After a 35 minute taxi ride from the airport. We arrived at the Radisson hotel. Traffic was moderate, and it was clear from the parks and restaurants we passed that a lot of folks were out to enjoy their Sunday afternoon. We took a half hour to unpack, and at 3 PM John Lewis and I headed out for a walk. We did a big loop though several blocks of high rises, many looking quite nice. The town reminds me of many Mexican cities, but a little cleaner overall. I've p...

Off to Brazil! Left ORD on time at 9:30 PM and arrived in São Paulo at 10:40 local time the next morning. United keeps getting chintzier. The meals were lousy and only soft drinks were free. Apparently, one must be flying trans-Pacific to get a complimentary glass of wine. Seems to me the luggage bins on the new 777s are smaller and it feels like they chopped an inch or so off the legroom in Economy Plus. Despite that, I got some sleep and didn't wake up unt...

Taking the loop walk around Lake Glenview in Gallery Park today, I encountered the Cooper's Hawk Joan and I have often seen over the last few weeks. It was perched, as usual, on top of a tree and as I approached, it took off and swooped directly over my head. It looped around and alighted on another tree further in front of me, where I captured this photo. The bird soon took off again, and I tried to capture its wingspan in the next, very off-center photo. Later...