In the belly of the fish...: Kampala to Gulu

View from our room in Kampala

Well we are officially in Africa! We arrived in Kampala Thursday night after over 30 hours of travel. I can't remember the last time I watched that many movies. We drove through the streets of Kampala to our hotel and I must admit I felt a little nervous. There were people all over the streets at midnight and we stuck out like sore thumbs! Our driver was very nice though and we arrived at the hotel with no issues. After 3 hours if sleep we were up again and headed out to Gulu with our friend Agnes from MAP International. After all the travel the day before we were not looking forward to being cooped up again but we couldn't wait to actually see Africa! We all piled into the van with our thousand pieces of luggage and were off. The streets of Kampala are a true assault to the senses. People, color, life everywhere with shops selling household items on every side and meat hanging raw in the "butcher shops." Women carry everything from baskets to firewood perfectly balanced on their heads men cut between cars, flying down the streets on their motor cycles. We stopped on our way to pick up the Sand Dam engineer (a water collection system we will be building in Kotido) and got ourselves firmly stuck in the traffic of a massive market. We literally sat for over an house not moving as hundreds of people pushed between cars. The clothing here is so beautiful and color is not spared in the least. Made we feel quite dull in all my green and gray. After sitting for what seemed like an eternity we turned around (I really don't know how we didn't hit the dozen cars smashed around us) and headed back to a gas station for the engineer to meet us. After picking up Livingston our engineer we were off officially to Gulu. I managed to grab some sleep in between the massive potholes that jolted us awake. Outside the city you can really appreciate the nature in Uganda. It really is the Pearl of Africa. About halfway through our trip we passed the Nile river! Green, green, green and then BAM! The most amazingly beautiful, overwhelming and rushing river I have ever seen. It is truly overwhelming. The water surges past rocks and trees. I can really appreciate why it is so famous. This place truly is the cradle of life. Shortly past the river we came upon a dozen or so baboons!! I could hardly contain myself from squealing with excitement. The mommas walked along our cars with their babies hanging from them waiting for us to throw down the bananas we had purchased in the roadside market earlier in the day while the males boldly walked in front of our car daring us not to feed them. Baboons!!! Right in front of us! I am in heaven :) After what seemed like another eternity we arrived in Gulu. The hotel is quite nice, minus the ice cold showers and we feel VERY safe. After a quick rest we headed to the hotel to meet with the local Rotary club (Carrie is a member). After a nice but extremely long dinner (things move a but slower around here) we headed to bed and crashed for a whole 7 hours!

Today we will make our way to Kotido where we will be doing most of our work. I can't wait to see what we will encounter on the way!