Back in the USA!

So we said our final goodbye to Chile and were carried off into the night on American Airlines flight 940.

Meal service. Ahh, that Bloody Mary mix :)


Mount Rainier fly-by in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

Puddle jumper for the last leg of our flight home, and the beginning of a month of congressionally-mandated home leave to soak up some of the American experience, and hopefully some good American food too.

Like cottage cheese and hot dogs, and real mustard out of a bottle, not a bag!

Saturday was our nation's Independence day, and it really felt good to be back in America for this. About 50 former South Asia hands and their families got together for fun and reminiscing in Fort Walla Walla park. There was lots of good, authentic Indian food. I ate too much, but enjoyed it. In the evening we watched fireworks under the cool, clear skies.

We got our dental appointments done, and my wife went to the hair salon to get her hair done, and send her donated mane to Locks of Love.

I don't have much hair on my head, but I wondered out loud if they need people to donate chest hair to help those who are less fortunate?

We were authorized another pack out to get all of my wife's furniture and things put into the State Department storage facility in Hagerstown, Maryland. Two guys made swift work of her stuff, while my mother-in-law plied them with cookies and drinks.

We ventured over to the nearby Whitman mission for a bit of Oregon Trail history. Memories came back of my other trip here as part of a high school history trip in 1994. Little did I realize that my future wife lived in this town.

My wife set out to mow her parent's lawn and the lawn of the old lady next door. Fortunately, we discovered this rabbit warren before the riding mower turned the 4 baby rabbits into fertilizer.

Does my mother-in-law's garden looked a little like an opium field?

Miss Chile?

10 Things I’ll miss about Chile

1. Mote con huesillo and empanadas de queso
2. Beautiful view of the Andes from our living room window
3. Penguins and llamas in the wild
4. Hiking with my wife on weekends in Reserva Nacional Yerba Loca.
5. Abundance of fruits, berries, and avocados.
6. La Vega Market
7. The efficient, comfortable interurban bus system
8. Minimum 93 Octane gasoline
9. Our Chilean friends
10. A job that I really enjoyed and good people to work with, which made such a big difference.


In the interests of painting a balanced picture of Chile, here are

10 things I’ll NOT miss about Chile:

1. Dangerous air pollution
2. Nit-picky, insecure bureaucracy
3. angry, menacing drivers
4. vengeful visa applicants
5. SENAME
6. expensive prices
7. the physical, social, and emotional, isolation
8. Crime
9. short-tempers

10. heavy-handed Customs regulations



I'm sure there are more things I could add to either list, but these are what came to mind at the moment. If you have anything else you would add, please let me know.

Last Days in Chile

Our assignment in Chile seemed to go by quickly, and soon it was over. After our office outing for lunch, we took our 'annual class portrait'.

Our boss hosted a dinner at his home for those of us who are leaving, and somehow they managed to get 20 people around one big table. Lots of good food and laughter.

Here are some pictures of our last few days.

We went hiking up in the mountains at one of our favorite nature reserves. This time there was a lot more snow. We enjoyed the clean, fresh air one last time.




On Monday morning the Remssa moving company came, and in two days the team of 5 had all of our stuff packaged up into 90 neat boxes and packages. They were so efficient we had to make sure they didn't pack the trash!

On the morning of the third day the moving truck came and placed all of our boxes into lift vans, which will be loaded into a 20-foot cargo container.

The rest of the work-week we spent completing the pages of check-out procedures and finishing up projects. In the end I printed up the 11C report and found that I have done 21,101 visa interviews during the 12 months I was on the visa line full-time.

On Saturday afternoon we hiked up Cerro San Cristobal one last time. We enjoyed the solitude at the top, but the haze reminded us that we shouldn't inhale too deeply.

Sunday was rainy and cold, so we relaxed at home, and took a walk through the cool streets in the evening during a break in the showers.

Monday was a Chilean holiday--St. Peter & St. Paul day, so we hiked up Santa Lucia hill one more time, and enjoyed the view of the snowy Andes.

The pathway to the top.
Another perspective of the city.

The sun rises over the mountains on our last day in Chile.

Our friends, who are also our neighbors, hosted a kind farewell dinner at their home. We had a lot of fun with everyone there, and ate way too much.

Our last sunset in Chile.

A driver from the Embassy came to pick us up and whisked us off to the airport. And then it was over.

Stay tuned for the top-ten list of things I will miss about Chile.

Consular Haiku

Along a similar vein from the previous Foreign Service Haiku's, these are some Consular Haiku's:

A common label
Conoffs stamp visas only
What else could there be?

They try to uphold
"Open Doors, Secure borders"
and smile at the jerks


The angry AmCit
We do our best to help him.
And yet he fusses.


Applicants all know
when the Vice Consul goes "Hmmm"
She's going to say "no".

The high priest of "No"
Sits behind bullet proof glass
“Visa? Sorry, no”.




You spot a bad case
the girl's planning to marry
a man from on-line



Pounding on the glass
"Hurry up! Where's the people?"
That colleague has gone