Hey peeps. Sorry I've been offline for a few days, but boy do I have stories! Last I wrote I was about to meet up with Paul to explore Kampala. Explore we did, taking matatus (minibuses packed to the brim) around town, hitting up a Hindu temple and the national Muslim mosque of Uganda (where I was forced to wear multiple scarves to turn my jeans into a skirt and cover my hair and arms) and eating traditional Ugandan food. The pictures are pretty awesome if I say so myself! The Ugandan food... well not so much. It's rice, mashed plantains, peas, and either goat or chicken stew (I got the chicken) that is mostly oil and a piece of meat that is utterly unidentifiable. I also managed to hit by a car, though it was more frightening than physically harmful. My waterbottle bit the dust, but I got little more than a hipcheck from a Lexus cruising by a bit too close to the pedestrian side of the road. We also hit up the Kasubi tombs where the Bugandan kings are buried (one of the many tribes in Uganda). The most enjoyable part of the day was being able to talk with locals at the mosque and at the tombs where we learned more about the Ugandan perspective. Also interesting, the guy at the mosque insisted Uganda was 70% Muslim where as the (Catholic) guy at the tombs as sure it was 70% Christian. Too bad we didn't ask the Hindus the same question.
Then Thursday we headed up to Jinja with Melissa and Christina from HBS and Emily, a girl we met at the hostel in Kampala who is doing an internship in Uganda. The four HBS kids went rafting along the Nile during the day (four class-5 rapids plus a smattering of class-3 and -4s, and we stayed in the boat until the very last wave of the very last rapid) while Emily went in search of a doctor to see if she has malaria. (Outcome: probably, so she started meds.) We had a great time, though no amount of sunscreen could prevent us pale kids from sunburns. I escaped with only minor burns on my knees (as compared to the 2nd degree burns I got in Costa Rica while doing the same activity) and the top of hands. I'll try to get pictures from Paul up soon from the trip: he had a waterproof camera and we ended up with some sweet shots.
Then it was to the campsite at Bujagali Falls where we partied with the other backpackers to welcome in the new year. We made quite a few friends and had a memorable night. It was not only a vast improvement over last year's "celebration", but probably top 3 of all time. =)
Today we hung out at the campsite until we caught the shuttle back to Kampala. We were going to go biking around Jinja, but the rain started early and never let up. Instead it was a chill day of reading and eating and relaxing. Probably a good idea after all given the previous day's activities. Now we're heading out to one last group dinner before heading our own ways tomorrow. Paul and Melissa head down to Rwanda for the IXP. Christina and I fly to Nairobi and then on to Kilimanjaro to join up with the Outdoors Club Kili trek. Emily is hanging in Kampala for a bit and then back to her internship out in the boonies. All in all, a great few days.
