SIX MONTHS AT-A-GLANCE

I am waaaaay behind on updates to our blog.  I have no real excuse, other than general busy-ness.  So this entry is going to be a Cliff Notes version of what we’ve been up to since we got back from our epic Colombia-Ecuador-Galapagos trip... six months ago!

Reality hit hard when we got back - in the form of me being put in charge of a visit from Secretary of State Antony Blinken.  Embassy Jakarta has had a rotating door of high-level official visitors since I got here because Indonesia held the presidencies of the G20 last year and the regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year.  President Biden came last year, and Vice President Harris was here a couple months ago.  In between, I’ve ushered through delegations from the U.S. Department of Treasury, Health and Human Services, and various offices in the Department of State since I got here.  But when Secretary Blinken came for meetings with other regional Foreign Ministers in July, preparing for his visit became my full-time job for almost two months and was an all-hands effort for practically the entire embassy. 

Part of the preparations for these official visits involves scouting out locations for the visitors to do various events, make remarks, meet people, etc.  Sometimes it means we get to check out locations that are off the usual tourist path... like this visit to the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta.  

It's the ninth largest mosque in the world and can accommodate more than 100,000 people.  

As busy as we are in the lead-up to these visits and during them, we still manage to have fun... which is easy to do when you work with awesome people.

Got to make sure everything is just right - flags, lighting, EVERYTHING - when we're hosting the Chinese delegation for high-level talks.

My friend Julie from our days in Belize was traveling with the Secretary for this visit.  So fun to have a Belmopan reunion and do a dry-run of the flag set-up with her...

...before Secretary Blinken met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

No biggie.  Just me and my new BFF Tony having a couple laughs.

This was taken before he headed to the airport... and I headed to bed.  Longest 2 days (and 2 months before that) of my life!

But in the midst of the preparations, we did manage a long weekend trip to Singapore.  Even though I had to work throughout the weekend (I was able to use the WiFi on the hop-on-hop-off bus to check email!), it was a fantastic and much-needed change of scenery from Jakarta.  Clean air!  Blue sky!  Parks and open spaces!  It’s just a short flight from here too, so we have made a promise to ourselves to get back there again sometime in the next year so we can enjoy it again… hopefully without having to work while we’re there!

Loading up on some satay... and cooling off with some beer!

Checking out a "hawker stall" - basically a giant food court, but the most delicious food court ever!

Cool murals on display.

Blue sky!  Clouds!  Green space!  Looooved Singapore.  We will be back!

After the Secretary left, I headed back to the U.S. for a couple weeks of training in Washington DC and a couple weeks to catch my breath back in Portland.  I tried to maximize my time back in the States to not only catch up with friends and family but also catch up with all lots of various doctor and dentist appointments.  Indonesia definitely isn’t known for its medical care, so trips back to the U.S. are always multi-purpose!

And more business to take care of back in Portland... selling the ol' Mustang.  Bye Sally!

Portland could not have put on a better show while I was home this time.  Perfect weather!

And DC put on a pretty good show too.  I did a sunset tour on the Potomac one evening - a new tourist activity for me.  The Kennedy Center looked lovely from the water... 

...and the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial put on a good show too.

Clean teeth and bill of health in hand, I got back to Jakarta at the end of August.  And since Indonesia’s term as president of G20 and ASEAN has ended, I’ve gotten to do some parts of my job that have been neglected so far, like working with the Indonesian government on waste management and pollution issues.  Lest you think the life of a diplomat is full of cocktail attire and fancy parties, let me assure you I have been to more landfills than black-tie functions here.  It’s not just a job… it’s an adventure! 

Such glamour!

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT - GALAPAGOS EDITION

It’s taken me far too long to post this last installment of our epic tour of Bogota, Quito, and the Galapagos.  The past few months have been a swirling haze of big wig visitors from Washington and trips to Melbourne (for Andrew) and the States (for me).  Those events will be conveyed in a separate account on the blog in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, I present the conclusion to this three-part series… and I have definitely saved the best for last.

The Galapagos has been on my bucket list for years.  Since we already knew we’d be in Bogota for Andrew’s friend’s wedding, I figured there was no better opportunity to scratch it off.  So from Jakarta, I set about planning the Galapagos leg of our trip.  I figured a boat made the most sense in order to see as much of the islands as we could, so with a little faith and a lot of luck, I booked what ended up being one of the BEST trips we have ever done.

Our boat (the "Galaxy Diver") had a capacity for 12 guests – there were 11 all together in our group.  A Galapagos National Park guide traveled with us as well (new bucket list entry – becoming a Galapagos park guide!), along with a crew of about 6.  It was a great group of people – a few other Americans, Aussies, Canadians.  I had no idea what to expect as far as the services on the boat – would we be eating cereal and ham sandwiches? Sitting on folding chairs? Rowing? – but everything was first-rate from the food to the snorkel equipment to the crew. 

Our Galapagos mobile home.

First time on a boat cruise like this - I'm a fan.

Lounging on board - this is the life.

The crew put on a show for us one night.  Fun times!

I also didn’t know what to expect from 8 days aboard this boat.  I figured we’d snorkel at a few spots, hike at a few spots, see some animals.  I mean, yes… that is what we did, but it was on an epic scale.  The boat would move to a location every night, and sometimes during the day also.  Every day we had at least 3-4 activities set up for us – a hike and a snorkel in the morning, lunch, a hike and a snorkel in the afternoon, dinner, fall asleep exhausted, repeat.  (At least, that pattern was repeated most days and nights.  One night the boat was moving to a new location against the current.  I don’t think anyone slept too well that night… and we all did our share of feeding the fish, if you get my drift.)  But here’s the kicker – even though we were doing the same activities, we were seeing different things at every location.  At this one, it’s marine iguanas sunning themselves… and at this location, here are those iguanas SWIMMING underwater and feeding on seaweed.  At this spot, we’re snorkeling with tropical fish and sea turtles, and over here, we’re watching as flightless cormorants and Galapagos penguins go diving in the water and darting past our masks.  On this island, we’re walking on a trail through ancient lava flows, and on this island, we’re weaving our way through giant tortoises.  Every.  Spot.  Was.  Different.  The amount of biodiversity within such a small area really was awe-inspiring.  Andrew likes to recount one snorkeling session where our guide was pointing out some tropical fish, while Andrew was swimming around with a Galapagos seal, and when he stuck his head out of the water to call me over, there was a brown noddy (a seabird) hovering over my head.  It was magical.  It was like we were in an animated enchanted kingdom, a la Snow White.  If your bucket list is still taking entries, a trip to the Galapagos is a worthy addition.

Of course, no one ever went to the Galapagos and didn’t take photos, so I leave you with this seemingly exhaustive set of ours.  (Honestly, one of the reasons it took so long to get this post up is because it took me so long to whittle down the photos we took to just this collection.)  Thanks to the Vibrant Migrant fans for indulging this trifecta of posts that had NOTHING to do with Indonesia or our routine here in Jakarta.  We’ll return to our regular programming shortly.

These crabs were everywhere and stood out against the black lava rocks and green algae.

We joked that all of the animals we encountered were called "Galapagos [type of animal]."  I have no idea what these crabs were called, but a good guess would be "Galapagos crab."

A land iguana!  Much larger than a...

Marine iguana!  True, we saw a lot of marine iguanas on LAND... but we also saw them swimming and feeding in the water.  No underwater camera means no action shots of that - but it was pretty incredible to see.

One of the well-planned boardwalks in the park keep visitors from straying out of bounds.  Of course, staying on the path did require navigating through marine iguana tripping hazards.

Those black dots in the water are swimming marine iguanas!

The marine iguanas just blend into the black lava rocks.  It's like an eye test.

And they seemed to like to cozy up to each other.

Oh, hello.

A Snow White moment in action - the marine iguana and Galapagos seals can be friends.

And... the circle of life (to keep with the Disney theme).

Can you see it?  

Sting rays!  And look at the color of that water!

The Galapagos seals were basically tail-less dogs.  Play in the water like crazy, then crash.

Don't worry.  This pup's mom was carefully watching from close by.

This goofball was blowing bubbles in the water.

"Everyone in the pool!"

We were not gonna need a bigger boat.  This shark was about 3-4 feet and not interested in us.

Giant tortoise glamour shot.

And oh, hello to you.

And again, oh hello to you, hawksbill turtle.

The Snow White trifecta - crabs, a sea turtle, AND a seal.  Come on.

A blue-footed booby parent showing his kiddo the ropes.

I'm pretty sure blue-footed boobies are part bird, part muppet.

These two were doing their little dance.  So cute.

As goofy as they look, the boobies are impressive hunters - and they hunt in packs.

A flightless cormorant.  Clunky-looking on land.  But in the water, these guys were like torpedoes.

We got to see an impressive grouping of flamingos at a wetland on one of the islands - apparently they come and go and often aren't seen, so our guide was excited there were so many there.

A male frigatebird showing his stuff.

One island we visited included a nesting colony of frigatebirds.  The males blow up their pouches and drum their beaks against it to show off for the ladies.

This juvenile frigatebird decided to just hitch a ride on our boat.  My kind of bird.

A Galapagos dove.  I'm usually not too excited about these kinds of birds - but even the PIGEONS in the Galapagos were beautiful!

A majestic great blue heron... patiently waiting for baby sea turtles to emerge from the sand.  Jerk.

Galapagos penguins!  Seriously... penguins.  And they were impressive swimmers.

Swallow-tailed gulls.  These two were hanging out onshore during the day, but at night, these nocturnal gulls would follow our boat around.

Our hike at Sullivan Bay took us across a field of Pahoehoe lava that provided a beautiful contrast to the ocean.

Black lava, white sand, blue ocean - absolutely stunning views!

Good advice.  The Galapagos National Park has got it figured out.  They have a limit on the number of tour boats that can operate, the capacity of the boats is generally capped at about 16 persons, and every group must be accompanied by a park guide.  The paths on land are all well marked and the number of groups visiting any one location at one time is also limited.  We rarely encountered another group at any of the places we were, and if we did, they were either just leaving or heading the other direction.  It made it feel like we were the only people there.  We walked on paths just feet from all manner of wildlife without them even raising an eyebrow (if they have eyebrows?)

One of the more strenuous hikes on our trip led us to a viewpoint over Tagus Cove and Darwin Lake on Isabela Island - and our boat the Galaxy Diver in the distance.

So many fascinating landscapes and geologic features.

Our view from aboard the boat one morning.

The sunset views from the boat did not disappoint either.

No filter here, folks.  The sunsets were spectacular.  This was supposedly the rainy season, but we had dry and perfect, partly cloudy skies every day.  Could not have asked for better weather.

More amazing geologic variety.

Such a beautiful place.  It almost doesn't seem real!

Proof of life!

The whole gang from the boat.

And our intrepid park guide doling out interesting and educational facts all along the way.

We only encountered two places populated by humans the entire week.  This was one of them.

Heading to shore for one of the daily hiking activities.

We had a mix of "wet landings" - meaning out feet were gonna get wet - or "dry landings" - meaning we pulled right up to a dock or outcrop of some sort.  But all the landings involved disembarking from our boat onto this zodiac.

A stop for a refreshing beverage in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island.

Say hello to Lonesome George - now in taxidermied form and displayed in a weird, temperature-controlled shrine at Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island.

The Galapagos motorcycle-riding dog - another unique species!