We had a long but uneventful travel day last Monday, leaving the hotel at 8:30 AM and arriving at our new home around 1:00 AM via Miami. The new place is lovely – very large with pretty grounds with lots of flowers, some fruit trees, and a pool. I found my favorite spot to sit outside that catches the ocean breeze from a couple of blocks away. Our favorite thing so far are the birds! Parrots, limpkins, kiskadees, tanagers, grassquits, hawks – the list goes on and on! The most amazing are the Scarlett Ibis that we’ve seen flying overhead; closer to home, I love the little piculets – they are in the woodpecker family and look like tiny downy woodpeckers, complete with a red crest. We can’t wait for our binoculars to arrive! Whether sitting in the garden or walking around our small neighborhood (really a big circle with a tree-lined field in the middle), there are just birds everywhere!
Despite not going to bed until 2:30 in the morning the night we arrived, John was at work bright and early the next morning. He was Chargé most of the week – in addition to settling in, he was involved in the visit of some Congressional staffers and had several official meeting, events, and lunches. Friday afternoon, I met him at the embassy for a welcome party for new arrivals. It was fun to meet folks, plus I saw several consular local staff who I remembered from my RCO days of traveling here!
Sunday before we left Washington, John had morning coffee with Matt A., our favorite defense attaché from Monrovia. And we were very happy to see Lea and Jose one last time when they treated us for dinner at a lovely French restaurant in DuPont.
Flavia made the trip fine. Despite all of my worry about making sure her paperwork was in order, the agent at American Airlines didn’t even look at it (and, in fact, said she didn’t need any paperwork at all!!!). She has settled in to the house just fine and is doing well!
