Beer, Moonlight Mark Bush’s Birthday in Rio

RIO DE JANEIRO —  President Bush celebrated his 68th birthday Friday sipping beer in a tropical rain forest, jogging in the moonlight and enduring a speech from his old nemesis, Fidel Castro.

How was his birthday?

“Don’t mention it, please,” he begged to reporters. “No, please.”

When Bush’s birthday began at midnight, he was aboard Air Force One, still flying to Rio from Panama where he had gotten a dose of tear gas Thursday.

A few hours of sleep later, he was up and meeting with environmentalists, some who oppose his policy of balancing environmental concerns with economic growth.

After a lunch with more environmentalists, including French underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau, Bush put on a headset and heard the translated remarks of Cuban leader Castro.

Later, his motorcade took him on a winding mountain road to Tijuca National Forest, a tropical rain forest that is to the locals what Central Park is to New Yorkers.

As the President and First Lady Barbara Bush went for a stroll, they came along Antonio Balocco and his family who were having a picnic. No translation was needed for Bush to understand what Balocco was offering him.

“Beer? Yeah,” said Bush. “Who’s got the beer?”

He only had half a bottle because he planned an exercise run later. All the children got souvenir presidential tie clasps and pins.

Back down the mountain, Bush went to a military academy with a running track. By now the full moon was high in the evening sky.