My Night of Horror:
(this is directly transcribed from my journal as the night enfolded ? think Blair Witch Project)
The scariest thing in the world just happened. I woke up to what I thought was a lion?s roar, which isn?t as far fetched as it sounds because we were told they roam around here at night as well as hippos which are even more dangerous than lions. We didn?t know this last night and were on our way for a walk up to check out the fancy lodge when Chandra jokingly asked a hostel staff if we?d get attacked by a hippo. She told us very seriously that we shouldn?t walk and that we do so at our own risk! Gee whiz, you?d think there?d be some warnings somewhere. So tonight we ate dinner down the road but it took so long that it was 8:30 by the time we were done. We were told it was still early enough to be safe but it was still a scary walk.
Anyway, this animal noise wakes me up at 1:30am and I realize I have to pee really badly. I was contemplating going to the bathroom which is right next door and really wishing there was a window at the front of our room when I heard the most awful sound. I thought it was a woman screaming and that she was being eaten by a lion (no joke). My heart stopped, I have never been so afraid in my life. By the second scream I realized it was not human but was probably some kind of animal being eaten by a lion. Then the third scream, I went to the window at the back of the room and Chandra finally wakes up and warns me to not open the door. Well, no chance of that! We figure it?s probably just a normal animal noise but it was blood curdling to us. It happened one more time, louder and longer and then it stopped. But then another sound started that is actually still continuing. It almost sounds like a human breathing really loud and wheezy. Then all of a sudden there was another really loud scary weird noise.
Then there was some weird bird noise that was kind of like a constant woodpecker pecking, that went on for a few minutes and another bird took over constantly with a strange chirp for another couple minutes that felt like forever. It?s happening again now. Sounds to me like a warning call. There are some hippo grunts too that sound really close. The snoring grunt has finally stopped but every once in a while there?s a rustling or other noise that scares me. I am so relieved that it wasn?t a human scream that I feel like crying and I?m a bit nauseous. I was scared to eat my banana but Chandra assured me that lions do not care about bananas. I sure wish we were given some protocol about what to do if a lion comes to our door! And why would there not be a window by the door for us to see if it is safe! So stupid! I don?t know how Chandra is able to get back to sleep, I?m still scared and keep hearing noises outside. There?s birds here that chirp all night, they can?t sleep either! It?s not just me. I will try to think happy thoughts.
Okay, so I?m not so good at the happy thoughts thing, my leg just went numb and I?m wondering how I?m going to run if I need to. And then I pictured our door popping open and me jumping into Chandra?s bed. I?m never getting back to sleep. Plus our cell phones are now on emergency only?isn?t this an emergency? But who would we call anyway? We could text Carli and Jen our last requests?please tell our families we love them. Ok, I gotta stop. I think I need to go look out the window because there?s crackling in the bushes. I take back the thought of it being cool to see a male lion.
Okay good news is I think the rustling is actually just water dripping from the rain earlier, well that?s what I?m telling myself. The interesting thing about here is that the sky stays fairly light out. I just knocked over my water bottle on the cement floor waking Chandra. Seriously, how can she sleep? The warning bird has started again and I still hear hippos. The grunting noise has started again too. Okay, I?m less scared?there?s a possibility of me lying down again but I?m not putting my earplugs back in. I?m so glad I?m not Nasser and Chris sleeping in the van! Reminds me of when Nick and I slept in the car on Salt Spring Island and I swore something was rustling in the bushes and walking back and forth behind the car. Great I?ve scared myself again. Next to tonight, that was my scariest moment. Ok animals, go to sleep now!
Happy thoughts, happy thoughts?
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Queen Elizabeth National Park - "What could possibly go wrong?" (Chandra)
Alright, so I'm sure I left you wondering what happened during our trip to the NP, well don't worry nobody was trampled by an elephant or attacked by a hippo. Really it was a good trip, we just had a few minor set backs. Before I begin let me give you a few words of advice, just in case you, or someone you know is planning a trip to a national park here in Uganda or anywhere on the continent of Africa.
Advice #1 - DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS.
Advice #2 - DO NOT RENT A MINI VAN THINKING IT WILL WORK WELL AS A SAFARI VEHICLE.
Advice #3 - FULLY INSPECT ALL ASPECTS OF THE VEHICLE BEFORE LEAVING ALL MAJOR CITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES BEHIND.
With those words of advice, let me begin...
When I left you last Catrine and Ben had arrived at our place at 10am sharp as was arranged. Poor Catrine and Ben had spent the previous night sleeping on the cement floor in Jen's room. They had changed hotels from The Brovad to The Laston (just around the corner) and when they got to the Laston later the previous night, the gate was locked and no one was around to let them in.( I guess the guard was passed out from drinking too much alcohol and he didn't hear them banging on the gate.) They had paid for a hotel room but ended up sleeping on our floor. I actually had no idea they had done so until I woke up early in the morning to find them exiting Jen's room and crossing our room headed for the door. I was so confused, I asked them where they had come from. Anyway, they went to the Laston, fought with the manager and got all of their money back. There trip here has definitly not been ideal.
So we headed out and along our way we filled up with gas, dropped Ida off with her mother and chatted about all the different animals we were going to see.
Our first night we were staying in Ishasha. It is in the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park and is known mainly for it's lions. Normally lions do not climb trees but in Ishasha they do. Nobody really knows why, but they think it has something to do with biting ants. I guess the lions learned over time that if they slept in the trees the ants would not bite them. Pretty smart lions. Anyway, I digress.
Just before we reached the road to Ishasha we saw our first animal. There was a baboon on the side of the road. We were all very excited so Nasser stopped the van for us so we could take pictures. I guess Nasser thought it would be neet to have the baboon come even closer so he decided to feed it a banana. The baboon jumped right up to Nasser's open window and took the banana right out of his hand. Okay, kind of cool I guess. So Nasser got a little more brave and the next thing we know the baboon was inside the van! It had come right in through Nasser's window and was on his lap! Really it only wanted more bananas, but we all started to freak out. You could hear us all in the back yelling, "get it out of the car!" "Nasser what are you doing!" Mind you, I think that Nasser was probably more surprised and scared than the rest of us, but I'll admit I did not want that baboon thinking there was food for it in the back of the van. Luckily, he got it out by starting to drive a bit which startled it and it jumped out with i's banana.
I wish I had gotten a picture of it. Looking back it was kind of funny, but I think we were all so shocked no one thought to get their camera out to take a picture of the baboon on Nasser's lap. I'm glad we moved on after that as another baboon was on the road looking at us and he was twice as big as the one that had come in through the van window.
After this excitiment we saw other animals, we saw Kobs, buffalo, other deer like animals, and elephants off in the distance, but no other animals up close and personal like the baboons.
Once we reached the road to take us to Ishasha we realized that the minivan was not the best vehicle to have brought. I don't know if I have explained to you the road situation here in Uganda, they are horrible. There are very few roads that are paved, the others are simply dirt roads riddled with extreme pot holes made by the rain. The road to Ishasha was no different. The whole way, until we reached the ranger station where we were staying, the van was bottoming out and it seemed to take all of the van's energy to make it through the potholes and along the road.
By the time we got to Ishasha we were all VERY dirty. The mini van only had two windows in the back that opened and they didn't roll down to let in a lot of air, they were the kind that you just push out, so needless to say the van was more than a little stuffy and very hot. To help aleviate the heat we traveled down the dirt road with the sliding door open. At first Catrine held it open then I switched her places and held it open. When we stopped the whole inside of the van was covered with dirt as well as all of us. Erin told me that it looked like I had a really good tan, but really I was just covered in dust.
We made it to Ishasha however and as soon as we got there a ranger came up to us and told us that if we wanted to see the lions we should leave as soon as possible. So we paid for everything we needed to pay for and the ranger hoped into the minivan assuring us that it would be able to travel over the road he was taking us on and we went in search of lions. The minivan had the same problems it had on the road to Ishasha but somehow it made it to the tree where we saw about 7 lions taking an afternoon snooze.
It was a pretty cool sight. They were really close to us and although we all climbed out of the van to have a better look, no one really got very close. You don't want to disturb a content, sleeping lion. All of the lions were female except one, but he was still a cub so he didn't have the big mane on him like a full grown male lion would have. We stayed for about 1/2 an hour and then our guide said we should leave as they would be waking soon and getting themselves ready to hunt for their dinner. I know that I didn't want to be out when the lions were looking for something tasty to eat. We drove back to the ranger station nice and slow with the van bottoming out and the sides of the van getting scratched by the dense bushes that were overtaking the road.
We got back and unpacked our things, settled into our rooms, and then decided to see if we could rent a different vehicle to take us out on the game drive the next day as we were all worried that the van would not make it. We talked to the warden and he said we could take the truck but it would cost us 2500 shillings a kilometre. Kind of expensive but after much deliberating we agreed that it's better to pay the money and have peace of mind then get stranded in the middle of QENP surrounded by wild animals. So we ate our meal of pasta and sauce and went to bed dreaming of the different types of animals we would see the next day.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early and we all piled into the flatbed of the truck with our ranger Godfrey and our driver who both came equipped with rather large semi-automatic weapons. I guess it is always better to be prepared.
We saw a lot of the same animals we had seen off in the distance as we were driving to Ishasha, only this time much closer to us. The buffalo were very interested in us and tried to intimidate us with their stares, horns, and digging into the ground with their hooves. The coolest thing we saw though was a lone male elephant who was only 30 feet at the most from our truck.
It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. We were all so excited. We were grabbing at our cameras and telling Godfrey to stop the truck so we could get some good pictures. We were yelling, "stop the truck, stop the truck."But at the same time that we were yelling this Godfrey was yelling, "keep going, I fear, I fear!" What none of us had realized was that the elephant had turned to face us and was advancing, slowly but straight for us. Who knows what he would have done, but Godfrey was worried enough to make sure we didn't stay there too long, he's the ranger with the experience so as much as we would have like to stay and stare at the elephant longer, we moved on.
We also saw a couple of warthogs but they didn't stay still long enough for us to get a good picture, mainly we say them running away as fast as their little legs could carry them through the tall grass to safety. All in all it was a pretty cool game drive.
When we got back to the ranger station we packed up our rooms, had some breakfast and headed off to our next destination of Mweya where we would spend two nights. We were traveling down the road away from Ishasha on our way to the main highway when we heard a horrible noise and something about the van did not feel right. We had Nasser pull over and when we got outside we found that the rear driver's side tire was completly shredded. I have never seen a tire do that before. Erin had told us when we started out that the tire wasn't going to hold but none of us had paid much attention to her, I guess we should have listened.
So we sat in the heat of the sun while Nasser and Christopher worked on changing the tire. They had a spare so no real problem right? Wrong. When they got the jack out the realized that although they had a jack, they did not have the correct piece needed to turn the jack so it advanced upwards lifting the van high enough to change the tire. We also found, once they got the spare out, that the spare itself had a hold in the tire that went so deep you could see the inner tubing of the tire. Not good. Luckily a man came along who was driving a Christian Children's Fund truck and lent us a jack, so despite the state of the spare tire we were forced to remove the shredded one and put on the damaged spare and hope and pray it would get us to the closest town where we could buy a new tire.
We got it all changed and started back down the road with Nasser going slowly, not as slowly as I would go, but whatever, when all of the sudden we heard a popping sound, the spare had blown. We were close enough to the main road that Nasser had no choice but to drive on the flat the remaining 2k's. When we reached the road he pulled over, hopped out, took one of the tires out of the van and told us he would be back in 50 minutes. He caught a ride into town with a taxi and the rest of us were left by the side of the road waiting for him to come back.
Well his 50 minutes turned into 3hrs and during that 3hrs Catrine tried to find a ride for us to Mweya with little success, Christopher got the van jacked up using the screwdriver that belonged to a man in a passing taxi (it cost us 1000shillings to use that screwdriver) and we were surrounded by a group of baboons. Caterine panicked when she saw them coming, ran into the van and yelled at all of us to come into the van. She then tried to get the windows rolled up and realized they were electric windows and the van was not turned on. It was quite funny to watch her. The rest of us were not too concerned, once the baboons realized we had nothing for them they grew bored of us and moved on.
It was around this time that we all started to go a little delerious from too much heat and lack of water. Christopher asked Ben at one point of we were gussed. (Christopher speaks english very well but he mumbles and with his accent it is often hard to understand him). So Ben said, "Are we gussed?" and Christopher said, "no gussed." Finally Ben understood and said, "Oh, are we cursed?"
It was also around this time that Erin was sure she saw a snake across the road in a ditch. She yelled out that she had seen a snake and her and Ben ran across the road to see it. There was nothing there. We figure it must have been a figment of her imagination but a little later on Erin said she wished we could have seen the snake, it was the prettiest red and white snake she had ever seen. Yup, I think we had all had a little too much sun!
Nasser eventually came back and we got the tire changed and made our way to Mweya. Just as we were approaching the main gate for Mweya I looked over and saw a hippo just standing there on the side of the road chomping on some grass. It was pretty cool and I yelled out, "look it's real! Nasser stopped the van and we all took pictures of the first hippo any of us had ever seen up close and in the wild.
We then continued onto our hostel, got there, settled in, had a bite to eat, unpacked and then decided we would go eat dinner at the fancy restaurant at the Safari Lodge. We were staying at the MUCH cheaper hostel just down the road. Now as a joke, I asked one of the women that works at the hostel if it was safe to walk to the lodge as it was dark and we didn't want to get eaten by lions or attacked by hippos. Much to my surprise she said that it was not advisable to walk after dark and we did so at our own risk. So we asked Nasser if he would drive us. He did. When we got there we found out that the buffet dinner was 27,000 shillings per person, a little pricey so we decided to come back in the morning when there was light so we could see the view and enjoy the much cheaper breakfast buffet.
We went back to the hostel and ate dinner at the canteen, had showers, and retired to our beds by 10pm. I loved our first night in Mweya, they actually had fans in each room and it was even a power on night so we had the fan blowing cool air on us all night long. I was in heaven!
Sunday morning we awoke andheaded to the lodge for an amazing breakfast. It wasn't much cheaper (20,000 sh each) but at least it came with a beautiful view of mountains and the lake. Breakfast was a buffet of bacon, sausage, fruit, eggs, toast and omlettes made to order. It was SO good. They even had brown bread! I was thoughouly stuffed when I was done eating and had enjoyed every bite. The bacon was cooked to perfection. It felt like I hadn't had bacon for years, it was SO tasty.
After breakfast we headed to the information centre to decide on what we were going to do for the rest of the day. We decided to go on the boat launch were we were promised to see hippos, crocodiles, and other animals. that wasn't until 3pm so we had some time to kill so we went back to our hostil and ate read, relaxed, and visited.
When it was time to go we decided for some reason we would walk to the where the boat launch was. We had been told that there was a foot path down to the launch area, we should have known better than to believe the ones who told us this. We walked out of the park, down the road, and came to the sign that said boat lauch. The "foot path" was a sheer rock face you had to somehow manouver down without tumbling to your death. Ben commented that he didn't remember reading anywhere that he was expected to bring his own rappeling equipment. We decided to continue down the road and eventually found the connecting road you could drive down to get to the boat launch. During this time about 5 vehicles passed us also on their way to the boat lauch but no once offered to give us a lift. That's alright, we made it there on our own.
The boat we took out was named Simba (which means Lion in swahili). It was a neat little boat with a covered top and open sides so you could take good clear photos as we went along. We had a few avid bird watchers with us who came with some serious camera equipment. It was actually quite entertaining to watch as the only ones who put on their life jackets were the group of African tourists. The boat was not moving fast and the water was not very deep, and I figured, if I fell over and a hippo dragged me under, no life jacket was going to save me.
We saw tons of hippos, they were all around the boat, surfacing at random times. I told Erin it reminded me of the wac-a-mole game they have at amusement parks. We also saw buffalos cooling themsevles in the water, some neet looking birds, a couple of crocodiles on the shore and we passed right by an elephant giving himself a bath. I have a picture with Erin and elephant in it just to show how close the boat was to him. It was pretty neat to watch and really he couldn't have cared less about us. We learned that hippos, buffalo and elephants all live together on the banks of the river in harmony as they are all herbavoires. We also learned that elephants are really the king of the jungle as even lions won't mess with them. An elephant can easily kill a lone lion and it would take a whole pack of lions to take down one elephant.
After we had been on the boat for about an hour and a half it started to rain, not just a little rain, but a downpour. Everyone who was up top the boat came down and the crew worked like mad to get the blinds pulled down and fastened so those of us inside would not get drenched. it was kind of funny and added to the whole experience. We got back to shore and it was still pouring and we realized that we had no way of getting back. We had planned to walk, but with the rain we thought it would not be such a good idea. Luckily this nice british man who had come in a van by himself offered us a ride back with him. We were very grateful as everyone else had professed to be too full to help us.
We made it back to lodge and found out that Einer had gotten more sick and was being transfered via plane to a hospital in Nairobi. Catrine was a little panicked and was feeling very guilty about leaving him behind and coming on this trip. She phone Einer's wife, and it was decided that there was little we could do, we were too far away and it was raining to hard to head out on the dirt roads so we said we would see what news we heard in the morning and we'd go from there.
We also decided we would check out a different canteen, just down the hill from our hostel that was supposed to have good food for cheap. We headed down there for dinner and we were joking about all the crazy things that had gone wrong with this trip and commenting about all the good things we had down and the cool stuff we'd seen when Ben said thesix words that have now become historic, he said "What else could possibly go wrong?" Right on cue huge amounts of smoke started billowing out of the kitchen where our dinner was being made. We all looked to our left and then back at each other and just burst out laughing. Sometimes all you can do is laugh.
Dinner eventually came, it took a little longer than usual, but it was tasty. The only thing was, dinner took so long that when we were done eating it had become very dark and we still had to walk back up to our hostel. Remembering the warning the woman had given us the night before made none of us overly pleased to be walking back in the dark. We asked at the canteen if we would be safe, they assured us the lions would not be out hunting for at least another hour and that even though the hippos sounded very close, they really weren't as close as we thought. So we headed out, making a lot of noise as we went so if we did come across anything we wouldn't startle it, and we made it back to our hostel safe and sound, thankfully.
I was tired so I went to bed soon after we got back, Erin came in our room about 45 minutes later and I was all ready to have a good nights sleep but that was not too be.
About 2am Erin and I were awoken by some horrible screaming noise coming from outside. It sounded like it was very close to our room. I was still very tired and figured that whatever it was, it was too late for us to help it now so I was ready to go back to sleep, but sleep did not come back easily for Erin. She had to go to the bathroom but was not about to leave our room. She also wanted to eat her banana but was worried that the lion (or whatever was outside) would smell it and try to get into our room. I assured her that Lion's don't care about banana's so she was safe and I turned over and went back to sleep. I heard the next morning that sleep did not come as easily for Erin, I guess the noises outside scared her more than I realized. Myself, I was too tired to worry.
The next day we decided we were going to go on a nature walk on our way out of the park at Maramumbumgo Forest. We were going to walk to a bat cave that was famous for this rock python that was supposed to live there also. Erin was pretty excited as she had really wanted to see a snake so we headed out. Nasser and Christopher had put a new tire on the rim of the spare, so we now had a good tire on the van and a good spare just in case. Einer was being taken in the morning so we would never have gotten back in time to see him, so we headed out to enjoy our last day in QENP.
We found the road that would take us to our nature walk and read it was 22k's to the walk. We also found the road was worse than any road we had been down yet. Nasser drove slow, but the constant scrapping on the bottom of the van made us all nervous and we figured with the luck we had had so far we shouldn't push it. We decided to turn around, leave the bat cave for another time and just head back to Masaka. The road was pretty narrow and had small ditches on both sides so I got out to help direct Nasser as he was backing up, I don't think he paid attention when I told him, well in advance to stop, as he backed right into the ditch. So we then had to rock the van as he put it into gear so we could get the van turned around and head back to the main road. It took some effort but we did it.
Once we reached the main road, nice and paved, we thought once again, what else could possibly go wrong, we thought too soon. We were about 1 hour out of the park when the van started to smoke. Nasser pulled over, we all pilled out and we realized the van was seriously overheated. Nasser also found that all around the engine was a nice collection of grass that the van had pulled out of the ground as it scraped over the dirt roads.
So we sat once again by the side of the road while Nasser caught a ride into town to see if he could get some parts and a mechanic. Once again we were in the African heat, but at least this time we had water. We waited for an hour, Nasser came back, we waited for another hour while the mechanic, Nasser, and some other guys worked on the van. I think again there came a point when we all lost it. Erin started to laugh, Ben started, then me, then Catrine and we couldn't stop. I'm sure the locals were wondering what was wrong with the four muzungu's laughing like crazy people on the side of the road by a van with smoke coming out of it.
The van got started, it got filled with water and we made it as far as Ishaka where we pulled over at a gas station. We waited there for an hour and a half while they worked on the van and had a lunch that consisted of snacks bought at the gas station. After that we hopped in the van again and made is as far as Mbrara where we stopped at an actual mechanics shop where we sat for another 3 hrs while they tried to figure out what to do about the van. Luckily it was a nice clean shop with comfy seats and baby kittens for us to look at. We sat here and Nasser eventually came in and showed us the thermostat I guess it was malfunctioning and causing the van to overheat. His answer was to just leave it out. I don't know much about cars but it made me nervous to take out a piece that I'm sure was put there for a reason, but I didn't question.
Nasser told us the van would not make it to Masaka so he had his friend come with his car and pick us up in Mbrara and take us back to Masaka. We eventually made it back home safely and with some good stories to tell. At one point while Nasser's friend was driving us, Nasser called his friend and asked to talk to me and told me to tell his friend to drive us safely. I'll admit that made me a bit nervous if Nasser felt he needed to call and tell the man to drive us safely, but we made it back safely so I guess that is all that matters.
All in all it was a good trip. We had some set backs but like I keep telling everyone, it has definitly made for a good story and one thing is for sure our trip was not boring and it was full of adventure. Sorry it took me so long to get this email out. The computers here do not always co-operate so I've actually been typing this email for about three days.
I hope that everyone is doing well and I will email again soon. Take care.
Chandra.
Advice #1 - DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS.
Advice #2 - DO NOT RENT A MINI VAN THINKING IT WILL WORK WELL AS A SAFARI VEHICLE.
Advice #3 - FULLY INSPECT ALL ASPECTS OF THE VEHICLE BEFORE LEAVING ALL MAJOR CITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES BEHIND.
With those words of advice, let me begin...
When I left you last Catrine and Ben had arrived at our place at 10am sharp as was arranged. Poor Catrine and Ben had spent the previous night sleeping on the cement floor in Jen's room. They had changed hotels from The Brovad to The Laston (just around the corner) and when they got to the Laston later the previous night, the gate was locked and no one was around to let them in.( I guess the guard was passed out from drinking too much alcohol and he didn't hear them banging on the gate.) They had paid for a hotel room but ended up sleeping on our floor. I actually had no idea they had done so until I woke up early in the morning to find them exiting Jen's room and crossing our room headed for the door. I was so confused, I asked them where they had come from. Anyway, they went to the Laston, fought with the manager and got all of their money back. There trip here has definitly not been ideal.
So we headed out and along our way we filled up with gas, dropped Ida off with her mother and chatted about all the different animals we were going to see.
Our first night we were staying in Ishasha. It is in the southern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park and is known mainly for it's lions. Normally lions do not climb trees but in Ishasha they do. Nobody really knows why, but they think it has something to do with biting ants. I guess the lions learned over time that if they slept in the trees the ants would not bite them. Pretty smart lions. Anyway, I digress.
Just before we reached the road to Ishasha we saw our first animal. There was a baboon on the side of the road. We were all very excited so Nasser stopped the van for us so we could take pictures. I guess Nasser thought it would be neet to have the baboon come even closer so he decided to feed it a banana. The baboon jumped right up to Nasser's open window and took the banana right out of his hand. Okay, kind of cool I guess. So Nasser got a little more brave and the next thing we know the baboon was inside the van! It had come right in through Nasser's window and was on his lap! Really it only wanted more bananas, but we all started to freak out. You could hear us all in the back yelling, "get it out of the car!" "Nasser what are you doing!" Mind you, I think that Nasser was probably more surprised and scared than the rest of us, but I'll admit I did not want that baboon thinking there was food for it in the back of the van. Luckily, he got it out by starting to drive a bit which startled it and it jumped out with i's banana.
I wish I had gotten a picture of it. Looking back it was kind of funny, but I think we were all so shocked no one thought to get their camera out to take a picture of the baboon on Nasser's lap. I'm glad we moved on after that as another baboon was on the road looking at us and he was twice as big as the one that had come in through the van window.
After this excitiment we saw other animals, we saw Kobs, buffalo, other deer like animals, and elephants off in the distance, but no other animals up close and personal like the baboons.
Once we reached the road to take us to Ishasha we realized that the minivan was not the best vehicle to have brought. I don't know if I have explained to you the road situation here in Uganda, they are horrible. There are very few roads that are paved, the others are simply dirt roads riddled with extreme pot holes made by the rain. The road to Ishasha was no different. The whole way, until we reached the ranger station where we were staying, the van was bottoming out and it seemed to take all of the van's energy to make it through the potholes and along the road.
By the time we got to Ishasha we were all VERY dirty. The mini van only had two windows in the back that opened and they didn't roll down to let in a lot of air, they were the kind that you just push out, so needless to say the van was more than a little stuffy and very hot. To help aleviate the heat we traveled down the dirt road with the sliding door open. At first Catrine held it open then I switched her places and held it open. When we stopped the whole inside of the van was covered with dirt as well as all of us. Erin told me that it looked like I had a really good tan, but really I was just covered in dust.
We made it to Ishasha however and as soon as we got there a ranger came up to us and told us that if we wanted to see the lions we should leave as soon as possible. So we paid for everything we needed to pay for and the ranger hoped into the minivan assuring us that it would be able to travel over the road he was taking us on and we went in search of lions. The minivan had the same problems it had on the road to Ishasha but somehow it made it to the tree where we saw about 7 lions taking an afternoon snooze.
It was a pretty cool sight. They were really close to us and although we all climbed out of the van to have a better look, no one really got very close. You don't want to disturb a content, sleeping lion. All of the lions were female except one, but he was still a cub so he didn't have the big mane on him like a full grown male lion would have. We stayed for about 1/2 an hour and then our guide said we should leave as they would be waking soon and getting themselves ready to hunt for their dinner. I know that I didn't want to be out when the lions were looking for something tasty to eat. We drove back to the ranger station nice and slow with the van bottoming out and the sides of the van getting scratched by the dense bushes that were overtaking the road.
We got back and unpacked our things, settled into our rooms, and then decided to see if we could rent a different vehicle to take us out on the game drive the next day as we were all worried that the van would not make it. We talked to the warden and he said we could take the truck but it would cost us 2500 shillings a kilometre. Kind of expensive but after much deliberating we agreed that it's better to pay the money and have peace of mind then get stranded in the middle of QENP surrounded by wild animals. So we ate our meal of pasta and sauce and went to bed dreaming of the different types of animals we would see the next day.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early and we all piled into the flatbed of the truck with our ranger Godfrey and our driver who both came equipped with rather large semi-automatic weapons. I guess it is always better to be prepared.
We saw a lot of the same animals we had seen off in the distance as we were driving to Ishasha, only this time much closer to us. The buffalo were very interested in us and tried to intimidate us with their stares, horns, and digging into the ground with their hooves. The coolest thing we saw though was a lone male elephant who was only 30 feet at the most from our truck.
It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. We were all so excited. We were grabbing at our cameras and telling Godfrey to stop the truck so we could get some good pictures. We were yelling, "stop the truck, stop the truck."But at the same time that we were yelling this Godfrey was yelling, "keep going, I fear, I fear!" What none of us had realized was that the elephant had turned to face us and was advancing, slowly but straight for us. Who knows what he would have done, but Godfrey was worried enough to make sure we didn't stay there too long, he's the ranger with the experience so as much as we would have like to stay and stare at the elephant longer, we moved on.
We also saw a couple of warthogs but they didn't stay still long enough for us to get a good picture, mainly we say them running away as fast as their little legs could carry them through the tall grass to safety. All in all it was a pretty cool game drive.
When we got back to the ranger station we packed up our rooms, had some breakfast and headed off to our next destination of Mweya where we would spend two nights. We were traveling down the road away from Ishasha on our way to the main highway when we heard a horrible noise and something about the van did not feel right. We had Nasser pull over and when we got outside we found that the rear driver's side tire was completly shredded. I have never seen a tire do that before. Erin had told us when we started out that the tire wasn't going to hold but none of us had paid much attention to her, I guess we should have listened.
So we sat in the heat of the sun while Nasser and Christopher worked on changing the tire. They had a spare so no real problem right? Wrong. When they got the jack out the realized that although they had a jack, they did not have the correct piece needed to turn the jack so it advanced upwards lifting the van high enough to change the tire. We also found, once they got the spare out, that the spare itself had a hold in the tire that went so deep you could see the inner tubing of the tire. Not good. Luckily a man came along who was driving a Christian Children's Fund truck and lent us a jack, so despite the state of the spare tire we were forced to remove the shredded one and put on the damaged spare and hope and pray it would get us to the closest town where we could buy a new tire.
We got it all changed and started back down the road with Nasser going slowly, not as slowly as I would go, but whatever, when all of the sudden we heard a popping sound, the spare had blown. We were close enough to the main road that Nasser had no choice but to drive on the flat the remaining 2k's. When we reached the road he pulled over, hopped out, took one of the tires out of the van and told us he would be back in 50 minutes. He caught a ride into town with a taxi and the rest of us were left by the side of the road waiting for him to come back.
Well his 50 minutes turned into 3hrs and during that 3hrs Catrine tried to find a ride for us to Mweya with little success, Christopher got the van jacked up using the screwdriver that belonged to a man in a passing taxi (it cost us 1000shillings to use that screwdriver) and we were surrounded by a group of baboons. Caterine panicked when she saw them coming, ran into the van and yelled at all of us to come into the van. She then tried to get the windows rolled up and realized they were electric windows and the van was not turned on. It was quite funny to watch her. The rest of us were not too concerned, once the baboons realized we had nothing for them they grew bored of us and moved on.
It was around this time that we all started to go a little delerious from too much heat and lack of water. Christopher asked Ben at one point of we were gussed. (Christopher speaks english very well but he mumbles and with his accent it is often hard to understand him). So Ben said, "Are we gussed?" and Christopher said, "no gussed." Finally Ben understood and said, "Oh, are we cursed?"
It was also around this time that Erin was sure she saw a snake across the road in a ditch. She yelled out that she had seen a snake and her and Ben ran across the road to see it. There was nothing there. We figure it must have been a figment of her imagination but a little later on Erin said she wished we could have seen the snake, it was the prettiest red and white snake she had ever seen. Yup, I think we had all had a little too much sun!
Nasser eventually came back and we got the tire changed and made our way to Mweya. Just as we were approaching the main gate for Mweya I looked over and saw a hippo just standing there on the side of the road chomping on some grass. It was pretty cool and I yelled out, "look it's real! Nasser stopped the van and we all took pictures of the first hippo any of us had ever seen up close and in the wild.
We then continued onto our hostel, got there, settled in, had a bite to eat, unpacked and then decided we would go eat dinner at the fancy restaurant at the Safari Lodge. We were staying at the MUCH cheaper hostel just down the road. Now as a joke, I asked one of the women that works at the hostel if it was safe to walk to the lodge as it was dark and we didn't want to get eaten by lions or attacked by hippos. Much to my surprise she said that it was not advisable to walk after dark and we did so at our own risk. So we asked Nasser if he would drive us. He did. When we got there we found out that the buffet dinner was 27,000 shillings per person, a little pricey so we decided to come back in the morning when there was light so we could see the view and enjoy the much cheaper breakfast buffet.
We went back to the hostel and ate dinner at the canteen, had showers, and retired to our beds by 10pm. I loved our first night in Mweya, they actually had fans in each room and it was even a power on night so we had the fan blowing cool air on us all night long. I was in heaven!
Sunday morning we awoke andheaded to the lodge for an amazing breakfast. It wasn't much cheaper (20,000 sh each) but at least it came with a beautiful view of mountains and the lake. Breakfast was a buffet of bacon, sausage, fruit, eggs, toast and omlettes made to order. It was SO good. They even had brown bread! I was thoughouly stuffed when I was done eating and had enjoyed every bite. The bacon was cooked to perfection. It felt like I hadn't had bacon for years, it was SO tasty.
After breakfast we headed to the information centre to decide on what we were going to do for the rest of the day. We decided to go on the boat launch were we were promised to see hippos, crocodiles, and other animals. that wasn't until 3pm so we had some time to kill so we went back to our hostil and ate read, relaxed, and visited.
When it was time to go we decided for some reason we would walk to the where the boat launch was. We had been told that there was a foot path down to the launch area, we should have known better than to believe the ones who told us this. We walked out of the park, down the road, and came to the sign that said boat lauch. The "foot path" was a sheer rock face you had to somehow manouver down without tumbling to your death. Ben commented that he didn't remember reading anywhere that he was expected to bring his own rappeling equipment. We decided to continue down the road and eventually found the connecting road you could drive down to get to the boat launch. During this time about 5 vehicles passed us also on their way to the boat lauch but no once offered to give us a lift. That's alright, we made it there on our own.
The boat we took out was named Simba (which means Lion in swahili). It was a neat little boat with a covered top and open sides so you could take good clear photos as we went along. We had a few avid bird watchers with us who came with some serious camera equipment. It was actually quite entertaining to watch as the only ones who put on their life jackets were the group of African tourists. The boat was not moving fast and the water was not very deep, and I figured, if I fell over and a hippo dragged me under, no life jacket was going to save me.
We saw tons of hippos, they were all around the boat, surfacing at random times. I told Erin it reminded me of the wac-a-mole game they have at amusement parks. We also saw buffalos cooling themsevles in the water, some neet looking birds, a couple of crocodiles on the shore and we passed right by an elephant giving himself a bath. I have a picture with Erin and elephant in it just to show how close the boat was to him. It was pretty neat to watch and really he couldn't have cared less about us. We learned that hippos, buffalo and elephants all live together on the banks of the river in harmony as they are all herbavoires. We also learned that elephants are really the king of the jungle as even lions won't mess with them. An elephant can easily kill a lone lion and it would take a whole pack of lions to take down one elephant.
After we had been on the boat for about an hour and a half it started to rain, not just a little rain, but a downpour. Everyone who was up top the boat came down and the crew worked like mad to get the blinds pulled down and fastened so those of us inside would not get drenched. it was kind of funny and added to the whole experience. We got back to shore and it was still pouring and we realized that we had no way of getting back. We had planned to walk, but with the rain we thought it would not be such a good idea. Luckily this nice british man who had come in a van by himself offered us a ride back with him. We were very grateful as everyone else had professed to be too full to help us.
We made it back to lodge and found out that Einer had gotten more sick and was being transfered via plane to a hospital in Nairobi. Catrine was a little panicked and was feeling very guilty about leaving him behind and coming on this trip. She phone Einer's wife, and it was decided that there was little we could do, we were too far away and it was raining to hard to head out on the dirt roads so we said we would see what news we heard in the morning and we'd go from there.
We also decided we would check out a different canteen, just down the hill from our hostel that was supposed to have good food for cheap. We headed down there for dinner and we were joking about all the crazy things that had gone wrong with this trip and commenting about all the good things we had down and the cool stuff we'd seen when Ben said thesix words that have now become historic, he said "What else could possibly go wrong?" Right on cue huge amounts of smoke started billowing out of the kitchen where our dinner was being made. We all looked to our left and then back at each other and just burst out laughing. Sometimes all you can do is laugh.
Dinner eventually came, it took a little longer than usual, but it was tasty. The only thing was, dinner took so long that when we were done eating it had become very dark and we still had to walk back up to our hostel. Remembering the warning the woman had given us the night before made none of us overly pleased to be walking back in the dark. We asked at the canteen if we would be safe, they assured us the lions would not be out hunting for at least another hour and that even though the hippos sounded very close, they really weren't as close as we thought. So we headed out, making a lot of noise as we went so if we did come across anything we wouldn't startle it, and we made it back to our hostel safe and sound, thankfully.
I was tired so I went to bed soon after we got back, Erin came in our room about 45 minutes later and I was all ready to have a good nights sleep but that was not too be.
About 2am Erin and I were awoken by some horrible screaming noise coming from outside. It sounded like it was very close to our room. I was still very tired and figured that whatever it was, it was too late for us to help it now so I was ready to go back to sleep, but sleep did not come back easily for Erin. She had to go to the bathroom but was not about to leave our room. She also wanted to eat her banana but was worried that the lion (or whatever was outside) would smell it and try to get into our room. I assured her that Lion's don't care about banana's so she was safe and I turned over and went back to sleep. I heard the next morning that sleep did not come as easily for Erin, I guess the noises outside scared her more than I realized. Myself, I was too tired to worry.
The next day we decided we were going to go on a nature walk on our way out of the park at Maramumbumgo Forest. We were going to walk to a bat cave that was famous for this rock python that was supposed to live there also. Erin was pretty excited as she had really wanted to see a snake so we headed out. Nasser and Christopher had put a new tire on the rim of the spare, so we now had a good tire on the van and a good spare just in case. Einer was being taken in the morning so we would never have gotten back in time to see him, so we headed out to enjoy our last day in QENP.
We found the road that would take us to our nature walk and read it was 22k's to the walk. We also found the road was worse than any road we had been down yet. Nasser drove slow, but the constant scrapping on the bottom of the van made us all nervous and we figured with the luck we had had so far we shouldn't push it. We decided to turn around, leave the bat cave for another time and just head back to Masaka. The road was pretty narrow and had small ditches on both sides so I got out to help direct Nasser as he was backing up, I don't think he paid attention when I told him, well in advance to stop, as he backed right into the ditch. So we then had to rock the van as he put it into gear so we could get the van turned around and head back to the main road. It took some effort but we did it.
Once we reached the main road, nice and paved, we thought once again, what else could possibly go wrong, we thought too soon. We were about 1 hour out of the park when the van started to smoke. Nasser pulled over, we all pilled out and we realized the van was seriously overheated. Nasser also found that all around the engine was a nice collection of grass that the van had pulled out of the ground as it scraped over the dirt roads.
So we sat once again by the side of the road while Nasser caught a ride into town to see if he could get some parts and a mechanic. Once again we were in the African heat, but at least this time we had water. We waited for an hour, Nasser came back, we waited for another hour while the mechanic, Nasser, and some other guys worked on the van. I think again there came a point when we all lost it. Erin started to laugh, Ben started, then me, then Catrine and we couldn't stop. I'm sure the locals were wondering what was wrong with the four muzungu's laughing like crazy people on the side of the road by a van with smoke coming out of it.
The van got started, it got filled with water and we made it as far as Ishaka where we pulled over at a gas station. We waited there for an hour and a half while they worked on the van and had a lunch that consisted of snacks bought at the gas station. After that we hopped in the van again and made is as far as Mbrara where we stopped at an actual mechanics shop where we sat for another 3 hrs while they tried to figure out what to do about the van. Luckily it was a nice clean shop with comfy seats and baby kittens for us to look at. We sat here and Nasser eventually came in and showed us the thermostat I guess it was malfunctioning and causing the van to overheat. His answer was to just leave it out. I don't know much about cars but it made me nervous to take out a piece that I'm sure was put there for a reason, but I didn't question.
Nasser told us the van would not make it to Masaka so he had his friend come with his car and pick us up in Mbrara and take us back to Masaka. We eventually made it back home safely and with some good stories to tell. At one point while Nasser's friend was driving us, Nasser called his friend and asked to talk to me and told me to tell his friend to drive us safely. I'll admit that made me a bit nervous if Nasser felt he needed to call and tell the man to drive us safely, but we made it back safely so I guess that is all that matters.
All in all it was a good trip. We had some set backs but like I keep telling everyone, it has definitly made for a good story and one thing is for sure our trip was not boring and it was full of adventure. Sorry it took me so long to get this email out. The computers here do not always co-operate so I've actually been typing this email for about three days.
I hope that everyone is doing well and I will email again soon. Take care.
Chandra.
Thursday June 8 (erin)
Today I went on outreach with USDC. I was worried about leaving Carli while she was still so sick but Brigitte assured me she?d be well taken care of by herself and Rita. So, off I went?well not so fast?I had to wait almost 2 hours before I got picked up making me think I had been totally forgotten, but not so. It was Charles driving and Fred and Emanuel, the psychiatric nurses in back. I can?t remember where we went but the roads were really bad and it was about a 2 hour drive. The goal of the outreach was to sensitize school children on mental health, to help them understand what it is and that people with mental illnesses are normal and not to be feared or shunned. So we reached the first school and about 100 children gathered on the ground outside. The nurses, Charles and I sat on benches at the front. I?m sure it was a very interesting presentation as Fred and Emanuel are good speakers and really animated. But, alas, it was all in Luganda. Charles translated some for me but we got bored pretty quick. I kept myself entertained by smiling at the children and making them turn their heads and blush. I think most of them were too busy looking at me and not listening to the nurses. The best part was when we were driving away and I waved at the kids and they all waved back and yelled ?byeee?, so cute.
After that, we went to another school and when we pulled up in the truck, immediately we were surrounded by about 50 children. They just stood outside my door and stared and smiled. I didn?t know what to do! So Charles said something to them and then all the girls kneeled. It was like the wave at a hockey game. Then they got called over to the presentation. I stayed in the car because I just couldn?t sit through another hour of Luganda. When it was finished, we went to another school and the same thing happened?I was completely surrounded and it was kind of scary. This time I said ?Muli Mutya? (how are you) and again all the girls knelt. They are so cute. Then they got called away again. At the third school, the headmaster made me get out of the car and actually speak to the kids?talk about my worst nightmare, speaking in front of a hundred kids wide-eyed staring at me. The teacher said they would really love it if I spoke a few words in English. How embarrassing?but I did it. I just introduced myself and where I was from. Then at the fourth school I had to do the same. Gee whiz, you?d think I was Angelina Jolie or something the way they treated me. If I reached out my hand to them a hundred kids would run over to try to shake my hand. It was a long day but kind of fun.
When I got home I found out that Carli had been completely abandoned and almost died of hunger. She was so sad because all three of us were on outreach and our phones were out of service, poor girl! Chandra and I went to the Brovad and got 3 orders of spaghetti to go and brought it home to Carli. Well, it was the worst spaghetti ever known to humankind. But we were desperately hungry. After Catrin and Ben went to visit Einer and take him some dinner, they met up with some people they had met and then went to the Laston Hotel where they had booked a room. Unfortunately the gate had been locked and the guard was nowhere to be found!! Luckily they ran into Jen at the Brovad (the rest of us were already sleeping) and she let them sleep on our floor?our cold hard cement floor! Their trip has not been much fun so far as their first night with Einer was also spent on a cold hard cement floor with no mosquito net.
See Chandra?s posting of our weekend at Queen Elizabeth National Park!
After that, we went to another school and when we pulled up in the truck, immediately we were surrounded by about 50 children. They just stood outside my door and stared and smiled. I didn?t know what to do! So Charles said something to them and then all the girls kneeled. It was like the wave at a hockey game. Then they got called over to the presentation. I stayed in the car because I just couldn?t sit through another hour of Luganda. When it was finished, we went to another school and the same thing happened?I was completely surrounded and it was kind of scary. This time I said ?Muli Mutya? (how are you) and again all the girls knelt. They are so cute. Then they got called away again. At the third school, the headmaster made me get out of the car and actually speak to the kids?talk about my worst nightmare, speaking in front of a hundred kids wide-eyed staring at me. The teacher said they would really love it if I spoke a few words in English. How embarrassing?but I did it. I just introduced myself and where I was from. Then at the fourth school I had to do the same. Gee whiz, you?d think I was Angelina Jolie or something the way they treated me. If I reached out my hand to them a hundred kids would run over to try to shake my hand. It was a long day but kind of fun.
When I got home I found out that Carli had been completely abandoned and almost died of hunger. She was so sad because all three of us were on outreach and our phones were out of service, poor girl! Chandra and I went to the Brovad and got 3 orders of spaghetti to go and brought it home to Carli. Well, it was the worst spaghetti ever known to humankind. But we were desperately hungry. After Catrin and Ben went to visit Einer and take him some dinner, they met up with some people they had met and then went to the Laston Hotel where they had booked a room. Unfortunately the gate had been locked and the guard was nowhere to be found!! Luckily they ran into Jen at the Brovad (the rest of us were already sleeping) and she let them sleep on our floor?our cold hard cement floor! Their trip has not been much fun so far as their first night with Einer was also spent on a cold hard cement floor with no mosquito net.
See Chandra?s posting of our weekend at Queen Elizabeth National Park!
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
June 1 - 7 (erin)
Thursday, June 1
After much confusion and miscommunication (as per usual), we headed off for Kampala. Nasser managed to get us 5 plus Einer our own matatu which is like a taxi van that normally crowds 20 people into 10 seats. We were able to stop at the equator so that was fun to take pictures and watch the flower flow down the water drains in different directions on each side of the equator, and straight down, right on the line. We stayed at the Backpackers again in Kampala. Jen and I got our same banda and Chandra and Carli got a bigger one with a loft that had a single bed and geckos on the wall…bonus!
Then a very exciting thing happened, a monkey ran by! And then another and eventually there were 5 little monkeys sitting in a tree. They were eating the fruit and throwing the pits at us. Then we met up with John at the Speke Hotel where he was staying. Very fancy. We had our dream come true…pizza! Very exciting. I also had the most strange pina colada ever, it tasted like black licorice. We went back to the hostel very satisfied though.
Friday, June 2
We hired our Kampala driver, James and he took us to Jinja. On the way, we stopped at the football coliseum. Einer sweet talked his way into letting us actually walk into the stadium. When we were leaving our driver made a wrong turn I guess and we got pulled over. James was able to sweet talk his way out of that ticket! When we arrived in Jinja we had a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then visited the orphanage where Joseph, the abandoned baby from the hospital is supposed to go. It’s a really nice place with so m any cute babies. It is run by a Texan lady. It was really hard to not bond completely with some of those children, especially when they reached out to be held and practically climbed into your arms. After that we did some sightseeing. We went to the Source of the Nile and took a short tour in an old leaky, rickety boat (sorry Mom, I broke my promise). We saw mountain lizards and lots of neat birds. Einer, Jen, John and I climbed a big rock to get our picture taken and ended up completely covered in little ants and I got bird poo on my arm. Never a dull moment…
Then we went to Bujagali Falls. A guy offered to jump into the falls for a price but Chandra wasn’t thrilled about the idea so we declined. It was a beautiful place. Lots of school kids on fieldtrips. James picked us a funny looking thing from a tree that can be used as a rattle when it’s dry. Then we went to John’s hotel room and each took turns having a hot shower. It was heaven, let me tell you!! A real showerhead that you don’t have to hold and the magnificent water pressure that came out of it, my goodness. We were too tired to move after that so we watched The Bourne Identity on John’s fancy t.v. and he went downstairs and ordered pizza for us. What a gentleman he is…Lawrence are you taking notes ;) Only Jen and Einer were up for dancing at the Rock Garden downstairs so the rest of us went back to the hostel. I got to stay in the loft of Chandra and Carli’s room. It was kind of scary but fun too. The ladder was huge, I felt like I was in a giant’s house.
Saturday, June 3
I was dying to try the American pancakes at the hostel…but apparently that means crepes. Good nonetheless. Also freshly squeezed pineapple juice. Early in the morning Einer picked up his friends from Chicago (he picked them up in Entebbe, not Chicago) so we met them at the hostel during breakfast. Catrin and Ben. Very nice people. It’s kind of fun being the people who have been here for a while and can give advice to the rookies and laugh when they cover themselves with deet and put on seatbelts. We taxi’d in to meet John and headed to a craft market he knew about. It was great! Stall after stall of really great African stuff. Everything and anything you could want and very negotiable prices...John’s an expert at negotiation by the way. Me...not so good. We only got through about 1/3 of the stalls before we realized our new visitors had been patiently waiting for a long time. We decided to come back when we bring Carli to the airport.
Then we got a taxi to our favourite mall and had lunch in the best food court ever. Had my veggie burger which turned out to be a falafel but still good…nothing is as it seems here. Charles was just getting into town so he met up with us. After some more shopping we went back to the hostel to rest and then we had to say goodbye to John. A sad moment. Then the horror began…I started to feel sick. My stomach was aching. It got worse and worse and very quickly I was immobile on the couch in the lounge…except for when I had to run to the bathroom. I couldn’t even keep down water. Charles went to get me some medicine and it seemed to help so everyone else went out to the club for dancing. After a couple of hours I started to feel sick again. Our banda wasn’t exactly close to the washroom so it was quite a trek in the dark. I was able to sleep for a couple of hours but at 3am I felt so ill and weak I really didn’t think I was going to make it. I managed to make it to the first tree and had to lay in the grass despite the threat of getting eaten alive by strange bugs or being attacked by monkeys. At this point I really didn’t care. When I did reach the bathroom and realized I was probably going to die I texted the girls in a panic. I figured they were back already sleeping in the other banda but Chandra was the only one on her way home. My saviour! Thank God for cell phones and text messaging!! Unfortunately she found me at my worst, lying on the bathroom floor…dirty cement floor…of a hostel…in Africa…gross. (I had a really good shower the next morning). But that’s how sick I was. I even considered going to the hospital but I am sorry, the hospitals here are very scary, especially considering I find hospitals in Canada traumatic. Luckily Dr. Chandra suggested to stop drinking water even though I was so thirsty I briefly (very briefly) thought about drinking out of the toilet tank…but it enabled me to stop throwing up enough to make it back to bed.
The next day (Sunday June 4) was slightly better. I wasn’t able to eat much and was frequently visiting the bathroom so I stayed at the hostel and rested on the top bunk in a dorm room. They were nice enough to let me stay there with no charge. Everyone else went into town. Charles checked in on me bringing me food he forced me to eat. Then everyone came back and we headed home. Was a nice drive, a bit scary…I actually joined the Americans and put my seatbelt on this time.
Monday June 5
I was still nauseous but able to eat little bits of food. Poor Carli got really sick and it ends up that she has malaria again…or still. It’s really not fair! So we took the day off as we were supposed to go to the school in Kitengeesa.
Tuesday June 6
I took Carli to the clinic today and that whole scenario is quite funny. I don’t know if muzungus get special treatment or if we’re just helped cuz we look lost and don’t know the system but we were in 5 different line-ups and she was ushered in and out of 3 different rooms. Had to get 2 awful injections this time, not fun. While she was recuperating I wrote a proposal for USDC. They were requesting money to get a playground for the children in post-operative care at the hospital. I hope it is ok, I’ve never written a proposal before but John gave me an outline and Carli helped me too. At least I felt good about getting some work done and helping them out.
We had more bad news today. Einer was taken to the hospital in some sort of diabetic coma. He is stable now but was quite scary. His blood sugar was extremely low and he’s being treated for malaria and pneumonia. His friends are with him overnight. I worry about his boys in Tekera who look to him as a father figure. They must be worried.
Now Jen and Chandra have what they are calling Erin’s disease…but I tell them that it’s not Erin’s disease until you I see you lying on the bathroom floor! Since I was the only one not sick today, I made some soup for dinner. It turned out pretty good considering I’d never made soup before from scratch. Then Charles took me to his house to meet his brother and nieces. The girls kneel on the ground to me out of respect. I understand it’s tradition but it’s difficult to not get embarrassed about it. Anyway, they are all very nice.
Wednesday June 7
I have just now come to the complete and overwhelming realization that I am in Africa. It just hit me as I sat on the bench next to Einer at the hospital. The beautiful people walking by, the sun shining, babies crying. Why is it here and now that it has sunk in, I’m not sure…perhaps because it is just so real. I am Einer’s companion for the day as he rests in the hospital and I have had lots of time to think. It’s really the first time since I’ve been here that I’ve had time alone to just do that. I was worried before that I felt I hadn’t done anything yet, that I hadn’t accomplished anything and I was panicking because time was running out. But now I feel content that if I needed to I could go home now and be happy. But I am also excited that I still have more time.
I was happy to be able to look after Einer while his friends had some respite. I fed him some of my soup as patients do not get fed much in the hospitals. It’s hard for me to be in a hospital because I hate hospitals normally, even in Canada. But at least it isn’t quite as bad as the referral hospital where we work, which resembles a MASH unit. Einer has his own room which we learned is reserved only for priests and other religious figures. Not a single nurse has walked by since I have been here and he has to have an attendant 24 hours to provide food, clothing and blankets. Even water is not provided by the hospital. And this is a private, upper class facility. I hope he gets better for the National park trip this weekend, he was really looking forward to it. Sometimes here I feel like I am in a movie…right now it is the English Patient.
After much confusion and miscommunication (as per usual), we headed off for Kampala. Nasser managed to get us 5 plus Einer our own matatu which is like a taxi van that normally crowds 20 people into 10 seats. We were able to stop at the equator so that was fun to take pictures and watch the flower flow down the water drains in different directions on each side of the equator, and straight down, right on the line. We stayed at the Backpackers again in Kampala. Jen and I got our same banda and Chandra and Carli got a bigger one with a loft that had a single bed and geckos on the wall…bonus!
Then a very exciting thing happened, a monkey ran by! And then another and eventually there were 5 little monkeys sitting in a tree. They were eating the fruit and throwing the pits at us. Then we met up with John at the Speke Hotel where he was staying. Very fancy. We had our dream come true…pizza! Very exciting. I also had the most strange pina colada ever, it tasted like black licorice. We went back to the hostel very satisfied though.
Friday, June 2
We hired our Kampala driver, James and he took us to Jinja. On the way, we stopped at the football coliseum. Einer sweet talked his way into letting us actually walk into the stadium. When we were leaving our driver made a wrong turn I guess and we got pulled over. James was able to sweet talk his way out of that ticket! When we arrived in Jinja we had a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then visited the orphanage where Joseph, the abandoned baby from the hospital is supposed to go. It’s a really nice place with so m any cute babies. It is run by a Texan lady. It was really hard to not bond completely with some of those children, especially when they reached out to be held and practically climbed into your arms. After that we did some sightseeing. We went to the Source of the Nile and took a short tour in an old leaky, rickety boat (sorry Mom, I broke my promise). We saw mountain lizards and lots of neat birds. Einer, Jen, John and I climbed a big rock to get our picture taken and ended up completely covered in little ants and I got bird poo on my arm. Never a dull moment…
Then we went to Bujagali Falls. A guy offered to jump into the falls for a price but Chandra wasn’t thrilled about the idea so we declined. It was a beautiful place. Lots of school kids on fieldtrips. James picked us a funny looking thing from a tree that can be used as a rattle when it’s dry. Then we went to John’s hotel room and each took turns having a hot shower. It was heaven, let me tell you!! A real showerhead that you don’t have to hold and the magnificent water pressure that came out of it, my goodness. We were too tired to move after that so we watched The Bourne Identity on John’s fancy t.v. and he went downstairs and ordered pizza for us. What a gentleman he is…Lawrence are you taking notes ;) Only Jen and Einer were up for dancing at the Rock Garden downstairs so the rest of us went back to the hostel. I got to stay in the loft of Chandra and Carli’s room. It was kind of scary but fun too. The ladder was huge, I felt like I was in a giant’s house.
Saturday, June 3
I was dying to try the American pancakes at the hostel…but apparently that means crepes. Good nonetheless. Also freshly squeezed pineapple juice. Early in the morning Einer picked up his friends from Chicago (he picked them up in Entebbe, not Chicago) so we met them at the hostel during breakfast. Catrin and Ben. Very nice people. It’s kind of fun being the people who have been here for a while and can give advice to the rookies and laugh when they cover themselves with deet and put on seatbelts. We taxi’d in to meet John and headed to a craft market he knew about. It was great! Stall after stall of really great African stuff. Everything and anything you could want and very negotiable prices...John’s an expert at negotiation by the way. Me...not so good. We only got through about 1/3 of the stalls before we realized our new visitors had been patiently waiting for a long time. We decided to come back when we bring Carli to the airport.
Then we got a taxi to our favourite mall and had lunch in the best food court ever. Had my veggie burger which turned out to be a falafel but still good…nothing is as it seems here. Charles was just getting into town so he met up with us. After some more shopping we went back to the hostel to rest and then we had to say goodbye to John. A sad moment. Then the horror began…I started to feel sick. My stomach was aching. It got worse and worse and very quickly I was immobile on the couch in the lounge…except for when I had to run to the bathroom. I couldn’t even keep down water. Charles went to get me some medicine and it seemed to help so everyone else went out to the club for dancing. After a couple of hours I started to feel sick again. Our banda wasn’t exactly close to the washroom so it was quite a trek in the dark. I was able to sleep for a couple of hours but at 3am I felt so ill and weak I really didn’t think I was going to make it. I managed to make it to the first tree and had to lay in the grass despite the threat of getting eaten alive by strange bugs or being attacked by monkeys. At this point I really didn’t care. When I did reach the bathroom and realized I was probably going to die I texted the girls in a panic. I figured they were back already sleeping in the other banda but Chandra was the only one on her way home. My saviour! Thank God for cell phones and text messaging!! Unfortunately she found me at my worst, lying on the bathroom floor…dirty cement floor…of a hostel…in Africa…gross. (I had a really good shower the next morning). But that’s how sick I was. I even considered going to the hospital but I am sorry, the hospitals here are very scary, especially considering I find hospitals in Canada traumatic. Luckily Dr. Chandra suggested to stop drinking water even though I was so thirsty I briefly (very briefly) thought about drinking out of the toilet tank…but it enabled me to stop throwing up enough to make it back to bed.
The next day (Sunday June 4) was slightly better. I wasn’t able to eat much and was frequently visiting the bathroom so I stayed at the hostel and rested on the top bunk in a dorm room. They were nice enough to let me stay there with no charge. Everyone else went into town. Charles checked in on me bringing me food he forced me to eat. Then everyone came back and we headed home. Was a nice drive, a bit scary…I actually joined the Americans and put my seatbelt on this time.
Monday June 5
I was still nauseous but able to eat little bits of food. Poor Carli got really sick and it ends up that she has malaria again…or still. It’s really not fair! So we took the day off as we were supposed to go to the school in Kitengeesa.
Tuesday June 6
I took Carli to the clinic today and that whole scenario is quite funny. I don’t know if muzungus get special treatment or if we’re just helped cuz we look lost and don’t know the system but we were in 5 different line-ups and she was ushered in and out of 3 different rooms. Had to get 2 awful injections this time, not fun. While she was recuperating I wrote a proposal for USDC. They were requesting money to get a playground for the children in post-operative care at the hospital. I hope it is ok, I’ve never written a proposal before but John gave me an outline and Carli helped me too. At least I felt good about getting some work done and helping them out.
We had more bad news today. Einer was taken to the hospital in some sort of diabetic coma. He is stable now but was quite scary. His blood sugar was extremely low and he’s being treated for malaria and pneumonia. His friends are with him overnight. I worry about his boys in Tekera who look to him as a father figure. They must be worried.
Now Jen and Chandra have what they are calling Erin’s disease…but I tell them that it’s not Erin’s disease until you I see you lying on the bathroom floor! Since I was the only one not sick today, I made some soup for dinner. It turned out pretty good considering I’d never made soup before from scratch. Then Charles took me to his house to meet his brother and nieces. The girls kneel on the ground to me out of respect. I understand it’s tradition but it’s difficult to not get embarrassed about it. Anyway, they are all very nice.
Wednesday June 7
I have just now come to the complete and overwhelming realization that I am in Africa. It just hit me as I sat on the bench next to Einer at the hospital. The beautiful people walking by, the sun shining, babies crying. Why is it here and now that it has sunk in, I’m not sure…perhaps because it is just so real. I am Einer’s companion for the day as he rests in the hospital and I have had lots of time to think. It’s really the first time since I’ve been here that I’ve had time alone to just do that. I was worried before that I felt I hadn’t done anything yet, that I hadn’t accomplished anything and I was panicking because time was running out. But now I feel content that if I needed to I could go home now and be happy. But I am also excited that I still have more time.
I was happy to be able to look after Einer while his friends had some respite. I fed him some of my soup as patients do not get fed much in the hospitals. It’s hard for me to be in a hospital because I hate hospitals normally, even in Canada. But at least it isn’t quite as bad as the referral hospital where we work, which resembles a MASH unit. Einer has his own room which we learned is reserved only for priests and other religious figures. Not a single nurse has walked by since I have been here and he has to have an attendant 24 hours to provide food, clothing and blankets. Even water is not provided by the hospital. And this is a private, upper class facility. I hope he gets better for the National park trip this weekend, he was really looking forward to it. Sometimes here I feel like I am in a movie…right now it is the English Patient.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
May 28 - 31 (erin)
Sunday, May 28th
We tried to stay up Saturday night to wait for John's arrival because we were really excited to see a familiar muzungu face and also to receive our presents from home! But he was late and we needed sleep after a pretty sleepless night and so we conked out early. We met up with him the next morning and it was like Christmas opening up our bags of clothes and treats! He took us to the other fancy hotel in Masaka, the Hotel Zebra. It was a pretty good menu, at least different from the Brovad which we are pretty much sick of and only go when desperate now.
Then we met up with our friends Charles, Louise and her cousins and went to the Recreation Field for the Jose Chameleon concert. He's a local artist whose music we like. When it started to get dark we were very glad tohave our Uganda friends with us because the boys there were trying to get pretty close. Most of the music was good, lots of different local artists, some we recognized. But we found out that Chameleon was not going to show up because his arch rival OB1 was there and singing songs about their fight. So we left around 10:30. John had left earlier because it had been a very long day for him. I was worried about him going alone but he's brave. We were also very tired from standing there since 5:00.
Monday May 29
This was an office day for me so I typed up 3 reports that I had written. Got to take advantage of when there is power. We found out this day that John is afraid of rain...oh sorry, just afraid of being cold. Quite humorous. Rita who is the midwife for the Tekera project made us dried fish and g-nut sauce for dinner. Then Carli and I ventured to the internet cafe in the dark...not a good idea. Carli and Erin should not be adventurous together. We were afraid of the phantom cow that seemed to follow us across the field. It mooed really loudly but we couldn't see it with the flashlight!! Was really scary, I practically jumped into Carli's arms; have I ever mentioned my fear of cows? And we have learned that when we are scared, we just laugh hysterically, so we couldn't even run away if a ghost cow had really been chasing us. The man across the street was probably thinking we were nuts...no more evening excursions for us!
Tuesday May 30
John, Carli and I went to Kitengeesa to the school we will be spending time at. We met up with Dan, the librarian and the headmaster and teachers. Sounds promising, I'm excited about the change. We are going to help with English and teach some classes for girls to stay in school. It rained so hard while we were there that a river started to flow outside the library door. I was afraid John would set up camp there for the night. But he made it to the car without melting. Our taxi slipped and slided along the road...kinda fun...except maybe for Carli who had to sit in the front. Nasser (our driver) took us home and then we went out to Tekera with Bruce, the landowner and the school headmaster. Kinda squishy. John got to see the project and eat in the restaurant. We also got to say hello to our Josephs too. We met up with Chandra who has started teaching at the nursery school. Back in Masaka we took John to the market for the experience of shopping and I got to practice my bartering skills. Yah me.
Then we headed home and Carli and I prepared for our session at the vocational school. John came to observe. The day was very windy and the pupils were cold so we didn't keep them long but we talked about how their work experience had gone and what they learned etc. Then we played dominoes of course, for what seemed like forever. Charles and Berna (coworkers) picked us up and we went for drinks at the Tropic Inn. It was a nice evening talking with them. It was a very busy day!
On Wednesday (31), we all joined Jen for the Schizophrenia Fellowship meeting. It was interesting but at times very difficult to sit through because of language barrier and the heat. Chandra was really sick and I was worried the whole time she was going to faint or something. After about 3 hours John had had enough and indicated we needed to go. We got some pictures of us with the whole congregation and then left Jen and Chandra at the hospital to do their work. Somehow, Carli and I got to go to the beach with John and visit our donkeys. It wasn't as warm as last time but the water was so great and refreshing. We saw two fisher boys pull in their catch of the day from their boat. I'm not sure who was more fascinated by who, them in their underwear or or us white people in our swimming suits! That evening we held a special dinner for our practicum supervisors and any friends that had helped us out along the way. It was good and the food was great!!
Remind me to never become famous...I know I've mentioned it before but I can't stand being constantly stared at. I made my first trip alone to the internet cafe and now i dread the walk home. Lawrence, thank you for letting us know you are alive by responding to the blog. Seriously I thought you had forgotten about us completely!
We tried to stay up Saturday night to wait for John's arrival because we were really excited to see a familiar muzungu face and also to receive our presents from home! But he was late and we needed sleep after a pretty sleepless night and so we conked out early. We met up with him the next morning and it was like Christmas opening up our bags of clothes and treats! He took us to the other fancy hotel in Masaka, the Hotel Zebra. It was a pretty good menu, at least different from the Brovad which we are pretty much sick of and only go when desperate now.
Then we met up with our friends Charles, Louise and her cousins and went to the Recreation Field for the Jose Chameleon concert. He's a local artist whose music we like. When it started to get dark we were very glad tohave our Uganda friends with us because the boys there were trying to get pretty close. Most of the music was good, lots of different local artists, some we recognized. But we found out that Chameleon was not going to show up because his arch rival OB1 was there and singing songs about their fight. So we left around 10:30. John had left earlier because it had been a very long day for him. I was worried about him going alone but he's brave. We were also very tired from standing there since 5:00.
Monday May 29
This was an office day for me so I typed up 3 reports that I had written. Got to take advantage of when there is power. We found out this day that John is afraid of rain...oh sorry, just afraid of being cold. Quite humorous. Rita who is the midwife for the Tekera project made us dried fish and g-nut sauce for dinner. Then Carli and I ventured to the internet cafe in the dark...not a good idea. Carli and Erin should not be adventurous together. We were afraid of the phantom cow that seemed to follow us across the field. It mooed really loudly but we couldn't see it with the flashlight!! Was really scary, I practically jumped into Carli's arms; have I ever mentioned my fear of cows? And we have learned that when we are scared, we just laugh hysterically, so we couldn't even run away if a ghost cow had really been chasing us. The man across the street was probably thinking we were nuts...no more evening excursions for us!
Tuesday May 30
John, Carli and I went to Kitengeesa to the school we will be spending time at. We met up with Dan, the librarian and the headmaster and teachers. Sounds promising, I'm excited about the change. We are going to help with English and teach some classes for girls to stay in school. It rained so hard while we were there that a river started to flow outside the library door. I was afraid John would set up camp there for the night. But he made it to the car without melting. Our taxi slipped and slided along the road...kinda fun...except maybe for Carli who had to sit in the front. Nasser (our driver) took us home and then we went out to Tekera with Bruce, the landowner and the school headmaster. Kinda squishy. John got to see the project and eat in the restaurant. We also got to say hello to our Josephs too. We met up with Chandra who has started teaching at the nursery school. Back in Masaka we took John to the market for the experience of shopping and I got to practice my bartering skills. Yah me.
Then we headed home and Carli and I prepared for our session at the vocational school. John came to observe. The day was very windy and the pupils were cold so we didn't keep them long but we talked about how their work experience had gone and what they learned etc. Then we played dominoes of course, for what seemed like forever. Charles and Berna (coworkers) picked us up and we went for drinks at the Tropic Inn. It was a nice evening talking with them. It was a very busy day!
On Wednesday (31), we all joined Jen for the Schizophrenia Fellowship meeting. It was interesting but at times very difficult to sit through because of language barrier and the heat. Chandra was really sick and I was worried the whole time she was going to faint or something. After about 3 hours John had had enough and indicated we needed to go. We got some pictures of us with the whole congregation and then left Jen and Chandra at the hospital to do their work. Somehow, Carli and I got to go to the beach with John and visit our donkeys. It wasn't as warm as last time but the water was so great and refreshing. We saw two fisher boys pull in their catch of the day from their boat. I'm not sure who was more fascinated by who, them in their underwear or or us white people in our swimming suits! That evening we held a special dinner for our practicum supervisors and any friends that had helped us out along the way. It was good and the food was great!!
Remind me to never become famous...I know I've mentioned it before but I can't stand being constantly stared at. I made my first trip alone to the internet cafe and now i dread the walk home. Lawrence, thank you for letting us know you are alive by responding to the blog. Seriously I thought you had forgotten about us completely!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
May 22 - 26 (erin)
USDC was holding a conference about Mental Health Projects the different districts across Uganda have implemented. So I was there Monday to Wednesday. Carli was with me on Tuesday and Jen on Wed. Some of it was interesting. On Monday at lunch, my life changed completely. I ate grasshoppers...not just one, but 3. Yes 3 grasshoppers. But really only because a cute boy bought them for me so how could I refuse? They were pretty ugly looking (as John says, they look pretty much like maggots). I refused to touch them, they still had beady little eye on them. Some fo them still had antennae and little wings on them so I made my friend Joseph (another Joseph) pull them off for me first. I have to admit though that they didn't taste too bad. They were fried and salted. But when you bite into it, it's pretty gross. There's a bit of a crunch, okay more than a bit, and then a squish and the grease (i'm assuming or perhaps just hoping it was oil and not guts) squirts out. Then it feels like little bits of body are stuck in your teeth. Ya, I'm not sure how I managed to choke down three but like I said, there was a cute boy involved. Anyway, here they are very much enjoyed as a treat. They are caught bya big strong lights that attract them and when they get too close, the strength of the light fries them and they slide down a sheet of metal into a big bin. Just down the street is a "grasshopper field". It's pretty creepy looking at night. We've heard that some kids go for their first time to watch them and their eyes get burnt looking at the lights. Carli wants to bring some grasshoppers home for her friends...anybody want some?? We also had the pleasurable experience of seeing a little girl eating big black live ants out of a cup. She gladly enjoyed grossing us out by showing us what she was eating!
Wed, May 24
Carli, Chandra and I went to a bible study. I know, I know, you don't believe me, but it's true. I WENT TO A BIBLE STUDY! I was enticed by the potluck idea and some singing, but it ended up being pretty intense. I didn't mind it really, it was something new and we made friends. Very nice people. It was at an orphanage run by a Canadian couple. There were also Danish, Swedish, British and Ugandan people there so it made it quite interesting. Chandra's convinced I will be converted by the time I leave here. You never know.
Thur, May 25
Today there was no practicum for Carli and I because the conference was ending and everyone was going home...we sat at home for a couple of hours waiting to be picked up before we received a message that we were not needed. So we went out to Tekera with Bruce to take the new puppy to Einer. She is so cute. They named her Kujo but I renamed her Daisy. Much more appropriate I think. She ran to Einer right away. I guess she knew he'd be her friend. We are getting very excited for John coming on Saturday!
Friday, May 26
Nothing was planned for me at my practicum today as well, so I initially joined up with Chandra. But as we were waiting in the male surgical ward for someone to interview, we got a call from Carli. She had a bad morning at Uganda Cares and needed to go home, so I went with her. Einer and the boys from Tekera (Joseph and Junior) were coming for dinner and dancing at the Tropic Inn so we spent the day cleaning up and getting groceries. Einer cooked us a delicious spaghetti and Jen and Carli made their famous garlic bread.
Then we all hung out at the Brovad until it was time to go dancing (about 10:30). It was a real treat for the boys to be at the fanciest hotel in Masaka so it was a fun evening. Now let me tell you how funny it is for 3 Lugandans, 4 muzungus and 1 Chilean muzungu to trek down the path in our best clothes in the pitch black! The paths are narrow and speckled with cow pies. We call this area of grassland that we cut across the National Park. But the sidewalks are even worse...they are completely broken up, cement chunks everywhere, mostly it's packed dirt that sometimes rises up in big mounds and craters and ditches to each side that you have to be careful to not fall into. And remember, there are no street lights and no one to sue if you get hurt! Anyway, you probably had to be there to realize the hilariousness of it, but it was quite the sight to see, I am sure.
We had a really good time at the dance and we got home at 5:00!! We closed the place down. The boys had mats on our floor to share. For some reason though, we all woke up at 8am! Carli had a sudden burst of energy to go downtown and get groceries for breakfast. Einer and Chandra made delicious avacado and egg sandwiches.
Later in the day when the boys had gone home, Chandra went to the clinic with a really bad sore throat. At first we thought I had just passed my cold on to her but the doctor confirmed she had tonsilitis of all things!! She also has a nasty creepy looking bite on her arm that I could swear was a bat bite. There were 3 little holes like teeth marks and it was hard and swollen. The doctor didn't know what it was except to say it was not a mosquito. His exact reply was, "Who knows what kind of things we have here that bite," and had no further advice. Speaking of bats...we had a bat in our courtyard the other night and our guard found it necessary to torture and kill it in front of our eyes...very traumatic. Speaking of our guard, where else in the world would you pay for someone to guard your place at night but let him sleep the entire time on a makeshift bed!!! Really, I tell ya, sometimes I wonder...Speaking of guarding our place, we had a boy try to break into our bathroom one day. He jumped our really high wall and our neighbour caught him. He had visited us the day before looking for Brigitte but she wasn't home. I think I'm done with my speaking of's...
Wed, May 24
Carli, Chandra and I went to a bible study. I know, I know, you don't believe me, but it's true. I WENT TO A BIBLE STUDY! I was enticed by the potluck idea and some singing, but it ended up being pretty intense. I didn't mind it really, it was something new and we made friends. Very nice people. It was at an orphanage run by a Canadian couple. There were also Danish, Swedish, British and Ugandan people there so it made it quite interesting. Chandra's convinced I will be converted by the time I leave here. You never know.
Thur, May 25
Today there was no practicum for Carli and I because the conference was ending and everyone was going home...we sat at home for a couple of hours waiting to be picked up before we received a message that we were not needed. So we went out to Tekera with Bruce to take the new puppy to Einer. She is so cute. They named her Kujo but I renamed her Daisy. Much more appropriate I think. She ran to Einer right away. I guess she knew he'd be her friend. We are getting very excited for John coming on Saturday!
Friday, May 26
Nothing was planned for me at my practicum today as well, so I initially joined up with Chandra. But as we were waiting in the male surgical ward for someone to interview, we got a call from Carli. She had a bad morning at Uganda Cares and needed to go home, so I went with her. Einer and the boys from Tekera (Joseph and Junior) were coming for dinner and dancing at the Tropic Inn so we spent the day cleaning up and getting groceries. Einer cooked us a delicious spaghetti and Jen and Carli made their famous garlic bread.
Then we all hung out at the Brovad until it was time to go dancing (about 10:30). It was a real treat for the boys to be at the fanciest hotel in Masaka so it was a fun evening. Now let me tell you how funny it is for 3 Lugandans, 4 muzungus and 1 Chilean muzungu to trek down the path in our best clothes in the pitch black! The paths are narrow and speckled with cow pies. We call this area of grassland that we cut across the National Park. But the sidewalks are even worse...they are completely broken up, cement chunks everywhere, mostly it's packed dirt that sometimes rises up in big mounds and craters and ditches to each side that you have to be careful to not fall into. And remember, there are no street lights and no one to sue if you get hurt! Anyway, you probably had to be there to realize the hilariousness of it, but it was quite the sight to see, I am sure.
We had a really good time at the dance and we got home at 5:00!! We closed the place down. The boys had mats on our floor to share. For some reason though, we all woke up at 8am! Carli had a sudden burst of energy to go downtown and get groceries for breakfast. Einer and Chandra made delicious avacado and egg sandwiches.
Later in the day when the boys had gone home, Chandra went to the clinic with a really bad sore throat. At first we thought I had just passed my cold on to her but the doctor confirmed she had tonsilitis of all things!! She also has a nasty creepy looking bite on her arm that I could swear was a bat bite. There were 3 little holes like teeth marks and it was hard and swollen. The doctor didn't know what it was except to say it was not a mosquito. His exact reply was, "Who knows what kind of things we have here that bite," and had no further advice. Speaking of bats...we had a bat in our courtyard the other night and our guard found it necessary to torture and kill it in front of our eyes...very traumatic. Speaking of our guard, where else in the world would you pay for someone to guard your place at night but let him sleep the entire time on a makeshift bed!!! Really, I tell ya, sometimes I wonder...Speaking of guarding our place, we had a boy try to break into our bathroom one day. He jumped our really high wall and our neighbour caught him. He had visited us the day before looking for Brigitte but she wasn't home. I think I'm done with my speaking of's...
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