Arriving in Jinja

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We took off from Kampala at around 14.00 on Monday the 17th. Covering the 80km to Jinja I supposed to take around 1h30min, but that is wishful thinking! It took us close to 2h30min, however I suppose that around that time there was a lot of traffic.
We opted for the “minibus taxi” that leaves from the old taxi park in Kampala. I think those types of minivans are probably made to seat maximum 10 people, but the driver and his assistant pushed in close to 20. It wasn’t the most comfortable ride, however 4000Ush (approx. $2) per person is quite cheap.
As I said the ride was uncomfortable and if I were anywhere in Europe I would probably have s*** myself from the reckless driving. But I thought to myself: “Your in Africa…live fast, die young!” There was overtaking on the left, on the right, on the side of the road, between cars… anywhere he could find a space.
I usually get car sick and I thought before hand that I was probably going to feel very ill on the way, so I had prepared with a plastic bag and loads of water. But the truth is that I don’t think I had time to feel ill; there was too much going on. There was also a very nicely dressed Ugandan woman sitting next to me that had decided that my leg was a very good place to rest her arm. Things like that normally annoy me but it was in fact quite calming, like she was saying: “Don’t worry, I gottcha!”
When we arrived in Jinja the “bus” first stopped next to the market where some people got off. There was a man who saw us and started shouting that we should get off, “the car stops here”. However a lady that had travelled with us turned to us and said: “No Sir, he is trying to deceive you!” and then turned to the man and shouted in the local language. He responded by starting to laugh and wave at us.
We got off at the taxi park in Jinja and waited for Julius (our host) to come and pick us up. We sat for maybe 20mins and talked to around 10 people that came and asked us how we were doing. Julius arrived and took us to his house in Wanyange village, 7km outside of Jinja. There we met his wife, Irene, and Moses who is also involved in the project.
As soon as we had put our things in our room and said hello to the children (these amazingly sweet and kind children) we went for a walk around the village. When we came back, Irene and the children had prepared some dinner for us: potatoes and something made of spinach, which was amazing. The day had drawn to an end and we were just about to go to bed, when Julius came up to me and said: “Carl, just o you know there are some African rats in the house that run around at night… but don’t worry, they are harmless.” AFRICAN RATS!?!?!?!?
Carl

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