The Adventure Has Only Begun

Posted on February 2, 2015 by captainjack66

A couple of months ago while contemplating our Florida R&R travel, I came upon the brilliant idea of working with the dudes on a father and son project. A rocket project nonetheless.

Designing a Rocket

The months went by, but true to my word I ordered a scale model V-2 rocket from Estes and had it shipped to my in-laws. Despite the threat of another government shutdown just prior to our travel date, (the last one for us occurred while we were on evacuation status from Embassy Cairo) we make it home for Christmas, the first time in four years.

Channeling the spirit of Wernher von Braun, one of the “fathers of rocket science,” the Diplomonkey crew dives into the construction of its mighty rocket. Even Jack Jack Smack Attack helps with the build, accompanying the senior Diplo to the model shop and Home Depot for primer, glue, paints and the ever so sharp Exacto knife. Boy, that knife sure is sharp.

V-2 Rocket Ready to Go

With the build, the black and yellow test pattern paint job, and final detailing complete, the Diplomonkey rocket scientists head to the model shop to purchase a set of powerful “D” engines, a launch pad, and controller. With all the accouterments demanded of modern American rocketry in tow, and with a narrowing launch window since we have to return to Peru, we schedule the launch for a crisp but spectacular south Florida winter afternoon.

Launch Controller

Dream Big, Greatness Lies Ahead

Five, four, three, two, one, oops a misfire. With the problem assessed, yep Captain Jack had inverted the blasted connectors to the engine igniter – let’s try it again with a fresh igniter. Five, four, three, two, one, blast-off in the best NASA style!

Thanks to Captain Ivan and aunt Jillian, the Diplomonkeys have great memories to share. With two successful launches under their belts, the Diplomonkeys are now part of the space age. Which, I guess makes us Diplonauts.

Always dream big and reach for the unreachable!

The Adventure Has Only Begun (Michael Mitchell, Space Shuttle Engineer).

Cheers from Lima!

Thanksgiving in Lima, Gringo-style

Posted on November 30, 2014 by captainjack66

Diplomonkey’s first Thanksgiving Day in Lima sees the return of Pandora’s box. No foolish mortals, we are not discussing mythology today but rather talking about grilling Gringo-style.

Old Diplomonkey is giddy as a schoolboy; having received for his birthday, and just in time for Thanksgiving, a brand new, shiny black Weber kettle grill. You can almost see him jumping up and down for joy.

Weber Black Kettle Grill: The Parts

Inspired by the grill’s arrival, Diplomonkey volunteers to cook a full turkey just like in Virginia. The arrival of the Weber spares Diplomonkey however the need to jury-rig his Hibachi for the festive task. Wifie is, let’s say, so very happy.

The Samster, the helpful little dude that he is, gets into the spirit of the holiday, assisting Diplomonkey assemble the instrument of American culinary might. Weber proudly made in Palatine, Illinois without a doubt produces one of the best charcoal grills out there. Diplomonkey has used one to make whole leg of lamb and lamb kabobs, steak, beef ribs, and even beer-can chicken. Heck, even paella in a cast iron pan was cooked to the wonder and delight of friends and neighbors.

Weber Grill Assembly Technician

The Weber Kettle Grill

But let’s cut to the chase. Into the Weber go two bags of Kingsford’s finest mesquite charcoal. Once fully lit, Diplomonkey arranges coals his coals in a circle of fire. Tomasito (i.e., Tommy), our Peruvian gobbler makes his appearance and on the grill he goes – sorry, no presidential pardon for our 20-pounder Tomasito.

Tomasito, before…

…and Tomasito after!

After three hours of crackling and sizzling, the Weber’s lid comes off followed by the sweet smell of grilled, succulent turkey. Enjoying a turkey drumstick on your behalf,

Cheers from Peru.

Diplomonkey, Naughty Monkey

Posted on October 12, 2014 by captainjack66

Having received special dispensation from the powers that be to travel to Washington at the last moment for negotiations, Diplomonkey hit the road running on a fine Lima Saturday evening.

After a plus two-hour drive to Jorge Chavez International Airport, Diplomonkey finally arrives and proceeds to check in for his United Airlines flight to Washington via Newark. Thanks to his foresight he had checked in earlier that day, opting to use some of his hard-earned dollars to buy an Economy Plus upgrade. Unfortunately, United does not currently accept bananas as form of payment.

Running short on time thanks to Lima’s ridiculously heavy traffic, Diplomonkey forewent his usual pre-flight Starbucks coffee mocha with whipped cream and alfajor fix – Diplomonkey sad, so sad. However with security quickly cleared, on board United’s really nice Boeing 757-200, and settled into his plush Economy plus seat, Diplomonkey is enjoying life.

But it gets better. United’s in flight on demand video is great (got to watch 300: Rise of an Empire, Ancient Aliens, and even a Tom Cruise movie – which is always fun to ding) and had a spectacular meal. The food, even in economy, was not just palatable but really awesome this time. The wine was not too shabby either.

So Diplomonkey stays up late, watches movies, gets some work reading done, and gets to see the sun rise over the USA and is so happy. Diplomonkey had until then not seen the sun in nearly two months. Bright blue skies even make Newark look spectacular.

Turkish Folk Festival Dancers

Okay, Diplomonkey clears immigration and customs, collects his bag and catches his connecting flight to Washington.

Upon arrival in our nation’s capital, Diplomonkey drops off his bag at the hotel and proceeds to go exploring. Happens across the Turkish folk festival and gets great pictures with the now well-travelled Nikon D70.

Turkish Folk Festival Ladies

Turkish Festival Dude

Food Dude

Turkish Folk Festival Dancer

After an afternoon of photographinating, Diplomonkey in urgent need of sustenance hops on the subway and makes his way to his old haunt of Georgetown – yeah, go Hoyas – and hits Pizza Paradisso, mecca of great pizza and home to a spectacular collection of craft beers.

My other love, a Duchesse de Bourgogne

Diplomonkey, being the naughty monkey that he is, decides to get immediately re-acquainted with an old Belgian girlfriend of his, and none other than a Duchesse of Bourgogne that is.

With his Duchesse in hand, Diplomonkey compounds his naughtiness and orders wifie’s favorite pizza, an Atomica.

Pizza Paradisso’s Atomica

Trappistes Rochefort #10

Guilt ridden by his peccadillos, Diplomonkey tries to repent by hooking up with a Trappistes monk, ale that is, and orders himself a Trappistes Rochefort #10 (a quadruple ale).

Ah, life is good.

Lima, rockets, and a pig on a stick – sounds like fun!

Posted on September 20, 2014 by captainjack66

Today is another one of those spectacularly, beautiful sunny days in Lima; that is above 2,000 feet – the FOG is again thick today, aarrgh… So I was pondering this fine afternoon which of our latest dude adventures to write about.

Above Lima’s fog bank.

Do I write about our visit to downtown Lima to see the changing of the presidential guard (at Pizarro’s palace), or the Transformer street performer in Miraflores, or put together something on candid street photography? All great subjects; maybe I could even throw in something on Peruvian ceviche for good measure.

Peruvian Presidential Guard.

Lima Transformer.

Lima banana street vendor.

Okay, in the meantime Samster (Little Big Man) the budding NASA rocket scientist/astronaut comes by and asks: “Daddy, can we build a rocket when we go to Grandma’s house?” This get’s me thinking. Yes, there is hope; grey matter remains in the old noggin even after a week of writing briefing memorandum for not just one but two front offices and for good measure for headquarters back in Washington.

So Little Big Man and I break out that trusty reliquary of St. Jobs of Apple, yes the MacBook and start searching the Internet for the Estes V2 semi-scale model rocket (black and yellow paint pattern) that we decided on last week to build with Pop-Pop (i.e., Grandpa) during our upcoming R&R in Florida (going home for Christmas for the first time in four years – yippie).

YouTube comes to the rescue and we download a couple of the videos – really cool stuff you have to check out. At the same time we come across also some videos of Steve Eves’s Saturn V 1:10 scale model rocket launch and of a homemade Blackbird SR-71 scale model with real working jet turbines. These got a couple of “this is so awesome daddy” from my four year-old.

Although we have a big field in the back of U.S. Embassy Lima, not sure if they will let us shoot rockets off or attempt to fly jet turbine model airplanes despite the coolness factor. I can just imagine what the neighbors would say of our pursuit to find blue skies. Guess it would not meet the front page of Washington Post test either, so let’s pass and wait for a Florida launch.

So tomorrow we are off to Cieneguilla, in pursuit of some feet on the ground sort of altitude that will let us see blue skies. Maybe we will stop at the itty bitty piggy restaurant along the way for a bite of spectacular spit roast suckling pig. Let’s breakout the Nikon and go exploring!

Mountain pass outside of Cieneguilla.

Itty bitty piggy on a stick!

Three, Two, One, Blastoff – Rocket Science in Lima!

Posted on September 14, 2014 by captainjack66

We had some truly spectacular weather this weekend in Lima, the first in a couple of months – yippee. Birthday party and baby shower invites forced us however to stay near to home; so sorry, no wandering in the foothills of the Andes this weekend. Instead we opted to do some science in our patio size backyard. Yep, gone are the days of “oh Mr. Diplomat, your visa stamp is oh so sexy” – I have become a dad!

Trying to simultaneously teach a four- and a two-year old about planes and rockets is not without its challenges. Fortunately, one of the things that made it to Lima House from Cairo House relatively intact was the science exploration box (with its science experiments, balsa planes, chemistry sets, baking soda and vinegar propelled rockets and the like, there is even a robot from the Smithsonian).

Our first order of business was to decide what type of rocket to design. Thanks to Google, research is a piece of cake. So the Diplomonkey design team of three highly trained and motivated engineers decided upon its own interpretation of von Braun’s Ferry Rocket (really cool concept, look it up). I am just amazed by the academic level of sophistication and preparation obtained at the pre-school level these days.

Okay, next we broke out the art supplies that we shipped from Virginia. Armed with a ruler, some paper, and extra thick pencils in hand, the design team drew out our first dude-designed rocket ship. The Samster finished off the schematics by drawing the exhaust blast. I guess that Little Big Man seems to have gotten his inspiration from the YouTube videos we had seen the night before; he did comment, daddy, this is so awesome. Why does David Bowie’s “Major Tom” come to mind? Mission to Mars next?

Rocket Design 101

To test out the principles of aerodynamics, we snagged from the science box a couple of pre-cut balsa gliders that wifie, in her former life as a structured finance banker, had picked up as a give away at an energy conference.

Unfortunately transport of our household effects from Virginia to Cairo, followed by an evacuation that resulted in us not being there for the pack out, and subsequent shipment to Lima after ten months were not kind. The construction and reconstruction engineer however broke out that wonder of repair tools. Yes, the cyanoacrylate adhesive known to mankind as Super Glue! And, of course, my fingers did get stuck together in the process – just part of the fun.

With the glider built and its broken wing and wing tip repaired, and now strengthened for all eternity, flight tests commenced. Three, two, one, blast-off. Our German short-haired pointer (call sign Bird Dog), who tried to eat our “bird” as it was reentering the atmosphere and attempting to land, played the role of the chase plane.

Trying alternative delta wing designs and materials, the team constructed other potential launch and re-entry vehicles from a processed wood pulp and cotton fiber product (yes, paper). The design team had great success, and a good time. In keeping with you know, the Nazca lines and the von Daniken thing, the rocket scientists celebrated with some Peruvian chicha morada.

Nazca Lines – Whale

For those curious enough to try, the simple recipe just takes two to three ears of purple corn, three cinnamon sticks, 12 cups of water, a diced whole pineapple (you can even chuck in the peel), a diced green apple, a tablespoon of whole cloves, a cup of white sugar, and half a cup of lime juice. Allow the ingredients to reach a boil then simmer on medium-low for about 45 minutes. Cool and then serve.

Purple Peruvian Corn

Have a glass of chicha, enjoy the pictures (taken with my Nikon and iPhone), and think creatively. For some of us tomorrow have to go back to work and write briefing memos.

Cheers!

It’s Always Sunny in Lima, Peru

Posted on September 6, 2014 by captainjack66

Okay, I will admit the blog’s title today is a tongue in check play on words; and no it is not a comparison with the television program “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” But I will admit this piece has a bit of snarky humor and probably is a tad persnickety (used two SAT words in one sentence, wow).

We have been in throes of the southern hemisphere’s winter since May 1, when the fog rolled in and decided to stay. Do not despair, I am told, spring is just around the corner and the fog should burn off quickly. Come to think of it, we arrived here the day after Thanksgiving and had fog and chilly weather through mid-December – that’s when the sun finally broke through and stuck around.

The sun does break through on occasion during this time of year, but though not too often. On those rare occasions that it does, you know who the real gringos are; these are the ones that run out of the chancery and annex buildings and squint at the sun. Think of Clint Eastwood with a tie and lanyard with an embassy badge.

Usually, and all of us being the highly educated and extremely well trained professionals that we are, we will mutter something eloquent on the day’s atmospheric conditions. Normally along the lines of “now look at that, (pause for theatrical effect) it’s, it’s the sun.” Followed by an, “I’m not quite sure, its been a while” and for certain followed by a couple of “Oos and Ahhs, that’s good, feels real good.” Yes, the troglodytes have broken free and are running around the field in circles photosynthesizing! Of course only during the lunch break or a fire drill.

Granted the fog that rolls in from the (South) Pacific obscuring sometimes the 400-500 meter hills behind the Embassy is a bit of a drag. But think of it this way – above 2000 feet it’s a beautiful bright sunny day in Lima without a cloud in sky. I guess it’s just a case of perspective, getting above the fog bank that is, and maintaining a positive mental attitude for eight months on end. That blasted Humboldt Current and all.

Heck, that’s it. Tomorrow we are heading for the hills – that already range 600 to 1000 meters around the corner from my place. Maybe even climb the road to Cieneguilla (at 300 meters/1000 feet elevation) and go have some cuy (guinea pig) crocante at Mesa de Piedra (kilometer 34) or if we are even more adventurous we’ll take the Jeep further up the Lurin river valley to Antioquia (kilometer 65) and at some 1,526 meters (5,007 feet) elevation – guaranteed blue skies and sunshine. Let’s breakout the Nikon.

Cheers!

Um good, cuy for lunch!

Sisicaya and the Lurin River.

diplomonkey

Chimping around the world!

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