Last six days on the road, little phone signal and
inaccessible internet.


Jinja

Got off the truck, mixed feelings again, nice to have had some company
and things taken care of as a group. Would love to do Africa for much
longer. Should I stay now for as long as needed? Feels such a hassle
as I would need to reschedule yet again. If lucky I would come back. I
feel withdrawn at dinner, already moving on? Dinner served by the
restaurant is poor (at least my choice anyway). I organize some of my
stuff in the truck so as not to be rushed in the morning. This is one
of the first days we are not up for 5 oclock departure.

First night in the tent with my tour people, helped out packing the
tents up for a few guys, had breakfast, exchanged emails and took my
stuff off the truck. Got a permanent tent $25 per night, about 3x3
meters, electric light, two beds (very comfortable) towels, wow such
luxury!. Could have stayed in dorm for a fraction of the price but
need my own space and some decent sleep after being on the truck for
about 6 days non stop with rough campsites, cold showers and 7-9
people around most of the time. I guess being on tour with people
doesn’t really work for me specially as I have seen so little of the
local people and culture, we watch and photograph them as we pass by.

Uganda is lush, children scream with upper teeth grinning and wave
everywhere we pass, joyous. This seems to change once they are a
little older, same with adults who just stare. Uganda has lots of
water, people and lush countryside. People just come up and say hello
and most “how are you”, but unlike Egypt, that’s all they mean.

The campsite I am staying at overlooks a section of the Nile, the
scenery is picture-post card, a heaven for kayaking and white water
rafting, I cant be bothered, to tired, just need to regroup myself.
The section of the tour that I did was unusually long on the road as
we needed to get to the Gorillas.

Really good  2nd nights sleep following walk in the dark outside the
camp, beer and pool game.

Pool game

Had dinner at a very dark shack, one solitary candle on torn checkered
plastic table tops, lighting a 3x4 meter space, a second candle is
brought in to be shared amongst the 4 people in there. I ask the lady
serving us for a bar (tired of being cooped up in tourist infested
campsite with European overpriced food and beer), not sure how well
she understands me. A guy appears with the understanding that I want
Ganja. He points me in the direction of a bar once the
misunderstanding is cleared.
The bar is another dimly lit shack, Richard gives me a beer and we
chat, he has had the place 6 months. Outside the main room is a
covered space with a pool table being avidly watched. The table is
very old and slopes on one side. There are lots of flies wizzing
around the slanting florescent bulb and in throws of dying on the
table, pool balls speeding past or over them regardless. The scene is
amazing and real, not sure how I would walk back into the campsite
after this, with its blaring music, young tourists posing for one
another and getting drunk. Later on I get a game and realize I am
walking on dried uneven mud as the floor of the pool hall. I am being
watched by more than 25 pairs of eyes belonging to mostly kids
pre-teens or early teens, advice and chuckles are readily available
specially as I pretend to play air guitar with my cue stick in between
my shots. Some how I win.

Couple of beers later and following Richard showing me photos of a
piece of land for sale (he is multi skilled) we discuss possibility of
hiring a motor bike and possible guide for tomorrow. He makes various
phone calls and we are due to meet in the morning.
I grab a Chaparti for 1000 UGS ($.50) consisting of an omelette
wrapped in a naan bread and get a bottle of water and eat it on the
veranda of the campsite, while a couple are submission wrestling on
the floor of the bar!.
On my way to brush my teeth I am faced with thousands of sea-flies
swarming around all the lights outside and inside the toilet area, got
to rush through them. Early in the morning when I have another visit,
all the windows, basins and floors are covered with their short lived
dead bodies.


I wash my jeans in the showers last night, they wont be dry by the
morning specially with the usual nocturnal rainfall. The floor of the
shower/toilet area is stone tiled in brown which is good at hiding the
amount of clay dragged into the place.

Empty plastic water bottle comes handy in the tent later on. I am
lucky to have changed tent, the first one I was given was the furthest
from the facilities. There are 4 rows of tents along these terraces
going down the hill, now I am on the first terrace and not the fourth.

Its raining in the night, the ride is going to be bad with all the
slippery clay mud, not too keen. I have a good rest and head to see
Richard about 11. The bike is big red trail bike, wheels already caked
in mud, he offers to go and get a helmet and as I look at the bike the
condition is appalling, no front break and the rest of it is not much
better, he assures me that the rear break is good, not good enough.
There goes the B of the Bolts acronym you check before you get on a
bike, so I decline the offer completely.

I settle for a brunch of samosas at a local shack, 4 veggie (beans of
course) samosas and a very sugary milky tea sets me back 900UGS and
head back to camp. Internet is deadly slow and cant load up anything
onto my travel l log, have already lost an email too.