Larry Memmott's Blog

Here’s the link to the original article.

I will, very diplomatically, make no comment regarding Facebook’s translation of my name from Arabic.

I’m going to mix it up and add a bit to the “diplomatic” subject of this blog by re-posting here social media and other items regarding my work in Kuwait. Here’s the first such item:

Living in the Washington area has a lot of advantages.  One advantage it doesn’t have is easy access to the wilderness I seek out for solitude and relaxation.  The closest really satisfying wilderness for me is Dolly Sods, in West Virginia, but that’s a 3-4 hour drive, so I don’t go often. But there are […]

A wilancha is an Aymara blessing ceremony.  In this case, the blessing was for the preservation work on half dozen colonial era chapels the U.S. Government was funding.  The wilancha is carried out by sacrificing an animal.  The ceremony is accompanied by a celebration including a feast, music and dancing.  Tatyana and I attended this […]

Got an email today from Justin Shuster at Yale University’s The Politic: The Yale College Journal of Politics.  They have just published Diplomatic Discourse, a collection of over 100 interviews with United States Ambassadors, examining careers in the Foreign Service and contemporary issues facing American policy overseas.  I was interviewed for the book back in 2013.  You […]

This is a favorite place in the DC area for my family and I. And it’s surprising how many people have been to Ocean City, Maryland, and never taken the short side trip to the Island. The beaches on Assateague Island are the best preserved wild beaches I’ve seen in this region. What’s more, with […]

About halfway between Caquiaviri and the Bolivia/Chile border at Charaña are two hills on which the ancients chose to build a necropolis and a fortress.  I haven’t had the chance to fully explore these hills, but even the short visits I have made to this area have been very interesting. Even without climbing the hills you […]

It didn’t take Montgomery County long to find me. I’d been living in Maryland about six months when I was notified of my selection as a prospective juror. The initial notice comes by mail. It contains instructions for trying to get out of service, but Maryland is pretty strict and doesn’t allow an employment exemption, […]

The mine tour in the Cerro Rico de Potosí is not to be missed if you can handle the physical demands and the tight spaces involved.  I’ll provide more details later, together with my recommendation for a tour guide, but for now, just a few reflections about the tour and the mountain, itself. Legend has […]