“KAMPALAKAMPALAKAMPALA!” yelled the Kalita bus attended. At seven A.M. the last thing I needed was an overzealous man in his vest uniform shouting in my ear. I didn’t have time to grab breakfast in-between throwing clothes in a bag for the weekend and I was beginning to seriously regret the oversight before my four-hour ride. I meet up with Ruth and Emerald and we find the last few seats left in the back row as the bus pulls away. (Side note; the Kalitas wont depart if there is even a single open seat. It is not uncommon to see a [View Full Entry]

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9/21/08 What is happiness? Right now, happiness is finding the perfect pillow and having a western toilet. My living situation was getting a little worrisome; I didn’t want to be living in the Hostel my whole time in Uganda, nor, did I want to be spending that kind of cash. So, when I found out two Mizunga girls were willing to share their house I was absolutely thrilled to say the least. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, I had already been interviewed when they had stopped by Y.E.S. to introduce themselves. Amanda and Janis are both Masters students who are essentially studying [View Full Entry]

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9/19/08 It is passed my bedtime and I am exhausted, but here we go anyway… As I am sure you can tell, because of the lack of internet access, these are probably not written at the same time they are posted. I am only able to write entries when I have time at night and then upload them when I get a chance to drop into a internet café. For the last few days we have had a group from the states help us with some projects. The program is called Carpe Diem and they are made up of college age [View Full Entry]

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My first day in Fort Portal (from hereon FP) was… interesting. After arriving from Kampala late the night before I quickly found an empty room in the Y.E.S. hostel (It is used to house groups of volunteers or welcome weary travelers, providing another revenue stream for the organization). I dropped my oversized pack, threw my camera case and day pack under the bed, wrestled with my mosquito net as I tried to crawl under my sheets and promptly fell into a deep dreamless sleep. I awoke this morning to the rhythmic beating of rain tapping on the metal roof and the [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone, I am in Fort Portal alive and well. The power is out and i am running out of batteries so i will have to make this quick. The travel was long and hard but everything worked out well. I will expand on this more once i have stable internet and power. [View Full Entry]

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I write this from the Heathrow Airport, where I am three and a half hours deep into my layover. My travels started out at SFO before the 10-hour flight to London. After seven hours here I will finally be off to Uganda on a 13-hour flight to Entebbe, which is twenty minutes outside of the capital Kampala. Unfortunately, I wont be done yet. I will then catch a ride for five-and-a-half hours to Fort Portal along the western border. So far the flight has been relatively painless. While our British Airlines 747 was slightly cramped I was happy to find their [View Full Entry]

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Really, tiki themes and Africa have little in common, and yet, oddly enough, the Kona Tiki Lounge in Oakland seemed like the perfect place to throw a going-away party. And it was. Leanne, my close friend, was kind enough to put this wonderful shindig together, complete with a chocolate-chocolate-chocolate cake from Merritt Restaurant, a favorite place of ours. Also tasty were the Macadamia Chi-Chi drinks that were served up at Kona. But, ultimately, it was the Scorpion Bowls (meant for 2-3 people) that did me in. Let’s just say the end of the party was a tad-bit hazy. However, the highli [View Full Entry]

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I would like to start my travel blog with a favorite quote. "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, all foes to true understanding. Likewise tolerance, or broad, wholesome charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in our little corner of the earth all one's lifetime..." - Mark Twain ...And it begins. With a little less then a month from departure, travel preparation has been ramped up to full mode. Plane tickets from SFO to Heathrow to Entebbe? Check. Visa application along with my physical passport (a littl [View Full Entry]

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