Good Morning, Uganda!

Nancy and I get up, our first morning in Uganda. It's still dark out, maybe 5:30 or 6? My brain is still all addled from the 9 hour time change and 2 days of travel. I take a shower, which feels great, and is actually not too bad. The shower has a very shallow area to catch the water, so the bathroom gets soaked. There's a big plastic bucket in the shower--apparently most people in Africa prefer to bathe out of the bucket rather than take a shower, showers must be a pretty "western" thing. We head upstairs to the dining area, its actually a pretty nice hotel. So far we've seen pictures everywhere of President Museveni--sometimes in a suit, sometimes in his military uniform. Imagine if there were official photos of Obama everywhere in America...Breakfast is sparse, fresh pineapple and papaya and toast, with passion fruit juice. Courteney and Candace, who have both been to Africa several times, recommend putting a spoonful of sugar in the juice because it is extremely tart. It's obviously fresh, thick with pulp. The sugar--sugar in the raw and a brownish color--doesn't totally dissolve but it definitely helps. I sit with Nancy and Courteney and Candace and we chat, I show them pictures of the kids. As the sun is rising we all go out to this really pretty patio area that "overlooks" Lake Victoria. All you really see is a small slice of the lake, its obviously really big because it kind of looks like you're looking over the ocean. Built right up to the hotels walls are numerous small houses--no one's up yet, there's a rooster and some chickens strutting around in one small yard, laundry's still hanging on the line. Not too far away there's a big building that looks like it could be some sort of school or office building. It's quiet everywhere, like we're the only people up. As the sun rises we get ready to head out. Everyone's taking bunches of pictures, but I can't seem to get too many that are worth saving. Nancy lets me send Bill a text on her phone--she switched her service to work in Uganda--I'm completely inept at sending a text. I'm not sure it even goes through. A while later Nancy will shout up to me on the bus "Hey, your husband says they all love you and they're so proud of you!" Obviously he got the text but its kind of embarrassing to be 36 and have an international trip be such a big deal.

We hop on our rickety bus to head to the airport. We drive through Entebbe--everyone's awake now. It's a jumble of people and things to look at--everyone's walking along the street heading...wherever. There are concrete buildings one on top of the other, all painted totally garish colors like bright yellow and fuschia. Its like all the rejected paint colors from the rest of the world got sent to Uganda. Ads for Coca Cola and tons of cell phone advertisements. We pass numerous schools with crazy looking playgrounds--I'm wishing we weren't zipping along so fast so I could take some pictures. It's total sensory overload. Women carrying loads on their heads, babies on their backs, men riding bicycles, motorcycles, carrying other people. Cars coming precariously close to crashing...we turn off onto a really rutted dirt road, passing by huts and small concrete huts--how can this be the way to the airport? But of course we're not going to an AIRPORT, we're going to an air STRIP and a strip is exactly what it is--we pull up to a chainlink fence and there they are, 4 small planes, 2 of which will be carrying us to Gulu today. My stomach kind of drops--there's no tower, no tarmac, just a small building and a dirt strip right in the middle of a field. We go into the building where the crew weighs us and our bags (kind of forboding!) to make sure we're not too heavy--we are flying with Missionary Aviation Fellowship. Our pilots are British I believe, ours looks kind of like Archie Morris from ER: red hair, light complexion, kind of leprechaun-y. I'm totally apprehensive as we all take pictures and then board, but my nervousness is immediately relieved by the friendliness and assurance of our pilot, who is as nice as can be. He leads us in prayer (when does that ever happen on Southwest!) and off we go. Rob's sitting in the front seat wearing the headphones and his mirrored sunglasses--now we're starting to see his crazy side! Off we go down this dirt track, and suddenly we're up in the air, looking down on all the houses and buildings of Entebbe...

We fly for about an hour, and I've got to say it was one of the smoothest plane rides I have EVER experienced. And we were totally flying over AFRICA and the NILE RIVER!!! How amazing! I didn't really get to see any of Africa, since we flew in at night, and I was in the middle rows besides. It is so green and lush looking down there, you see random villages here and there, and their huts look like clusters of small brown mushrooms that have popped up in the jungle. We begin our approach to Gulu, which is a city of around 50,000. We land on an actual asphalt landing strip, its obviously just rained here. I guess we just missed a quick thunderstorm. Dana, Chad, Fred and Alex are waiting for us here. Dana is big and reassuring, Chad, as his son, is too. Its like having a dad and big brother with you on the trip. Fred and Alex are Chinese American and VERY kind and friendly. We hop in another rickety bus to head to the Acholi Inn where we'll have lunch before heading off to Kitgum.

Driving through Gulu is like watching every show about Africa you've ever seen--big, fancy looking "compounds" in the middle of incredible poverty. Lots of people everywhere, like in Entebbe. The Acholi in is a pretty, yellow, low building surrounded by a big yellow wall. Out front is a handsome young man to greet us dressed in some traditional Acholi costume.(the Acholi are a tribal group of Africans in Northern Uganda/Southern Sudan. They are extremely proud of their heritage.) We go in to a big cafeteria area, there are tables with folding chairs and some of the most uncomfortable armchairs and "couches" I've ever seen. They're wooden and look like they should have cushions on them but don't. Its like sitting on a rock. I opt for a round table with Linda and Alex who do not stop talking. We order lunch--I think almost all of us order the fried tilapia with french fries, which is SO yummy, crispy and tasty and flaky, with an orange Fanta (I'll drink loads of soda over here!) in a glass bottle. The novelty of that wears off by the end of the week, trust me. I need to use the bathroom, but apparently the public ones are not so great, so Fred and Alex give me the key to the room they were staying in before we got there. I go back into the hotel, the hall opens up onto a beautiful courtyard, there's a young man sweeping the path that meanders under some trees, the sun is shining and sparkling through them. I don't see much of the room, but the bathroom's ok except for the mass of mosquitoes that seem to have congregated there. It's the most of them I will see all week. Mosquitoes gross me out anyway, but watching them all buzz around me as I go to the bathroom gives me the creeps. I smack as many as I can for good measure and hope that my DEET is still potent from this morning. I go back to the sitting room and we sit...and wait...and sit some more...I'm not at all sure what we're waiting for, but we sure are waiting a long time. Eventually I "get comfy" if you can call it that on one of the wooden couches, leaning over to rest on my backpack, and totally pass out. Sometime later--an hour maybe--someone shakes me awake (thank God, what if they'd forgotten me and I wake up all alone? What the heck would I have done then???) because we're finally leaving. I sit up and my right side seems to be permanently bent over to the side from my awkward nap and I've drooled all over my backpack. Nice. I ignore my abdominal muscles and force myself to straighten out and head out to the bus. It's warm and humid and sunny, there are pretty flowers on bushes all around the hotel complex. Now we're really finally on our way to our final destination, but just WHEN will we get there?