l x x v i I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E 1 4 end of his affair with Betty Neumann and the desire “to put some distance be- tween himself and his personal entanglements” may also have played a significant role.[58] In the event, his enthusiasm for the upcoming voyage was restrained. He confided to his sister Maja that he had accepted the invitation “out of love for the sea.” To Anschütz-Kaempfe he wrote, in a vein reminiscent of some of his less complimentary remarks on the Chinese during his previous overseas trip, “Long live the sea, but I’m not looking forward to the semi-cultured Indians there in their dinner jackets” (Doc. 439, see also Doc. 389). As with his previous long overseas voyage, Einstein kept a detailed travel diary during this trip, by far the most significant source of information for his tour of South America (Doc. 455). His correspondence with his Berlin family reveals that it may have been primarily for their benefit that he kept the diary (Doc. 474). As with his voyage to the Far East in 1922–1923, press coverage in the three countries visited provides corroboration of the events recorded in the diary, and adds crucial supplemental information. Einstein departed alone from Berlin on 4 March, and embarked on the SS Cap Polonio in Hamburg the following day. He had intended to travel with his step- daughter Margot Einstein, but she fell ill on the eve of the voyage (Doc. 455, entry of 5 March 1925). He described his lodgings on the ship as a “stately bachelor apartment,” in which he was occupying himself “at a leisurely pace with science. It appears that I cannot stand it otherwise... life becomes too empty.” Yet his mis- givings about the upcoming tour increased: “As nice as the sea voyage is, I think it is a folly that, with my disposition, I have entered upon this enterprise. Because there I have the choice between a great deal of harassment and agitation from irri- tation and disappointment” (Doc. 457). He enjoyed the relaxed life on board, reading, working, and playing music. But when, after two weeks, he had to participate in a festival for the crossing of the equator and was asked to lecture on relativity, his “splendid isolation” began “crumbling.” The South Americans on board were “chirping and spruced up,” but he increasingly felt no longer alone “among many foreign apes.” He was particu- larly tired of the Argentinian “members of the idle rich class,” whom he found to be “unutterably stupid productions,” at least as far as “intellectuality and other con- tent” was concerned (Doc. 455, entries of 17 and 19 March 1925). By the end of the outbound voyage, Einstein confided that he had worked much less than on his trip to Japan. And even though he felt “very much up to the approaching stresses and strains,” he looked forward “to the things that await me, complacently, without any real interest” (Doc. 462). On 21 March, after sixteen days at sea, Einstein arrived in Rio de Janeiro. He was greeted by representatives from the Jewish community, a scientific welcoming committee, and journalists. He toured the city by car, visited the Botanical Gardens,