Grand Theft Auto, Mt. Olympus, and 101 Dalmations

June 4- Saturday 

Where do I even begin to tell you about the adventures that await three American women traveling in Uganda? There are no words, no sarcastic tones, no jokes that will do our experiences yesterday justice. The video that I shot in the matatu full of 22 people (more on this to follow) may be the only true glimpse you will ever have at Ugandan transportation. It is entertaining enough in itself that it is almost worth the trip here alone to simply say you have ridden in these crazy vehicles. 

Friday was Ugandan Martyr's Day, a National holiday, so the clinic was closed for the day. We decided to use the day off to take a weekend trip to Sipi Falls which is about 4 hours away from where we are living, to see the 3 famous waterfalls in Uganda. We enjoyed a relaxing morning, went for a run, Douglas spoiled us and made scrambled eggs with green peppers and pancakes for brunch. We drank coffee, read, and headed out around noon. We walked to the local village Kikholo to wait for a matatu to take us to Mbale where we would get on another matatu to Sipi. Now mind you, Africa has no time tables, no schedules, no one is where they're supposed to be after telling you they would be there (Michelle keeps saying "and you think I'm bad?", so we literally were standing in the midst of this hustling, bustling village, in broad daylight, Ugandan people everywhere, and we couldn't have stuck out anymore: Kristen and her pasty white skin with radiant blond hair, Michelle and I with our afros waving in the wind, which is quite the site to them considering the women here usually have shaved heads. So we are standing in the middle of this village literally just waiting, not knowing if it will be 10 minutes or 3 hours until a matatu shows up, luckily, we only ended up waiting about 30 minutes or so. And then we were off, and the chaos ensued. 

We climb in the back row of the 15 passenger van, little do we know that by the end of this trip we will have managed to squeeze 22 fully grown adults into this van that should only technically and safely speaking seat maybe 12-15 people. There is no such thing as a personable bubble in Uganda (good thing for Michelle and I) as grown men were sitting on top of each other's laps, piling at time 3 or 4 men on top of each other, anything to make a buck around here. At this point, I pulled out the camera and took video thinking it was the only way to truly depict the chaos that we were in the middle of. At this point I turn to Kristen and Michelle and state, "Oh the things you will do in Africa," which has come to be our motto for this trip. In addition to the sardine can we were driving in, there were the usual stop and go's to let people on and off, simply holler at other taxi drivers for a fist pump outside the window, or barter for some grilled corn or other local delicacy being sold on the side of the street. When I think it cannot possibly get any worse, or should I say entertaining for lack of a better word, we hear this horrible sound as if a chicken or goat has been run over as our matatu is moving backwards in reverse, don't mind it, its simply the warning sound the taxi makes while in reverse, screaming chickens? Really? Only in Uganda. Needless to say, I was upset I didn't have the videocamera out for that one. 

We arrive in Mbale and make our trek to the taxi park to find a matatu to take us to Sipi. Travel is Uganda is sometimes difficult and this was not exactly an easy feat. We finally find one and we are on our way. After a 2 hour matatu ride, lots of confusion, and a bumpy boda ride up the side of a mountain, we arrived to Sipi Falls and our hostel, the Crows Nest. There is no electricity, no running water, there is a latrine in our room that you can actually sit on, mind you it is still simply a hole in the ground, and there is a KING sized bed in the room, fully equipped with a KING sized mosquito net. That is literally it in the room, bed, net, and latrine. We have nicknamed the latriene "Mt. Olympus" due to the fact that you have to climb up into the the room 4 stairts and the latrine is simply a mound in the midst of nothingness.

The view here is truly breathtaking and out of this world. As I sit here typing this, I am looking at the largest of the 3 waterfalls, water falling 100 meters, and cannot believe my eyes. We hiked to this waterfall early this morning (you always have to start early here due to the rain that comes everyday) and took umpteen pictures for you guys back in the states. We are looking forward to a "warm" shower, when they actually turn on the warm water, from 5-7 pm :) We will stay here for the night and head back home tomorrow for another week at the clinic. 

Hope all is well in the U.S. 

P.S. Food craving of the weekend has been bloody marys and Iggy's fajita burritos with queso :) 

June 5- Sunday

Oh the traveling tales we had today.. traveling back to the guesthouse was not nearly as chaotic today as travel had been on friday. We left Sipi early this morning, and I was convinced we were in a Grand Theft Auto video game with our driver going 80 mph, twisting and turning to avoid a person! boda! person person! pothole! matatu! boda boda! More points the more you hit and faster you drive? I promised the girls I will never get frustrated in St. Louis rush hour ever again! We then arrived in Mbale, ate lunch, did some grocery shopping, tried to find a bank that was compatible with Visa and Mastercard, slightly difficult in a developing country. We also found one of the infamous internet cafe where we were able to upload the picture you see now. Needless to say, the adventure was coming to the end and we were getting ready to head back to the guesthouse. So we had to find a matatu that is going to Bududa. Well this also proves to be slightly difficult, for some reason no one will give us a ride. They instruct us to wait for another vehicle that will come. So we wait, and a man approaches us asking us if the two green wheelbarrows strategically placed in front of us are ours? We all look at each other in total and utter confusion thinking, "What? Only white people use wheelbarrows?" Turns out no one would let us in their matatus because they thought we had this access baggage with us. So they finally let us in a matatu and we are on our way. It's flaming hot outside, were squished like 20 people in this 15 passenger van, sweating our butts off. As the ride progresses, Kristen and Michelle both turn to me and say I have some random black spots on my face.. thinking nothing of it, we simply continue on our way, then start noticing black spots on their faces, our arms, necks, and black spots are now covering the back of our t-shirts. Turns out the oil they had stopped to get on our way out from Mbale was in the trunk with no lid on it.. needless to say a van filled with 20 Ugandans plus 3 white girls traveling on a bumpy dirt road traveling around 60-70 mph will spill and splash oil EVERYWHERE! At this point Michelle turns to Kristen and I and says, "It's just like 101 Dalmations, we're white with black spots". The Ugandan boy squished in the back with us says something to the conductor so we may stop and analyze the situation. At this point we are joking with the other passengers in the matatu and I tell them, "Now you can't call us mzungos anymore. We're covered in black." Needless to say, we have a quick guide for how to become African in 2 weeks or less :) 

Food craving for today...ice. 

Happy due to our "spagetti" dinner at Sipi Falls. Let me tell you, Ugandan garlic bread...AMAZING!

This is our latriene we dubbed Mt. Olympus due to the 4 stairs you had to walk up to get to it.

The largest of the 3 waterfalls.

Our morning hike to the falls!