Journey to Naples

After an emotional goodbye with the immediate family I started my journey towards Italy. Quick stop over in Chicago connected on a small plane to Norfolk, VA. I was picked up by an old college friend Terese who I met through Rowell at Pomona. She and I have had similar paths, post college since she joined the Navy before me. She is now stationed there and it was good to swap stories and catch up.

My flight wasn't leaving until the evening the next day so I took advantage of going to the gym, exchange, doing laundry, and taking a nap. Norfolk was just like I remembered it 2 years ago humid, hot, and not much AC. Let me give you a tip, don't ever live there and no reason to visit. Made my way to the Military Air Terminal to check in for my flight. Took the red eye we left around midnight on 07JUN2016 and landed in Rota, Spain. Refueled and it was off to Naples, Italy. After time zone changes and flight times it was 20 hours of traveling.

One of the benefits of the military is jumping on these rotator flights from Norfolk-Rota-Spain, Naples-Italy, Souda Bay-Greece space permitting for free. It makes its way back the same route enabling a free flight. There are some cons to "free" wait times and not guaranteed.

I was picked up by one of my coworkers from the airport and felt right at home observing everything around me saying to myself "this is home...now learn some Italian!" Met a few other coworkers had drinks and called it a night in my new room (dorm style own room but shared common area)

My first day consisted of checking in and meeting tons of people. My supervisor had told me to check in, in one uniform and the other people at the hospital had a different idea. At first impression I felt like the hallways were empty not many people around.

To describe the base, Support Site in The town called Aversa. It's located in what feels like the suburbs (think Carmel Moutain) 10-15 min from the airport and 20 min from downtown Naples. Support Site is tiny consisting of the exchange, bowling alley, schools, gym, hospital, barracks, and base housing. The hospital, exchange, my barracks, and gym are less than a quarter mile walk from each other making it convenient to walk everywhere.
There are a few other bases and that's where the other type of Navy work gets done closer to the city. But to keep it simple just think suburbs.

Had my first home cooked meal here on my second night at my Auntie's house which is on base housing, also walking distance.  Nice to see the little cousins I haven't seen in 4 years and see how much they've grown.

More check in stuff on Friday this will pretty much be the case for the next few days. In the evening I attended a "Filipino party" for families who are leaving Naples. Wow the food was amazing as if I didn't leave. Kare Kare, beef steak, BBQ pork belly, so good. It's amazing to observe the dynamic of the party at this age since it mirrors what I did as a kid. Men hanging out drinking beer telling jokes and work stories, kids playing amongst themselves, and women chit chatting away. Being the lone  single man there since I tagged along with my auntie and family I could understand them taking about me in Tagalog along the lines of who they can set me up with. It's no surprise all the "aunties" will always have someone lined up I got it quite often in 29 palms. I left early and headed to bed since I signed up for a hike the next day.

Path of The Gods hike

On a whim and anxious to explore right away I signed up for a guided hiking tour. Rode the bus straight through the mountains to a small town called Bomerano. Here I walked into a 16th Century church had my first espresso and sat in a town square. Once the hike began I was in awe of the amazing natural habitat and homes built along the Amalfi coast. Grape Vineyards are abundant, vegetables grown everywhere, and cliffs as high as sky  scrapers over you. It's a hike that takes you along the coast through a small town over 1700 stairs you walk down and into the city of Positano. Breathtaking and just plain makes you in awe of the scenery reminds me of Santorini, Greece a lot.

A buddy of mine who was in my training classes in San Antonio took me to check out his place. He has been stationed here for the past 3.5 years and is on his way out in a few weeks. He has a nice 1 bedroom apartment 5 minutes from base in what feels like another suburb. Nice balcony view and perfect size if I want to live in it. I really want to go for the city feel but commute and traffic could be a problem on top of the obvious language barrier obstacle.

Other observations in the first few days of living in Naples are the sun sets around 9PM. Has thrown me off on when to eat dinner and timing of going to bed. Still a few weeks away from settling in a routine but so far I have enjoyed the time spent here. Looking forward to my next exploration.

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Best Regards,

Marc Reyes