day at the beach

well i finally found something nice in djibouti. the beach. we call it french beach. the french call it something else but i cant understand what they are saying (4 years of french in high school by the way). it is beautiful there. it is truly an escape of this miserable country.
The journey there is interesting. you get a great look at africa. acacia trees are abundant.

once we left the main road we would run across these kids standing in the middle of the road with shovels trying to get us to stop so we could pay them for "fixing" the road. all they do is sit around until they see a car and then stand up and shovel some dirt from the side of the road into the middle. on my first day here the navy lawyer described this place as a nation of beggars and thieves and i thought he was quite cynical. now i understand what he meat. not only this little ploy but anytime you park your car out in town someone will come and up and "wash" your car with a dirty rag and then expect you to pay him for it. the best part is that no matter how much you give him, it is never enough and he will argue with you that you need to give him more.

anyway, the guy herding these camels didn't harass us.

It is wonderful when you first round the corner and see the beach. it is refreshing to see something nice.

from there on, its 4 wheeling all the way down to the water. it is a pretty sweet set up. there are little shaded areas with some chairs and tables set up. you pull the truck right up to it. it would be the ideal spot for a beach barbecue if we could drink of base or had food to barbecue.


it is a sweet beach. the use of these chairs and table cost of coarse. the price is not all that bad. it comes out to about 3 bucks per person.

man i will tell you it is hard to beat setting your chair right on the water and just sitting there. reading, thinking, not thinking whatever you want. the feeling of not being in Djibouti just washes over you. There is no better spot on the whole horn of africa than this one right here.
It is so easy to just be, and forget. forget the smell, forget the heat, forget the dirt, forget the beggars. it is nice. the only way to make it perfect would be a nice cold one. oh did i say a cold one. i meant a goat. what is a trip to the beach without a goat.

there are still signs of this being djibouti, though. there are a few abandoned dilapidated buildings around as well. i think this picture is worth 1000 of my words to define the contrast of the DJibouti vs the beach.

despite my sarcasm in several of these posts i believe this place to be exceptionally beautiful. i will be back on many free sundays to just get away.





i sure wish we were allowed to drink beer off of base. this picture is a lot easier to explain if we had been drinking.

for my next post i will try to show my trip to lake asal. the worlds saltiest body of water. bet you cant wait.