Trippy

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After the lion’s zoo (which was rather depressing) and a tour of the Ethiopian National Museum, we hopped on a mini-bus just as the rain began to fall. The weather hasn’t been too bad here; torrential rains are sporadic throughout the afternoon and do not last too long. Despite the rainy season, the days and nights are pleasant with gentle breezes and refreshing drizzles that make the stroll home quite relaxing. After a lengthy ride, the mini-bus stopped and the driver motioned for us to exit. We looked around completely confused and did not recognize where we were, but he said “the end”, so we got out. We circled the round-about of traffic and I recognized the building to the left, particularly because of the intricate scaffolding along the façade of the structure. (It’s amazing to see how structures are built here.) Somehow, we made our way back to the hotel, surprised at how easy this game of ‘lost and found’ has become. It’s almost amusing.

We were too lazy to venture out for dinner, so we went downstairs to eat at the bar. A few moments in, a rather interesting patron of the hotel sat down beside us. As it turns out, he’s from South Africa and has an office in the hotel. From our long conversation, he appears to be some sort of oil tycoon, here for business. Throughout the various topics; staying at Hussein’s Presidential Palace, working with Fortune 100 Companies, helicopter-ing to and from the fieldwork, and NGOs, I’d say the most interesting piece was his philosophical view on life and the similarities we (as human beings) share.

No mistakes, no coincidence, no destiny. Just faith in the unseen. It happens and unfolds as a part of our dreams and our journey to achieving the ‘unattainable’. I say unattainable because oftentimes, we think our dreams are impossible. Apparently, the impossible should be possible, as we have all have an immense amount of potential that many fail to tap into because we’re too busy being busy. Hmmm…

He followed this with the story about the guy who invented skis, the tennis racket, and tennis balls. It was all very interesting and I sort of just soaked it in as it related to my own life. I’m not sure I’d agree with everything he said as it’s a very romanticized way of living, though I suppose, in retrospect…IF our plane’s navigator didn’t malfunction, we wouldn’t have been 4 hours late to Addis and the nice manger wouldn’t have picked us up and given us a (major) discounted rate on our hotel stay so that we could use the mini-bus stop so conveniently located across the street to get to Arat Kilo to go to the museum/zoo and get lost coming back to be too lazy to venture out for dinner, instead choosing to eat at the bar so that we could meet this guy who inspired me a little to believe in my own seemingly unrealistic dreams. These moments, though rare and few stay with me indefinitely.

It was most definitely trippy. Oh, how I love the trippy.

P.S. We have a phone to use now - number has been forwarded. holla!

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