Always bet on the Saluki

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That was a piece of advice I once received for betting at Dog races. My method for betting the dogs has always been to bet on the dog with the cutest handler. In any case neither method works for betting on GOATS. Yes, I said Goats. I recently found myself at the Ascot Goat Races. This is THE Muzungo event of the year in Kampala. Everyone turns out. Oh yeah, since it is Ascot Goat Races off of the English Ascot Horse Race, Hats are a big deal.

I was going to this event with Hennie and Anne from Red Chili. They said they were dressing up and asked if I wanted to dress up or not. I said, "twist my arm. If you give me the sutff I will wear it." The stuff was a mexican straw hat and a grass skirt. Somehow this reminded me of Jimmy Buffett concerts gone by, if only I had my famous crab hat. I was a slacker and didn't dress up my hat... I just performed the mexican hat dance upon request. Hennie and I were quite popular all day. People kept coming up and wanting to take our pictures. Sadly, we didn't win best dressed award. That went to a man in a red pimp daddy suit with a cane. He deserved it. Oh yeah, I really owe Hennie and Anne. As I was getting ready to pay to go in he handed me an armband so I wouldn't have to pay the 10,000UGX. That alone would have been nice enough but once inside Hennie whispered to me. "That gets you into the Crane tent. That means free beer and food" Nuff said on that subject. It was one of those types of events 😊

So how do goats race, because they certainly don't have jockeys. Though at one point during the day i thought it would be really funny if they used monkeys for jockeys. I still think that would be funny. But goats, get released onto the track, which is a small oval in the grass. They don't want to run though so there is a pusher. The pusher pushs this wheelbarrow like thing that has a board that spans the entire width of the track. He walks behind and makes the goats keep going.

Needless to say, I didn't catch my bus on Sunday to go out west. But that is Ok, I went on Monday.

Western Uganda

So I have a two week break from the school and I decided to tour western Uganda. I was headed to Fort Portal to see the crater lakes, Kasese to see the Rwenzori Mountains and then to Kabale and Lake Bunyoni. I didn't really do anything to terribly exciting and the area is beautiful. I'll try and let the pictures do the talking.

What I can comment on is the rain and temperature. I guess September is the start of the rainy season in Uganda. It rained on me everyday while I was there. Usually just in the afternoon. I always planned my activities so that I was home by 1 or 2 and ready to sit down and read. Oh yes, and once it rained it got cold. It might be 20-25 during the day but the temperature would drop to like 15-18 once the rain came. Sorry but 15 is cold for me. It feels weird to be cold in equatorial africa but I was. I guess the altitude helps that as well. I was constantly at around 1700 to 1800 meters. That is up there.

Did I mention the whole area is beautiful. Rolling hills, steep mountains with snow on them, and beautiful crater lakes.
I was happy I got to do some biking around the villages. I had to take a guide but I was glad I had him when looking for the waterfall. It isn't like hiking a trail in the states. We biked for a while, then he said we leave the bikes here. Then we were walking through bannana fields, around houses, past goats and then we found the waterfall.

I also tried to hike up to the top of a hill and get good views of the peaks of the Rwenzori mountains. Of course the fog and mist rolled in as we got to the top so no views. There was an amazing river flowing out of the Rwenzori's though. Looked like some fun/nasty whitewater creeking could be had. Maybe like the Cheoah on sterioids.

And Lake Bunyoni was just chill. Well maybe not the day we took the dugout out. We tried to race a storm home and lost. It was one of those big storms with hard hitting rain, wind on the nose, and of course hail. We holed up under a tree for awhile and then went home. I do have to comment on my first morning at the Lake. I woke up early. Thought about staying in bed but then decided I should go and see if the sunrise was any good. Well the sunrise actually wasn't worth all of that.... but.... Upon arriving into the field and looking east at the predawn horizon I was greated with the most amazing sight. The horizon was a light pink, just above the horizon was the sliver of a almost new moon, and just above that was Venus or the morning star. It was amazing. There is a picture of it.

Oh yes, some of the rain was big time, with lightning and everything. It was good.

I bought an airline ticket

This is a big deal for several reasons. First it was a major undertaking just to get the ticket booked.
That story:
So stuck on this island in the middle of the lake. needing to get on
the internet and book this airline ticket before the price goes up.. finally sunday night the internet came on.
So I'm plugging away, slowly to book my ticket. After 2 tries i get
to typing in my visa number... then got hammered by "verified by visa"
Of course i can't remember my password. So as I'm getting to the
"forgot password" screen, internet crashes. No ticket today... that is ok, I still have 48 hours to get it done.

Next day, no sun to charge laptop until late.
Finally get internet again. Go to verified by visa and change password.
Finally get to BA page and pay and get to verified by visa stuff and
type in new password and get "due to too many incorrect login attempts
that account has been locked." Call or check back in 24 hours.
Now panic sets in... .
So I emailed tonya to have her book the ticket for me...I can send sms to her so that we can communicate if internet is down. I got out of office reply from her.
Now I'm really starting to worry. Oh yeah, my Mastercard has expired. The new one is sitting in the states and I just hadn't bothered to get it yet. I figured I could get it when I got home on this flight i'm trying to book. This is why you should always have 2 credit cards.
Then I remember that my Smith barney ATM actually was a mastercard.
So I got back online and tried to book with it. The pages just kept
timing out, because the internet was too slow. Well actually, I got all the way through once but had typed in the wrong billing address.

My final solution was to send the card info to James and he booked it for me. I think he just used my card for that one transaction. I hope.

So yes, I have a ticket home. The ticket is from Dar es Salaam. I decided i needed a holiday before coming home so i'm going to Zanzibar for 5 days or so. Then a stopover in the UK, then sunny ole Atlanta...
Then....
Well several weeks ago I was thinking about coming home and what I was going to do and where I was going to live and what what... and I got scared. I mean really scared.. .I have nowhere to live and don't know where I want to live...
So... I now have a one way ticket home from Africa... I'm in the process of booking myself another ticket back. (I think I just booked that ticket tonight...yup I did. I still can't use my damn visa though)
I think I'm going to come back and go to Ethiopia for a month and then come home.
Yes, I know it is all sillyness. But well, what are you going to do. I think the wedding is important and in reality it was supposed to be my trip to home for good. But things change.
Oh yeah, don't hold me to this, "Plans subject to change." 😊

Click here for all the pictures from Western Uganda and goat racing

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Comments

[Funk]

Should I schedule...
you in for softball?

[Georgia]

Hope to see you in Atlanta
Mike, Paul will be home from Australia and Tazmania on the 24th. I would love to spend time with you (we both would) and talk to you about your tomorrows. Be safe and healthy...see you soon. You always have a place to stay. Love, Georgia