Uganda - Day 2

Okay so Day 2 of the Uganda trip…equally exhausting…I had to get up earlyish for the next stage which was a drive from Kampala to Mbarara in the South West of Uganda. I tried to save money by having a piece of toast with peanut butter and jam and a juice and banana but it cost $5 (R40 for that!!!!). During the day Bryan is racing around trying to figure out whether to put a purchase in on a house back home so we have rather haphazd sms’s going back and forth between us…which I notice are disturbing our driver who must be wondering who in Uganda I already have a connection with.

Our driver Herbert (I discovered that’s how you spell it even though he pronounces it Hubbard) must have stoked up well on breakfast because it took over 6 hours to get here and all he did was buy a bunch of bananas for sustinance. We crossed the equator earlier in the day which was exciting but I suppose we must have crossed it when we flew in anyway…but we stopped at a café there on the equator and had black tea “with spices” (which meant ginger…good for the stomach) and fried ciabatta chips (like pasta chips) and guacamole. I bought a pretty scarf but was disappointed that an American before me bought the best one L

The roads were pretty horrendous and under construction most of the way, a terrible accident ahead held us up (4 children killed in a bakkie which went off the road due to a truck carrying sweet potatoes…the awful thing was seeing it being towed away and what looked like a child’s body still in the squashed bakkie). L uckily we had a 4x4 because the potholes got worse and worse, we saw zebra, buck and cows which huge horns on the way and finally arrived in Mbarara where I then paid $220 for the trip!!!! Eeek!

I was at the point where I couldn’t keep my eyes open and we had just been shown to our rooms in the University Inn when we were told we were due for a meeting at the site and had to jump back in the 4x4 to get there. I’m currently typing this up while at the site because I probably won’t have internet later tonight and anyway I’m preparing for an early night and a battle with the mosquitos in the very basic accommodation in comparison to the Protea Hotel. Photo’s may have to be posted at a later stage!

So we are waiting for a meeting with the clinic team and I’m wondering where my next meal will be coming from…I may have to crack open a can of tuna and crackers. The good news is that we get breakfast and we can recover from the road trip for the next 3 days. I’m dreading the return trip…I’ll be bagging the back seat for a snooze back I think.

Here are some Ugandan words I learnt:

Agandi - hello

Nyahoo – I’m fine

Omigati - bread

Webare – thank you