He got red oak mixed
up with California redwood. We got that straightened out. Some
enterprising Californians had inveigled him into buying some big
red oak (redwood) wine casks and selling them to Chilean
vintners. He got run out of Chile for that. "Baad taazt. No
goot."
I finally worked out his pedigree. He was a Czech. A real
pianist, he had played in Prague, Zurich, Vienna and all around.
When World War II started, he started looking for a new home. He
became a refugee and finally wound up in Guayaquil, where he
expected to teach piano. That was optimism supreme.
COFFEE BY THE TON, NOT CUPFUL
Buenaventura, Colombia
Jan. 14, 15, 16, 1950
We have gone into the coffee business in a rather big way. We are
to take on 43,000 bags, about 150 pounds to the bag. That makes
over 3,200 tons, or more than enough to run Margaret and Frances
over Labor Day.
This town has perhaps 30,000 population. Some tell me it has
65,000, some as low as 10,000. You guess. I went around into
town. It is about like Guayaquil on a smaller scale. A native who
is employed by Grace Line told me he was half Indian--his mother
a full-blooded Indian--I don't know what the other half is.
Colombia, according to him, is 60 percent Negro and 10 percent
white.
Pages:
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345