My phone recently reminded me of a glorious photo taken one year ago at the embassy Halloween event, and from there it took me through a path down memory lane of all my favorite photos taken here in Mauritania.
I haven’t shared the photo in question on this blog, but figured now would be a good time to highlight how awesome I am:
If you’re wondering what’s going on here, let me break it down for you. That’s yours truly, wearing a unicorn onesie with the U.S. Ambassador to Mauritania, Cynthia Kierscht. And for the record, she approached me for a photo, it was taken on her phone, and she sent it to me.
This was probably one of the most surreal moments and probably still is in my Foreign Service career. Having a beer in a U.S. embassy, dressed like a ridiculous unicorn, and taking photos with a U.S. Ambassador. I felt like I had peaked just a few months into my career and it could only be downhill from this moment. How many Foreign Service officers can claim they got to take a photo with an Ambassador dressed like a unicorn? I can.
Ambassador Kierscht for lack of a better word is just AWESOME. Approachable, friendly, intelligent, well spoken, a great sense of humor, and just generally a great person. She is currently awaiting Senate approval to take over the Ambassadorship in Djibouti, and I hope I will encounter ambassadors half as great as she is over the course of my career.
After reminiscing on this photo for a bit, I started going through my phone and just pulling up my favorite pics from my nearly a year and a half here, and I have to say, there have been some great memories in country. Here are some of my favorite:
Just another day of Mauritanian traffic. This was taken my first week in the country.
During an embassy trip to the nearby dunes, we were treated to a large herd of camels passing through.
The vast dunes are really beautiful.
Couldn’t have picked a better way to spend the first day of the new year. I don’t understand why Mauritania doesn’t develop their tourism industry around their coast. Wonderful beaches.
L at a beautiful cove in Banc d’Arguin. Again, a potential tourism gold mine.
Breathtaking sunset in one of the western most points of the continent of Africa. Could literally see the curvature of the Earth with binoculars.
Cruising in central Mauritania and saw these guys checking us out. Central Mauritania is much more green and reminds me of West Texas.
Lot’s of unforgettable memories in one of the most isolated places on the planet. I have a few more months to add to this and am looking forward to more great Mauritanian adventures.
