Greetings from Kampala, Uganda. Steve and I have spent the last few days really doing a whole lotta nothing, and it's been great! Well, we've done a few things.... internet (it's finally cheaper here)....enjoying air conditioning.... catching up on all the US election drama on CNN... even seeing UB40 in concert.
We had a break between tours and we have taken advantage of our hotel points to stay in a western-style hotel, complete with A/C, cable TV, and a real door that locks! Tonight we meet up with the group (6 of us total from the last tour we completed in Tanzania) to start our Uganda tour, so we go back to the not-so-glamourous life of sleeping in tents and shared dorm rooms. We'll be on the road for the next couple of weeks, so the next time I post an entry it will probably be from Greece!
Getting to Kampala was a bit of an adventure for us, so it's been nice to have time to relax. Several days ago, as we were heading to Arusha, Tanzania (close to Mt. Kiliminjaro, but not as exotic as it sounds) we had an emergency stop at the hospital because one of the guys in our group had some sort of stomach bug and was severely dehydrated. Fortunately he's doing much better now, but stopping at a small hospital in a random town in Tanzania (at night) was a little bit strange. We thought our flight from Arusha to Kampala was nonstop, so we got off the airplane when the plane stopped.... only to figure out a few minutes later, when our bags didn't come off the plane and the airport seemed like an awfully small place to be an "international" airport, that we were in fact still in Tanzania. That explains why the lady meeting our plane gave me such a weird look when I insisted she give us declaration forms, considering we were still in the same country. Fortunately we figured out the problem and got back on the plane before it left us in the middle of nowhere!
When we got into Kampala, it turns out that UB40 was playing their last concert ever, and it just happened to be when we were there. We ended up buying tickets, and when it was all over- tickets, dinner, transporation to the concert, we ended up spending less than $50US. Not too shabby. The concert itself was pretty good- an insane number of people there (over 30,000) , and even more exciting is that while we were standing in line to get in we saw UB40 drive into the super-secret back entrance to the concert venue, the Bugandan Queen's entourage, and a guy get arrested for pick-pocketing (not our pockets.)
I am running out of time- 2 minutes to go- otherwise I would write more. We have had a great, and at times very challenging time in Africa, and look forward to sharing many more tales, including gorilla sightings, with you soon!
Cheers,
Anna
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