You Spin Me Right Round -- Washington DC version

Before it gets too far in the past, a visual round-up of the circular nature of the life of an FSO in Washington, DC.

A carving on the memorial on Roosevelt Island.

Honoring those who served.

My wife's home-made cheese cake.

Pizza Mondays at Jerry's down the street.

Stained glass windows at the National Cathedral.
Old globe in the State Department's diplomatic reception room.
The crystal centered chandelier.....
...and the coat of arms in the banquet hall.


"The Omelet" at Luray Caverns, one of the biggest in the region.

The wheels of the Hari-Krishna-mobile in the 4th of July parade.
4th of July Fireworks over DC.
Gettysburg National Cemetery
The Tidal Basin
Lily pad at the National Botanical Garden.



Cold watermelon on a hot summer afternoon.
Mushrooms growing at the Foreign Service Institute.
Waffle mania at the Embassy Suites.
Pineapple ring on my birthday cake.
A bread bowl, full of bean soup at the folks' place.

And apple pie for dessert.

Rope coil on the deck of the C&O Canal barge.
Small cactus at the National Arboretum.
The highest point in Washington, D.C.

Sinking Ship Rescue in Antarctica

The day after Thanksgiving was certainly not dull. Around midnight, a Canadian cruise ship struck ice off Antarctica and began to sink. All 154 people aboard endured sub-freezing temperatures in lifeboats until rescued by a Norwegian cruise ship. They were taken to a Chilean military/research base in Antarctica. If the weather clears, they will be flown by the Chilean Air Force to Punta Arenas tomorrow. Our consular section has been involved ascertaining the welfare of the 14 Americans aboard. An officer from our section has been dispatched south to meet them when they arrive in Chile and to help with their needs, as are officers from other embassies.

Photo courtesy of Reuters/Chilean Air Force

Thanksgiving

As spring stretches into summer days, we began our first austral Thanksgiving.

On Wednesday after I walked in the door, my wife surprised me with our own little Thanksgiving supper.
On Thursday we went to the chargé d’affaires beautiful gardens to play table-hosts at a Thanksgiving feed for Fullbrighters of ever stripe and persuasion. Some 150 people showed, including those who were excited about their forthcoming foray into America, and those Americans studying in Chile who were excited about eating some familiar victuals with fellow Americans. We had a good time and met some interesting people. The Fullbright scholars are very intelligent and fun to get acquainted with. The US and Chile have pioneered a new agreement to double the size of the program next year, under the auspices of Foreign Minister Foxley.
I have never seen a dessert line form so quickly after the toasts and turkey dinner.

Later in the day, in a more intimate setting, the young and the restless gathered at a colleague's home for Thanksgiving dinner and good conversation.My honey baked two wonderful pumpkin pies for dessert.










All in all, it was a very busy 24 hours, but a good one. I think we really did Thanksgiving justice. And calories don't count on Thanksgiving day, do they?! Right. Right??

I'm really thankful for so many things this Thanksgiving, that I'm only going to shot-gun it. I'm thankful for a loving family, for a wonderful wife, for super nice and professional colleagues, a comfortable apartment, for the ability to call family for practically nothing on Skype, and the ability to receive the same, for health, happiness, a career in the Foreign Service, the thousands of hardworking and dedicated Foreign Service Officers around the globe who are laboring very hard to make a freer, more secure and propserous world, for my laptop that still works well, that Chrismas commercialism hasn't gotten out of control here yet, for all the good, kind people who have helped me along the way in life and been there for me. Most of all, I'm thankful for God's love and blessings.

Viña del Mar

The next day we bussed 3 kilometers over to Viña del Mar, Spanish for Vineyard of the Sea, known locally as La Ciudad Jardin, or Garden City.

The flower clock with a working second hand. Get too close and it will whack you.On our way to the beach, the good school girls were heading in the opposite direction to class.Meanwhile, the naughty girls were playing hookie from school at the beach, seen here moments before relieving themselves of their vestments and swimming.The upwelling Antarctic Humboldt Current made the water too cold to enjoy until later in the austral summer, though we did enjoy the sand and sun.
The lazy pelicans fought for dominance on the rocks......While their industrious cousins sky-dive for fish. It was fun to watch the birds dive for food and swim underwater.

Further down the shore, sand creations were on display, and the International Avocado Society's World Avocado Conference was getting into full swing.



Viña's coat of arms features poodle-like sea lions. I wonder if any local schools have a sea lion mascot?
The municipal park was a nice place to rest after lunch.
Before catching the bus back to Santiago, we passed the Congresso Nacional, built by Pinochet to keep the Congress in a different city than the executive branch. Apparently the politicos are not real popular in Valpraiso either, and there is a move afoot to send congress back to Santiago.

It was nice to get back home after our first overnight trip in Chile. It seems that a new home seem more inviting after a trip.

Valpraiso's Grafitti

Depending on one's perspective, the omnipresence of grafitti in Valpraiso either accentuates its quaint charm or denigrates the town. The town is covered from the tops of the hills down to the docks with grafitti on walls and buildings. Nonetheless, the artists are pretty creative, with some of their creations rising to the level of art. In some cases.





The artistic license the painters have taken lends to Valpraiso's quaint charm.

Valpraiso

For the long Veterans Day weekend, we decided to skip town and explore more of Chile. So we headed west to the coast.

Early on Sunday morning we took the subway to the Alameda bus station and hopped on the next bus going to Valpraiso. Bus service in Chile is very comfortable and efficient. Being such a long country, the bus system has evolved to meet the long-distance traveling needs of the public, with service to Argentina and Brazil too. On the long-haul trips, some busses have seats that fold down into beds. We left the snowy Andes behind and rolled through vineyard for the hour-long bus ride to the coast.

Valpraiso is a quaint port city that is built onto the side of the hills. The city is dotted with jaunty Ascensores that take people up and down for a few pennies. Riding these reminded me of the scene from Motorcyle Diaries when Che Guevara stopped in Valpraiso to get his mail from the post office and got the "Dear John" letter from his girlfriend.

The city is covered with colorful houses. I wonder if there is a zoning code that people have to follow? All the streets are at an angle, and it seems like one is always walking up or down hill.

The headquarters of the Chilean Armada, facing the harbor.

We paid a few pesos and took a ride around the harbor on a local boat. Sea lions where everywhere, warming their lazy selves in the sun.

Under the shadow of the SS Cap Blanche cargo carrier, we got some respite from the hot sun. In the distance, a sea lion is resting on the bulbous nose gear of the ship.
All around the harbor, the dozens of ships from the Chilean fleet was at anchor. It seems like the entire fleet is in port right now.
Up on a grassy knoll above the harbor, the maritime museum crows about the navy's latest victory: The War of the Pacific in '96. (That is to say, 1896). We're getting better at reading museum exhibits in Spanish.



Back in a different part of town, the terrace of a local sun-drenched church was a popular place to sleep for lazy dogs and homeless men.


Little panaderias (bakeries) are a common sight. We got some hot cheese & garlic empenandas to sate our hunger.

We found that Casa Aventura was a comfortable hospedaje (hostel/B&B) to stay at. The place seems popular with the back-pack set and serves a hearty breakfast.