See, this is the thing: I can be sitting here on this pretty beach, in the cool shade, enjoying a cold beverage, looking at the beautiful mountains across the shimmering lake, and just 15 minutes down the road, this fragile political situation may or may not be unfolding. It's a contradiction of the highest order.

The other day a colleague of mine was explaining how he was trapped for 4 days in a guesthouse in a capital city with nothing but the bottles of juice and bread that he had somewhat on a whim purchased the night before. Well the next four days was serious city-wide rioting so intense that guesthouse staff wouldn't even cross the road to come to the guesthouse. So there my colleague was, all alone, rationing his juice and bread. At the end of this story, he sighs and says, "Ah, Africa", conveying in one succinct phrase a deep and passionate love, and at the same time an equally passionate frustration.

While I am not much more than a glorified tourist, I have some sense of what my colleague was expressing. This place can make one profoundly happy, and at the same time drive one mind numbingly crazy.