Larry Memmott's Blog

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, […]

I’ll get to some of the places I like in Washington, itself, eventually, but for someone like me, someone from the open spaces out west, the most important thing to know when you live in a city like Washington is how (and to where) you can escape.  My favorite escapes from Washington are Dolly Sods […]

Reading Bill Meara’s account of his experiences with the Central America wars of the 1980’s I came across a great line.  He says a “crusty old SF (Special Forces) sergeant told him they were players in a “Low Intensity, High Per Diem War.”  What a great phrase for the Central American wars, and, for that […]

So . . . it was a bit of a surprise to end up in Washington again after 20 years.  Not that I hadn’t known that I would have to return to work here eventually, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon.  That said, I’ve always liked aspects of Washington and the region […]

Back on the Patacamaya-Tambo Quemado road, you arrive at the Qilqata Chapel (sometimes Kelcata) only about seven miles from the turnoff to Curahuara de Carangas.  The chapel is only a third of a mile off the road and is plainly visible on your left. Qilqata is a cute little chapel with a walled courtyard and one […]

Only about 2.5 miles south of the road to Curahuara de Carangas, the Chapel at Quilviri is a lovely example of colonial-era religious architecture.  In it’s simplicity and beauty, and with it’s twin bell towers, this chapel is similar to the Santa Barbara chapel in Curahuara de Carangas.  However, its location on the altiplano away […]

Curahuara de Carangas is the largest town in the area, and host to two churches, one of them renowned as the Sistine Chapel of the Altiplano for its spectacular murals.  It is also one of your few choices for provisions and accommodations in this area of the altiplano.  Curahuara was a population center long before […]

This has got to be a first!  The New York Times with a whole article devoted to Bolivian metal and Bolivian metal fusion.  Give it a read!  And don’t miss the reference to U.S. Embassy La Paz.  The article is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/01/world/americas/headbanging-in-bolivia-to-the-flutes-of-yore.html?pagewanted=all.