Ohh Traveling in Africa.... T. F-in. A. B

First off… this is all of us. We are all refusing to relive the moments you are about to hear about that we all decided to suffer together. So this is a collaborative effort blog.

Thursday was our last day in Bududa. The wedding disaster happened (see previous post) and then we had to say goodbye to everyone at the clinic. Then we had to pack up our room at the guest house with no power. It was a long, emotional day. Saying goodbye and giving hugs to everyone was so hard. We got so close to everyone in the short 2 months we were with them. They became our family away from family. We would like to hope we will come back to Bududa someday, but we know it might not be feasible or realistic especially with all the other hopes and dreams of us 3 girls.

Friday we woke up with a full day of travel ahead. Michelle started the day off right by making a delicious egg scramble with tomatoes, onions and egg. Kristen toasted some bread on the skillet and we had a fabulous breakfast. The day went downhill from there. 

Our driver was supposed to arrive by 9am. We said 9 knowing that in African time it would be more like 10. 10 rolled around and still no driver…. The 7 of us (4 other volunteers too) sat around and played cards and catchphrase while we waited. A phone call confirmed the driver was on his way but in a village about 45 minutes away. We continued to play our games. An hour passed and… still no driver. Another hour, and another….Clearly not in a nearby village. We all started to fume and get frustrated since our day's plans depended on us leaving in a timely matter. Doug and Lisa were in Kampala and we had planned a goodbye dinner for all of us to enjoy one last evening together. Kristen ended up in her usual stressed out position: helpless, flat on the floor, hoping that things can only get better if she is that low. 

Eddie, our late, unapologetic, lying driver, arrived at 12:18pm (Michelle won our bet). We all loaded up and headed out. A few deep breaths later and we were feeling better. It's Africa, what did we expect?? Driving out of Bududa for the last time, Lyndsay and Michelle heard sniffles from the girl on their left. Kristen was crying with thoughts of all she's leaving behind. Michelle admitted to tearing up saying goodbye to Kaiya. Please note: Kaiya is the dog that lives at our guesthouse. She made living in a 3rd world country feel so much more like home. And perhaps made us miss Macy, Indy, Sable, Belle and Josey a little less.

Eddie earned a few points by getting us to Jinja safely and efficiently. We spent some time picking up a few more souvenirs and grabbed some lunch/dinner (?) aka it was that late. We continued on our way to Kampala… hitting some traffic along the way. Eddie lost his few earned points when he managed to get us lost. Multiple times. Long story short, we ended up at the bus station. Lisa and Doug met us there for a few very brief goodbyes. We bought our tickets, boarded the bus and were on our way….or so we thought.  We were excited to get another stamp in our passport and see a new city. We have heard Kigali is beautiful, clean and nice…all things un-African. The genocide memorial was a selling point and we were interested in jumping the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo, just to say we did it.

While in Jinja, we had grabbed a few snacks including our staple pringle supply, biscuits, water and apples. We started to munch on our dinner, already anticipating our next normal meal. The bus moved out of the parking lot and as the brakes were activated, a nails-on-chalkboard, baby pig dying squeal was heard. And continued to do so every time. That's when Michelle lost it and burst into an uncontrollable laughter until she was crying. That made 2 of us in tears for the day. The bus driver tried to cover up the brakes shriek by putting on the radio, blasting African tribal music for all sleeping ears to hear. Ear plugs didn't even muffle it.

We bounced along on our journey smart enough now to have less bouncy seats in the front. At 3:45am we made a usual for Africa stop along the way, either dropping off a package or someone had to pee…again. Until we didn't start moving again. Kristen was hopeful we were at the border into Rwanda. Michelle was passed out, mouth wide and all. Lyndsay got to be the one to wake her up with the bad news: THE BUS HAD BROKEN DOWN!! But, another bus was on it's way. We returned to our slumber knowing we would wake up, board another bus and be on our way in no time. Apparently, we forgot where we have been living the past 2 months: AFRICA.

At 7:45am we woke up, still on the same bus, still in the same spot. The driver then told us a mechanic was on his way with a spare spring?? We were all hoping this would actually fix the actual problem. On the upside of things, we were on the edge of a pretty nicely sized town- with several little supermarkets and shops. We wandered around the town, buying some juice, pringles and more crackers… making it the same meal twice in a row. 

At 10:00am we find out that the mechanic that was supposed to be on its way was just now leaving because he had to wait for the shop to open for his spare part in Kampala, 4 hours away from our location. We then occupied our time  by eating mendazi and milk tea, our new favorite breakfast. We read, we played word games, we made bets on the time, and we sat. Then we ate some more pringles. And sat some more. Then we walked around some more. then peed in the grass (latrines were gross!). Then we sat some more.

At noon the driver then informed us that the mechanic wasn't on his way after all, but a bus was on its way to rescue us. Please note: no apology or refund has even been offered or spoke of. So we continued to sit.

At 2:30pm we decided to make up our plan B. We were still about 6 hours from Kigali, cutting our trip down an complete day. Not to mention, getting in to town after dark in a city we don't know and having no place to stay. We decided at 3:30 if the bus wasn't there, we would need to rethink our trip and potentially head back to Kampala.

In true lying, untimely African fashion, no bus had arrived at our set time, so we sadly boarded a matatu back to Kampala. We knew we could have gone on but at that point wouldn't have been worth our money or time. Thanks to the 12 hour delay. Not to mention, we had little faith in Akamba bus services and were worried our trip back from Kigali would have met another 12 hour delay and we could potentially miss our flight. they don't really understand the concept of customer service or time.

In the matatu, we had blood boiling, and were frustrated until 2 cute little girls jumped onto the laps of Michelle and Lyndsay who at least offered some snuggle time and smiles. We arrived into the craziness of Kampala on a Saturday night (bumpin', crowded and dirty) and headed to the hotel where Lisa, Doug and our suitcases were. All needing a decent meal and a few alcoholic drinks, we went straight to the bar. After consoling our souls with our new favorite beer TUSKER (shout out to Kevin and Father David!!!) we were feeling slightly better about our troubled travels of the past 48 hours.

Headed to bed with the high hopes of finally getting on our way. Breakfast the next day was weird since we knew it would be the last meal we shared with Katie and Leenisha- 2 volunteers we have become so close with these past few weeks, and Doug and Lisa  too. We got a reliable driver to take the 3 of us to Entebbe where we decided to spend a relaxing few days before heading back to the states. A few errands later, we went to the Entebbe location of our favorite Ugandan tourist hostel, Backpackers! We have the deluxe room to ourselves and can pick up the wifi from  bed.

We took off to do some exploring around town, stopping at Aero Beach where random old airplanes are set on the sand. A camel was there offering rides to the public and Michelle took them up for the offer. We also got to witness a team of ultimate frisbee players playing a pick up game on the beach. Michelle became friend and jumped in to her favorite game. It was such a culture shock to be on a beach… in Africa. While it was still a lake, it looked like the ocean and felt weird to have sand between our toes. After a nice dinner of fish, chips and salad aka 2 spoonfuls of coleslaw, we headed back to "home" dreading the necessary blog post to come. 

So here it is… our bummed out, frustrating weekend. We are trying to see the light and salvage our last few days in Africa. We decided that maybe all these things were set in place to make us actually want to come home.