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came close to serenade them at the outdoor bar (which stands in the same place today), she turned toward them and looked as tho she was having a good time; he beat time with his hand. None of the annoyance & embarrassment I would have felt. At the table one evening the shoulder of her dress fell a short way down her arm and she quickly pulled it back -- smiling a quick, crinkled, intimate smile at him. Needless to say they are long gone from that state. 

But what of the American family that sat in the dining room every night with an agent who had evidently sold them a coffee plantation in SE Paraguay. He was explaining their needs for planting & harvest, very up-beat. But did they make a go of it? Are their children still there?

And what about the English Consul we talked with when Tom's mother was with us? He was very critical of Paraguay. The little town is gone completely -- I suppose this is preparation for Corumbá. 

[[underlined]] Wednesday, March 27 [[/underlined]]

Woke up about 8:00 feeling fine. Yesterday's flux appears to be over. Down to breakfast ~ 9:00 & Tom was called to phone immediately. Told Fernando we would do the city tour at 10:00. Asuncion is unrecognizable to us. Not even the cathedral looked familiar -- not even the waterfront, which is a bay of the river. We visited the national heroes' memorial; a small replica of Napoleon's tomb. The first ruler of Paraguay was so strong & cruel that when he died they threw him in the river, 

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but they have an empty tomb for him anyway. Paraguay has had disastrous wars -- the one against Uruguay, Brazil, & Argentina reduced the population from ~ 1 million to just over 400,000. When it began there were more than 200,000 men at arms -- Such an army scared the other countries into thinking that the President intended to behave as Napoleon was doing in Europe. He probably did. 

We stopped for fanta at waterfront park and photographed little boys w. a collection of gum & candy for sale. Through market behind a woman who kept stopping to bargain for fruit & vegetables; finally to "Indian" market where Paraguayan goods are sold. Bought a pull-over blouse for ~ $15. Made in one town, Ytaqua, about 100 km east of Asuncion. Same general type as the ready-to-sew shirt material I bought 30 years ago. Made a shirt for Tom after we got home, but saved a second bolt for years & years & never made it. 

Lunch at hotel -- salad bar again followed, for Tom, by beef stroganoff, fresh pineapple. After final packing up and some photographs, including flashes, of hotel, Fernando drove us away again to the airport. Meanwhile, Tom lost his reading glasses this a.m. called the store and they reported not finding it -- he bought a T-shirt there & tried it on -- maybe left glasses out back. They were not in Fernando's car either -- just one of those things.

The pm was hot -- ~98[[degrees]]f -- and Fernando commented that he has never gotten used to it. He speaks excellent English. He lived for years, as a boy, in Washington where his father was a military attaché. I should have taken a picture of Fernando. He is tall & very handsome. Dark, with