We suffered through another red-eye and arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia early the next morning. From our plane, we were shuttled to another terminal, where we waited in some weirdly long, slow lines to get through security and into the gate. There, we were trapped without water or a bathroom for a couple of hours waiting for our flight to leave for Entebbe.
Happily, it did leave! We arrive in Entebbe noonish and filed into passport control. Oddly, the line for Ugandans was much longer, slower, and pushier than the line for other passports. At passport control, we were asked for money for our visas, which we were expecting. What we were NOT expecting was to be asked for it ($100 for both of us) in $US cash. They actually sent us by ourselves out through security and customs to withdraw cash in Ugandan shillings, which we then had to get changed to $US, and then we waltzed freely back through security without so much as a glance from the guards (who all had AK-47s). It was surreal.
Once this was all dealt with, we picked up our bags and walked easily through customs to meet our guide, Juliette in the arrivals area. She and a driver escorted us on the long haul from Entebbe, through Kampala, several other towns, Jinja, and then finally to Iganga.
The drive only took three and a half hours, but it was really, really crazy.
Our driver was probably crazier than the average Ugandan taxi driver, which is itself already crazy-craze. It really reminded me of Manaus in Brazil, except that instead of going forty miles per hour in the city there, here we were flying across opposing lanes of traffic at close to 90 miles per hour. Connor was actually helplessly asleep during much of this harrowing drive, having slept NOT AT ALL on any of our previous flights.
So, for first impressions of Uganda. This is very difficult to describe. Connor's first impressions were of all of the garbage in the cities, lots and lots of red dust, and of people everywhere all along the roads. I was struck by the fumes and dust as well, and by the cottage-industry/farming that predominates everywhere. Instead of contained shops and businesses, everything spills directly out into the paths and streets- metal-workers in Kampala were all crowded together next to people repairing motorcycles, those driving past, and pedestrians. It's just a sensory-overloading mash of people and activities in any of the more urban/town-y areas.
We were really impressed by the fruit and vegetables for sale everywhere, and by the lushness of the landscape, which is actually undergoing a draught right now but is still very green. Cows, chickens, goats and turkeys roam plentifully and freely.
Most of the buildings are made from the same local bricks, which seem to also be made in giant kilns in a cottage-industry fashion. Some of the buildings are painted, but the ones that are tend to be painted by businesses advertising in very bright colors. The most common colors are yellow for MTN (the national phone service) red for Crane Bank, and Blue for a couple of other businesses.
We found that Iganga is a bigger rural town, bigger than we were expecting. We drove off of the main road, which is paved and really well maintained, to the dirt side paths leading to our homestay. Our house is quite large and extremely basic, all on one floor with a front courtyard and an inner courtyard, all concrete. We were very surprised to discover that we are actually staying in a homestay with three other ELI volunteers, Jennie who works at the hospital with us, and Anna and Megan, who work in microfinance a short taxi drive away.
Connor and I are staying in a room with a mosquito net over a very basic wood-frame bed with a thin mattress over it (his back hasn't been appreciating this very much, so we're going to try putting our Thermarests down as well). Other than the bed, our room has a concrete floor, a light, and an outlet. In the back courtyard, there are latrines with deep "pits" that you squat over, and two areas for bucket-bathing. Our host mom is called Jessica, and she has two young adult children, Winifred (Winnie) and Herman. The living room where we take our meals has a couch, a chair, a coffee table, and a tv. I really didn't expect to appreciate the tv, but it turns out I do. It's really nice to watch AlJazeera for news every morning and feel like I have an idea of what's going on outside Iganga.
We were expecting to be able to sleep in the next day, but were made an offer we couldn't refuse...white-water rafting on the nile with the other volunteers.
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