Uganda = AMAZING!

Uganda is amazing!!  But before I get to that, I should probably back up and start with how I got there. This deployment allows for an opportunity to take a 96 if you are deployed for more than 179 days.  A 96 is a 96 hour pass to do whatever you like.  You can go anywhere or stay in your CLU for a "clucation".  I opted to book a 96 through the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) to go to Uganda for mountain gorilla trekking and white water rafting.On Wednesday our flight left Djibouti around 7:00pm.  We had a connection in Addis Abba, Ethiopia.  While here, we grabbed some dinner and I opted to try a traditional Ethiopian dish.  This however, turned out to be not such a good choice as I really didn't enjoy whatever it is I ended up with.  We landed in Entebbe, Uganda after midnight.  Our tour guides picked us up from the airport and we bagan the hour or so drive to Kampala.  We had two vehicles, and unfortunately one of them got a flat tire on the way to the hotel.  After a tire swap we were back on our way.  By the time we finally got to the hotel and settled into our room it was almost 3:00a.m.  Not a lot of time to rest before our 6:00a.m. wake up call!

After very little sleep we were on our way to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest where we would do the mountain gorilla trekking.  We were told the drive would take 9-10 hours.  We stopped at the Equator and enjoyed taking pictures and watching a demonstration of how water twirls down the bowl depending if you are in the Northern or Southern hemisphere.  A couple of hours from the Equator we stopped and enjoyed a buffet lunch.  After lunch it was all car ride until we got to our lodge at around 7:30p.m.  It was a very long day in the car!!  The last 4 hours or so of the trip were all on dirt roads, which our driver affectionately called our "African Massage".  The countryside of Uganda is stunning!  It is super green and hilly.  We also really enjoyed waiving to all the children who were walking along the dirt road.  They would get so excited when they would see us.  After awhile, I felt like I was in a parade and waving all the time.  The children brought such joy!  After we finally arrived at our hotel, we got to our room which was very nice.  No glass windows, but it was surrounded by screens. The temperature is very cool at night which is a great difference from what we're used to in Djibouti.  Dinner was a fixed course of a stuffed tomato appetizer (super yummy), fish and mushroom soup (also very good),beef, potatoes and vegetables for the main course (amazing), and lemon pineapple pie for dessert (delicious)!  All in all the meal was outstanding and then it was time to hit the sack after an extremely long day.

After breakfast it was time to begin our mountain gorilla adventure.  We had a briefing by the rangers and our group of 11 was broken up into a group of 8 and 3 of our other people joined another group.  Only 8 people are allowed in each group.  I was with the 8 from our MWR trip and along with our guide, 2 armed rangers, and a porter that one of our people hired, we began our hike.  The hike started nice and flat and felt like I was about to go geocaching.  We came to a creek where we crossed a bamboo bridge and then began the climb up the mountain.  The climb was steep and difficult in some spots, but doable.  I was so glad that they had given us walking sticks to use.  That helped a ton!  The vegetation was thick and our guide and ranger used a machete to help clear the way.  After about 2 hours of climbing our guide heard the news on his walkie talkie that the trackers had found our family of gorillas.  So onward and upward we went and as I

looked down I exclaimed "Whose poop is this?"  Our guide informed us, it was in fact the gorilla's poop and we had found their nests from the night before.  Gorillas make a new nest every night and then poop there the next day before they leave so nobody else will use it.  We were getting closer!!!  When we finally met up with our trackers we put down our bags and walking sticks and move a very short distance where I got my first glimpse of the Silverback gorrilla!  Nothing short of amazing!!  I can't believe how close we were and how much the gorilla didn't seem to mind.  He was busy stuffing his face with leaves and would glance over to us from time to time.  As he moved, we moved with him.  At one point he got up and climbed a short distance up a tree.  He was so close to some of the people in our group I was afraid he might lose his balance and land on them!  After spending several minutes watching him and taking pictures and videos we moved on to find other members of his family.  They were

relatively close by and in total we saw 7 of the 9 members of the family.  One of the female gorillas had been lying still for some time so I turned with my back to her and asked someone to take my picture.  As I was getting set up, she moved and came and passed right behind me.  The looks on people's face that were watching were funny.  I guess I didn't realize how close she was!
 We spent 1 hour with the gorillas and enjoyed their peaceful, docile nature.  I can see why Dianne Fossy (Gorillas in the Mist) fell in love with them.  After our time with the gorillas we sat and ate our boxed lunch then were back on our way down the mountain.  Going down was easier then going up and probably took just little over an hour.  I was surprised that we didn't see any birds or other wildlife throughout the day.  Although exhausted when we were done, after a quick shower several of us went into the town close by to watch the orphanage children give a song and dance show.  So much energy!  The children sell some of their art and I was very happy to buy a drawing and sculpture to help support them.  Dinner was again in the lodge and was very good.  It consisted of avocado with honey mustard dressing appetizer, tomato soup, chicken, rice, and vegetables, and chocolate something or another (very good) for dessert.  The lodge had WIFI and try as I might to get connected to my email to send a message home, but I just couldn't get on. After an hour I gave up and went to the room to type this blog entry and go to bed.  What an amazing day!

We had another early start and were back in the vehicles at 7:00am to start the long ride back to Kampala.  We took a different route back and was able to drive through the Queen Elizabeth National Park.  Our driver pulled over and lifted the roof of our vehicle so we were able to stand on the seats and be on the look out for lions, elephants, water buffalo, impalas, monkeys, and other animals.  We ended up seeing all of these animals with the exception of a lion.  The grass was really tall, so they probably were out there, but just not for us to see.  It was really beautiful and a different landscape then what we had been driving through as this was flat grasslands.  I was excited that we were able to go on a mini-safari and see some of the animals I envisioned in Africa!  After driving through the park we stopped at a hotel to eat a box lunch that we got from our lodge in Bwindi.  The views were stunning!!

 We were looking out over miles and miles of African countryside and the national park that we had just driven through.  After lunch it was back in the car for more driving.  I really enjoyed watching the beautiful Ugandan countryside go by.  We once again stopped at the Equator for a break.  I tried looking for a geocache that was there, but couldn't find it.  I even asked the children who were sitting right where the coordinates led me if they new where the "treasure" was, but when the started digging in the ground with a machete I knew they didn't really know what I was talking about.
 I asked one of the adults at the nearby restaurant if he knew if it was still there.  He said he knew others had come searching, but wasn't sure if it was found.  Oh well, at least I tried!  Once we arrived back in Kampala the traffic became very busy.  I would have been so stressed out with all the motorbikes, people walking between cars, goats and what not creating driving obstacles.  We got back to the hotel around 7:45p.m.  After checking in we got a call that the other vehicle was stuck in traffic and that we should meet them directly at the Italian restaurant we were going to for dinner.  The restaurant was very nice and felt like we were in the U.S.  I had an excellent mushroom risotto.  Those that ordered steak were very disappointed.  Still hard to get a good steak in Africa.  The service was slow and we didn't get back to the hotel until after 11:00pm.  I was so exhausted and our wake-up call for the next day was for 5:45!  This trip has been go, go, go!

So yesterday after another early morning we were on a bus that would take us on a hour and half drive to Jinga, Uganda to go white-water rafting on the Nile River. After the safety brief I was a little nervous as we would be rafting class 4 and 5 rapids (6 being the roughest).  During the safety brief we even practiced tipping the raft and getting back in.  Should have figured that my chances of staying in the raft were going to be slim!  The first rapid was right away and it was pretty intense!  No baby rapids to get the feel as we started with a class 5.  One of our guys fell out of the raft but he was ok!  The next rapid was a class 4 and wasn't so bad and

really enjoyable.  There were many kilometers of calm water where we enjoyed the nice flow of the river and the beauty around us.  I was surprised at how many pine trees lined the banks of the Nile.  I wasn't sure if I was in Wisconsin or Africa!  At one point I asked the guide what kind of fish were in the river, but before he could finish telling me we got distracted by something.  A short while later we saw a baby crocodile!  I told him he didn't tell me that, but he said he didn't get the chance!  A couple of rapids later we experience our first raft tip.  It wasn't that bad and actually felt refreshing! For a mid-morning snack they served fresh
pineapple and cookies.  After a while we all got out of the raft to swim.  I guess the crocodiles weren't a threat in that part of the river.  Before we knew it we were approaching our last rapid.  The guide said it was pretty intense and if anybody wanted to go in the guide boat and not do the rapid they could.  One of the ladies on our raft took this option, but I was all in. We made it through the first rapid, but tipped on the second!!  It was all good though as this was the last rapid and a few strokes later we were getting out of the river.
They provided us lunch and the best kind of beer. Free!  Actually it was Nile beer and it was quite good.  Around
4:30 it was back on the bus for the long ride back to Kampala.  We had only an hour to shower and pack before we were meeting for dinner and going to the airport. We ended up eating dinner at a hotel restaurant on the patio.  I was excited to see burgers on the menu and ordered one hoping that it would meet my craving.  The galley does not serve a good burger ever.  It was pretty good.  The meat tasted a little different, but good.  Soon we were rushing out of the restaurant to get to the airport.  Once at the airport, we went to check in.  8 of 11 people got boarding passes all the way through to Djibouti.  Unfortunately I was one of the three that did not.  This made me a bit nervous, but the agent told me I would get it in Addis Abba.  For some reason he said all the seats were filled or blocked or something.  I was just hoping that they wouldn't want to charge us again in Addis Abba.  Turns out, it didn't seem to be a big deal because when we finally tracked somebody down he took our itineraries and after a few minutes came back with boarding passes.  Not sure why that couldn't be done in Uganda, but oh well.  As I write this final paragraph I'm waiting to board our flight back to Djibouti.  I hope the next 45 or so days goes by as quickly as the last 4!  This trip was an unbelievable opportunity that I'm glad  I was able to take advantage of.  So good to see another side of Africa!

 

Go Karting, Bingo, and Snorkeling!

A couple of weeks ago I went on a Saturday night adventure to the Djibouti Karting Club to experience Djiboutian Go-Karting.  We had about 15 people with us and after figuring out the best deal, we had our tickets and were ready to ride.  The first five were on the course and racing for about 8 minutes when all the power was lost at the karting club. We thought the night might be over, but we decided to wait it out.  After 40 minutes we started to give up hope that they would get the power restored, so we called to have a bus come and get us, and just like Murphy's Law normally works, the power was restored.  The racing began yet again.  The go-karting was a ton of fun!  One of the girls had us laughing as she crashed through a
section of the course 3 times in a row.  Come to find out later that her brakes weren't working in her car.  All-in-all a good time was had by everyone!

The week of September 11th, we were not allowed to leave the Camp and once again our fun was limited to the pool and movie theater.  On the upside however, was a scheduled MWR Bingo night on one of these days.  The table I was sitting at was hot!  My old CLUmate, Val was the first to win, and all games continue until there is a second winner. Erik won the second prize behind her.  Several games later, Warren got a win (even though he wasn't really paying attention and Val and I yelled Bingo for him) and then I won the 2nd prize behind him.  I won a Casio watch that I'm very happy with.  When Bingo was over the Packer game was just about ready to start on the big outdoor screen.  I was surprised at how comfortable it was to sit outside and watch the game.  I think this was the first time I didn't acquire a gigantic pool of sweat by just sitting. I stayed until the end of the 3rd quarter and with the Pack up by several touchdowns I decided to turn in and go to bed.

Over the past couple of months I have been on a planning team for an Air Force Half

Marathon and 10K race.  We held the race on 21 September, which is the same day the official Air Force Marathon is held at Wright-Patterson AFB.  The race took a lot of planning and effort by all volunteers.  I'm happy to say that race day went very well.  The race began at 0400 when it is slightly cooler.  I ran the 10K and was happy with how I did . . . for being Djibouti and all.  I have run 105 miles with only 95 more miles to go to hit my goal of 200 miles ran in Djibouti.  I can do it, but I'll have to increase my mileage to 4 miles 3 times a week instead of 3 miles 3 times a week.

This past weekend, Warren and I signed up for a MWR snorkeling trip to White Sand Beach.  White Sand Beach is near the city of Tadjoura which is across the Gulf of Tadjoura from Djibouti City. It took about two hours by boat to get to our location. The snorkeling was absolutely wonderful!  The water was super clear and warm.  We snorkeled for about 2 hours and then came back to the boat for lunch.  I was on the same boat as my 4th of July snorkeling adventure and had the same meal, but also had fresh grilled tuna skewers.  The food once again did not disappoint.  After lunch we snorkeled for 2 more hours!  The highlights that we saw were 2 blue spotted stingrays, an eel, a sea turtle, a lion fish, and puffer fish. I took some pictures on a disposable underwater film camera, but I will have to wait until they're developed to find out if any of them turned out.  It was a great day and although I had SPF 30 sunscreen on my back, I failed to put sunscreen on my legs.  The area by my swimsuit bottom got burned the worst.  Not too terrible, but enough that I'm certainly feeling it today!

Devil's Island Adventure

It has been awhile since I last made a blog update, and I wish I could say it was because I was too busy having fun to write about it.  Unfortunately the truth is that for several weeks there just wasn't much going on.  At the end of July and into early August we were not allowed to leave the Camp, so the only adventure to be had was to hang out at the Camp pool, or more affectionately known as the cement swimming pond.  The Sundays by the pool were hot, yet relaxing. I also took in a few movies at the Camp movie theater (The Great Gatsby, 42, The Big Wedding, Hangover III, Star Trek II, Tyler Perry's Peeples).

Once we were allowed to leave the Camp again the majority of my outings have been to go out to eat.  I went to the Melting Pot Restaurant (not related to the fondue chain restaurant in the US) where I was able to try camel.  I have to say it wasn't too bad.  We also went to Restaurant Vietnam where I had an excellent Duck dish (it was more Chinese cuisine then
Vietnamese).  I also made it back to our favorite local restaurant, La Fontaine which is incredibly cheap and delicious food.  Of course every time I'm in Menelik Square (downtown Djibouti) I always do a little shopping and barter with the salesmen to try to get a good deal.  It takes some work, but eventually we normally settle on a price that I'm somewhat happy with.


Labor Day weekend was the first weekend in awhile that I had several fun things off camp planned. On Sunday I took a MWR trip to the Kempinski Hotel for Spa Day.  For $88 I got an hour massage, lunch at the buffet, and use of the pool.  My massage was very much needed and felt amazing.  I was pleasantly surprised with how good the lunch buffet was.  I tried a

little of everything, even things that I would normally turn my nose up too.  With all the delicious food on the buffet, I think my favorite was the block of swiss cheese that you could cut yourself a slice.  It tasted so good.  After lunch the remaining part of the day was spent relaxing by the pool.  The lounge chairs at the Kempinski are so much more comfortable then the chairs at the Camp pool, but the Camp's pool water was much cooler than the Kempinksi.  The pool itself wasn't very refreshing since the water was so warm, but at least it was wet.



On Labor Day myself and two other friends made the trip out to Lake Ghoubet to Devil's Island.  This was the first trip that I planned (with some help from our regular Sunday trip planner) as he'll be leaving soon and the reins will be be passed to me.  Twelve people had responded to my invite that they would like to join us, but in the end there was just the three of us that showed up to go.  Luckily the bus driver was still willing to take us.  The drive out to Lake Ghoubet takes a little over an hour and a half.  Once we got to our destination (which is a small area where the bus can pull off the side of the road and park), we made the trek over a lava rock field to get to the water.

The trek was hot, but not too difficult if you took your time.  I was actually happy that it was just the three of us as I had less people to worry about hurting themselves or getting lost.  Once we made it to the beach we still had to cross the inlet over a sandbar to get to the islands.

The islands are actually mounds that were formed during some volcanic activity.  We enjoyed walking on the smaller of the two islands and found a good spot to put our backpacks and put on our snorkel gear.  The water was amazingly clear and we saw beautiful coral, fish, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins.  We swam across to the larger island and walked a short way along the shore.  We didn't walk far because we didn't have our shoes and the sand was hot and the rocks were sharp!  Once we had our fill of snorkeling we make our way back across the sandbar and over the lava rock field to the bus.  It was a great day and I'm so glad to have shared it with my two buddies.  So good to be back out on an adventure!!

Kempinski Overnight

This weekend's adventure took me to the Djibouti Palace Kempinski Hotel (http://www.kempinski.com/en/djibouti/djibouti-palace/welcome/).  The trip was arranged through the Morale, Welfare Recreation (MWR) and consisted of an overnight stay in
the hotel.

The hotel is rated five stars and is just beautiful. It was nice to
have a much larger bathroom then the one in my CLU.  I
enjoyed a nice seafood risotto dinner at the Italian Restaurant.  The Kempinski also has a casino where I watched a friend play blackjack. He walked away a winner, but I didn't get the itch to play myself.  Today I enjoyed relaxing sitting by the pool and pretending I was on vacation.  Wouldn't you know though, some rain drops passed through the area.  It hardly ever rains here and of course it would the one time I'm sitting by a pool.  No worries though, the very light sprinkles quickly passed.  All too soon, the bus was there ready to take us back to camp.

It was nice to escape "reality", even if it was just for a few hours.

First Week of July 2013

The first week of July went by extremely fast and was extremely busy with many activities planned during my off hours.

On Tuesday, July 2nd, we went on a MWR trip souvenir shopping downtown.  I'm having fun buying little trinkets and souvenirs as I go and using them to decorate my room.

On Wednesday, July 3rd I celebrated my 38th birthday. By the request of my husband, my birthday morning started with a video call home.  I was surprised to find 14 or so people at our house gathered to wish me a happy birthday and eat some cake.  The cake was from Aggie's and looked amazing.  I wish technology was advanced enough for me to reach out and grab a piece.  At lunch my coworkers and friends sang happy birthday to me in the galley.  Then in the evening the Camp was having a 5K for Independence Day.  I was already planning on running the race, but one of my new friends made me a "Birthday Girl" crown to wear to let everyone know it was my special day!  I always had to laugh to myself though when somebody would ask me if it was my birthday after seeing it on my head.

For the Fourth of July I went on an all day snorkeling adventure.  The boat ride out to the prime snorkeling spots took an hour to get to. I enjoyed the ride and the fresh air.  I didn't see anything super exotic while snorkeling, but the fish and coral reef were really pretty.  I always feel like I'm swimming in an aquarium when I'm snorkeling and I absolutely love it.  After about an hour we moved to our second snorkeling spot where the crew then served up lunch.  We had an amazing salad, rice, chicken, and beef skewers.  The food was so delicious.  After letting the food settle just a bit, it was time to get back in the water and do some more snorkeling.  The water was so warm and clear.  I loved the whole day of being in the sun and wind.

On Friday, July 5th, the whole office went out to dinner to a pizza place for a going away for two people who will be re-deploying soon.  The pizza was served as a buffet, but what that really meant was the staff would just keep bringing different pizza to our table.  My favorite was a white sauce pizza with ham and onion.  Again delicious!!

On Saturday, July 6th, I had to work and didn't leave camp, but I did get notice that a Wet CLU had become available for me and Saturday night turned into moving day.  I loved my CLUmate Val a ton and am gonna miss coming "Home" and talking with her, but having my own CLU with a shared bathroom with just one other person is so nice!!  It only took a couple of hours to move and it's nice knowing that this is my "permanent" home for the rest of the time I'm here.

Sunday, July 7th brought another Sunday funday adventure.  This week we were off to Lake Assal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Assal_(Djibouti)).  Lake Assal is the lowest point in Africa and is one of the saltiest lakes in the world (even saltier then the Dead Sea). Before we got to Lake Assal, we stopped to view the Djiboutian "Grand Canyon".  Although not quite as spectacular as the U.S.'s Grand Canyon, it was still impressive.  After some photos we were on our way.






Right before we got to the Lake we stopped to explore a hot springs.  Some people who were with us that had last been to the area in February, had said the landscape had changed quite a bit since the heavy rain Djibouti received in March. It was a nice little hike with interesting rock formations.  Once at the lake our bus driver drove out onto the hardened salt and parked the bus.  It was time to go into the lake!  The water was very warm and quite shallow.  After wading out quite the distance, I finally sat back in the water to feel the crazy sensation of water being too "thick" to go under due to the salt content.  I have to say, the Dead Sea was much better for that feeling and that is mostly because it is deeper.  I think it was just too shallow to truly feel the effects.  I did however, enjoy walking along in the water and looking at the salt deposits and formations.  Seeing as it was 125 degrees at the lake we only stayed for about 45 minutes and then headed back to camp.  We did stop however at a
restaurant that Leah had recommended call La Mer Rouge.  This is a seafood place that looks terrible from the outside, but once inside is a beautiful gem.  Once again I had another delicious meal!!  If I'm not careful, I might actually gain weight while I'm here!!

Green Tire Beach Adventure

Unfortunately it's been a couple of weeks since my last post because there wasn't a whole lot of stuff going on.  I believe I last left off that we were going to go to Lake Assal and Green Tire beach on 16 June, but that didn't happen.  We were unable to secure transportation, so Camp was the place to be.

On Friday 14 June, April and I went with the MWR trip to Le Kokeb Ethiopian Dinner and Dance show, which is a restaurant in Djibouti City.  Normally the trips are full, but for whatever reason there were only 5 of us.  The food is served on a platter to share with everyone and you eat with your hands using a bread like substance.  The bread itself is pretty sour, but eaten with the food is delicious!  I was thankful that Leah had introduced me to the Ethiopian restaraunt in downtown Milwaukee before I came here so I already knew what I was in for.  It was just like back in Milwaukee!  The dancing was fun to watch, but after a couple of dances I think we were all tired and ready to go.

Sunday 16 June was Father's day and being a holiday, the Morale, Welfare, Recreation (MWR) staff put on a Father's Day bingo event!  We each got 6 cards to play 9 different games.  The theme of each game was the letters to spell out fathers (so the first game to get bingo was an f, the second game an a, so on and so forth.)  Unfortunately I didn't win at bingo (got close a couple of times), but I did win a Djibouti t-shirt in a raffle drawing.  It was a lot of fun and I almost fell like I was back at Potawatomi. For dinner we headed back into Djibouti City and returned to La Fontaine.  It was so good the first time, we had to give it another go.  This time we must have missed something in translation, because we thought we ordered the same thing as before, but this time in addition to the yummy plate of food we were expecting, we also got a plate of grilled chicken and beef.  Unfortunately it came to our table as we were already full on the other food, but I had to give it a try.  It was so delicious!!  I was mad I didn't have more room. We got the leftover food wrapped up to go and gave it to some Djiboutians on the street.

The following weekend I had a whole lot of nothing planned, which was just fine by me.  I needed a day to relax and not be anywhere at any appointed time.  I did take in the move "Side Effects" at the theater.

So now I get to the point where I have finally made it to Green Tire Beach.  Yesterday, Sunday 30 June, about 20 of us took the trip.  After a stop at the Casino Supermarche (don't get excited it's not really a casino, but a grocery store), to pick up food to grill at the beach we were on our way.  Might I say first however, how nice the store was.  I almost felt like I was back in the States or at least minimally somewhere in Europe.  I didn't buy anything, but it seemed so clean and out of place for what I have seen of Djibouti thus far.  It took about an hour to get to the beach.  On the way there we played a fun name game.  Somebody starts by naming somebody famous like Oprah Winfrey.  Then the next person has to name someone using the first letter of the last name from the person before like Whitney Houston.  So on and so forth.  That kept us entertained for quite awhile. It always seemed so easy until it was your turn then your brain went blank!

Finally we saw the green tire thus marking our turn towards the beach!  The sand is course with sharp rocks and shells.  A group of us headed straight away to take the hike to the place where we were going to go jumping into the water.  It was quite the hike over uneven, sharp lava rock.  The water was an amazing color of blue.  I had to stop sometimes to just take it all in. I was pretty hot and looking to cool off, so it wasn't too hard to talk me into jumping.  When standing on the little ledge and looking down it seemed kind of scary, but then you do the jump and look up and realize it wasn't that far at all.  Then you feel silly for ever being scared, until you get out to do it again. I jumped from a higher point the second time and it was just as fun.  The jumps were probably about 15 to 20 feet.

Nearby was a dormant volcano that I wanted to climb.  Myself and three others took the adventure.  The guys headed out first and looked like they were making decent progress, so myself and Aimee went up next.  Unfortunately I took a path that had a ton of loose rock.  At one point I wasn't sure I was going to make it up or go back down. The adrenaline took over and I powered through to move away from the loose gravel to a little bit more stable (not much) rock and made it to the top of the volcano.  What an amazing view!!  It was interesting to see the inside of the crater and take the walk around the entire rim.  The breeze was wonderful as well!!  We knew heading down would be a challenge with the loose rock, so Aimee and I took our time.  Some if it down on our butt, some if it side stepping.  I was happy to be back down at the bottom.  We headed back and when we got back to the jumping spot I gladly jumped again to cool off before we made the long trek back to the beach.  At the beach all I wanted was some water or Gatorade and a sandwich.  I didn't go swimming at all, as my legs were still wobbly from the climb and hike.  It was good just to sit down and relax,  Around 5:30 it was time to pack up and head back to camp.  We stopped at a scenic overlook and caught a beautiful sunset.  All in all it was a great day.  Not sure what the next adventure will be, but you can be sure it will be a blog post!

First Impressions of Djibouti

So here I am in Djibouti, Africa.  I probably should have started these posts 3 weeks ago when I first got here while things were still fresh in my mind, but I think it was all a little overwhelming.  Well now that I've been here for a few weeks, I think I'm settled in and can write about my adventure so far.

So my first impression of Djibouti was that it was hot, dirty, stinky, and dusty.  I didn't actually get to leave the Camp for the first week and a half, so no real stories to tell there.  I spent my time at the movie theater and inside my CLU (Containerized Living Unit) to stay cool.  I went for my first run three days after I arrived.  It was a little shock to the system to be running in such heat, but I have since built back up to a 3 mile run that I normally start at 5:00a.m. when it's only 87-92 degrees outside.  My goal while I'm here is to run 200 miles to get the free t-shirt.  14.8 miles down, 185.2 miles to go.  I'm not going to lie, it's a real struggle every morning that I'm planning on running to not hit snooze and go back to sleep, but instead get up and go outside and sweat like crazy for 3 miles.

The first time I went off base was for a going away dinner for one of the people re-deploying.  We went to the Djibouti Bowling Alley!  I was excited to maybe get a game or two in, but unfortunately we never bowled.  Another large group from the Camp had also come for a going away party. They got in ahead of us and were seated first. It took 3 1/2 hours to get seated, have our orders taken, and the food brought out.  It was a long evening and the food was ok.  Maybe I'll make it back again to actually bowl!

The next opportunity I had to leave Camp was to head to Menelik Square in Djibouti City to drop off some rungu sticks that were going to be engraved as going away gifts for those re-deploying.  We ate at a restaurant called La Fontaine and the food was excellent!  We had a dish that had finally chopped bread (similar to pita bread) along with egg, cabbage, onion, banana, some sort of sauce, french fries, and either chicken or beef.  Both were delicious and surprisingly filling.  The meal was made on a grill outside where we could watch and talk with the cook.  The cook was offering us some free French lessons.  I also had a bottle of Coke with my meal that I wasn't able to finish and took with me. As we walked down the street I had several children ask me for my Coke.  I felt so bad, but I told them no.  I should have said yes, as I never ended up finishing my drink anyway.  After dinner, it was on to do a little shopping where I bought two wood carved vases.

 

This past Sunday was my first trip off Camp during day light hours. As we drove through the city I noticed a lot of garbage and run-down looking buildings.  As we got more to the outskirts of town, I started seeing shanty towns and even more garbage.  Once we got out of town I saw a lot of rock.  I was really surprised at how rocky the landscape was.  There was a lot of volcanic activity here which probably explains the rocks.  We drove for about an hour and half to get to our destination to
include driving through a part of the Grand Bara desert.  I think this is the first desert I've been too, that actually looked like a desert that we're taught.  Nothing but sand for miles.  Our destination was the second largest city in Djibouti, Al Sabieh, where there are some old Italian bunkers from WWII. As we approached the gate for the city our bus driver was told we had to check in at the police station. (They have a gate to the city to prevent refugees from coming in.)  We drove to the
police station where a group of people and kids soon found us as the main attraction.  I felt like the animal at the zoo, as all the children were looking at us through the bus windows.  Most were friendly and waved, but some provided us other gestures of "welcome".  Once we were cleared we went to another government building, where I think the children just followed our bus.  With final approval we headed back to the bunkers and started our hiking.

We got to the first bunker and climbed in over a pile of plastic bags.  I have no idea where all of these bags come from.  We went right to a dead end, then we went left to another dead end.  After that, I felt more comfortable just hiking the big hills and getting a good view of the city. Unfortunately it was a really hazy day, so visibility wasn't perfect.  Several members of the group explored the bunkers and tunnels and reported back their experience with bats, guano, and spiders.  Yeah, no thanks. I enjoyed my time in the fresh air.  At one of the bunkers I could see the bats flying by the entrance.  I thought this would be a good video moment.  Wouldn't you know, one flew right out and towards me as I was filming?  Of course I screamed and laughed at the same time.  After a couple of hours we all had our fill and were ready for lunch.

We headed to a local restaurant where I had a beef kebab. It was very tasty, although I was surprised when I bit into what I thought was a regular green pepper, to find out that it was a jalapeno or something hotter than a regular green pepper.  I was told by others with the same meal that they weren't hot, but I beg to differ.  I gladly gave them away. The meat was chewey but tasty and I'm happy to report that I didn't get sick from the meal (always a concern when eating food outside of Camp).

We wanted to go shopping at the town market, but it was only 2:45 and the markets don't open back up until around 4:00.  Lucky for us, the place where we ate also had a house where American military members stay that we were able to hang out in to relax and watch a little tv.  At 4:00 we got directions to the market and made our way.  Well . . .we thought we had directions to the market. Needless to say, other than khat stands (khat is a legal drug in Djibouti that is chewed, but has similar effects of cocaine) and garments, we didn't really see a market.  We gave up and headed home.

This next's week adventure takes me to an Ethiopian Dinner Dance show on Friday, and on Sunday we're hoping for a trip to Lake Assal (the saltiest in the world) and Green Tire beach.  (The name of the beach received it's name by the green tire landmark where you turn to get there.)