37 



Clara and I took a taxi to the Samper Ortega home at 

 Garrera 11, W 76-I4O. The maid showed us to the liv- 

 ing room and Dr Samper Ortega came in soon, followed 

 at intervals by his wife, his daughter Beatrix, his 

 sister (or sister-in-law) and "Teresita", Teresa Ouerva 

 Borda, who is in charge of the art exhibits at the Bib- 

 lioteca Nacional . Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres were 

 served in the salon. A Hr T.alpole, from England by way 

 of Canada, and who had been in Colombia only a feir months 

 but seemed to be planning a long stay, had arrived a fe*f 

 minutes before us. A little later Germ&n Arciniegas and 

 his wife and the Brickells appeared. At the luncheon I 

 was seated between l.rs Brickell and Dofia Beatris, who is 

 studying and practicing English, Clara was the other 

 side of Doha Beatriz and at Dr Samper's left, with Sefiora 

 de Arciniegas and lir Walpole across the table. The Sam- 

 per son is at Cornell in the School of Agriculture . Se- 

 fiora de Samper spoke good English but very sparingly; 

 the sister and daughter fluently. The menu consisted of 

 curuba, soup, fish loaf with sauce and potato balls, 

 filet mignon, peas, beans , lettuce, cream pie and coffee. 

 After leaving the table, liqueurs were offered in the sa- 

 lon but were refused by all and we all took our prompt 

 departures . 



The Brickells took us in their car with r IValpole to 

 the Gymnasio Moderno where Yfalpole teaches English; in the 

 main building we saw the dining room and lounge. The 

 other English teacher was out but at his door we met his 

 young wife. In a low brick building nearby we saw the 

 first grade room, with a teacher and one little boy. 



From the Gymnasio we drove to the Embassy and left Yr 

 Brickell, then out the road beyond the turn to Techo Air- 

 port to Fontib6n and around its square plaza, all laid out 

 in flower beds . On one side of the square in a low flat 

 block were the town offices, the tesorero, juzgado, etc.; 

 dismal looking buildings. On another side of the square 

 was the large church with a clock in one of its towers. 



On the way back we saw a "tomineja" (a small blue bird) 

 in the dusty bushes by the side of the road; the bushes 

 were some species of Solarium and looked eaten so I got 

 out of the car and looked for Bpilachna but found none. 

 As we entered Bogota we passed between the huge statues 

 of Columbus and Isabella, high at the sides of the road. 



After dinner we had a Spanish lesson at Gas a Gomez and 

 learned that the lower class women wear pafionones, not 

 mantillas and that the senoritas do not approve my buying 

 one to take to Lucy. We went to bed soon after nine. 



Feb. 2l|. I went to the Institute alone in the morning 

 and commenced the typing of my list of generic identifi- 



