Long Live The Sar

After blogging about two trips to Africa, I figure this blog could use a little spicing* up, so today´s entry begins my Guatemala adventure. Before starting med/dental school, Liz and I decided to travel to Guatemala. This of course was before we knew about its minor crime problem (only in Guatemala City).  But seriously, we arrived yesterday and our driver brought us straight to our homestay family in Antigua. The town is nestled between multiple volcanoes and nearly all the buildings are one story because of the area´s proclivity for earthquakes. But I digress... The town of Antigua is a sleepy town of 50,000 Guatemalans that plays host to hundreds of Spanish language schools and many gringos here for vacation, study, and/or volunteer work. The buildings are painted in bright colors, Mayan women walk the streets in traditional garb, all the roads are cobblestone , and it is incredibly safe. Liz and I are staying with a fantastic homestay family, Jaime and Sylvia Gordilla. They...

The past four days have passed by in a blur. One big, hazy, adrenaline-packed, fun blur. Tuesday - Camps Bay Rashad and I had breakfast at Cocoa Wah Wah, where I stayed to work until Chuck finished class. I demolished some Pragmatism reading and was sending some emails when BAM! a motorcyclist t-boned an SUV at the intersection in front of the cafe. I was working, heard the tires squeal, and looked up in time to see the whole crash happen. I don't think anyone was critically injured but the motorcyclist was definitely in pain and the people in the car were ok minus a few cuts. But it was a crazy experience to say the least and it simply illustrated that the drivers in this city may be the worst in the entire world. Speed limits are nonexistent, it is required to peel out after every stop light, pedestrians do NOT have the right of way, and hearing at least one cop car chase per night is about average. Post-crash I met up with Selcuk and we headed out to Camps Bay, a beach o...

Sar's back in Africa and so it must be time for a new blog post! I arrived Cape Town, South Africa last Friday night for 8 days of uninterrupted fun, adventure, and bro-ing out with Selcuk and Rashad. The boys are set up in a great apartment less than five minutes from the bottom of the University of Cape Town (built on a massive hill so lower campus is still 5+ minutes and 1 bajillion feet in elevation from upper campus). The apartment is spacious but since they have very little stuff, it looks as though they're squatters and there is plenty of room for my mess. Friday Night/Saturday I arrived late on Friday night so we took it easy, going out for chicken at the local fast-food joint and then relaxing at the apartment. I awoke on Saturday to the sun streaming through the windows and this view (picture above). You can see upper campus UCT is the building highest up on the hill. We grabbed a quick bite at Cocoa Wah Wah, conventiently named for us Pton folk and possibly my favo...

So leaving Ethiopia is never easy. Saying goodbye to friends, favorite places, and such exotic experiences is never easy, but who knew it would be so difficult for me to escape this year.... My initial flight from Addis to Beirut was delayed by an hour. As a result, I was bumped from my Beirut-Istanbul flight (even though they seated me on the plane, then pulled me off and let 30 other ppl take my seat). At 3:30 AM, I am not a happy person, and I am a very unhappy person when I'm kicked off a flight I should be on. I argued with the Turkish Air manager for an hour, demanding some form of compensation (miles, flights, lounge pass, food, heads to roll) to no avail. They offered to put me in a hotel for the night but without any guarantee of flying out within the next 3 days...I don't think so. Instead, I brilliantly took their offer of taking a cab to Damascus (which is in Syria as I conveniently forgot at the moment of truth) and flying from Damascus-Istanbul. At this point it...

It is always difficult leaving this place I have come to love so much and so today, while sitting in a cafe, I sat down to make a list of the things that I will miss.  This was not as easy as it sounds because the first things that come to mind are all things that I will miss simply because they remind me of how nice life in the US is (i.e. cheap massages).  Instead, I wanted a list of things that I will miss about Ethiopia, not things that I will miss just because they are better/cheaper here than America.  Here is what I came up with: ~I will miss the omnipresent Ethiopia shirts, hats, and scarves that illustrate the ubiquitous nationalist pride in spite of the country's problems; ~I will miss the random conversations with people on minibuses who are genuinely interested in you (or at least your "whiteness") but interested nonetheless, ~I will miss desperation and danger of everyday life in Addis, ~I will miss the mundaneness of seeing polio, elephantiasis...

As every Thursday morning should start, Stuart, Berhanu, and I began the day with a tour of the St. George brewery here in Addis.  For those of you keeping up, this is my second brewery tour in Ethiopia; Ari Dia and I did Dashen in Gonder.  So St. George is the largest beer company in Ethiopia (70% owned by some French dude) and controls ~60% of the market share (vs. the 45% quoted to us @ Dashen).  The facility was not as impressive as the Dashen factory, but everything was made up for when we got ice-cold beer fresh from the fermentation tanks for breakfast and then our guide Robel loaded us up with free gear (4 t-shirts, a hat, 2 aprons, 3 mugs, a St. George Jersey, and coasters).  Basically I am know the biggest fan/walking advertisement for their product and can't wait to hit up the company bar @ 4 (after visiting the Fistula Hospital and indulging in ice cream and steam bath @ Addis Ababa Golf Club).  Should be a good day.... :-)

The last few days before leaving are always the busiest but I know my loyal readers deserve better...so here is a recounting of events from the last few days.   Golf - Stu and I went to the Addis Ababa Golf Club on Sunday.  Ridiculously awesome is one way to describe it.  We started our adventure on the driving range.  With 200 balls, a 5/7 iron, and two caddies, we were ready to work on our game (correction: Stu was ready to learn the game and I was ready to smack a few).  The club consists of a nice clubhouse, stables for the Addis Ababa Equestrian Society, a 9-hole course, driving range, gym, and spa.  The driving range is quasi-mowed; probably cut by hand with a scythe...like every other lawn in this country; there are markers for 50, 100, 150, and 200 meters and the tee-off area is great practice for hitting out of PGA-style deep rough (knee-high in places).  The highlight of the driving range however is that we each got a p...