I’m really tired and don’t even feel like I have done anything yet. I’m still in Naples, flying out tomorrow to start my Dakar sojourn in earnest. I’ve spent the past two days performing a  mind-numbing battery of administrative check-ins that began and ended with some interesting statements:

Morning of Day One: “I am giving you a direct order- to take your malaria medication.” 

-My administrative superior here in Naples (really, a good guy)

Afternoon of Day Two: “Although it’s expensive, I would recommend ransom insurance. I have it!” 

-Retired Special Forces civilian (who has been in way too many extreme situations over the years)

Yes, seriously. These are my professional souvenirs of my time here in Naples.The only other bit of information that I seem to recall was that I can survive for about five days without water.  I got a lot of random advice while here, none of which I have really retained- beyond what I just repeated to you.

Now, before my family gets all hyped up about the prospect of me being kidnapped, I’ll just say that these types of things are standard operating procedure for personnel who are sent off on their own to random locations like Afghanistan or the Congo- heck, everywhere. Remember, Dakar is safer than Washington DC (not a hard feat, really). For the Navy, these types of procedures are more of a CYA (cover your ass). As far as I’m concerned, I’m a target no matter where I go, and I could just as easily step off the curb here on base and be creamed by one of these tiny eurocars. So case closed: I’m not getting ransom insurance, unless I decide to command a container ship off the Horn of Africa in the near future. 

I was going to go into town this evening, but I am just too tired to make the trip. Jet lag had me awake at two this morning, after going to bed at 11pm and eating very, very well last night. 

 

Ransom and malaria aside, I did get to do a little bit of recreational activity during my short stay here. A very kind former shipmate, now stationed in Naples offered to let me stay with him and his wife. I got to do two activities that I never imagined I’d be doing on this stop. The first was to go for a run inside an extinct volcano- a feat I recorded on my Garmin (the ultimate running geek souvenir). The upload of the loop isn’t impressive, but here’s an overhead image of the crater:

The second involved eating really, really amazing seafood…so fresh, it was still moving on the plate. No really, the clams were still squishing themselves in and out of their long, skinny shells as we poked at them. Sadly, I have no video for this, and that’s probably a good thing for those of you who are not experiencing the anesthetic effect of wine. I felt almost Anthony Bourdainesque in my culinary fortitude, as I am pretty sure that I consumed about 20 pounds worth of raw, delicious seafood last night. Normal clams, mystery clams, squid, shrimp, fish…combine it with a lot of excellent wine and the festivities were really quite a blur.

So with these flashes of random souvenirs in mind, I think I am going to trudge back to my hotel room. I have to give much thanks to Joe and Melissa for hosting me, and also to Joe for letting me know  after I had already checked in that my hotel gets routinely robbed. Thanks, Shipmate! Gotta love Naples.

In all seriousness, I can’t say how many times I have utilized my (sometimes thin) network of Navy contacts to get some sort of moral, financial or other support. You can barely know a person and still reach out to them, you’ll almost always have a pretty good shot at getting some kind of assistance, anywhere on the globe.

I am sure that tomorrow will be the start of a challenging adventure (to say the least), but once I am settled, I intend to return the favor to as many people as I can.