A Very Secretive Posting

November 2016

Medellin

Being that it is my last hitch with TAQA and I need to train my replacement I was only out for two weeks.  A week of jet lag and a week of relaxing and seeing more of Medellin. My buddy John B**d** was down from ^^^^^ and we spent some time seeing some of the sights which was great as I am too fecking lazy to do it otherwise.

He went on a walking tour first but I has some illegal stuff to take care of. Together we went on a fruit tour which was great. Colombia has over 400 different types of fruit over 400 different  types of noises to keep you awake at night. We also went to the Museum of Modern Art, Parque LLeras, Son Havana (for extremely hot and sexy salsa dancing but not with each other), exploring the local metro,  Botanical Gardens, local food, and we did a bunch of other cool shit that I can’t detail because I am tired and my neck hurts. But we did play of lot of hockey on Xbox. Hanging out with Dave and Sarah was also great but Dave is all grown up now and had a lot of work to do before his amazing trip to Antarctica. Sara's Spanish is not very good so I spent a lot of time tutoring her as well. 

Jimmy B**D** will also continue on with his adventure as now I am back to work in Iraq for the last time.  There is a change of plans regarding travel. I was planning on going to Erbil to Vietnam to start my gap year but I need to go back to Nicaragua and Colombia for various reasons and I will start my travel from there. However before I arrive back in Central and South America I plan to see Oman and another place that I can’t mention in a public form just in case I go back to work in the Middle East. Yeah, figure that out secret police. 

Random Picture of Random Church

Cable Car in Medellin

JFK

John Foster Dulles in Metro

The Fruit Lady

Thoughts Arrive

This is me exposing my soul

Oh I love the night live, I like to boogie...

This is my favorite fruit in all the land just in case someone will ask you

Feck, we drank til 6 in the morning 

Dubai Airport

Dubai from the air

Add caption

Plants for sale

Fruit that I did not like

getting ready to make local bread

Fruit

More fruit

Not sure why I even took the picture

Cook Menu

Herb Garden

Feck sakes, this would imply this dude is in my soul. 

How I view relationships 

Can't touch this

No internal will reward us now for wasting the dawn

My secret local family 

Fruit again

You can blame this 

Locals watching you guessed it, Soccer

Not fruit

Is this Fruit

Market

More Market 

View Medellin

Nov even crowded 

Scar Tissue 

Pharmacy 

I always wanted a dog

Alone with my thoughts 

Pretty much how my body works

As I seen my future

MJ

A great band 

He smashed his thumb

I was scared to death of this fecking thing

View from my bedroom 

Xmas in Colombia with all of the folks back home

The Semi Autonomous Region of Kurdistan.

Iraq

October / November 2016

Awat Yasin will be quick to point out that I don’t work in Iraq but in Kurdistan but was we all know Awat is fervent Kurdish national and possibly a...

I started the hitch in Abu Dhabi but went into Iraq to do some work but then I found out that January will be my last hitch so I working out of Iraq to train my replacement.  I am out for two weeks and then back for a little less than 8 and that will be it. Even before the price of oil tanked again I was not planning on trying to find another job right away. I am taking my GAP year, albeit 34 years late.

I am planning on starting in Vietnam and then going from there.  I will worry about work in a year or two and if not to paraphrase William Lyon MacKenzie King – RETIREMENT IF NECESSARY BUT NOT NECESSARILY RETIREMENT.

I am tired damn it and wants some time off.

Working in Iraq is pretty normal considering we are only 80kms from Mosul but the Kurds are tough and resilient (they have to be) and life goes on. The Peshmerga are brave, selfless, fearless and keep Erbil safe from those Daesh fuckers.

I am currently in the Frankfurt Airport  killing and wasting time until my next flight. 4 hours to kill here and then the long flight to Bogota and the Medellin. Only out for two weeks but being that it is my last hitch I don’t mind. My buddy Jack is coming down and Dave and Sara will be there so it should be fun.

I also have a lot of stuff to get done being that I may not be back for a year or two.

Onward,

If I had any hard currency I would buy you a drink

Rained like a mothershutyomouth last night. There has been a prolonged drought so it is ultimately a good thing so no fecking complaining. I had to get up at five to make the flight to Managua so I woke up at three and couldn’t get back to sleep. Currently 5 hours to kill in the Panama City airport before we fly to Havana.

Feck this airport is expensive. 30 dollars for a few things. I thought I was in Tokyo. After freezing our arses off in the airport we made it to Cuba. Typical delays with Margarita traveling on a Colombian passport. Last ones through again but not really any issues. I brought a ton of stuff down for the locals so I was concerned about customs but no issues.

As we were waiting to get our bags my friend  Brad’s flight arrived so we went through customs and got a taxi together. Great seeing Brad. So great in fact that the two light drinkers stayed up to 6 in the morning drinking rum.

A little foggy the next day but not too bad. Margarita loves salsa music, Brad loves rum and cigars and well Frankieboy just fecking loves the world. I worked in Cuba for 4 months a few years ago and I have already seen more of Cuba in 2 days than I did in 4 months.

Walked around a lot, saw Revolution Square, Museum, the ubiquitous vintage cars and the music every two feet. First two days have  been great.

Music seems to be everywhere here but not sure what is good and what is bad. All sounds good to me. Margarita knows a lot about Salsa music so we will venture out to find some good spots tonight.

Lots of Rigatoni music (if that is how you spell it but I am here to dance not spell). We took a long taxi ride, steep cover charge for here but it was a good night and a very late one for me. I think we got home at 4 in the morning. 

I met up with a chap I use to work with last night. He took us around to some local spots and had a great local dinner. I had chicken and pork for the first time in so many years. Both were good but I don’t think it will turn me into a meat eater again.

Very friendly locals here and everyone seems to be hustling with something to make a few extra dollars. Edel whom I worked with here years ago said life has gotten better but not that great. The stupid fecking embargo (are you reading this Obama) still has a crippling effect on the economy.

Havana is as I remember it, old, a bit crumbling down and immensely charming. I guess that same way I would describe myself. Vintage cars, impressive architecture, vibrant and many sexy women.

Not sure what it is but the three of us seem to be tired all the time. Besides the heat I think it is the constant noise near the hotel and we don’t sleep at night.

The good is good here but I think it is widely held that you don’t come to Cuba for the food. I ate pork for the first time in 10 years and ate a bit of chicken. My reward is the flu.

People seem to be hustling here all the time with taxis, vintage car tours and family restaurants. Not that bad all in all.

Now at the airport waiting for a flight to Panama-Amsterdam-Dubai and then the drive to AD. I arrive at about midnight and will be at work the next day for 8. First week is always a grind with jetlag but beats a real job.

Margarita and Brad were excellent traveling companions. Both are easy going and just go with the flow. It was great seeing Brad again and see his passion for cigars.

I didn’t think banking through Abu Dhabi and Jersey would be an issue but I thought wrong. We basically ran out of money to the point I was counting change. I felt like a 19 year old packpacker. Had to be very aware of prices and had to find the cheapest food possible. Large price discrepancy here but overall not a big deal.

Finally, I learned the hard way that not every Cuban is familiar with Razor Ramone. I would ask if they knew where he was and they would say feck off Gringo. Then I would get pissed off and flick my toothpick at them.

This picture is illegal

Brad the Revolutionary