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La Vida Playera: Life on the Salvadoran Coast
El Salvador has 230 miles of coastline, which is just about the distance you'd drive hugging the coast from San Diego to Santa Barbara. However, Salvadoran life along that equal stretch of miles,...
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La Canasta Basica
About ten years ago, I read an NY Times article about MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) from around the world and how each country's essentials differed so greatly across cultures. That there are culinary...
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Best Laid Plans
Best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. -Robert BurnsI was excited for our plans yesterday to pack our bikes into the back of the car and head to an expansive, hilly park at the base of the San...
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10 Years In: Foreign Service Retrospective and Future Thoughts
Very recently I hit my ten year anniversary in the Foreign Service. Aside from a 12 year stretch as a riding instructor, this is the longest amount of time I've ever had one job. My first thoughts:...
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Tour extension: We'll be here for a while
Yesterday I did something that surprised me; I deleted the Excel sheet from my computer that I'd saved a few months back containing the projected job vacancies for the upcoming summer bidding season....
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A Day in the Life of Three Salvadoran Towns: Morning in Ataco
Dawn breaks by 6:00 a.m. year-round here at 13 degrees north latitude, just about the time I'm getting up for work. It's rung in with a cacaphony of birdsong as the roosters are already a few hours...
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A Day in the Life of Three Salvadoran Towns: An Afternoon in Panchimalco
Some places attract visitors due to their historic significance, some for natural beauty, others for cultural preservation or a dedication to the arts. And some keep you coming back simply for their...
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Mid-Tour Home Leave: Remembering How to be American
I learned about providing good customer service working at the Steamboat Ski and Resort Corporation for a few winters not long after college. Before the mountain opened around Thanksgiving, sometime...
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A Day in the Life of Three Salvadoran Towns: Suchitoto After Dark
Dusk is short, it's dark by dinnertime and we have just a single votive and a small lamp on a post nearby to light the table. Whether January or July, the consistently pleasant weather here allows us...
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Road Bingo: El Salvador Edition
Every country, just like every person, has its quirks and certain ways of doing things which upon first observation, elicit responses in me that range from amazement, to being instantly charmed, to...
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An Irish Goodbye
There are times when something strikes me, a phrase, a word, something I pass along side the road, something I read or something someone casually mentions - it really could be any matter of thing. The...
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Antiguo Cuscatlan: Our "home town"
It was just days after our arrival to El Salvador that my husband and I started to explore our surroundings. Our car wouldn't arrive for a while, so our ventures were limited to what we could do via...
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Guatemala: Experiencing a New Old World
Antigua - NOT Cara SuciaCara Sucia and a Border CrossingLand border crossings should be approached with a bit of trepidation, in my opinion, and not just by smugglers. Any crossing is steeped in the...
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Mid-Level Bidding: Round Three!
(New to the process of mid-level bidding? This primer from my 2018 experience will bring you up to speed.) Greetings from still-in-El-Salvador where we've just crested our third year and due to my tour...
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Flag Day Part 6: Our Next Tour
Bids have been cast, decisions made, handshakes offered and accepted and for many of us, the latest bidding season has come to a close. Although there is only one true Flag Day at the start of our...
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A Change of Plans: Breaking an Assignment and Finding Another
When we last left off, the four of us were looking forward to our next assignment to Lusaka, Zambia where I'd be Consular Chief in a small section. Okay, truth be told, the non-Tabbies didn't yet know...
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El Salvador - Que Le Vaya Bien
I can't remember not knowing El Salvador. I no longer have the images in my head of what it would be like before coming here. I know I wasn't scared or trepedatious, but while I am always curious...
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Uprooted: Culture Shock in One's Own Country
It didn't take much time working in our garden for me to declare that no seed falls on infertile soil in El Salvador. New sprouts popped through the dirt before I'd even hung up the rake, potting soil...
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