Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

I am Sao Paulo Brazil concluding this trip to South America. I worked my way up from Buenos Aires, Porto Allege and now Sao Paulo. There have been a whole bunch of cities in between. The weather has been nice. The temps through this trip have ranged from 90F down to about 70F (in the rain). I can't count how many formal meetings I had until I go through my notes and certainly the number of informal meetings is almost incalculable. I like Brazil and I liked Argentina more than I expected. The Brazilian people are friendly, hard working, enterprising and the women are very good looking as a whole. All and all I think the people here are very positive by nature. A good example is that when a shop owner told us not to park in front of his store it was with a sincere smile, not a snarl. And there was little or no animosity from the driver. We got caught in Sao Paulo traffic a couple of times. Most nights we made it to the dinner by 11:00 PM. In one case, I needed to remind myself t...

I am in Porto Alegre Brazil for one night tonight, two work days and one night in the Porto Alegre area. It was a 1.5 hour flight between Buenos Aires and Porto Alegre (over Uruguay). A few more days and I will be in NY and DJ and I will be figuring out where we can go hiking. It looks like I will break 100,000 miles of air travel in a six month period. I am glad it isn't over-the-road like truckers have to endure. My job is not about traveling. It is about progress in the area of service information for one of the world's largest (and certainly the most intrepid) agricultual equipment companies in the world. I have to travel and meet with folks to strenghten the daily email and telephone conversations as well as make mutual assessments in these efforts. It is absolutely normal for me to make phone calls on my cell to Europe before I am fully awake from South America, to be thinking years ahead with our project schedules, and communicating in the evenings. It is all for the e...

Big surprise on the State of NY. NOT

I woke up the other night somewhere over Bolivia. This week is a very busy travel week. I am in Buenos Aires for a few days before flying up to Porto Allegre Brazil and then on to Mogi Das Cruzes Brazil. This my first visit to Argentina. It is summer in the Southern hemisphere and the temps are near 90F. The city is great for shopping and walking. I have been doing some significant urban hiking. I visited the San Telmo area yesterday, and the old port and shoppping districts today. There is definately some political tension in the city. I am sure it is calmer than in the past, but there is still some tension. I like this place. It is hard to believe I was hiking in Northern Georgia just last weekend. Busy. Next weekend I will be in Nueva York. Maybe we can hike some of the Fingerlakes Trail.