Spending 12 days in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to cover the United Nations climate summit requires getting comfortable with contradictions.
Long stretches of highway separate the luxury coastal resorts, with their green grass and water fountains, from the dusty desert and many half-constructed buildings.
The ease of jumping on electric buses that shuttle COP27 attendees to the Tonino Lamborghini International Convention Center, where the summit being is held, abruptly ends once you enter the sprawling campus. It took me a solid three days to get comfortable navigating it.
Small protests are allowed inside, where UN rules apply, but outside and across the rest of Egypt, political dissent is effectively banned.
Then there's the substance of UN talks themselves. Climate diplomats are trying to strengthen global efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions even as some of the countries they represent are pushing oil-and-gas expansion in the name of energy security. That's the case in Europe, which is searching for alternative suppliers to Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
So what does it feel like to take part in the two-week-long event? Take a glimpse inside before the summit comes to a close on Friday.