Day 40: Ode to a boda boda!

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Even though we arrived in Kathmandu this evening, I am going start with the significance of the boda boda in Uganda. The boda boda is between a 50 and 300 cc motorcycle and is typical means of public transport in Uganda. There are buses, but they only go city to city and taxis and private cars are expensive. There are boda stages on almost every corner or you stand by the road side and one will pull over. Prices are negotiable depending on what you are transporting, how many you are transporting and how far you are going. There is now even a trend of Safe Boda where the driver is vetted by a company, you can contact them using an app and they must provide the passenger a helmet and obey all traffic laws. Sounds similar to Uber, right? It is causing quite the uproar in the boda community. Here are the things I saw during my 10 days in Uganda transported by a boda (motorcycle)

12 dead chickens
11 2 x 8s 12 feet long
10 metal poles 12 feet long
9 rods of sugar cane
8 sacs of veggies
7 pieces of luggage
6 bushels of bananas
5 young children
4 grown men
3 bags of coal
2 live goats
1 bed, ladder or coffin

Who knew a small engine could do so much!Who knew so much could be done with such a small machine?!

Here are a couple observations of Kathmandu the first night. The sun sets earlier than Uganda, but the people are out in butchers. We saw several people huddled talking with friends on the side walk and in store fronts around a fire just built on the cement. The city is pretty dusty, lots of people wear face masks/covers to prevent breathing in the dust. There are way more dogs here than I expected

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