Couple More Thoughts On Dubai

Fifteen percent of ALL the construction cranes existing in the world are in Dubai. That's almost one of every six.

BUT Subway's sandwiches here are not nearly as good as those in the States. I had one for lunch today. Only choice of cheese was Provolone, no Pepper Jack. No fresh spinach. No banana peppers. No Italian Herbs and Cheese bread.

It's a sign.

A Word About Dubai

OK, I still have pics to post from Spain, but we're in Dubai for a brief stay. This place never fails to amaze. I picked up a Papa John's Chicken BBQ pizza (no onions) to munch on while I write this. (No way I'm paying hotel prices for food)

Anyway, I'm reading "The Braindead Megaphone" by George Saunders and in it he talks about Dubai. To paraphrase, you know how sometimes in the States a big architectural firm will announce a series of major projects, maybe ten, for a particular city that they hope will re-shape the entire area? In the end perhaps only one of those will be completed on a scaled down version and the firm will hope you forgot the original proposal.

In Dubai all ten projects are completed and they are all bigger, grander and more expensive than the original plans called for.

Thirty years ago this place was a sand pile with a creek running through it. It was started up by illiterate Bedouins. Only five percent of the revenues are derived from oil (It will run out in 2010). By then they'll have the world's tallest skyscraper (700 meters:2300 feet as compared to Taipei 101 at 500 meters), the world's largest mall, biggest theme park, largest indoor ski run (see previous post), biggest this, most that...you name it Dubai will have it.

Why doesn't AlQaeda hit this bastion of westernized commercialism? Outside of the US there could hardly be a more high profile target. Because they are invested heavily here. Those guys throw PILES of cash into banks here. As does the Italian Mafia, the Spanish Mafia, Indian Mafia. So how come we don't come after them?

Because so does CNN, Reuters, Google, Microsoft, Papa John's, etc. etc. etc.

Dubai is to the Middle East what Switzerland was to Europe during the time of Hitler's Germany.

Both sides need it. It's surrounded by Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia, three of the most boogered up countries in the world. Gotta be a valve to ease off the pressure somewhere.

Is it sustainable? I believe it is not. But what do I know?

After Madrid

This itinerary story will be all out of order. The pictures are here.But one of the main reasons for this Spanish soirée was to visit the city of Badajoz. In 1811 British forces under Sir Arthur Wellesley who later became the Duke of Wellington attacked the citadel of Badajoz which was being held by French forces. It was a bloody fight as one section of the wall surrounding the city was breached. Led by a suicide squad of volunteers known as "The Forlorn Hope," the British successfully poured through and 5,000 men from each side died. The amazing thing is hardly anyone living in Badajoz today knowns anything about the battle. Our hotel was 50 meters from the front of the hotel and the receptionist had never heard of it.

But evidence of the fortress which stood since the 11th century is all around. Sections of the old walls are seen within a parking deck.

From Badajoz we shot into Portugal to the cities of Elvas and Evora. Elvas consists of three fortresses. In fact it was the most heavily fortified city in Europe. Two of the forts were basically empty. MArk and I were the only ones there. But Elvas proper was a really cool little city.

Evora is a UNESCO World Heritage city. The weirdest place in it was the Capela dos Ossos, the Chapel of the Bones. The walls, ceiling, trim, the whole joint is constructed of human bones and skulls. On the walls are two ancient decomposing bodies.

Between Elvas and Evora we stopped at what we thought was a winery. Turns out it was a boutique hotel. The hotel was closed, but the two ladies there (one of which has been nominated Mark's future ex-wife) were more than happy to show us around and part with three bottles of their estate vintage. VERY good!

We made our way then back into Spain, Seville to be precise. Along the way we passed this city dominated by yet another medieval castle.

You Might Not Want To Look At These Pictures

So on our second day in Spain, a Sunday as it turns out, they had bull fights in Madrid. Guess they have them every Sunday. We saw the stadium when we were coming in from the airport and had to check it out. It's an impressive structure, built in 1929.

It wasn't an overflow crowd. About what you'd find at a Pittsburgh Pirates game. They kill six bulls. Three matadors are featured and each gets to down two.

It's a rigged game as you can well imagine. I put my pictures on Picasa so you can view them all on this link. It's a brutal deal, at times disgusting and disheartening. If you have a queasy stomach for this sort of thing you can skip the pictures and just take my word for it.

And yet there is a undeniable poetry to the thing. You can see why guys like Hemingway wrote about it in "Death in the Afternoon." You can also get a sense of how 168 Spanish Conquistadors under Pizarro were able to subdue an estimated 200,000 Inca warriors in the 16th Century.

On the other hand sometimes the bull gets some payback.

On this day the bulls were winless with one tie, 0-6-1. The first bull of the day was allowed to live because one of the guys on horseback committed a foul of some kind. It was all in Spanish, so what did I know? I heard later that sometimes the crowd will call for a bull to be spared. Unfortunately it also turns out these bulls rarely live long afterwards. They generally end up dying of their wounds before being returned to the farms. So it's a bad deal for them all the way around.

So from Madrid we're moving south. Toledo, Talavera and Badajoz awaits!

Book It!

Just finished book #100 for the year. Sharpe's Company. Historical fiction of Captain Richard Sharpe, a member of the Duke of Wellington's British army fighting the Napoleonic army in Spain in 1812. This book covered the battle of Badajoz, a fortress assault that cost Wellington over 5000 casualties.

Mark Schroeder and I intend to visit the sight of this fight next week. Thus the reason for making this particular book number 100.

It's only October 15th. How many can I finish by year's end? There are a lot of good (and bad) books out there. I've got at least six lined up for the trip. I've learned to pack more books and less underwear. Makes my trips more comfortable all the way around.

TMI? Tough!

What Time Is It?

Mark in Petra
This time next week (Insh'Allah) I'll be in Madrid, Spain. Buddy Mark Schroeder (see his Blog link to the right of the page) and I are going to Spain and Portugal before beginning possibly my last Middle East recruiting tour before I head off to the Peace Corps.

We plan on visiting the sites of some battles fought during the Duke of Wellington's Peninsular Campaign against Nap (Call me Bonaparte) Napoleon back in the early 1800s. In keeping with the theme of our Arab/Muslim work tour we'll check out Granada and the Alhambra, mainly to find out if it was the Moops or the Moors (Seinfeld reference).

We'll finish the Iberian tour at Gibraltar when we grab a ferry across the Strait to Morocco. A short (?) train or bus ride later and we'll be in Casablanca and back with my international recruiting tribe for one last go 'round. We have 35 universities signed up, a post-9/11 record. We finish on November 8th with a scuba diving trip in the Red Sea near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

It's going to be kind of a bittersweet trip for me. I love the Middle East and all the folks I run with. My hope is my partner Joseph Humadi (not THAT kind of partner!) will take me back when I return from my mud hut in two or three years.

So for now I'm doing one more packing job. Gotta remember, "Less is More, Less is More." But I am bringing my mask and fins.

So what time is it?

Game time.

Peace Corps Update

Got a letter from the Peace Corps today. They didn't like the EKG from my physical. It shows what's called "First degree A-V block." Nothing to worry about. It's common in highly trained athletes (ahem!). But, they need my doctor to tell them that to insure I didn't have a heart attack or something. Which I did not.

By the way, prognosis for First degree A-V Block is good. No treatment is indicated.
I'll die eventually, but not from that.

Just Like Old Times

Been visiting Mick down in Columbia, South Carolina this week. He's found a Saturday baseball league to play in. It was like 1997 all over again. He was two for four with a triple off the wall and two Ribbies. A good day at the ball yard.

On the way back from the game we passed this place. I wonder what's in that sandwich?

The Coming War With Iran...

The Second Coming

"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold,
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction,
while the worst
are full of passionate intensity."
-William Butler Yeats

A Little Family History...

I was down in West Virginia last weekend attending a little family reunion. (Great place to meet chicks!) Kidding! Anyway I went looking for the headstone of the Wigal that we can trace back the farthest, the immortal Philip Wigal. Lo and behold we came across this cemetery. Kind of a strange feeling to see your name on a bone yard.

Nonetheless, a few years ago this stone was placed in honor of ol' Philip. No one knows for sure where he is actually buried.

Phil might have been a brave Continental soldier in his day, but that isn't what he was best known for. After the Revolutionary War he was a corn farmer in western Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County I think. To get his crops to the eastern markets before they spoiled he along with other area corn farmers had to convert the crops to a form that would last during the long trip over rough pioneer roads. To wit, Corn Liquor or Whiskey. Now the new Government in Washington UNDER President Washington needed to raise money to help pay for the debts incurred during the recent unpleasantness. So the Congress imposed a tax on whiskey. Well, the local boys weren't too big on the idea of paying for that by themselves, so they had themselves what is known as the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. So far as I can tell it wasn't much of a rebellion. But there was enough nonsense going on that the government sent about 12,500 troops out to western PA to put it down. And for the only time in US history a sitting President (another guy named George)led troops in a combat-type situation.

In the end good old Philip and another guy were captured, tried and convicted of treason and sentenced to be hung. Which would have put a real dent in my life story. Fortunately for me and all the other Wigals Washington, the president, pardoned Phil and we were free to populate the earth, as it were. Afterwards Phil lit out for western Virginia (now West Virginia). By the way, I once read that Philip was considered by his neighbors as "simple." Wonder what they meant by that?

After taking the picture of Philip's stone I noticed this other head stone nearby. Pretty unusual I'd say, especially given both his wives were named Catherine.

Years go by. Along comes my Great-Great-Grandfather, John Maltimore Wigal.

They had some great names back then. It's seems John was what they used to call a woods colt. In other words someone slipped one past John's mother's goalie. The name Beckwith has been mentioned. Sure would have been easier to deal with THAT last name than Wigal, which no one can ever spell nor pronounce. Nonetheless, John was my Civil War relative. He and his brother enlisted in the 20th Virginia Cavalry, CSA. No famous battles, unless you count The Battle of Droop Mountain Virginia (now WVA). It was the last Civil War battle fought on what is now WVA.

That was the last of the semi-famous Wigals. Still waiting for another noted Wigal.