Change

Amanda Craft and I have been in touch a couple of times this month. Earlier this month Amanda (pictured above with her son) let us know that she had received photos that would work for U.S. visas and she was prepared to make the Guatemalans appointments at the U.S. consulate. But Amanda also shared that she had changed her mind – she no longer thought it was realistic that the Guatemalans could get appointments and visas with enough time for us to buy airline tickets, before the first week of October (when we had planned the visit).

So I asked Amanda to hold off and let Crescent Hill folks consult with each other and – likely – with our Guatemalan partners. During that time I hoped we would decide about what to do. Especially as we’ve waited, the first week of October I suspect is out of the question. Amanda has said she thinks the Guatemalans should be there for the runoff election. She and I talked about waiting until after the elections in Guatemala and the United States. Jane won’t be here Thanksgiving week. That leaves us with the middle week of November.

Jane also raised the possibility of waiting and asking the Guatemalans to come in the spring, when the weather is better and when we may less busy than in mid-November. Amanda said either could work but she wondered with me about loss of momentum. She also raised a second concern: She is not 100% certain she is going to return to Guatemala after leaving at the end of the year, and so, if we wanted the Guatemalans to visit around Derby Week, for example, we’d have to shift to working with someone else (since Amanda will definitely be in the United States in mid-winter and might might not be returning at all). (That’d probably be Philip Beisswinger, Amanda said.)

But Amanda did say she thought she could help get visas in December for the Guatemalans for an early spring visit (like March).

So, if we want to stick with Amanda, we probably have a choice between something like the week before the week of Thanksgiving 2011 (for example, Friday, November 11, through Saturday, November 18) or the week before St. Patrick’s Day 2012 (Friday, March 9, though Saturday, March 17).

I have e-mailed the Guatemalans asking them for their preferences, but I suspect we’ll want to call them not later than our next gathering, at 6:00 p.m. next Thursday, September 22.

-- Perry