Tag: Foreign Service Life

Mexico City and Oaxaca

When we first received our assignment to Guatemala and started thinking about regional travel, Misha said to me that if we were going to visit Mexico, she didn’t want to go anywhere she’d already been.  Well, much like James Taylor, I’d never really been but I sure wanted to go.  We haven’t been able to take advantage of the regional travel as much as we originally thought due to Misha’s cancer treatment, but after traveling to Mexico City on my own in February, I had to go back.  Misha had never been to Oaxaca, widely considered one of the premiere culinary destinations of the Western Hemisphere, so that’s how we spent our extended Memorial Day Weekend. 

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A Weekend in Bogota

When Misha was provided the opportunity to go to Bogota for a four-day training on atrocity prevention, we jumped at the chance to bundle it with some tourist activity.  We flew down on a Friday in April, and I returned on Monday.  Misha stayed for her training, which included one big tourist attraction outside of the city that I missed out on.  Bogota is the third largest city in South America by population, home to over 8 million people.  It’s also very high up in the mountains of Colombia, with an altitude of over 8600 feet. 

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Out and About in Guatemala

We’ve gone on a number of trips around Guatemala since our first visit to Lake Atitlan in December.  Most of these were limited to extended weekends or day trips and included trips with family and friends alike.  Some stops along the way were new to us, while we returned to many others.  Here is a recap of our Guatemala 2024 tour to date.

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Lake Atitlan, Take One

In early December, Misha and I finally made our first visit to Lake Atitlan.  It's one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country and routinely ranked among the world's most beautiful lakes.  Lago de Atitlan is less than 50 miles from the capital as the crow flies but can take over 4 hours to reach by car due to a combination of traffic and winding, twisting country roads.  It sits in the shadow of three volcanoes and was formed by a supervolcanic eruption some 84,000 years ago.  Eleven little towns, each with their own distinct characteristics, dot the shores of the lake, three of which Misha and I visited on this trip. 

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Third Stop: Hanoi, Vietnam

This news is a coming a bit late but based on the number of variables and the confusing nature of bidding at this stage of Misha’s career, I wanted to make sure I didn’t report news that would require a retraction later on down the line.  With that in mind, I am happy to announce... Continue Reading →

Autumn in the Land of Eternal Spring

After roughly six months of silence, I’m finally back with an update.  Between work, two nights dedicated to Spanish lessons, three nights booked for basketball, boxing, and tennis, and being the only one with the will or ability to cook real dinners in the house (sorry Misha), I’ve been finding it difficult to allocate time to write.  Luckily, the December slowdown and a few well-placed days off has allowed me some time to not only get a few posts written, but to actually do a few things worth writing about.

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Normality Returns

Antigua (not to be confused with the island) was the Spanish colonial capital until 1773, when an earthquake damaged many of the since-restored structures.   Before traveling to the country, I asked a friend about the draw of the town, considering it is the most visited destination for American embassy employees in Guatemala.  He said, “nothing really. You just hang out, eat and drink.”

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Home Leave

Home Leave is a State Department mandated vacation that occurs between tours. Our leave happened to be the maximum time allotted to us, or 30 days, plus a week of Annual Leave tacked on at the end. We used this time to travel around the country, visit with family, renew our licenses, attend medical appointments, and try to relax despite the near constant stream of activities we attempted to squeeze in. Here's a quick recap of our first home leave.

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Arlington Interlude

After what feels like only two shakes of a lambs' tail (to quote Mia Wallace), our time in the DC area is quickly coming to an end. While we don't depart for Guatemala until mid-October, we are already planning our exit from Virginia.

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