Uganda day 1- leaving the city.....

So.....I just woke up. And the 1st thing I notice is this incredible sound. It became a joke, because I thought it was like Disneyland or something, piping in recorded sounds. I really did...it was just TOO perfect sounding! There was a chorus of birds like I had NEVER heard! The bird songs of Uganda are like no music you have EVER heard! So, once I was done with my private concert, I headed to breakfast, and met JohnO, Matt and Greg outside. It was a gorgeous blue sky...and the birds were still singing their praises. As we listened we prayed to God for the trip.......'twas a great way to set your soul right to start a day, week and trip! The rest of teh gang made their ways out and they brought us out all kinds of fruit (pineapples from heaven!), sausages and Spanish omelettes. The next hour was wonderful as Jeff and the guys gave us a crash course in Ugandan Christian history.

After eating came the task of drivign into Kampala, the capital of Uganda, and it's biggest city. We were to exchange money and eat lunch. So the city is NUTS! I have literally never seen such chaos.....PEOPLE are everywhere, as are cars. Their are NO traffic laws, and it is just crazy. Picture the scariest and worst traffic you have ever seen and multiply that times 1000!!!Here are 2 pictures...though it DOES not capture the madness sufficiently at all:



The scene was whizzing through my head...people everywhere..laying down, walking, sitting, driving. Ladies carrying massive loads on their heads. Shacks and huts in shambles all over the place. Cows being slaughtered right on the road, men carryign AK-47's......I AM IN AFRICA!!!

We exchanged money (my $1000 made me a milionaire in Uganda...literally!) Next, we ate lunch at Sam's.....a nice place. The menu was interesting..complete with warthog, wildabeest, crocodile and monkey steaks. I gladly opted out of the "ebola on a bun" special :) and had Chicken Tikka!

Finally, much later (like I said....eating in Uganda is slow) we took off for Ft. Portal! We saw some interesting signs (one business advertising "Dentistry and Circumcision"....man I hope they change instruments!:) ) Also.....some sad ones like the one below. Men giving little girls gifts for sex is a HUGE problem......check this out:

So we finally got out for what was supposed to be about a "3 hr tour". One hour into the trip however one of our trucks broke down! :) It was a very good welcome to life in Africa. It took FOREVER to fix and find parts (with Derrick running back into the nearest village for "parts")......many locals were fascinated with the group of "buzungu" (white men) on the rofad side, so we soon drew a small crowd. they just sat there and watched. It was cool!


Eventually we arrived MUCH later than planned...about 10:00 at night! We had a late dinner and Cheryl's apple pie (good enough to make you slap your gramdma!)....and we went to our temporary hotel called Tooro Inn. We slept in some great little huts....and fell asleep to the celebratory sounds of a local wedding party!

God bless you Africa!