Plunging into the New Year

Happy New Year to all! I returned to Algeria just in time to ring in 2015, which happened with a little fanfare and a whole lot of wine. But the good news is some embassy folks organized the perfect cure for all that wine – a New Year’s Day “Polar Bear Plunge”!

We first had to endure a 45 minute ride in a bouncy bus, but it was worth it to get to an Algiers beach that is reasonably clean and trash-free (ish). Upon arrival, we discovered that the ring leaders of the group had gone ahead and gotten a bonfire started, all ready to warm us up after the so-called plunge. With warm clothes and warming fire at the ready, there was nothing left but to go for it.

OK, so admittedly a Polar Bear Plunge in the Mediterranean when it’s sunny out isn’t the most torturous form of the plunge. Polar bears probably would have thought the water felt like a nice warm bath. BUT it still felt cold until we got back to the fire and our sweats.

And just for fun, we got certificates! It was very exciting.

The rest of the day was spent chatting and roasting marshmallows and hot dogs around the fire. Not a bad way to celebrate the first day of 2015!

A couple of days later (we had a 4-day weekend to start out the year due to a local holiday), I continued my participatory attitude by joining an embassy-organized walking trip around Algiers. We started by heading to an old Christian cemetery from the colonial days. While you don’t find many Christians around these parts anymore, there are a couple of small congregations, and an Anglican church is supposedly charged with the upkeep of this particular cemetery. Nevertheless, the cemetery was pretty dilapidated. Apparently after independence, it was ransacked, and repairs have never really happened, which I guess makes sense. Not at the top of the to-do list, I imagine. You can see below how all the crosses are laying down on the tombs – at one time they were standing straight up on the brick-looking stone at the head of the tomb. No longer.

The French did know how to pick a spot for eternal, rest, though. Check out the view from the cemetery:

And a particular point of interest for us Foreign Service-types: a former U.S. Consul in Algeria who died while serving here during World War I is also buried in this cemetery:

Apparently he’s not the only U.S. Consul who died while in Algeria – there’s another one as well in a different cemetery. We’re hoping to leave it at two.

After the cemetery, we swung by the Martyr’s Monument (Maqam Echahid in Arabic), which I had yet to see up close during daylight hours (although I can see it from my balcony, so I figure that counts for something…). It’s a very Soviet-looking structure, which is the direction Algeria leaned as they tried to move as far away from France and “the West” as possible after they gained their independence in the early 1960s:

From the monument, there is a cable car leading down to a lovely park (the Jardin d’Essai). It’s a bit of a rocky ride, but we braved it and lived to tell the tale.

And the park at the end was worth the ride. It was a gorgeous day, and this is one of the most well-kept parks in the city.

And the piece de resistance of the park is the “Tarzan tree”. Apparently the original Tarzan movie in the 1930s was filmed right here in Algiers! Have to admit I haven’t seen that or any other Tarzan movie, but it’s a cool old tree, at any rate!

So that wrapped up my first weekend of 2015 – beautiful weather, good friends, and an extra long weekend are a great way to kick things off! Here’s to more excitement to come!