I turned off my AC this morning just to bring in some fresh air. The cats immediately gravitated to the sun streaming through the front door. Fern sprawled. I heard the dog down the street barking and barking and counted two cars driving down my road. The house temperature rose from 68˚ to 74˚ in a little under an hour. I figured fresh air is over-rated, and my street is far too noisy. I’ve closed doors and windows and turned the AC back on. If I really want fresh air, I’ll step out on the deck for a bit, take a deep breath, exhale then hurry back inside the cool house.

Today is shark day on the scyfy channel. It should be dedicated to Cape Cod as a man in Truro was bitten on the legs by what is presumed to be a great white. It was the first attack since 1936. People on shore saw the fin, and I’m thinking visions of Jaws danced in their heads. No one jumped in to help except the man’s son, and I suspect no one wonders why, even the victim himself. Nine great whites have been tagged on the cape this year attracted to these waters by the huge seal population. For the sharks seals mean dining al fresco. For beachgoers, sharks mean wading in shallow water and scanning the horizon for fins.

Asunción, Paraguay was our least favorite stop. The city seemed poor in comparison to the bustling capitals of the other South American countries. Keep in mind this was 1976. We stayed in a hotel, a middle of the road hotel, which looked over the river. We sat on the porch and had breakfast each morning. In the center of the town was a park and a restaurant with outside tables. We were having lunch at the restaurant one day when a man approached us and asked if we were Americans. When we told him yes, he asked to join us. We said sure. He said he seldom saw Americans in Paraguay and was glad to sit and speak English again. Come to find out he was the PanAm chief of South American operations and was going to every country to say good-bye as he was retiring. He told us great stories about the 50’s and particularly the Eisenhower trip. It seemed some airports did not have long enough runways to accommodate the president’s plane. That man’s job was to oversee the construction of lengthening those runways. We sat for quite a while. He thanked us for the company and bought lunch.

The hotel where we stayed was owned by a Chinese family originally from Taiwan. The son worked at the front desk. He spoke with us often as he wanted to practice his English. One night he invited us to a midnight movie. We said sure. It was a Kung Fu movie dubbed in English with Spanish subtitles. Everyone in the audience took part in the movie yelling and screaming and making appropriate death rattles when a Kung Fu master dispatched his enemy. It was the funniest screening of a movie I’ve ever seen. The young man walked us back to the hotel, thanked us for our company and went home.

We left from Asunción for the Iguazu Falls on a bus. We had to pass into Brazil to get to the falls which lie on the Brazilian-Argentinian border. The bus dropped us at a magnificent hotel across from the falls. It was cheaper than we expected given it even had a casino, beautiful gardens and was a three-minute walk across the road to the falls. We were there a couple of days. The first day we took the cat walk around the falls which were so beautiful they almost defy description. The water ran so quickly over what I found out later was Devil’s Throat that the picture I took looks impressionistic, not real water at all but dots of color forming falls. We got soaked every walk we took.

We returned to the city after a couple of days to the same hotel and wandered around looking at the statues and the small parks until we could leave. I had read of a three-day trip down the Parana River to Argentina, and I was hoping they had empty cabins as the boat had originated in Buenos Aires and this was their return trip. Luckily, they had space, and we boarded a day later. Our cabin had two bunk beds but just the two of us. Come to find out only one person on the entire boat spoke English so they were kind enough to sit us with her. She was from England and married to an Argentinian. It amazed her that my pidgin Spanish had gotten us so far. The boat was an old one made of wood. I loved that cruise. They had a movie, The Producers, one of my favorites, in English with Spanish subtitles. We went on a couple of shore excursions. On the last night was the gala. It was the night when people wore costumes. We managed shawls and wore hats we had bought. The most handsome bald man was chosen as was the best costume, the best dancer and on and on. The food was delicious, and we laughed and enjoyed ourselves the whole evening.

The next day we arrived in Buenos Aires.