We made it into Uganda late Tuesday night. After getting our luggage, going through customs and getting our Visa, we boarded our bus and headed to our hotel in Kampala. The process of getting our luggage went smoothly... although we did have 15 checked bags, in addition to 10 pieces of cary on luggage. Most of the checked bags weighed 70 pounds, so we had quite a load to transport to our bus! Thankfully, they all arrived and we have all the supplies we will need for our days in Uganda. The bus and driver that picked us up will be with us for the duration of our stay in Uganda.
We got into our hotel in Kamapla around 12:30a.m. on Wednesday. It was so nice to finally be able to sleep! We got up the next morning, had a lovely breakfast at the hotel and then packed up the bus and went to Jinja. The drive took over an hour and we stopped at a bank to exchange money and restaurant in Kampala for lunch on our way out. Kampala is a busy place... lots of stores, people and activity. I was amazed at the number of "out of towners" that I saw at the restaurant. We are traveling with Violet and Charles, who are Rudy and Dorothy's connections here in Uganda. They are wonderful people and I know I am going to enjoy getting to know them!
Our drive into Jinja was so fun; I loved seeing all of the scenery, homes and people on our way. I took so many pictures just on our drive! We saw fields of tea, sugar cane, gardens with corn, cabbage and other vegetables and lots of activity. We drove across the Nile River (so cool to see that!) on our drive. I had a fine layer of red dust on my arms and face from having my window open on the drive, but it was well worth it! I'll try to post some of the pictures if the connection holds long enough.
After we arrived in Jinja, we took all of our bags up to our rooms and then boarded our bus and headed to see Bujaguli Falls (part of the White Nile river). It was amazing! There were kids there trying to get us to go for a ride down the falls on their plastic jug for the low price of 3000 shillings. There were no takers in our group!
After several pictures at the falls, we headed back to our hotel to clean up some of the dust before dinner. We had dinner at the hotel - most of us tried the fish and avoided the mosquitos buzzing about with ample bug spray. There were plenty of ghekos scurrying about that I were told like to eat the mosquitos. I considered taking some back to my hotel room with me. :)
After dinner, it was almost 10p.m. and we all wound down from the day. There is a small tv in my hotel room with three channels. It was kind of funny to see what made the late night cut... there was an Uganda "soap opera" (the woman was told her mom has typhoid and AIDS), a soccer game... and the movie "Miss Pettigrue Lives for a Day." Interesting choice to wind down to from the day!
It is now Thursday morning and we are finishing up things at the hotel and will then head to CCLS Uganda in Kawete. We will be taking our many bags of supplies and will be getting ready to meet all the children. Even though they are on break this week, we are told that 500 or so will be there waiting to see us. Can't wait!
No comments:
Post a Comment