Living it up on the island of Hvar

Croatia is turning out to be one of the most wonderful places we have ever visited. And how could it not be, the people are great, the weather is FABULOUS, there is great wine and excellent beer, and you get meat with every meal. Rumor has it Croatians are "suspicious of people who don't drink".

Well, we are presently on the wonderful island of Hvar. I am actually writing this outside an internet cafe on a public square with a lovely tree covered in bougainvilla, overlooking the harbor. True to ourselves we haven't actually sat down and relaxed, instead we've gone mountain biking, taken a ferry to another island, rented scooters and explored the entire island and numerous of their wonderful wineries yesterday. Today we are diving and actually went down to 40m/120ft on our first dive, a first for us, and a heck more colder than the Red Sea. Tomorrow we have rented sea kayaks and will go exploring, just have to make sure we navigate this busy canal properly between the sail boats and all the ferries.

The weather here is wonderful, the people are great and we are having just a great time. We're here until Saturday from where we take a ferry over to Dubrovnik. I will keep you posted. Oh, and another thing, there are cute dogs EVERYWHERE!

I think we're planning on checking out the nightlife tonight, you know, leave the folks at home and come hang out with all the beautiful people from all over Europe that seems to have congregated here. Will update on how that goes.

Zagreb

(Let me preface this by apologizing in advance for the lack of proper punctuation and any substitutions of Ys for z's and vice versa - the Croatian keyboard is a bit tricky)

So, our trip started in Amman as usual, and as seems to be the norm these days we saw a familiar face. This time it was a close friend who recently departed post for a next assignment in Angola. Surely we shared a few beers and were on the same flight to Istanbul, from where he continued onto his home in Europe to gather up his family for the long haul to the US and then onto west Africa.

Chris and I spent the night in the Airport Hotel, nothing great and certainly a bit of a rip-off, but hey, you cant beat the commute from the one end of the international terminal to the other. Bought some spices and a bottle of some Turkish licorice liqueur for our dads and boarded our flight to Zagreb with what turned out to be the Turkish, Singapore, Turkmenistan and Kazhikstanian national shooting teams. I'm telling you, I haven't had that much fire power on a plane since sharing a flight with a bunch of PSDs into Baghdad. Thankfully I told Chris for once we are off the hook at customs, that's for sure.

On final descent into Zagreb we marveled at the greenery, and realized just how much we have missed it, since we have honestly not seen any green pastures now for over 6 months (what with vacationing largely in deserts in the middle east and what not). Then I spot a small column of smoke rising from beyond one of the perfectly-manicured squares of farmland and commented that I wonder if I could ever see a thin column of smoke again in my life without thinking of a car bomb.

The airport is tiny, lacking even custom forms. We grabbed a taxi and are now enjoying two days in the beautiful Regent Esplanade Zagreb. Chris (insert apostrophe here) folks arrive tomorrow, but tonight we are planning on a traditional Croatian dinner, whatever that entails, I will be sure to update.

PS: Finished Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses on the plane today, I am hooked, very JM Coetzee'esque.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr - R&R

Turns out that waiting over 6 months before your first real R&R is a bit much. While we took two 1-week breaks, one never really relaxes since on day 3 you already have to start planning the cab ride back to the airport. So today we are enroute to a 3-week R&R that (yes, once again) involves both sets of parents. Seems like a pretty good time to get out of the Middle East, and let me tell you, I'm packing for it too. See, I've pretty much traveled almost exclusively in the Middle East for the past year, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, the EyeZee...that all I ever take with me is a bug-out bag (military-style backpack that will fit a Ford Explorer if you try hard enough) filled with some luna bars and a whole lot of scarves to cover up. This time, na-ah, I think I packed every tank top and summer dress this side of the Euphrates.

So, caught a Helo out to BIAP this afternoon, and I have to tell you - it must be 150 degrees in the propwash of the Black Hawk - no kidding. It's so hot your jewelry will catch your skin on fire, and the velocity of the wind through the open door makes your face move about 4 inches to the left. Still better than waiting for the Rhino and getting in at 0300 for an early morning show-time.

Anyway, heloed in, now we're at a camp at Baghdad airport where we spend the night. Took the van to the DFAC (dining facility) but were refused entry because two colleagues were wearing open-toed shoes, and I was kicked out at the second "check point" for wearing a t-shirt with no sleeves - or as they put it "no armpits!" Totally ticked-off and horrendously hungry we took another 15-min ride back to camp and decided it wasn't worth going back, instead opting for a Subway, the only real "dining" option here. Looks like its MREs for breakfast, hope I get one with M&Ms in it.

Tomorrow we take mil air to Amman, then straight to the international airport and hopefully we'll make our flight to Istanbul where we spend the night in the totally overpriced, though fabulously convenient Airport Hotel, situated in the international terminal. And Thursday onto Zagreb where we splurged and booked ourselves into the Regent Esplanade, a classic built in 1925.

Next update - Istanbul...stay tuned.

Cooling trend

I saw some friends I haven't seen in quite some time, MOSQUITOS! So I knew the weather must have dropped by just enough to have the pesty buggers come out again. Sure enough, today is only 109.4F/43C. I guess bring out the citronella candles.

Home made Pizzas

We had some friends over the other night for home made pizzas on the grill. The trick is to roll the dough thick enough to easily handle, grill them on both sides, then add toppings of choice, and if you have, cover with a Webber lid or some other device to trap the eat to melt the cheese.

Baghdad Idols

(left: the 14 first-ever Baghdad Idols contestants - I'm in black second from left)

I decided it would serve my war stories collection well to utterly embarrass myself in front of a couple hundred of my closest friends, as well as a number of ambassadors and generals in town. I therefore participated in the Baghdad Idols contest, recently held at the Palace Pool stage. Not belonging to the "karaoke mob", (and hence, not familiar with the setup of backup music) I showed up with initially two friends to accompany me, which quickly grew to four, and so the terror of "the band" soon spread through my fellow 13 contestants. We sang a nice rendition of Tracy Chapman's "Give me Reason to Stay here" (somehow seemed fitting) but alas, did not advance to the second round ( I do think the "band" was a bit too far outside the box), but what a great time we had! All the contestants were invited to perform on the final night before the sing-off between the final two contestants. A minor (okay, major) technical malfunction didn't do my slice of "American Pie" any favors, but crowd pleaser that it is, I received a hearty help-along from the crowd.

(Right: "Give me one reason to stay here....and I'll turn right back around..." -better be a good one though)

Keeping us entertained

(left) Chris with relay team-mates at the awards ceremony.

With a dearth of viable entertainment options, (since Bono and the "Blue Man Group" are less than likely to appear in neon lights around Baghdad anytime soon) we often have to revert to participating in events ourselves. So it was on a scortcher in May that Chris suited up and strutted his stuff in the monthly MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) swim meet hosted at the Liberty Pool. While he was the strongest starter (see the dive) he just could not beat the West Pointer nor the University of Hawaii NCAA national competitor. A silver and bronze medal will have to suffice...for now.

Please note, it was so hot the participants had to douse their medals in cool water not to singe their chests!