Planes and more planes

29 march
On the way home…giddy with joy (not that you’d know it looking my my usual grumpy visage) sad to leave so many good friends behind, but in a few hours, say 15, I will see my lovely familia.. Csnt wait for the boy to run to me yelling daddy ….look forward on a professional basis to return to Tanzania..lots to do in terms of media intelligence and analysis.., great opportunities…and the chance to have spent feo years as COO of a successful startup in Africa….yeah. Meanwhile, in Dubai at the airport…Heineken lounge…guys in turbans drinking extra cold pints, skyping with family in Colombia…semana santa…everyone at abuelita’s house…. Good news, Nina pulled through the surgery and is on her way to recovery thank God… so CMA is back in jersey and I wont have to cab it home.  thats it. A quick note, off to the gate!!

Spiny Lobster! Delish post gym meal!

27 March, 2013
Lobster.Tuesday night we had lobster carbornara, but without the bacon. See for the past six weeks, four and sometimes five nights a week, my friends and I are spending our nights at the gym. Every long term stay in Dar is different. The first five week stay was the quietest one. I was at the same house as my boss, had no car and hardly knew anyone so my non-working hours were spent at the english pub, The George and Dragon, at The Karambezi restaurant at the Seacliff Hotel, at the Village in Seacliff.. and that was it. Lunch was usually at Subway (yes! ) – The only and only US fast food currently available in Dar.. although KFC is opening up a rather large location in Mikocheni, which of course will do nothing to improve the horrendous traffic experienced on Old Bagamoyo road on a daily basis(even Saturday and Sunday – think Route 1 in Central Jersey, think Rockville Pike in Maryland, think La Caracas in Bogota.) The second stay, the second stay was about exploring. Had my own apartment, saw a lot of EPL and La Liga football over at Q-Bar, and spent a lot of time on the weekends at the beaches over in Kigamboni. The third stay was a bit more of the same, but with a lot more exploring of the local bars and began interspersing Saturday and Sunday golf with the beach and football in the ex-pat league. This last trip – some beach, some football, some golf and lots of time at night in the gym.. but lifting weights makes you hungry, so we have to eat. So four, five times a week, we hit the gym and then head upstairs to my friend’s place – steak, fish, more steak, more fish, pasta or rice, always salad or veggies, a cold Castle Light, some water.. and last night.. Lobster! What a treat. All helped, and all were stuffed.

On Friday I’m off to the states for a few weeks or for good – don’t know yet which it will be. I do plan to come back, but that’s out of my hands at this point. So I’ll backfill the last month or so in the next few posts.

Gooooollllll!!!!

22 March 27, 2013
Friday night, World Cup Qualified on the schedule, not airing live through Super Sport (South African version of ESPN, but with 7 channels, showing football—not nfl—cricket, extreme sports, motor sports, sailing, golf, tennis, basketball, gymnastics, etc.) but on a one hour delay from Barranquilla.. so had to wait for the game to start at 12:45 am Saturday morning. Ok, no problem – on a Friday night we’re usually ½ or 2/3 through the night by then. Thing was, we were invited to a birthday party for someone we hadn’t met – no problem. One, little two, little three, little four, little colombians.. that’s why we were there! Nearly all Colombians in Dar .. hosted a birthday party for a Brazilian from the embassy , danced salsa, ate tons of empanadas, drank plenty of whisky on the rocks.. and waited to watch our tricolor beat up on Bolivia all the way until three in the morning. Check off another off the unexpected bucket list – watch WC qualifier nearly live from East Africa while eating empanadas. Check.