An Alpha Sigma Tau in South America A letter from Margaret Pollock Small, Alpha to Carrie Washburne Staehle, Alpha DEAR CARRIE,
Driving from Ibague to Bogota was quite an experience. The highest spot we crossed was 14,000 ft. Up that high it was rainy and so foggy that we could hardly see two yards ahead. And then the climb down, but not down very far was beautiful. Sometimes I hardly dared look at the view. 1 wish I could adequately describe everything along the way. The small towns we traveled through all looked alike with a plaza in the center of town ; and all along the streets, the houses were built right next to the sidewalks or earth-walks as the case may be. Many towns looked very deserted. Then out of the towns one would see poor people walking or on mule or horseback - also a few passenger cars, some jeeps, but mostly trucks. One sees mostly dark clothing worn here. A top coat is a necessi ty although the poorer class native women wear a large black shawl wrapped around them over thei r long dresses, and only sandals, no stockings. The native men wear ponchos, similar to the Mexicans, over their clothingbut here they are called ruanas, not ponchos. Most native women wear hats that look like men 's hats, either of felt or like Panama hats. The men wear felt hats. But along side of these native costumes, one ees the better class people dressed as one would dress in Michigan on a cool fall day. The money they use here is very easy to get used to. It is in the same denomination as ours except for a quarter they have a 2 centavo piece as well as a 1 centavo piece. There is no fifty centavo piece, but once in a while one gets a 1 peso bill that has been torn in two for two fifties. Crazy, eh ? The exchange though is not equal with American dollars. When we first came the current rate was for every $1 one could receive 1 peso 75 centavos. Toothpaste here costing 70 centavos- so that would equal about 40垄. On a Saturday night we visited a night club- the Monte Carlo. That was the first and only evening we stepped-out. The Monte Carlo is similar to any better class night club in the States with a small dance floor and tables, at various levels around the floor. The orchestra was very good and didn 't play many fast numbers. I had expected to see dancing and fussy dresses similar to what we'd seen in Puerto Rico but the couples danced and dressed as they do in the States. I was very amu ed at eeing chaperones at some tables. Here it is quite the custom. One lady almost fell out of her chair trying to keep an eye on her daughter whose escort always kept her dancing on the opposite side of the floor . At times the lady could get a good view and she'd sit back in her chair very much relieved- then when the view was gone, she'd practically stand up in order to ee better. We visited a bull fight also. Our seats were in a front row so we bad a good view. The arena is perfectly round with a double wall. Below our section the bull-fighters and their aides gathered when not in the arena. Their costumes were very fancy affairs beginning with a black braid cap elaborate waist coat, fancy tight knee-pants, pink ilk tacking and black ballet-like slippers. Fighting the bull goes through variou taae - the fir t is to worry the animal with fancy pinkish cape 路 then on man skill-