Illegal Stuff

So a few of us went downtown tonight and had dinner because we were denied our usual Sunday surf and turf. I won't bore you again with pictures but it was, of course, delicious.

Afterwards, we went to one of the shops on a corner near the restaurant and looked for souvenirs. I saw several things that I plan to buy. I will, however, hold out for serious shopping in Ethiopia or Kenya because that's where the Djiboutians import a lot of their wares. One of the most intriguing items for sale was an ivory tusk. Not a fake tusk, but a true to life, likely poached, tusk (see the picture below). That was a very tempting purchase, but buying poached ivory is like putting a stamp of approval on slaughtering an endangered species. That and the U.S. has laws against that sort of thing, so I'd be out $350 smackers if it was confiscated by customs. www.fws.gov/international/pdf/salaet.pdf



One of the vendors, Abi George, at the shop decided he liked me and wanted to share his khat with me. He insisted it was no different than having a beer. Here's what the Department of State has to say about khat: "Although the narcotic khat is legal and widely chewed in Djibouti, it is considered an illegal substance in many countries, including the United States." Needless to say, it was out of the question. But I took his picture and he asked that I print him a copy and bring it back in one week. I'll try to remember. And maybe if I do that for him, he'll give me a better deal on something...not khat.


(The green leaf in his hand is the khat. I think he pulled it out of a shopping bag, i.e. "dime bag")

Keepin' it legit,

Marty

Edison

Last night several of us from the office ventured down to the Cantina here on the camp. For the past two nights the band Edison played there. We caught the end of their show last night and decided to go see them again tonight to see what we missed. They had some really great music of their own and did a few cover songs also. They've been touring the bases around Africa and Asia and bringing some much needed entertainment to the troops. They are genuinely a great group of guys! I hope they make it big someday. Go check out their website and listen to some of their music and tell your friends. Maybe word of mouth will help them out. http://www.edison.am/inside/index.htm

Camel Safari

Last week we went to Dhikil, Djibouti to escort some media to a Navy Seabee project. That's the furthest I've made it away from camp to date. It took about 2 hours to get there. As civilization petered out, we started to see random people seemingly in the middle of nowhere. There were also random groups of animals meandering about the rocky terrain; Camels, goats, and burrows. One group in particular was wondering around the middle of the road.

The project we went to see was a dormitory for boys and girls that come into town from wherever and go to school in Dhikil. The students usually stay with relatives or anyone who will take care of them for the school year putting a burden on the already stretched villagers.


(Here's a picture I took of a local girl who climbed the fence to the school yard next door and was watching the building project. I gave her a much appreciated bottle of water. )

Appreciating the U.S. more every day,

Marty

Bon Apetit

They feed us well here...maybe too well. We usually have several options to choose from on the chow line.

(Last night was surf and turf at the dining facility.)

We' ve also been to downtown DJ a couple of times. We ate some yummy pizza at a place called Cafe Mask.

(this is Sam and Omar in front of the restaurant)

And last week we had a going away for some people in the office. We ate at a French/Lebanese restaurant called Le Terrase (that's french for "the terrace" because the restaurant is upstairs and overlooks a nice swimming pool). I had the special; Chateau Briande with a burgandy mushroom sauce, Au Gratin potatoes, and green beans. We also had some appetizers; garlic calamari, bruschetta, and tabouli. It was all very good so we'll probably go back sometime.


These will probably be my last food pics from the DJ area. I'm sure I'll be eating something phenomenal downrange somewhere that I'll have to share with you (pictures anyway).

All these food pics reminds me... it's lunchtime. Gotta go.

Bon Apetit,

Marty

Desert Refreshments

So as I was saying...

It's pretty warm here, but they have cold drinks on camp. We have a Green Bean Coffee here with a tasty iced chai tea.

My First Blog...Enjoy!

Here it is! The long-promised blog. Please hold your applause till the end, I don't know how it's going to turn out yet.

So after a long, long, long, long (yes that's four layovers spanning two days) trip I finally arrived here in Djibouti, Africa. I arrived in country at about 3:20 a.m local time. Let me just say that it was quite a shock to my system. I've felt hot before, but this was a new level. When I stepped off the plane onto the tarmac I instantly felt the heat radiating up my legs. Did I mention it was three in the morning?

The weather here is hot. Forget what you see on the news about it being "only" 95 degrees. The heat index started at about 108 when I arrived and continues to rise almost daily. Today it was a mere 112 degrees. The humidity is at around 85 percent, but it doesn't really rain here. But it doesn't feel so bad to me anymore.

After about a week of breaking into a dripping sweat upon stepping outside, I've finally become acclimated to the weather (or as much as a non-native to this country could).

The camp isn't so bad, but I'll get into that on my next post. For now I'm going to see if this will post this time. I promise to include some pictures soon also.

Until my next free moment,

Marty

P.S. Happy 10th Anniversary Sweetheart!