Uganda

So I'm writing this on the eve of our departure for Nairobi from Kampala, Uganda. Not sure if you all heard, but a few weeks ago there was a bunch of unrest within Kampala because the King wanted to go somewhere and the government wouldn't let him, so the King's tribespeople started rioting and then the government just shot everyone and it stopped. Makes perfect sense, right?

I actually have an interesting story about this, but I wanted to wait until now to tell it for my mother's sake. While hiking in Southern Rwanda, we flagged down a big bus to take us back to our crappy hotel. When we boarded the bus, we realized there were no passengers because the entire aisle was taken up by a large coffin. We asked the guy in the front seat what happened, and he said that the unfortunate victim had been shot in Kampala during the riots and that they were taking him back to his family's home in the Congo. We were a little freaked because we were heading to Kampala in two days time.

But we're fine!

Anyway, Kampala is just large and dirty and EXTREMELY crowded. They have these fantastic motorcycle taxis called "boda-bodas," which obey absolutely no traffic laws, (not that there are any...I still can't figure out which side of the road people are actually supposed to drive on). They are super fast and super fun and I swear to God, mom, I won't ride one ever again.

I've become a lonely-planet nazi and have thus dragged my compatriots on suggested excursions. We went to Queen Elizabeth National Park, which we didn't actually bother reading about and then went on an accidental safari during the cab ride, running into a bunch of elephants and getting accosted by baboons. On our bus ride to QENP we met a young Ugandan teacher named Robert who made it his personal mission to show us around the place. Unbeknownst to us, he had an entire itinerary mapped out, complete with a visit to a crater lake, a visit to his school, and a visit to his friend John's house, where John wasn't home but a girl gave us peanuts and bananas. We have often run into very helpful Africans. They seem to take on mzungu caretaking as some kind of pro-bono work. Robert was the most helpful of all, though it was kind of overkill when he accompanied us on the 4 hour bus ride from Queen Elizabeth to our second destionation, Lake Bunyoni, in the south, "just to make sure we got there safe." He also drank beer through a straw, which he told us all Ugandans do, but apparently that's crap.

We relaxed on Lake Bunyoni for a few days and then returned to Kampala to go white water rafting on the Nile! Grade 5 rapids - It was fantastic and terrifying and everyone ended up bleeding but that's ok. I also randomly ran into a girl I went to high school with who is now working as a kayak instructor on the Nile. I asked her if they had any job openings, but told her I wasn't really into paddling, so I think that hurt my chances.

Uganda is great because most people speak English! We had asked a Ugandan man in Mwanza, Tanzania, if they speak Swahili in Uganda and he said, "why not?" which is the same kind of ambiguous answer we get whenever we try to ask for directions: the answer is always, "over there." There doesn't seem to be too much difference in culture between here and Tanzania, though their traditional dress looks kind of crazy, like someone trying to dress up as a birthday present with shoulder pads. Uganda is also much greener than Tanzania and very beautiful.

I will be in Kenya for about 5 days, and I fly out in 7...back to the land of hoagies, toilet seats, paved roads, common courtesy, and most importantly, shopping malls. I will try to write one more blog post before I come home and can talk in person!