back in the heat

So here I am, back with the crew in the middle of sunny Afghanistan. All apologies for not posting sooner, however there was a little hick up that had me stressing over the last week or so. The main change since I was on holidays is the heat. It now reaches mid 40s during the day and this is just the beginning. I was on patrol the other day and drank 5 litres of water in 5 hours. With the heat, more of the guys are outside now hitting the few weights we have and getting in shape for the summer back home. I forgot my running shoes in KAF so it looks like I'll be running around our HLS in my worn out boots. I offered the guys tonight to be their personal trainer for 50 bux a month promising a body like mine in no time. Blatch was the only one who took me up on the offer, however I did sense a little bit of sarcasm in his voice. A big change from before I left, the atmosphere is a little more lively around here and the guys are hanging out in the frsh air a lot more. The whole area has turned green. The birds are chirping each morning and today I saw the first mutant wasp returning from the winter hiatus. Even the locals are out more and working their fields.
We have a couple of busy months ahead and everyone is looking for that end of the line when we all go home. We have a little more road to walk but it certainly is in our sights. Red and Stink are currently down the road doing the same thing we're doing over here. We have a couple of additions to the section fo rthe next little while. Ripley and Johnson are now with us. The rest of the crew is all doing fine, minus the gastral that is flaoting around the camp. Everyone is down witht he sickness and theres no end to it. Riley is now in the sick tent, quarantined due to the fact he was puking up his meal tonight. Ole Hawk ahd the squirts for a couple of days but it seemed to have passed. I'm doing alright and after the food poisoning in Cuba, I reckon I can handle a little gastral if I happen to get it. Bergeron worked his abs a little to hard the other day and was moaning all last night, but seems to be doing better today. I thought for a minute he may have appendicitis, but now it seems to be fine.
With the increase in man power, our patrol schedule has eased up so to speak. This is a blessing as the heat drains so much more out of you when out. Everyone is good in D COY and as I said, we're all looking forward to the return back to Canada.
I'll try to write more often and keep you all posted on whats up.... til the next.. out

Cuban living

After a week in the somewhat sunny Cuban sands we are back in Edmonton, one of us with a little more red spots than the other. It was a great trip but obviuosly too short and with a couple of minor inconveniences. I reckon we got into Cuba around 1500 last Sunday and made our way through Cuban customs. I was a little nervous about our encounter with the federalis being that I had declared that I had been in Afghanistan in the last 15 days and had to mention this on their health questionaire. We weren't sure if visitng a malaria infested country would have any impact on us getting through the border. Turns out it didn't and the Cubans were more concerned with H1N1 than anything else as they were all equipped with face shields and wearing them stylishly. They took our little health sheets and ran off and next thing we know we were off to our little resort.

Sandals is located in Varadero on the Hicacos peninsula which runs West to East along the North shore of Cuba. The place was beautiful! Palm trees everywhere and a nice treeline seperating the resort from the shoreline. This would prove essential as the northern winds were uncommonly high for this time of year. We had heard there was a constant breeze in Cuba, but we did not expect 20-30km gusts all week long. Some days were better than others, but all in all the weather for the week was somewhat disappointing. Chandra babe and I made the most of it and did not let it ruin our little vacacione.

After a quiet night at the main bar, sipping daiquiris and mohitos, smoking delicious cigars, and making small chat with other vacationers we made our way to the room and kicked back. The next day we were up bright and early exploring the resort a little better and making our way for breakfast. We learned that you have to get up early to put a towel on the beach chair you would like to use that day, but that did not stop us from finding 2 poolside chairs after some grub. The sun cooked us all day long and at 2 we met up with our agent from Air Canada. He gave us a few tips on Cuba and asked us if we wanted to book any tours. We booked 1 and we paid for a bus into Havanna for a day trip. A couple we had met the night before had just arrived on the flight prior to ours and had suggested we go on the catamaran tour which we would be offered the chance to swim with dolphins. Steve or rather "Scuba Steve" and Sara would become good friends over the next few days, truly enjoying each others company.

That night we had a few drinks and busted a groove down at Club Varadero. There were only a few of us in the bar and the bass was thumping off of hollow walls. When we arrived YMCA was hoarding the air and up on stage were two dudes, one with his shirt tied into a bra type thing doing the arm motions to the beat. They muckled onto me so I figured what the heck and did a little shaking of my own. We spent an hour or two there, watching old men go bizzerk with their wives, and doing a little grooving of our own.

The next day was pure beach...... we spent the day in the sun and water. It was too murky for snorkeling but we swam around all the same. The drinks kept a coming and my little feminito came strutting back from the washroom with a couple of coconuts in each hand, each filled with cocnut milk and rum. We skipped lunch and were kept hypnotized by the constant sounds of the waves crashing into the shore. That night we met a Scottish couple, Lenny and James ( for some reason I kept calling him Dave). Scuba and Sara came along shortly thereafter and the 6 of us went to the club to do some ass shaking. We made it until about one. Steve I gotta say had some pretty cool dance moves out there. Chandra and I made our way out for a late lunch at the Italian restaurant. I checked out the salad bar and brought back what I had thought was cheese curds. Popped one in my mouth and decided that the curds were bland and I wouldn't be eating those anymore. Chandra asked for a bite and abruptly spit the chunk out. She said " its margarine." I guess it was, however I had never seen margarine covered in ice on display in a buffet. Lesson learned.

Havanna bound the next day. 0730 departure from the resort with a guide named Fidel and Felix for a driver. There was another Cuban "camera guy" on the bus sporting a red and white track suit. Gangsta.... So we head off and Fidel just wouldn't shut up.. yack yack yack...... kept saying Ju kno? My head was nipping and I wasn't in the mood for Cuban English blaring over the overhead speaker system. At any rate, I thanked our stars we had decided not to do the tour and were only in it for the ride to Havanna. Half way to the city we stopped for a bathroom/rest stop. Everybody gets off and there are two Cubans standing sentry by the outhouse/washrooms by the shore. They wanted pesos for our deposits. We had brought our own toilet paper so no pesos for them. We reached our destination and set off on our own for the day. We weren't too interested in seeing Havanna and we spent most of the day sniffing out cigar shops and little nick nack shops. I felt bad at one point, a little old lady was trying to get Chandras attention and I turned around and said "whatever it is you're selling, we're not buyin." Turns out she was asking for candy for her baby... whoops......The gringos were hounding me to buy cigars and I would tell them not so politely that " I wanted to get them out of the country." They'd go " no banana, no banana" and I'd reply " not worth the hassle." Relentless....... Shortly after noon a waiter came out from a restaurant and asked us if we wanted to have lunch in his diner. He showed us his menu and we ended up sitting upstairs in his joint. This would turn out to be a BIG mistake. I had the beef and Chandra had the fish.

Now had I realized at the time we were eating at an Irish Cuban restaurant called "O'Reilly's" we probably would have never walked through the door. It wasn't until later, upon looking at a characature which a Cuban did of me in protest, representing me shaking my finger saying "no thanks" that I saw the name of the restaurant in the top right corner. Now, I started feeling a little gassy about an hour after eating and let Chandra know I wasn't feeling all that well. The day carried on and we continued to peruse the shops and buy cigars. We got to the link up point where we were to meet the bus to transport us back to Varadero. It was a large scale flea market on the port filled with Cubans punting their wears. By this point I knew something was up but figured my cast iron stomach would sort itself out. My stomach would let me down on this one. We got to the bus about a half hour early and I lied across two seats. The bus driver was on the bus when we got there but soon after got off. The feeling of impending vomit was coming on strong about 20 minutes before leaving. I ran to the front of the bus and the damn bus driver had locked us in. I ran to the back of the bus and the bathroom was locked. I was stuck but the feeling had passed. Chandra was not happy. My guts were killing me and I was dying. The tour got on the bus and we began the journey back. The motion of the bus was what did it, because 20 minutes in I was hurling into a tobacco bag. The only evidence of what was going on was the odour of my juices wafting into the air...Totally stealth like. I don't think anyone but the few folks sitting in our vicinity knew I was throwing up. Now that I was finished losing my lunch Chandra was paking the bag up and asking the bus driver to put the bag in the bathroom... He said, " just throw it in the garbage." nice smell coming out of there I reckon. I thought the worst was over...............nope. I'll spare you the details, but as soon as the bus hit the rest stop there was no pesos for the toilet paper lady and I think I went through a whole roll. Got back into the bus and had to shit yet again. This time there would be no rest stop. I was frozen, sweating and had my head between my legs. I recall thinking how anyone wasn't saying anything about the frigid air conditioning spewing forth from the vents. Afterwards Chandra would say the bus was cooking and everyone was sweating. I was messed up. Needless to say the night was a write off. I spent the next 12 hours sweating through the bed sheets and freezing my ass off. Not to mention, making a trip to the toilet every 30 minutes or so. The next day I was feeling a lot better, but the frequent trips to the toilet would not cease. Spent the day by the swimming pool with our friends watching some sort of Cuban dance show and taking in the sun.

I was certainly making the best of a terrible situation. I was NOT going to let some sort of sickness ruin our vacation. Thursday blew right by with another quiet night and onto Friday for our catamaran trip and swim with the dolphins. Scuba Steve and Sarah met up with us by the pool and we made our way to the bus. The day was colder than the rest of the week had been and the constant strain of the wind kept everyone in a chill. It did not stop us from jumping on the boat and commencing our day excursion. I'm pretty sure everyone was in survival mode on the way out to sea. That is, except for a few Ruskies who got into the vodka almost immediately after boarding. The four of us had a few drinks and huddled up under our towels. It wasn't long before I as back into the toilet. What a chore. Probably should have just taped a colostomy bag to my leg and went with it. As I said, made the best of a bad situation and soldiered on so to speak. The dolphin thing was somewhat of a let down. I had envisioned us hanging on to their fins and ripping around the sea. Well, as it turned out, it was a open water pen with about 10 dolphins swimming around. The only swimming we did, was wading on an underwater platform in front of the fish and making contact that way. Still, pretty cool stuff. I, nor Chandra had never seen a dolphin before. Lunch was spent on a beach front in the middle of the water. They served up lobster, chicken, and some other fishy items. I was reluctant to eat anything but figured how much worse could it get. The food was pretty good and we had a couple of hours to kill on the beach. Saw a stack of chairs and went to get one. The guy was like "one pesos for each chair", pfft... no pesos for chair. We layed our towels out and chilled on the sand. Made our way back to port, stopping along the way to do little Cuban party dances. By this time, the Russians were hammered...........and obnoxious....... but he was freekin HUGE and there would be no snide remarks from this guy. We had intended to goi out dancing that night, but I still wasn't feeling up to snotch. Chandra babe hung out with me the whole time during my internal eruptions....what a sweetheart..

Saturday..... what a beautiful day.... on the beach the entire day.. from 0900-1600 in the sun and loving it. I felt 100% better and got back to smoking cigars. We both loved it. That night Scuba, Sarah and us went for dinner at one of the restaurants. Had a great evening with them and hope to one day link up with them again. Sunday came inevitably and we scored a few more hours out of the beach before hitching our ride to the airport.

Needless to say, the trip was well needed and a barrel of fun and laughs. We will be going back some day, but next time for 2 weeks......... 5 more days in beautiful Canada and then back to the other side....... keep ya posted... out