Uganda

---

Caught my 9:00 pm flight from Heathrow for Uganda & arrived in Entebbe around 7:35 am expecting someone to meet me since have no idea where I am supposed to be staying. Went through customs, paid my $50 Visa fee which is all they care about, picked up luggage started looking for a sign with my name. No one there, hmmm. Airport is pretty small (reminds me of a Carribbean airport) so should not be hard to spot someone. Now what since phone doesn't work???? A cab driver offered to take me someone where but where?? Used his phone to call me contact person. No answer. Brief period of panic thinking maybe everything was a scam. Lucikly there was another number to call. Finally an answer. Explain I am at the airport waiting for a pickup. Joyce (the women I eventually learn I am staying with) proceeds to tell me I am not arriving until the 6th. No, I am here now. No, you arrive on the 6th. Around and around we go but finally get her to understand I am at Entebbe airport. Tells me it will take 1 hr. for a pickup. Sit down on the curb & begin the wait. After 1/2 hr. the cabbie tells me he is to take me to my home stay, so after buying a SIM card for my phone & air minutes, off we go. Started doozing off in the cab since didn't sleep well on the overnight flight from Heathrow. Sleep doesn't last long since the roads a VERY rough and bumpy in the extreme. About a 45 minute to my home stay with the road to the house so bad I thought I was going to have to walk since the cabbie was pretty unhappy. Finally made it safe & sound.

Joyce greets me & shows me to my room which I share with another volunteer. Room very basic with a bed, no pillow but luckily I have my British Airways pillow with me. Bathroom, well let's just say pretty basic. It is not exactly an outhouse, but has 2 partitions with holes in ground. Yikes!!!! I am supposed to go to the bathroom in a hole squatting, oh joy! The shower has no running water so fill up the bucket, pour water over myself soap up, pour more water. Of course, no hot water. The house consists of 3 rooms for sleeping which are shared by volunteers & some of Joyce's 6 children, another room for eating & a living room, which we do not go into. Joyce's sister, Juliet, lives behind the house with her 3 yr. old son Sam and Grace, & 8 yr. old boy Joyce has adopted. Turns out Juliet, is basically the maid who does all the cooking, cleaning, wash (not the volunteers wash). She has a very tough life & does not appear to be treated all that well by Joyce (IMHO). The kitchen, well not really a kitchen like we think, is a room with no stove but a clay pot that characol is put into & is used as a stove. I suspect our living conditions are middle class but very primitive to what we are compared to. Having had 1 week living in Uganda finally have adjusted to going to the bathroom which honestly has been the toughest thing for me along with doing wash.

Washing, wow, now that is all morning affair. Everything is done by hand and takes so long since the clothes are so filfthy from the red dirt roads that just get into everything. Not sure my feet will ever be clean again. The clothes I wore for the gorilla safari were beyond filthy. Hand scrubbed forever. So appreciate a washing maching. In fact, once I get back to the house (after taking 2 buses which takes about 1 hr. & walking 1/2 hr. to the internet cafe) will have to do more wash. Oh joy!!!

In retrospect, the gorillas safari was pretty amazing although the day of it was not so sure. The drive to Bwindi National Park took about 11 hrs. partial due to the bad roads. Although Uganada has a road system, it is pretty rough since a lot are not paved, red dirt roads. We started the safari at 7:30 am. After speaking to several people, I hired a porter for $15 US and rented a walking stick, $5 US. The porter was money very well spent since he carried my backpack with all my water, pushed and pulled me along the way. We drove to the base of the mountain and started off right away with hiking it, ugh, then another one, another one, another one, etc. On and on we went. Around 11:30 am I was beginning to have doubts about whether I could make it but on we kept hiking now into the forest tripping and falling over vines, stuck in sticker bushes, tripping and falling. Ok, I admit I am now close to tears and about ready to give up. Finally, about 2:00 pm, we spot the family of silver back gorillas. In total, it is a family of 5 silverbacks. There are several armed guards with our group (6 of us hiking) in case the silverbacks attack. A family of blackback gorillas is also nearby & we get to see them also. The silverbacks do not like the blackbacks & growl at them constantly. We are allowed to stay for 1 hr. then have to hike back. Oh joy!!!! Finally get back to camp at 6:00 pm. Talked to 2 women who left the same time I did & they made it back to camp at 10:45 am. Thought I was going to cry. After stumpling back to my tent, had a amazing HOT shower with actual running water and even better, a flush toilet. My how the simple things in life are making me happy. Stumbled (my knee was really hurting from falling so many times on the hike + 1 week later still sporting bruises) into the mess tent for a nice colde Nile beer. Not much of a beer drinker but Nile is pretty good & have found that I am really not wanting wine at the moment, I know, alert the media! Next day head back to the home stay but Eddie, my driver, graciously stopped along the way at fruit stands to buy fruit for me. Got mangoes, pineapple, jackfruit (tastes like a mix of mango & pineapple), bananas, onions & tomatoes, all coming to 26,000 schillings which is roughly $12. 2 pineapples for less than $1 and they are delicious. Wanted some fruit for the house since was not really getting any & missing it. The drive to and from Bwindi was beautiful. Uganda is really a beautiful country and rather tropical.

Going to post & hopefully keep writing but don't want to lose this.

---