dark and si- 

 lent hotel dining-room; then we assembled our baggage 

 on the sidewalk — suitcases, bags, overcoats , umbrel- 

 las, camera, and a big paper-wrapped box (Guatemala 

 palms, potted, sent by 0« F. Cook as a gift to Armando 

 Dugand, Director of the Institute Ciencias Naturales 

 at Bogota) . The bus was to leave the hotel corner at 

 six; a few other travellers came out of the darkness 

 and joined in the silence. The bus proved to be a cou- 

 ple of taxis, which filled themselves and drove off 

 through several miles of blackness, delivering us at 

 the Dinner Key seaplane base at about half past six. 

 Then came an hour And a half of preliminaries. The 

 passengers were weighed, all the baggage was weighed, 

 every bag was opened and examined. Papers seemed to be 

 the chief object of suspicion; our letter from Dona 

 Paulina to her sisters was read with anxious thorough- 

 ness. Passports and certificates were examined at the 



ticket window: long questionnaires were filled in by 

 the ticket agent. 



