Contradictions

We continue to struggle and laugh at the obvious contradictions, at least obvious to us, we see on a daily basis.

• Lebanese hotel and restaurant owner who came and stayed in Calabar because the people are so kind, but who is amazed we come to his restaurant without an armed guard.
• The resort that is advertised as Africa's premiere business and leisure destination, yet it goes weeks without power, very few things are actually open, and the manager aggressively shoos away potentially customers from the water park.
• The health institution referred to as the hospital that doesn't turn on the generator, has no mosquito nets, has medical devices without the batteries to operate them, and seems to use Facebook as a replacement for Gray's Anatomy (the book, not the TV show).
• The 'service charge' added to every bill that isn't given to the service staff -- it is no wonder services quality is non-existent, but still mostly friendly.
• The point of sale computers at many bars and restaurants when all orders and receipts are done by hand -- computers are not cheap here.
• The cable car that used enough power in the 20 minutes it took to ferry us down a mountain, to provide several days electricity for the villages we passed over on the trip.

This is just a starter list, but gives you an idea. There aren't 'answers' to these, just observations that leave us scratching our heads at times.