Tuesday morning in Addis

I've heard all about the Addis Ababa Sheraton. And no, that's not where I'm staying. Here in my hotel they are attempting some most assuredly vital repairs to the elevator lights, you know, the lit up arrows showing either up or down? Well, in order to get at these bad boys they need to drill through the marble. Of course, this work started at around five-thirty this morning. No matter to me, I was wide awake anyway, my body feeling like it was yesterday afternoon. This is when trouble brews on a trip, when days into it you still aren't sure what time it is or ought to be, and you wonder how long the adrenalin and caffeine can keep you up with the program. A tip? Don't think about it too much or else you're screwed. Press on, there's always time to sleep on the plane home, isn't there?
Today there might be some cupping, but maybe not. I love how this works. Seems that people in Ethiopia share commonalities with coffee professionals I know in Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, and Sumatra, and pretty much everywhere outside the United States. There is always the sense that you are working from a plan, but there is also always the overlaying sense that at any moment the whole thing could go up in smoke and you're flying blind. I have to admit I admire the ability people have to live like this, to accept this day after day.
So maybe we'll hit the market. Its supposed to be very cool.
On the cuppings - I'm not really pressed into these at all. I don't have any open contracts with this exporter, and so unless I'm dying to commit to a box of something that's not already in my purchasing plan (I'm not) there is limited upside to cupping today.