We finally had a night without rain, I think the first in a week and a half. It was fantastic walking to the main road this morning without having to shake my feet around to get the clumps of mud off of them. I also managed to catch taxis fairly quickly and got to work within 45 minutes or so. Things just move more efficiently when it isn't raining.
I have a few more days of work (hopefully with some interviews) and then I write my paper next week and then the last week we just have presentations and preparations for going back to the U.S. I have a lot of work to do before then. Other than working from 8:30 to 5:00, not much else is going on.
It's not just a trip anymore. I am hoping to revamp this blog to include a lot of different things mainly centered around my life as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala, but also including other random things I find myself reflecting upon. The contents of this blog reflect my opinions and not those of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps program. Enjoy!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Best Weekend Ever-Rafting on the Nile (and other stuff)
I had the most incredible weekend. But I should probably start where I left off and leave the best for last. I have been working at UDN for a few weeks now and I'm in a pretty comfortable routine. I go to work around 8:30 or so, leaving my house around 7:15 or 7:30. Once there, I just sit at my desk with my computer and read report after report. Last week, the executive director, Daisy, gave me a job-write an analysis of the Ugandan debt strategy-which I did and now I have to write a short report on the African Growth Opportunity Act between the U.S. and Africa, in addition to researching for my project. Everyone I have called to interview has told me to call back at another time which is slightly annoying but I'm sure some of them will follow through. I'm not entirely happy with the way my project is going and I was so excited to find a topic-international aid and trade in development with a focus on the agricultural sector-and now no one will talk to me but at least I have a bunch of reports to read on this topic. Anyway, now I have internet which is very distracting but nice becuase I don't have to go into town and spend money on it. The people I am working with a very friendly and have helped me a lot with finding information and just getting comfortable with this routine. However, I only keep it up through next week and then it's paper writing time. I can't believe I only have three and a half weeks left here. The time has especially flown by during practicum though some days in the office are really long.
So the weekend wasn’t so great at the beginning. On Friday, I went to work in the morning as usual and nothing was amiss. However, a few hours later, my officemates were talking about how bodas weren’t driving anyone anywhere. I assumed that they were just talking bodas not able to drive down some of the roads because of the rain. However, after lunch Patrick came into the office to talk to us about how the matatu (taxi) and boda drivers were on strike for some reason and there was no public transportation throughout Kampala. I was in Kamwokya, quite a distance away from home, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to get from point a to point b. The funny thing was that this was happening just after I wrote an article for the Kenyon Collegian on the transportation system here.
(read it at: http://media.www.kenyoncollegian.com/media/storage/paper821/news/2008/04/10/Features/Notes.From.Abroad.Getting.Around.In.Uganda-3317503.shtml)
Anyway, drivers were burning tires and using sticks to prevent people from taking any public transportation. They were also blocking off roads, though it wasn’t so bad near where I was working. However, three people were shot and killed in a section of town that I used to pass through twice a day when I still lived in Kagoma. It was a little worrisome, but I figured things would turn out all right. I texted Martha to ask her what the best way of getting home would be and she said to leave the city as soon as I could and that private hire was the best way to get home. So I left the office about an hour and a half early. I only had 4,000 shillings to get home because someone had taken 10,000 shillings or so from my bag the night before while I walked to the taxi park in the dark, something I try to avoid but I was buying cheese at a more muzungu store. The receptionist, Esther, told me that it would probably cost between 7,000 and 10,000 shillings to get a private hire from Wandegeya to Lugala so I was a little worried that my money wouldn’t quite get me there, not to mention that I had to spend at least 500 shillings on internet on an urgent matter involving a summer internship. So I walked to Wandegeya which wasn’t too far away from Kamwokya and I knew the way well from taking the taxi there every day. I used internet for 20 minutes or so and then just started walking to see if I could find a private hire that takes a full ride, charging around 600 shillings each for a total of 3,000. Anyway, there were none of these types of private hires, only the excessively expensive ones for which I didn’t have the money to pay. So I just kept walking. By this time, the bodas were running but they were charging a lot of money, so I kept telling myself that I would keep walking first to the end of one road, then to the sign for Kasubi Tombs, then to Kasubi, then to the tombs at the top of the hill, and then I just figured I could walk all the way. I felt kind of like Forest Gump when he just starts running and just keeps running because he feels like it. So I just kept walking and the taxi drivers were all parked on the side of the road, watching people walk by and sometimes yelling comments to me about how I had to keep walking. Some of them were laughing, but I was really enjoying the walk. If it had been raining, it probably would have been unbearable but it was nice to get some exercise, walking up some of Kampala’s hills. It was a little scary when I saw some blockaded roads and people with sticks ensuring that no one would use public transportation, but there were so many other people walking with me that I felt pretty safe. Some of the scenery was pretty and I saw a lot more than I normally see from the taxi. Anyway, it took me around 2 hours of walking to make it all the way home, which isn’t so bad considering that it sometimes takes me an hour and fifteen minutes to go the same distance in a car. I should start walking at least part of the way to cut down on time and cost, but only if it isn’t raining or muddy which it pretty much always is lately. I got home and since I was so thirsty and sweaty from the walk, I bought an orange Fanta to reward myself with the money I had saved by not taking a boda. I got home and had to get ready for a party we were having for the people in Kampala as well as some other visitors. Almost everyone we invited came and we even had a few surprise visitors so it was great. I was surprised that so many people came because the transportation system was still a little sketchy, but most people got bodas or private hires to take them to our house. We all had a great time because for some of us, it was the first time we had seen each other for a while. For Tom, who has been in the mountains, it was the first time he had seen muzungus in a while. We ate cheese, drank wine and watched "Stomp the Yard" and just talked. Amy, the only other fellow Ohioan in the group, was stranded in Kampala because of the transport situation and she told me that a group was going rafting the next day so I decided to tag along with them.
The next morning, the taxi drivers in Lugala claimed that the taxis still weren’t taking passengers so we hired one out privately though he still told us it might be dangerous to drive into the city center. We went anyway, prepared to duck down if we saw any mobs, but we didn’t see any and there were even some taxis that were taking people normally. It appears as though our driver was lying to us or didn’t get the memo that the strike was over. So we took the taxi to the other side of town and caught a bus from there to Jinja. We met up with the rest of our group in Jinja and ate a nice breakfast before getting our lifejackets and helmets in preparation of rafting down the Nile. The rafting here is supposedly some of the best in the world with level 4 and 5 rapids, as well as some level 6 rapids which we wanted to go down but weren’t allowed. We drove to a point in the river and everyone split up into groups of seven people with one guide. My group was pretty great-it was four of us SIT students, one woman we met that day who was alone and two people from Purdue who had been staying in Kenya for a while. Our guide’s name was Alex/Muzungu and he was pretty great as well, probably the best guide there. So we got into a raft and got into the water and practiced a few things before heading out. I was the first to go into the water to practice getting back into the boat. We also practiced tipping as they assured us this would be happening to us throughout the course of the day. We were all really excited to get going which we did. The first rapid was level 4, which is the third most difficult. Our guide told us instructions like pedal forward, pedal hard, get down, etc. and in this case he told us to start pedaling backward midway through the first rapid which we later learned caused the flip that resulted. We were the first team to flip and the only team to flip on the first rapid. At first I was terrified of the thought of flipping over but it was actually pretty great and I managed to hold onto the raft throughout this time. We all got back in and prepared for the next rapid which was a level 5. Once again we flipped over and it was a little scarier because I didn’t grab a hold of the raft but I grabbed onto a kayak and they got me back to the raft. The next rapids was named Silverback and it was one of my favorites. It was a level five and was a long rapid and my group did really well on this one, making it down without flipping. We went right through the middle and up these huge waves. It was a good thing I didn’t fall out because there were whirlpools in this area and I probably would have freaked out if I was caught in one. Anyway, the next area was also pretty great with this waterfall we went down backward. Not everyone gets to go down the waterfall because you need to go just the right way and there has to be enough water for you to go down, so we were lucky. After that we had lunch on the Nile which was pineapple, glucose biscuits and water. It was nice just floating along. I also forgot that we had been swimming in the river along the way which was also quite fantastic. We haven’t been able to swim in most bodies of water due to the threat of bilharzia but the Nile is bilharzia free so we jumped off the raft into the river. After lunch we had some more great rapids. On one of them, Alex told one person to stand at the front of the raft while the rest of us went to the back in something known as the flying squirrel. We were the only raft to complete this maneuver that caused our raft to fly off of a wave at a ninety degree angle and the flying squirrel really did fly. We flipped of course and somewhere along the way I scraped my toe up a little. We passed some level six rapids that Alex joked we could do if we wanted and we were all ready to go down them but I think the company isn’t allowed to take people down the most difficult ones. Then we had a few more and then the last one which was optional because it was a little intense. My whole raft was up for it so we went and flipped on the first wave. They told us to swim to the side if we flipped over which most people did and I tried but I was in the middle of the river doing into the next part of the rapids with only my lifejacket holding me afloat. I saw huge waves coming towards me and saw that the raft was next to me with Alex holding on so I held on two and went down the next part trying to hang on. I lost hold a few times but managed to catch back up to the raft. It was fantastic and I’m glad I didn’t swim to the side like they told us to. Alex got the raft flipped back up and we picked up Amy who had also floated down the rapids and had caught a kayak. Then we got back to shore and hiked up to the vans that were taking us to the hostel we were staying at for the night. Overall, rafting was so great and I am so glad I went. It was terrifying at first and I really did think I was going to die a few times but all the scrapes and bruises I am finding all over my arms and legs are worth it and I can’t wait to go again. I was so surprised afterwards that I didn’t chicken out and refuse to go at the last minute. I just don’t feel like I can describe it very articulately so I apologize if the above sounds dumb but it was great. And then to finish off the experience, we all went to the hostel that the organization runs and just chilled out for the evening and into the next day. There was food waiting for us, including some great veggie burgers and we all sat back with nice, cold Nile Specials (Ugandan beer brand-the best one here, evidenced by the fact that I normally hate beer but actually wasn't too opposed to this kind) and drank it while looking out on the Nile (which we couldn't really see because it was dark) and listening to the Nile rush by. I called my parents standing outside by the Nile which was pretty cool. We watched the video that one guy had made of us rafting. There was lots of drunkeness going on (not on my part) so I talked to the guy who filmed us from a kayak and he said some really interesting things about the rapids at Murchison, where he is going next weekend. It was overall a really good time despite all of the random Ugandan/muzungu men hitting on me in their totally inebriated state. That night we slept in a dorm like room with 12 beds and I fell asleep to the sound of the Nile rushing below the hill we were on.
The next morning, I slept in a bit and then got up and just went up to the main building. It started raining a lot and continued raining off and on throughout the day. I took a shower in an outdoor shower facing the Nile River which had a nice view but was a really cold shower. Then I ate a rolex with avocado, tomatoes and cabbage for breakfast which was really tasty. We all just kind of hung out for a while at the lodge-like area until the Jinja people left and there was Tom and me and the one woman we met the day before on the raft. The bus back to Kampala didn't come until 5:00 or so which was slightly inconvenient but it was a free ride back into town. I got pretty bored waiting around for it, especially becuase for once in my life I didn't have a book with me to read. I would have loved reading on the comfy couches in the place but too bad. We eventually got on the bus and had an uneventful trip back to Kampala after which I headed home. And thus ends my great weekend.
Not much has happened since then. One of my roommates got pretty sick and we thought he had malaria, but it was just an infection. And I have a cold, but it's not too bad. And it's been raining every day in the morning which makes the trek into work especially more annoying down the extremely muddy dirt road. Oh well. Uganda wouldn't be Uganda without the rainy season. I hope everyone is doing well wherever you are and happy spring!
So the weekend wasn’t so great at the beginning. On Friday, I went to work in the morning as usual and nothing was amiss. However, a few hours later, my officemates were talking about how bodas weren’t driving anyone anywhere. I assumed that they were just talking bodas not able to drive down some of the roads because of the rain. However, after lunch Patrick came into the office to talk to us about how the matatu (taxi) and boda drivers were on strike for some reason and there was no public transportation throughout Kampala. I was in Kamwokya, quite a distance away from home, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to get from point a to point b. The funny thing was that this was happening just after I wrote an article for the Kenyon Collegian on the transportation system here.
(read it at: http://media.www.kenyoncollegian.com/media/storage/paper821/news/2008/04/10/Features/Notes.From.Abroad.Getting.Around.In.Uganda-3317503.shtml)
Anyway, drivers were burning tires and using sticks to prevent people from taking any public transportation. They were also blocking off roads, though it wasn’t so bad near where I was working. However, three people were shot and killed in a section of town that I used to pass through twice a day when I still lived in Kagoma. It was a little worrisome, but I figured things would turn out all right. I texted Martha to ask her what the best way of getting home would be and she said to leave the city as soon as I could and that private hire was the best way to get home. So I left the office about an hour and a half early. I only had 4,000 shillings to get home because someone had taken 10,000 shillings or so from my bag the night before while I walked to the taxi park in the dark, something I try to avoid but I was buying cheese at a more muzungu store. The receptionist, Esther, told me that it would probably cost between 7,000 and 10,000 shillings to get a private hire from Wandegeya to Lugala so I was a little worried that my money wouldn’t quite get me there, not to mention that I had to spend at least 500 shillings on internet on an urgent matter involving a summer internship. So I walked to Wandegeya which wasn’t too far away from Kamwokya and I knew the way well from taking the taxi there every day. I used internet for 20 minutes or so and then just started walking to see if I could find a private hire that takes a full ride, charging around 600 shillings each for a total of 3,000. Anyway, there were none of these types of private hires, only the excessively expensive ones for which I didn’t have the money to pay. So I just kept walking. By this time, the bodas were running but they were charging a lot of money, so I kept telling myself that I would keep walking first to the end of one road, then to the sign for Kasubi Tombs, then to Kasubi, then to the tombs at the top of the hill, and then I just figured I could walk all the way. I felt kind of like Forest Gump when he just starts running and just keeps running because he feels like it. So I just kept walking and the taxi drivers were all parked on the side of the road, watching people walk by and sometimes yelling comments to me about how I had to keep walking. Some of them were laughing, but I was really enjoying the walk. If it had been raining, it probably would have been unbearable but it was nice to get some exercise, walking up some of Kampala’s hills. It was a little scary when I saw some blockaded roads and people with sticks ensuring that no one would use public transportation, but there were so many other people walking with me that I felt pretty safe. Some of the scenery was pretty and I saw a lot more than I normally see from the taxi. Anyway, it took me around 2 hours of walking to make it all the way home, which isn’t so bad considering that it sometimes takes me an hour and fifteen minutes to go the same distance in a car. I should start walking at least part of the way to cut down on time and cost, but only if it isn’t raining or muddy which it pretty much always is lately. I got home and since I was so thirsty and sweaty from the walk, I bought an orange Fanta to reward myself with the money I had saved by not taking a boda. I got home and had to get ready for a party we were having for the people in Kampala as well as some other visitors. Almost everyone we invited came and we even had a few surprise visitors so it was great. I was surprised that so many people came because the transportation system was still a little sketchy, but most people got bodas or private hires to take them to our house. We all had a great time because for some of us, it was the first time we had seen each other for a while. For Tom, who has been in the mountains, it was the first time he had seen muzungus in a while. We ate cheese, drank wine and watched "Stomp the Yard" and just talked. Amy, the only other fellow Ohioan in the group, was stranded in Kampala because of the transport situation and she told me that a group was going rafting the next day so I decided to tag along with them.
The next morning, the taxi drivers in Lugala claimed that the taxis still weren’t taking passengers so we hired one out privately though he still told us it might be dangerous to drive into the city center. We went anyway, prepared to duck down if we saw any mobs, but we didn’t see any and there were even some taxis that were taking people normally. It appears as though our driver was lying to us or didn’t get the memo that the strike was over. So we took the taxi to the other side of town and caught a bus from there to Jinja. We met up with the rest of our group in Jinja and ate a nice breakfast before getting our lifejackets and helmets in preparation of rafting down the Nile. The rafting here is supposedly some of the best in the world with level 4 and 5 rapids, as well as some level 6 rapids which we wanted to go down but weren’t allowed. We drove to a point in the river and everyone split up into groups of seven people with one guide. My group was pretty great-it was four of us SIT students, one woman we met that day who was alone and two people from Purdue who had been staying in Kenya for a while. Our guide’s name was Alex/Muzungu and he was pretty great as well, probably the best guide there. So we got into a raft and got into the water and practiced a few things before heading out. I was the first to go into the water to practice getting back into the boat. We also practiced tipping as they assured us this would be happening to us throughout the course of the day. We were all really excited to get going which we did. The first rapid was level 4, which is the third most difficult. Our guide told us instructions like pedal forward, pedal hard, get down, etc. and in this case he told us to start pedaling backward midway through the first rapid which we later learned caused the flip that resulted. We were the first team to flip and the only team to flip on the first rapid. At first I was terrified of the thought of flipping over but it was actually pretty great and I managed to hold onto the raft throughout this time. We all got back in and prepared for the next rapid which was a level 5. Once again we flipped over and it was a little scarier because I didn’t grab a hold of the raft but I grabbed onto a kayak and they got me back to the raft. The next rapids was named Silverback and it was one of my favorites. It was a level five and was a long rapid and my group did really well on this one, making it down without flipping. We went right through the middle and up these huge waves. It was a good thing I didn’t fall out because there were whirlpools in this area and I probably would have freaked out if I was caught in one. Anyway, the next area was also pretty great with this waterfall we went down backward. Not everyone gets to go down the waterfall because you need to go just the right way and there has to be enough water for you to go down, so we were lucky. After that we had lunch on the Nile which was pineapple, glucose biscuits and water. It was nice just floating along. I also forgot that we had been swimming in the river along the way which was also quite fantastic. We haven’t been able to swim in most bodies of water due to the threat of bilharzia but the Nile is bilharzia free so we jumped off the raft into the river. After lunch we had some more great rapids. On one of them, Alex told one person to stand at the front of the raft while the rest of us went to the back in something known as the flying squirrel. We were the only raft to complete this maneuver that caused our raft to fly off of a wave at a ninety degree angle and the flying squirrel really did fly. We flipped of course and somewhere along the way I scraped my toe up a little. We passed some level six rapids that Alex joked we could do if we wanted and we were all ready to go down them but I think the company isn’t allowed to take people down the most difficult ones. Then we had a few more and then the last one which was optional because it was a little intense. My whole raft was up for it so we went and flipped on the first wave. They told us to swim to the side if we flipped over which most people did and I tried but I was in the middle of the river doing into the next part of the rapids with only my lifejacket holding me afloat. I saw huge waves coming towards me and saw that the raft was next to me with Alex holding on so I held on two and went down the next part trying to hang on. I lost hold a few times but managed to catch back up to the raft. It was fantastic and I’m glad I didn’t swim to the side like they told us to. Alex got the raft flipped back up and we picked up Amy who had also floated down the rapids and had caught a kayak. Then we got back to shore and hiked up to the vans that were taking us to the hostel we were staying at for the night. Overall, rafting was so great and I am so glad I went. It was terrifying at first and I really did think I was going to die a few times but all the scrapes and bruises I am finding all over my arms and legs are worth it and I can’t wait to go again. I was so surprised afterwards that I didn’t chicken out and refuse to go at the last minute. I just don’t feel like I can describe it very articulately so I apologize if the above sounds dumb but it was great. And then to finish off the experience, we all went to the hostel that the organization runs and just chilled out for the evening and into the next day. There was food waiting for us, including some great veggie burgers and we all sat back with nice, cold Nile Specials (Ugandan beer brand-the best one here, evidenced by the fact that I normally hate beer but actually wasn't too opposed to this kind) and drank it while looking out on the Nile (which we couldn't really see because it was dark) and listening to the Nile rush by. I called my parents standing outside by the Nile which was pretty cool. We watched the video that one guy had made of us rafting. There was lots of drunkeness going on (not on my part) so I talked to the guy who filmed us from a kayak and he said some really interesting things about the rapids at Murchison, where he is going next weekend. It was overall a really good time despite all of the random Ugandan/muzungu men hitting on me in their totally inebriated state. That night we slept in a dorm like room with 12 beds and I fell asleep to the sound of the Nile rushing below the hill we were on.
The next morning, I slept in a bit and then got up and just went up to the main building. It started raining a lot and continued raining off and on throughout the day. I took a shower in an outdoor shower facing the Nile River which had a nice view but was a really cold shower. Then I ate a rolex with avocado, tomatoes and cabbage for breakfast which was really tasty. We all just kind of hung out for a while at the lodge-like area until the Jinja people left and there was Tom and me and the one woman we met the day before on the raft. The bus back to Kampala didn't come until 5:00 or so which was slightly inconvenient but it was a free ride back into town. I got pretty bored waiting around for it, especially becuase for once in my life I didn't have a book with me to read. I would have loved reading on the comfy couches in the place but too bad. We eventually got on the bus and had an uneventful trip back to Kampala after which I headed home. And thus ends my great weekend.
Not much has happened since then. One of my roommates got pretty sick and we thought he had malaria, but it was just an infection. And I have a cold, but it's not too bad. And it's been raining every day in the morning which makes the trek into work especially more annoying down the extremely muddy dirt road. Oh well. Uganda wouldn't be Uganda without the rainy season. I hope everyone is doing well wherever you are and happy spring!
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