To celebrate the 31st anniversary of the first
time I lived in Montevideo, I present Episode V of this installment of the series
to you. It’s hard to forget that trip in
both directions, an epic trip to the other side of the world.
You need to understand the rules of
travel for me that first time as a Fulbright awardee. The costs of my travel were reimbursed by the
U.S. State Department, the agency responsible for administering the Fulbright
Program. The rules were simple: Coach class only, lowest price ticket
available, and you had to fly on a U.S. Flag carrier. In 1982 South America, that meant Pan
American. And Pan American had already
fallen on hard times by then, so that meant no-frills travel on a decaying and
disillusioned airline soon to go into bankruptcy and give up its routes. In older planes that were slow and
uncomfortable. And for those of you who
remember the comedian Jonathan Winters, and his persona of “Granny Frickert,”
the stewardesses were also older and decaying.
Varig or a couple of the European airlines with the right routes would
have been nice, but that wasn’t allowed.
