June 2011
4 posts
May 2011
1 post
Peru!
Friday, May 27
An hour after midnight, below the plane, the black pacific came into view, decorated with the amber lights of freighting ships, their reflections smeared on the dark water. We passed Peru’s ports and descended at Lima International airport. As the doors opened, the sent of the sea entered the plane on balmy, humid air.
We waited at baggage claim, watching luggage move at a snail...
January 2011
26 posts
Qatar
January 8, 201
Georgi walked me to the curb in front on my apartment building where the hired car and driver were waiting. The sky was pre-snow gray and the temperature was chilly. In the back seat of the Honda I caught up on email on the two-hour drive to Dulles DC Airport.
After checking two suitcases at the Qatar Airways counter, I descended down to security. My business class ticket allowed...
Lisboa
July 18, 2010
The train from Porto to Lisboa terminated at Santa Apolonia Station. My host and helpful Portugal print-tour liaison, Fátima Ferreira, met me on the platform. After greeting me, Fátima asked how I had liked Porto. When I responded that I had, she quickly stated that I would like Lisbon more. The two cities are in a typical north-south rivalry but everyone agrees that the light in...
September 2010
31 posts
Porto
My host Graciela Machado was waiting for me when I came out of baggage claim at the Porto airport. We went outside to the curb where her husband, Paolo, and two children were waiting in their minivan. We drove the quick ride to their home in the center of town and they showed me to my room above Graciela’s studio, on the top floor of a small building in their backyard.
Paulo prepared supper...
My train pulled into the Valencia train station at 1 on Saturday afternoon. Ana and Jesus were waiting for me with her luggage in hand. Ana had just arrived on a flight from Richmond hours before. We embraced and expressed the shock and excitement of seeing each other so far away from Virginia, where we are both graduate students at VCU. We took a taxi from the station, around a bullfighting...
