One of my good friends from home, Shannon, came through Entebbe on the weekend, so I flew down on Thursday afternoon to visit with her. Actually, it worked out really well, since one of my colleagues here also had to fly down there this weekend to get her computer fixed, and she really doesn't like travelling by herself, so we went together. It also helped in that I could use all of her luggage allowance (25 whole kilos!) to bring back stuff for the guesthouse - milk powder, tea bags, laundry soap... things which the guesthouse goes through like water, but are a fraction of the cost down in Uganda!
Anyways, I went down on Thursday, was picked up at the airport by some friends, and taken to Grace's house in Entebbe. When we drove up, her whole family was waiting on the porch for me - Grace, Bridger and Sanyu (the dogs) and Ella (the girl!). Grace has adopted a little three year old girl, and boy, is she ever a sweetie pie! It was so nice on Thursday afternoon, just sitting on Grace's porch, drinking fruit juice, enjoying the beautiful flowers, the green grass, the cool, fresh air, and catching up on the last several months since we'd seen each other. When Grace was up here with me for those months last year, we were completely inseparable, and it's been about 9 months now since I've seen her... so we had a lot of talking to do!
On Thursday evening, one of our Ugandan friends invited us to her house for dinner, which was also great fun, and so nice to see this friend again. She's a Ugandan girl who's doing mother tongue literacy work there, so we have a lot in common and can talk "literacy" together :)
On Friday morning, my friend Shannon arrived from Canada! Whoo hoo! It was SO awesome to see her again. And wow, what a trooper Shannon is. Grace and I were on a "keep Shannon awake" campaign through the entire day, and she did amazingly well (it was for her own good - the longer you stay awake, the less jet lag you get!). We let her have a shower, then we dragged her into Kampala to go shopping and to have lunch at an Ethiopian restaurant with some other friends. Grace's neighbor, Katharine, came along with us in the car, too, which was great! I just love getting to know people!
Again, Shannon did great at staying awake, even walked down to the Lake a back with me. It was a beautiful walk, and we had fun swatting the lake flies, watching the beautiful colorful birds in the bright flowers, and admiring the monkeys. We even got to watch a dvd and an episode of Smallville before she completely crashed!The next day, we all jumped in the car, dropped Katharine's husband, Gift (I just LOVE that name!) off in Kampala, and continued on our merry way through Kampala traffic. Here's a picture of Grace navigating that traffic.
Me and Ella sat entertaining each other in the back seat of the car for a few hours. Here's a picture of the cute little thing in her car seat BEFORE she wiped her nose with her hankie. That kid loves her hankie!
After a few hours in the car - a few hours on smooth, paved roads, I might add, we made it to our final destination. Mexican food! Poor Shannon thought she was coming to Africa, but really, me and Grace were taking her to all the "westernized" restaurants and shops, 'cause we were on holiday, too!After we were thoroughly stuffed with yummy Mexican food, we did manage to waddle down to the Source of the Nile!
Several years ago, my dad helped to get me hooked on books about all these old colonial explorers like Speke and Baker and their adventures as they journeyed through jungles and swamps to be the first Europeans to "discover" the source of the great Nile River. And of course, I've lived in cities on the Nile for a few years now, too, and have quite a soft spot in my heart for this amazing river. 
So to actually see the place where it all begins was really quite amazing, and something I didn't really think I'd ever see!
But there I was. Reading the plaques like an everyday tourist and the very beginning of the Nile. So cool.
For a reasonable amount of money, we were able to hire a boat to take us up stream a little ways to the edge of Lake Victoria, and wander around a little island for a little while. It was so cool. It was Ella's first ever boat ride. It was Shannon's first ever boat ride in Africa. 
And it was my first journey to discover the source of the Nile for myself. Really, really cool. I think the boat guys liked us, too, because they first told us they would take us out for 15 minutes... but it turned into more like a 30 minute boat ride :)Of course, we also had to sit and have a drink by the Nile. Cokes are SO cheap in Uganda. And between us, we had to split a "Nile Special", brewed at the source of the Nile.
It was still quite a long drive home, though, so we had to get going before it got too late. Ella was amazing the entire day. She's the quietest little three year old I know! I was amazed at how well she just sat in the car seat and kept herself pretty well entertained without much work on our part - of course, she did quite a bit of entertaining of us all weekend... somehow, it just seems like things are so much more fun when you've got a cute little kid around!
We stopped to buy some bananas on the way home - one of the best parts of road tripping in Uganda is that you don't even have to get out of your car to get snacks! As soon as you pull off onto the side of the highway at the little "rest stops", your car is surrounded by people selling stuff - everything from cold bottled water to chicken on a stick. Yup, really, you can get a quarter of a chicken on a stick, bbq-ed on a little grill by the side of the road! I sampled a stick full of bbq-ed chunks of beef on a stick (thought the meat chunks would be safer than the chicken, as it's harder to tell if chicken is well cooked or not...). It's seriously a stick taken off of a tree somewhere, with cubes of beef skewered onto it, then roasted over the coals. And man, was it ever tasty! I wish I could have gotten a picture of the whole scene... but when your car is surrounded by 15 guys with their hands in your car, trying to sell you something, it's not exactly the opportune time to get out the camera :)We did make it home safe and sound, which, considering the way people drive around there, is not something to take for granted! But we had a great time all together on our little road trip. And again, Shannon was amazing at staying awake and getting over her jet lag! I guess me and Grace are just such riveting company and brilliant conversationalists...
Early this morning, we took Shannon to the airport, then a few hours later, Grace and Ella dropped me off at the airport, and now I'm back home, after my whirlwind tour of Uganda! Man, it was good to be away for a while. But it's also good to be home.
It's now 11pm, and I didn't realize what time it is, since we're on CITY POWER back here again! That's 4 days of power in the last week! And it's raining. So I've got cold toes. I wasn't paying attention to the time because I didn't have to go turn off the generator tonight! Instead, I've got to go around the house and actually turn the lights off tonight. Mmmm, I'm SO looking forward to sleeping under a sheet tonight to keep my tootsies warm!
1 comment:
Sounds like a GREAT weekend!! So glad you had fun with Grace and Ella and Shannon! So Ella is "home" now?
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