Finally arrived, sort of

We all deplane, its around 8:00 at night. There's a big moon and lots of stars as we walk across the tarmac to the airport. It's funny to see the moon and stars--I'm not sure exactly if I'm in the northern or southern hemisphere, the equator runs pretty much right through Kampala, so I may actually slightly be in the southern hemisphere, which is fun. I am wishing that somewhere there's a big sign saying "Equator!" that I can take a picture of me straddling both hemispheres. I'm sure there is one somewhere but we never see it, so much for the cheesy photo-op! Everyone herds into the terminal--it looks like an airport, but small and very plain. There's pretty much nothing on the walls, nothing around to look at. We wait in line behind the rest of the foreigners getting our visas and then head to the one baggage claim (apparently there's not a whole lot of people flying into Entebbe on a daily basis!). Thankfully, all our luggage arrives-I've managed to pack incredibly economically for this trip. I've got one big bag I checked, a rolling carry-on and my backpack. This is going to serve me well later on, trust me. Seeing my bag is like meeting an old friend, I wonder what its journey was like. I'm glad it arrived. We all mill around making small talk and make our way to the parking area in the front of the airport. It's so surreal, it looks like it could be the parking lot at any old little airport (Manchester, say, before it got so big!) I'm expecting to be mobbed by mosquitoes and I'm a little worried because I haven't been able to douse myself in my 100% DEET spray yet, but there are none to be seen. We stand around in the parking lot for what seems like hours yet is only about 20 minutes waiting for our cab to arrive. This is my first experience with the "African time" phenomenon--there is plenty more sitting and waiting in store for me on the remainder of this trip! I thought we were going to exchange our money before we left the airport but we didn't. Everyone's chatting about their lives and families, some of the people know each other pretty well. Rob and I seem like the most uncomfortable of the bunch--this is his first big trip like this too, he has 3 young children and a gorgeous wife at home in Texas, and its obvious he's feeling out of sorts, at least to me. He's pretty quiet and answers in short sentences. Finally, a rickety van type thing arrives and we squeeze our luggage and half of ourselves in--the rest pile into another similar vehicle. The drive to our hotel takes maybe 10 minutes--it is so odd because it just feels like you're driving through any other unfamiliar city, you just happen to be in Uganda, of all places! And I think we're driving on the "wrong" side of the road, I don't really remember. Later, when we're driving during the day you pretty much drive on whatever side of the road is drivable, here in the city the roads are actually paved although there is a strange lack of stoplights.

We round a corner and there, smack in the middle of what seems like a regular old neighborhood is Sophie's Motel. It actually looks pretty nice. The armed guard at the gate is a little bit intimidating but strangely reassuring at the same time. We stand around in the lobby with our luggage piled around us as Dana and Linda get our rooms and breakfast all sorted out. As we were driving in, a sign declaring "Internet Cafe!" was posted on all the Sophie's Motel signs--this "cafe" is pretty much a glassed in area of the lobby with a desk and a computer. You have to pay for your time on it and its apparently pretty sketchy whether you'll get a connection or not. Still, the fact that there's an Internet connection is funny. You just don't imagine that you'll be in that kind of technological contact with the outside world when you go to a Third World country. I guess that's a testimony to what a big deal the internet really is, that you can find it in a little hole in the wall in Uganda!

We finally get our keys to our rooms--all the rooms have the name of an African country--Nancy and I are assigned to the "Botswana" room. Its got 3 beds, surrounded of course by a mosquito net, which is suspiciously holey. That concerns me, although I don't see any mosquitoes anywhere. There's a fan, thank goodness--I need white noise to sleep! I pull out my travel alarm clock and we figure out what time it is (Nancy didn't bring one, which I think is odd, since she's been on like 12short term missions trips so far. She doesn't bring a lot of things I'd expect a seasoned traveler to bring, I'll find out. Some people I think just don't know what to pack and end up bringing everything except what they actually need!) We get changed quickly and collapse into bed, totally exhausted. I'm hugging Julia's stuffed giraffe and Xavier's blanket, but I'm really too tired to even be homesick at this point. I'm just happy to be in a safe, clean place that is not an airplane! Tomorrow holds another big adventure as we take an in-country flight (scary!) up to Gulu and then drive to Kitgum, our final destination. It's sure to be another long day of traveling, but for now I'm just thankful to be stopped to rest.