It's an oil town that has grown up over the past 20-30 years with the increased production of oil and gas in West Africa. There are thousands of British and American ex-pats living and working there.
While this alcoholic always appreciated a nice, air-conditioned bar, I also enjoyed getting down and dirty in small, out-of-the-way bars. Especially in Africa. And Louisiana (but those are stories for another day).
One day, I had hired a small boat to run offshore to pick up a couple of crewmembers who had to go home for one reason or another. We (my driver and I) drove a short way out of town to meet this boat on its arrival; about a 30 minute drive. The boat would arrive at a small, dirty old dock that was home to a few rusting barges. To get there, we drove down a one-lane dirt road. We picked up the 2 men and left.
On the way back to town, I asked the driver to stop at a shack that had a beer sign out front. I was thirsty. The shack was about 10'X10' and had a thatch roof for some shade. The beer was kept cool in an old refrigerator. They also had a hot plate for cooking whatever food they might have around. The four of us sat there for 2 solid hours drinking beer. We got to know the locals and bought them a few beers as well. By their standards, we were rich men. They told us that we were the first white men to ever drink at their place. We had a great time.
Over the next 2 years, I returned to that place many times. I became a regular. The owner was trying to get into the marine offshore business as well. Note his card below, under the CONTACT heading.
(sorry for the poor photo quality - it's my camera - or just me)
3 comments:
I can't read what it says under "Contact"? You must ber going through a reverie of past times. What's going on in your head to cause you to provide us with these fun travel adventures. Queen Noor
Y'know, I'm pretty ambivalent about "euphoric recall"...remembering good times we had when we were drunk or high.
Not all of my drinking was a total disaster...I had some great times, met some great people and did all sorts of stuff.
In the end though, there were no good times at all.
I enjoyed that post, matey. Pretty evocative.
And I know you know well enough to know that you can have the misery back that went with your drinking right 'now'.
Kenny
I have to admit IN ALL HONESTY that I had a great time for the first 31 years of my drinking. No disastrous consequences, except for a lack of any spirituality. it did, however, include a bundle of resentments.
The memory of the last year of my drinking will never be far away. It was and still remains, a total catastrophe. It was the end of my drinking but certainly not the end of my alcoholism.
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