http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Uganda en-us Fri, 04 Dec 09 11:34:00 +0000 Fri, 04 Dec 09 11:34:00 +0000 hello i hope everyone had an amazing thanksgiving ate lots of turkey and had fun shopping last thursday for thanksgiving this guy in bungoma invited us to his restaurant for his thanksgiving buffet he fixes every year for any americans that are in the area. i did not have my hopes set high for this meal so i was very pleasantly surprised when the food was delicious i was expecting the sam http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Eastern-Region/blog-457150.html They say we never cease to learn well today I learned that if it looks nothing like any sunburn you ever had doesn't feel like any sunburn you ever had and makes you cry in pain every morning then it's probably not sunburn. It might however be a mean infection of the deeper tissue caused by even meaner bacteria which happened to be let in by the mean sunburn. It might be cellulitis. And no http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-454106.html I'm usually not a big fan of expressions a la 'you haven't lived when you haven't done this or you haven't done that...'. 'You haven't lived if you haven't hurtled yourself down a mountain at breakneck speed killing a few innocent passersby on the way'. 'You haven't lived if haven't gone hitchhiking around the planet and almost killed by some Congolese soldiers high on heroin'. And you think 'I http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Eastern-Region/Jinja/blog-453831.html Now you haven't heard from me in a while and for good reason I've been sick. Not homestyle take a few Ibuprofen give me a chance to secretly catch up on Grey's Anatomy sick. No no. Ugandastyle sick. Does this country never do anything halfway Apparently not since I spent the last 2 days alternatively sweating and shivering in my bed from what From malaria Dengue The swine flu NO fro http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-452660.html Ok so I know Ugandans are polite. So much so that I usually feel like a badly dressed potato around them. But the amount of messages I got after arriving me to Kabale asking if I was alright seemed kind of extreme even for Ugandan standards. But then my colleague Paul told that people weren't just polite they were asking quite literally if I had survived the trip. Looking at Ugandan road stat http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Western-Region/Kabale/blog-451126.html Actually it should be the week with all the party meaning last week.Now I know I'm not the biggest party animal in the world there are people going out a lot more and longer than I do especially with a little help from their chemical friends. But I think Ugandans could give even them a run for their money. Take my friend Lulu I met her last week just when I was despairing of ever discoverin http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-451112.html yes mom and dad i went to Uganda this weekend. and i'm now back in kenya safe and sound but seriously this weekend was probably one of the coolest things i've ever done. i went white water rafting on the Nile i can't even begin to describe how amazing it was. first of all we were in Jinja Uganda and it was soo beautiful ...huge hills so much green trees and flowers we went through http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Eastern-Region/Jinja/blog-450162.html Blog Entry October 28 2009 Nov. 2ndItrsquos been ages since I last wrote Things have really picked up here at work. Lindsey and I have had the opportunity to go out into the field more and wersquove expanded our health communication project. I think one of my favorite trips was visiting the beneficiaries of TASOrsquos ldquoTrickle Uprdquo program which funds agribusiness startups http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Eastern-Region/blog-450111.html Here we are now 2 weeks in. Irsquove started to settle in and got over some of the first time hurdle that await you in this city find a room drive a boda get anywhere within a certain frame of time...My room is in MunyengaBukassa which Irsquove learned since moving there is not considered Kampala anymore. But at least itrsquos close to work and I value my sleep in the morning Itrs http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-449179.html I arrived at the Ugandan border with Rwanda and spotted three other white girls traveling in a group. They turned out to be canadian and as a respite from being the only white person in sight I decided to travel onward with them. In Kisoro we booked a shared taxi to the next slightly larger town Kabale. On the 2 hour ride to Kabale the three girls were irritable impatient angry and frustr http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-449136.html The joy and excitement of being home with family and friends was all too quickly replaced with loneliness and exhaustion as I stepped off the third plane in 24 hours and finally set foot back in Uganda. I was thankful to have had the time at home with family and dear friends and especially to have had time with my father during his recovery from surgery. Even though I was home for over a month http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-447586.html Well the good news is I'm alive and well. The bad that I did get to put a single step out of my hotel room this weekend seeing as I had developed a close personal relationship with the toilet bowl. Of course every rookie newcomer has to go through this and it actually happens every time I go to a hot country but it doesn't make it any more fun. Actually the only fun connected to me this w http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-446397.html So I really apologize to all my readers for failing to update this as often as promised. I have no good reasons just lame excuses. But to be honest Ive been so depressed since this horrible virus wiped out my computer and I lost all my files most importantly my pictures form this year. Yup. I was Einstein enough to NOT back anything up. I get what I deserve what I suppose. But all those mem http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/blog-446026.html Blog entry Wednesday October 7 2009Hello from beautiful Mbale Uganda Irsquom still living in the same hotel we had originally checked into upon arriving from Kampala. Itrsquos a really nice place but Irsquom definitely spending waaaaay too much living here. Wersquove spent most evenings after work looking at other housing options but itrsquos toughgoing. Wersquore here for such http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/blog-445152.html So here I am sitting in an office in the heart of 'the Pearl of Africa' hoping to finish my first blogging entry before the next power cut wondering how in the Spaghettimonster's name I ended up a few thousand miles from home at a desk in Kampala Uganda.In the words of a British pop band or several for that matter back to the start. I'm not your average bungeejumping skydiving overall http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-445134.html Well after leaving Rwanda behind us we headed back across the border to Uganda and paid another 50 dollars each for visa's. The countries are quite similar. Lush green hills and valleys beautiful sunshine followed by heavy rain hail thunder and lightening. Which is all fine except when your trying to start a fire cook or put up a tentWe crossed the Equator again watched the water experiment http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/blog-443987.html ENGLISHSadly things have taken a turn for the worst. We've not eaten in days and are sleeping on the streets. We've had to turn our skills to street crime just to get by........ Hehehehe only joking.After our bus ride to Kampala we woke up at Red Chili Hideaway to very heavy rain. We got dressed and went to have breakfast. The place wasn't that friendly so we decided to move and find somewhere el http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Western-Region/Bwindi-Impenetrable-National-Park/blog-443268.html Well Egypt has been and gone Israel was brief and Jordan was amazing but expensive.After a reasonable border crossing we head to Aqaba for lunch before out to the Wadi Rum to watch sunset and stay at our bedioun camp for the night. Lovely setting beautiful colours but the bloody drunken Dutch marred our serenity. After some music and dinner we head to our beds and decide to enjoy a longer lie rat http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/blog-441461.html Sunday Sept. 27 2009Hello from KampalaThis is my first blog entry since arriving in Uganda on Wednesday. It has been a long strange trip so far. I can hardly believe that tomorrow will mark a week since I left my apartment to serve as a Global Health Fellow in Mbale Uganda. Irsquoll try to remember whatrsquos happened up to this point and recount it as best I canThe trip from DC began on http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/blog-441322.html Not sure if you have heard but there has been riots in Kampala over the last 2 days.Just a quick email to say we are all safe and at Jinga. We have managed to avoid the riots.We have been told it is safe to travel back today to Kampala and will be doing so later today.Sorry about the group email but easiest way to update everyone.Kath Jac and Katexxx http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-435893.html