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[[start page]] 18 EVENTS AND PLACES VISITED Date Dec. 17, 1962 Monday Place Rio Weather Sunny & hot; thunderstorm in evening I saw the vertebrate & mollusk exhibitions at the museum this noon, but the others were not lighted, so I'll see them later, I hope. I went to the Amer. Embassy at 3 to see the Cultural Attaché to get a letter for the zoo director here to permit the museum to export live animals (& plants) to our zoo & shall return to-morrow for this permit. They all do business in such a wonderful way here. I walked up Rua Uruguaya to Rua Ouvidor, & there lost another of my illusions, for that once-wonderful street of old curiosity shops has now "modernized" into cheap —very cheap- plastic things & too-loud radios & typical jew hawkers —just as most of Rio has! Well, I went on to Rua Buenos Aires & got some corn plasters at the Scholl place, & right next door was the Zitrin shop, so I got 2 opals, but they were all the pale kind, so I did not want any more. The flower market was opposite, & I took some photos of pruple orchids & a strange pink flower I'd never seen. [[end page]] [[start page]] EVENTS AND PLACES VISITED 19 Date Dec. 18, 1962 Tuesday Place Rio Weather Cloudy & humid As Doris still has sinus trouble, I went alone to the museum again. The porter's porter was sent by Bertha for the new Atlas do Brasil Y gazetteer that I shall need, as she said it was sold by the gov't geographic council, & the clerks there had no interest in speeding attendance on customers. I went to our Embassy again hoping for help with the export of live animals to our zoo & received the complete brush-off, altho the Brazilian secretary was good enough to give me addresses of persons to give a bill of health for the animals, & permission to export them. The rest is up the airlines or steamships that carry "parcel post". So I got nowhere fast! My first card from the Trammello about the cats came to-day, so that is good anyhow! [[end page]]