A eulogy for Niels Tietze — Originally published November 25, 2017 For those who received news from Niels Tietze, the emails were loaded, free flowing songs, beating with alliteration, Nielsesque neologisms, and mealy metaphors that would make a contortionist wince. Sometimes we wrote emails, sometimes phone calls, and no matter the medium, it seemed like Niels…

A friend of mine was working on a USAID-funded development program in Colombia. She is in her twenties, and she’s a smart poli-sci major who reads a lot of books. This woman accepted an inadequate salary with devoted readiness to contribute her sweat to a rural development program that gives…

After blogging about our 10-month campervan journey, I was left with a lot of unedited writing that didn’t make it into the official blog — You can find all sorts of guides and how-to websites on preparing for a road trip down the Panamerican Highway. Some will remind you to forward your mail to a relative’s address. Others tell you how to learn basic Spanish in the space of three weeks. …

What I learned to love about life after living in a campervan — After ten months of life in a campervan, the Rainbow continues to drive through Ignacia’s dreams. Throughout the first week in our new home in Southern Utah, she woke up again and again, bewildered and to be honest a bit saddened. It is quite surreal to end such a journey…

My wife’s period, a national park, and the wisdom of travel — I woke up in the Patagonia National Park looking out over the kitchen counter through the back window of the campervan. I saw gray clouds roll over the high peaks spreading across the morning sky. After dozens of mountains in eight countries, the Andes still appear as a canvas of…

Raising bilingual children, I realized my own dreams — I always dreamed of being able to speak several languages and move effortlessly from one to the other, code switching in everyday conversation. So I studied languages in university, and by the time I got to Barcelona, I could do this (quite well) with Marcelo, one of my best friends…

How my six year old’s stories reflect everything around me — When Elisa gets fussy about hiking a trail, one of our favorite methods of distraction is storytelling. Somebody starts off telling a story, and then we take turns, picking up where the last one ended. The other day hiking around Futaleufu she weaved a terrific story, with a few queues…

One of my least favorite facets of the terrible threes is the tears and emotion connected to a little girl’s clothing. In Bogotá, we lived through this phase with Elisa, our first daughter. Every morning, I dreaded the role of director of wardrobe, responsible for going to the closet to…