February 4, 1942

Dear folks,

Everything is great here and just about to arrive at our destination. I'm sending the continuation of the diary I had started to send.

As I was saying, at 6 pm on the 22nd, we arrived in Rio but we didn't dock until 9 pm. When we finally docked, Ricci and his wife were already there waiting for me. He took me and three other guys to the post office and then we swung by the hotel were we saw "la Negra". He drove us around and then finally dropped us off at the Hotel Copacabana which we entered and looked around. Later, we went to the casino at Urca, which is the best in Rio, where we saw a show which outdoes the best they have at the Tabaris.

Friday, 23rd. We didn't set sail until after 12 o'clock, but since they had said goodbye last night in case they couldn't come or because we might leave early, it's not a problem that they didn't come to see me off. I took a nap and after dinner, I went right to bed. (Oh, today we saw a sea tortoise)

Saturday, 24th. Great day, pool, we saw two ships, or rather one and a half since one was a launch of about 10 meters long that was fishing. At night we played Bingo which is like a lotery; I won $1.80.

Sunday, 25th. Another great day. The practical jokes have reached the point of rearranging rooms and beds, etc. The great thing is that no one gets upset. Today, my roommate was able to find out where exactly we were.

Monday, 26th. Partly cloudy. I spend the day in the little sun there was. We started zigzagging. After dinner, we drank some mate under the roof, until midnight.

Tuesday, 27th. Partly cloudy, but everything got clearer when, after dinner, a Brazilian woman offered us a can of beer (here, they hardly even use bottles). The show we were thinking of putting on to mark the crossing of the equator was put off due to the excessive heat.

Wednesday, 28th. Despite the occasional clouds, there was the usual dip in the pool, since it is so hot. My roommate and I put out a newspaper called The Torpedo. Just as in La Crítica, in Argentina, it says, "The devil put me on this boat like a landmine along the route of a convoy." Because of slip of the lip by the purser, we had to get a new editor. No one on board knows who writes the paper; our pseudonyms are: Alvarez - Armando Barullo (Macon A. Racket), Jack Dolan - Soborno A. Tiempo (A. Bribe N. Time), and I amSiemprevivo Alfiado (Al Ways N. Debt). The second issue had to be read in a mirror since we put the carbon for the copies in backwards.

Thursday 29th. A great day. Morning and afternoon, pool. We pulled a prank during lunch on a guy with a bandaged wrist. We all appeared with our arms bandaged.

Friday 30th. Another beautiful day. In the afternoon, we crossed in front of a boat and then almost immediately they had a third drill. Stig ran out in his shorts becauuse he thought it was the real thing. At dinner time, Mr. Briggs offered us some Tomba wine [from Argentina]. At 10 pm, we saw the lights from some islands and at 11 pm, Trinidad.

Saturday, 31st. We stayed near the bow of the ship practically all morning. After lunch, we did the last rehearsals of the "Delbrasil Follies." Nothing like it has ever been seen on board. This show is bigger than the Urca Show [the nightclub they saw in Rio].

Sunday, 1st. Sun all day. Since the editors of The Torpedo were discovered, today we worked on the last issue, which will appear tomorrow. It even has a section in English. We stayed up till 2:40 am to finish it.

Monday, 2nd. Today one could see the change in the water. We've left the ocean behind. While we were having lunch, it clouded over and in the afternoon, the boat tossed around quite a bit and the splashes from the waves reached even the topmost deck. In the afternoon, I was cooped up writing. When I went down to the dining room, I felt a bit seasick, but I went outside for 10 minutes, got some fresh air and went to eat with a good appetite. Later, I slept like log despite the fact that we were moving around like crazy.

Tuesday, 3rd. The wind continues today and we continue being holed up. At 6 o'clock, my roommate got me out of bed to see the sun come out from behind the clouds, quite a spectacle. There was a bit of an uproar until 8 o'clock when we had breakfast. In the afternoon there was golf tournament. I wound up second to last. At night, we dressed up fancy to go have dinner. I was up packing till 2:40 am.

Wednesday 4th. Today, at night, barring holdups, we'll arrive in New Orleans. I had told you the 8th in case we were late by a day, you wouldn't get anxious or anything. Looks like I overdid it.

We've already had dinner. We're just entering the Mississippi River. We'll arrive in New Orleans by tomorrow. I was on the bow deck of the ship until 10 pm talking to the watchman. The ship's got its deck lights on [this was war time]. Tomorrow morning, I'll get up early. Off the sides of the ship, in the dar, you can see the big flames of the oil wells. Here, if they don't use the gas, they burn it in places where the flames can reach 60 feet into the air. The whole horizon is red as if the countryside were burning.

Thursday, 5th. Cloudy dawn. We disembarked at 10. At 11, I sent a cable. Now we're on land and tonight we leave for Randolph Field, the most well-known of the schools.

My address will be:

Alejandro N. Pagliere
Randolph Field
Texas, U.S.A.

In a little while, I'll continue with this diary in the next letter. Say hello to everyone. Kisses from

Ito

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