Djibouti, Djibouti

Djibouti, Djibouti (2015) - No, that’s not a typo. Stephen Bargatze (my friend and fellow entertainer on this tour) and I flew in to Djibouti, Djibouti (city and country). Yep, the Djibouti in Africa. The crazy hot Djibouti in the middle of August. That’s the same Djibouti that is really comfortable at 5:30 in the morning when we landed and which scorched us at around 118 degrees in the afternoon.

What the heck was I doing in Djibouti, you ask? Take a guess. Yep, doing some shows. Woohoo! I get to go to the most interesting places. I don’t lack for adventures, that’s for sure!

We go to pickup our luggage and we’re met with our first big surprise of the tour…one of Stephen’s bags didn’t make it. And to add insult to injury, it’s the bag that has most of Stephen’s show in it. Yeah, that’s right, we flew halfway around the world and are at the beginning of a three-week-long tour and the most important bag that Stephen has isn’t there. Panic ensues.

Scratch that. I didn’t panic. My show fits in my carry on bag, so I had it with me. Stephen panicked, a little. It wasn’t a big panic, but he was definitely starting to freak out.

I don’t blame him one bit. If my bag didn’t make it to a show, I would freak out too. After almost getting into a fight with the baggage manager we finally came to the conclusion, that yes…the bag wasn’t there (and probably wasn’t going to get there before we left for the next leg of our tour either – but that’s a story for another time).

So, we immediately start taking stock of our show material and figuring out how we can put on the very best show possible.

Once we get to our quarters we are able to get our first real sleep since hours and hours…wait a minute, who am I kidding…since days of flying. The thing is that we have a show that night and activities scheduled during the day so we only get to sleep a couple of hours, until about 10 am.

One of the first things everyone tells you when you land in a desert is to drink plenty of water. In fact, you can guarantee that you’ll get asked if you have been drinking enough water every couple of hours by someone. But it’s absolutely necessary since the dry heat will suck the fluids out of you before you realize it. I heard stories about people who had no idea they were about to pass out from dehydration until it happened. So we drank, and drank, and drank.

Ok, hang on a second. Let me back up. I almost forgot one of the most interesting things that happened in Djibouti. On our way from the airport to where we were doing our show we drove on a beat up old road past all sorts of crazy looking stuff. At one point our tour guide showed us the local prison and then pointed out the gallows (which was in full view of the road!) where prisoners get executed.

Less than two minutes later a large pickup truck with the carcasses of multiple dead cows in it passed right by us. Oh lovely! Within the first forty-five minutes of being in Djibouti I’m surrounded by death.

Speaking of death, being in those surroundings made death feel very tangible. In the United States we are often completely surprised by death. Death felt completely different in Djibouti. It felt like its just a normal everyday thing. I’m not trying to downplay the tragedy of losing a loved one, but something about these very difficult surroundings made death feel very near and very much a part of everyday life.

Ok, so back to our day in progress. Part of the fun of getting to meet and perform shows for members of our armed forces is getting to learn about what they do and how it impacts the places where they are sent to serve.

Stephen and I met some guys whose jobs impacted the local airport. Check this craziness out…apparently the Djiboutian airport is one of the more dangerous airports to fly in and out of. Why so dangerous, you ask? Well…

Keep in mind that I’m just reporting what I was told. Come to find out that people from other cultures don’t always have the same work ethic that we have where I come from.

Thank goodness for our air traffic controllers!

One of the guys told me that the Americans stationed over in that part of the world routinely have to give air traffic directions (?) to the planes flying in or out. The reason they have to do that is because the Djiboutians might just decide to all go on a lunch break at the same time!

Yep, no air traffic controllers to control air traffic. Apparently, the Americans jump in and save planes from a harrowing ordeal on a regular basis. I was told that this happens a lot more frequently than is fathomable to an American brain. The good news is…based on the Americans that we met over there, those planes are in excellent hands.

So, we got everything set up for our show that evening and time was ticking away. Stephen and I were jet lagged as heck since this was our first stop direct from the States. Now, I don’t know if it was because this was our first show on this tour, or if it was because we were tired, but I was nervous. Stephen was too. After all, over half of his show props were gone and he was still questioning if he could do the quality of show that he was planning on doing when we left home.

Anyway…show time arrived and Stephen and I did our thing. For about an hour and forty-five minutes we blew the doors off the place with comedy, magic, and sleight of hand. I know that Stephen didn’t want to hear this at the time, but I honestly think losing his bag was a blessing. I knew that he would rise to the occasion - and boy did he ever. He relied more on his quick wits and incredible comedic timing, and he was brilliant.

My favorite moment of the first show was toward the end of Stephen’s set. He looked over at this very attractive young lady and asked her if he could give her a hug. He told her (in front of everyone) that he had wanted to do this since he walked onto the stage. The whole room got a little nervous. You could feel the energy change as we all watched Stephen ask a question that was more than a little inappropriate.

I really didn’t know what to think as he walked over to give her a hug, but a split second before he got to her he re-routed himself to the big, giant, muscle-bound guy that was sitting next to her and gave him a hug instead! The place came unglued! That bit tore the place up! Let me tell you, Stephen Bargatze knows comedy.

One of the most enjoyable parts of performing a show is meeting people afterwards. And there was no shortage of people to talk to, visit with, and get to know after that evening’s show.

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