What a joy this week to head to Barranquilla for Carnaval with my best buds Shane and Ali. Barranquilla hosts the second largest Carnaval in the world, with Rio (natch) holding the top spot. I don't know... I can't quite imagine more feathers than what we saw:...
I bet that's not a headline you could have predicted. Me either! I was surprised to read a story about USAID outfitting city vultures with GPS and cameras to try to track urban dumping. Yes, really Knowing USAID as I do, I read between the lines of the story a lot of...
It strikes me that Villa de Leyva is the perfect little Colonial town for a lazy vacation. It's 3-4 hours' drive from Bogota, settled in a warm valley, full of restaurants and hotels, and very peaceful and safe. Oodles of stars become visible as night falls. There is...
Kyna, Dad and I went to Kentucky. You can't go to Kentucky without seeing horses: This one is a stallion that is rented out for his... prowess. If you know what I mean. It's creepy in that they tie up the mares to whom he is... assigned. He goes four times a...
I'm thinking about my friend Shane today, so I'm going to write about food. I had an amazing meal last weekend with a nice new friend here in Bogota, Raha. Here she is explaining the dishes: [wpvideo W5bbm7rk] [wpvideo 6FxkhzVe] She made us feel really welcome and...
Kyna and Lauren came to visit me last week and it was a riot! They became summarily addicted to limonada de coco en leche - much more like a milkshake than a beverage. Here they are on opposite sides of me at San Jorge Pesquera in the small city of Armenia, the...
Today, tonight, my dear niece Lauren arrives in Bogota. She is probably just getting on the plane in Houston as I write. I'm so excited! Fully chuffed! Still have NO plans on where to take her, and my sister Kyna who arrives Friday night. But I will! Medellin is...
The Casco Viejo neighborhood of Panama City is lovely. It's still in the process of being renovated - passing one or two or three beautifully restored buildings, the next one is still a shell, with palm trees growing inside. But the restored ones are fantastic. ...
I couldn't stop thinking of M*A*S*H and all the helicopters buzzing around that show. I don't know if I ever imagined being in one. WIthout doors, you're only sort of partly "in" it - there's always this sense of being outside of it at the same time. My photos are...
This week has been absolutely tremendous. I'm serious. I know from big scary mountainloads of work, and this week qualifies. I am responsible for three evaluations starting all at once. For the third one, I head to the field tomorrow to collect data in El Cauca, a...