Well I have so much to say that I don’t even know where to begin. I don’t want to spend my whole trip in front of the internet but then when I do get the chance I have way too much to write about.
Last Thursday I went to the equator so I could get the necessary photo of me being in the northern and southern hemisphere at the same time. It was an extremely long journey, as the traffic in and out of Kampala is attrocious at any time of the day, and they have ripped up a lot of the road heading south. Instead of working on patches of the road they ripped up the whole thing, making the entire stretch a mess. The dust is unbelievable! So much for getting some clean air away from the pollution of Vancouver. They have a demonstration set up so you can see how the water flows in different directions on either side of the equator. I snapped my pictures and then browsed through the souvenir shops. It’s hard to pick souvenirs here because they are all pretty awesome!
Friday marked 2 weeks into my stay here, and it is going by both quickly and slowly. One month is a decent amount of time so I am able to slow down and relax and not feel rushed like I have so much to do in a short time. I know the next 2 weeks will fly by though since I will be in Tanzania for part of it.
Yesterday on Sunday I went with my friends to a beach in Entebbe on Lake Victoria. The beaches here are all private and charge an entrance fee. There were no shade trees on the beach and it certainly wasn’t like the Caribbean beaches I’m used to, but it was nice anyway to be near the water. Then we went to the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre which was nicely done, although a zoo is a zoo and doesn’t compare with seeing animals in the wild. The safaris here are nothing to compare to Tanzania or Kenya so I will save myself for my next trip when I have the time to go on a proper safari. They had chimps at the zoo which were really cool. I’m not an evolutionist but I couldn’t help but notice how human like they were. They had rhinos, lions, giraffes, zebras, pretty much everything I wanted to see except elephants. I was happily surprised by how many Ugandans were in the zoo, I think it’s great to see locals enjoying and learning about what animals are in the area, it helps with conservation.
Today I came to the aquaculture research station in Kajjansi again and watched as they seined a pond to collect broodstock tilapia.
I met a mzungu the other day from Finland so we are going out for dinner tonight. It will be nice to speak to another foreigner who is equally as amazed at this crazy country and can share our thoughts and experiences. The English the Ugandans speak is pretty hard to understand so it will be nice to speak to someone who can understand me properly. A lot of the time my translator/guide Denis has to repeat what I say so people can understand me, even though he says it in English too, it’s just the accent is so different. I’ve learned a few words of Luganda but it is so different from English that I can see it taking years to learn. I can basically say enough to get the taxi to stop where I want to get off.
I’m really enjoying it here and I can definitely see myself coming back again, hopefully soon. There are certain things that are hard to deal with but some aspects I prefer over Canada. I’m definitely into this slow pace of life! And not to mention the weather!!! Oh I really hope it’s summer when I get back home, I don’t think I can handle cold anymore. My tan is coming along although it’s limited to my face and arms, as I have to wear long skirts and modest tops.
I just can’t get over how nice the people here are. I got the number of a girl here from a friend in Canada and I called her up and she invited me out with her friends to have some drinks. Turns out she is one of the biggest celebrities in the country, and yet she was friendly and inviting. I can’t imagine celebrities in North America being like that! Every person I meet goes out of their way to make me feel welcome and comfortable.
I’m off to Tanzania on Wednesday so until next time…
