6/18/11

Before starting I'd just like to add a few Uganda impressions. Like Anne Marie said, it's very dusty and crowded, with lots of mud huts and everything - this is kind of what I expected. I didn't expect all the ads and posters. They have posters of their president and other political figures EVERYWHERE. There are those billboards and ads that she mentioned, mostly for the same five companies, plastered all over. The roads are truly something to see - they're busy and loud, with drivers making frequent use of their horns for safety - with all the pedestrians and bikes on the road, a van coming up at 60 mph ought to blare its horn to be sure they'll get over! The lanes are very much suggestion-only, with drivers passing each other all the time, and no-one blinking at very close calls in which a vehicle in the wrong lane seems to barely miss an oncoming vehicle, making it back into the appropriate lane just in time. The bikes and pedestrians seem to accept that the cars will rush by them with very little space to spare, and on top of it all (if you're us), we have to remember upon hearing these horns to get to the LEFT, not the RIGHT. All in all, it's pretty crazy. There is fruit and food for sale (for cheap!) everywhere, and it's very good. The people are all incredibly friendly, especially the children, who never seem to tire of seeing white people and yelling "MZUNGU!!" and running up and hugging you, or holding your hand as you walk, often for a pretty far distance. We didn't know this coming in, but English is not the main language here. In Inganga, it's Lusoga, though different tribes in different parts of the country speak different Bantu dialects. Lusoga is pretty hard to remember, but many people (and almost all educated people) speak at least some English.

Anyway, we woke up early to catch a Matatu to Jinja, where we'd be white water rafting. We met Emily there, who's volunteering in an orphanage with ELI, but in another part of Iganga. Matatus are awesome - vans that have about 15 seats but never seem to have under 20 people in them. The aisle to get to the back is obstructed by a folding chair to fit even more people in. Everyone takes them everywhere, and they're among the most common vehicles on the streets. It was about an hour ride to Jinja, and we paid 2000 Ugandan Shillings each for the ride (less than a dollar). There we took Bodas to the rafting headquarters where we'd start our journey (Bodas are motorcycles-for-hire that one sits on the back of to get around within a city, and are also very commonly seen on the roads). In Jinja we met Heather (another ELI volunteer).

The rafting itself was very fun, and very touristy - it was almost entirely white people (MZUNGUS!!). After feeding us and taking us where we'd be starting at the source of the Nile, we began our adventure. Sadly our ELI group got split up, and Anne Marie and I ended up with five very strange people volunteering with another group in Kampala. We had a great time though - the rafting was probably slightly less intense than the New River in West Virginia, but we were on the NILE! It was very beautiful - lots of amazing views, and tons of birds everywhere. Our guides were about half Ugandan and half South African, and were in general very fun. We had a delicious lunch of biscuits and the best pinapple I've ever eaten, and after lunch our raft got flipped in one of the rapids - excellent!

When we finished we were fed an amazing barbequed dinner, and given free beer. This turned out to be extraordinarily cruel, as we then got put on a bus for over an hour as we made our way back up the river - by the end, the bus was nearly in revolt as we begged for the opportunity to go to the bathroom (Anne Marie was leading said revolt). Once pacified, however, we found ourselves at a delightful little campsite and hostel at Bujagali Falls. Anne Marie and I set up our tent, and we all met up at a little pavillion-turned-club for drinks and second dinner. The pavillion was pretty strange, but fun - they had loud, mostly American music blaring as we ate and drank until inevitably, some people started dancing and singing along. Anne Marie and I were pretty tired after only one night's sleep, so we went to bed early... though the incredibly loud clubbing music kept Anne Marie awake long into the night.