Gone Girl

Arusha Day 1:

So I didn't get great pictures today because they were all mostly while riding in the dala dala. But I tried:

Leaving Kilimanjaro airport

New cider we found! Pretty delicious :)

A view from a mosquito net:

Dala dalas: (400 TZS from the hostel to town, about $.25)

The dala dala conductors stick their heads or whole bodies out of the car while driving to call the name of their destination out and announce that they're taking passengers

Two girls holding hands on the way home from school

Just a picture from the dala dala up the street

The road on which our hostel is located:

The front of the hostel:

Our room:

Shower and bathroom (none of the doors close all the way)

Lucy making dinner in the kitchen:

We made it to Arusha, Tanzania yesterday afternoon. The Kilimanjaro Airport is situated in what seems like the middle of nowhere, but beautiful mountains surround and the landscape in Tanzania is lush and green. We took a car for a little over an hour to the Greenhouse Hostel, which is part of a non-profit here called Green Living Planet. The hostel is quite small but the people are very nice and extremely helpful. And they provide breakfast, lunch and dinner which is kind of amazing. Tavia and I are sharing a dorm room with two other girls that has two bunk beds. There are about 9 people staying at the hostel currently, I believe. The rooms are nice, although I was woken up periodically throughout the night by a Muslim call to prayer, which sounds like it's located directly outside my window.

Right now we're sitting in a coffee shop in town, trying to get the wifi to cooperate. We're figuring out the subtle differences between Uganda and Tanzania. The currency is still shillings here, but Tanzanian shillings rather than Ugandan. The motorcycles like boda bodas are called piki pikis here, and there are public taxis called dala dalas. We took one to get here this morning, and it can get quite crowded. We're thinking of spending the day in town here at the coffee shop (if the wifi improves) and running to the supermarket before returning back to the hostel. Tomorrow we have a day Safari with Tanzanian Experience in Arusha National Park. The park is said to have most of the animals I want to see (giraffes, elephants, hippos) but no lions. I definitely wanted to see some lions, but I'm sure my mother will be quite relieved to hear this news. The next day we are looking into taking another day adventure- apparently there are some waterfalls and green forest areas that we can explore. We haven't quite figured it out yet. Then we fly to Zanzibar on the 18th. Our flight out of Kilimanjaro keeps getting pushed back, and we now leave at 9:00pm. I am hopeful that the time won't change again, but TIA. If there's one thing I've learned about traveling Africa it's that you have to be patient and flexible and not have too many expectations.

I'll try to post some pictures soon- wifi permitting. I'm hoping to take lots of pictures in the park tomorrow! But I may only take them on my Nikon, which means I won't be able to post them here. But we'll see.

Oh! They speak Swahili here, which is fun to hear and learn!

Jambo: Hello/hi

Asante: Thank you

Asante sana: Thank you very much

Sawa: Okay

Shusha: Stop (when you're on the dala dala)

Ndiyo: Yes

Hapana: No

Hujambo: How are you?

And we're still called muzungus here. I thought we'd get away from it, but alas!

Goodbye Kampala

Here's a good trick we learned tonight: when you're stuck in a traffic jam- literally bumper to bumper, cars on every side of you- someone will come up behind the driver's side door and pound on the car. This of course causes the people in the car to jump and turn around to look, at which point someone else can open the door or slip a hand through a window on the opposite side of the car and grab a bag of a purse. Luckily, about one minute before this happened to us, a nice man in the car next to us warned that this was about to happen and we had time to lock our doors and roll up the windows. Neat trick, huh?

I'm having mixed feelings about leaving Uganda tomorrow. I am simultaneously feeling that I've only just gotten here and that I've been here forever. I've met some wonderful people here and seen and experienced things I will never forget and that will shape my perspectives and my worldview from now on. And it's funny too that things that so fascinated and surprised me now seem commonplace. Like seeing people walking down the street with rifles. Or driving in the crazy traffic on Boda bodas, weaving in and out of what seem impossible spaces to pass through. Seeing all the things people are trying to sell on the side of the road- flip flops, coffee mugs, car mats, fruits and vegetables, furniture, Tupperware, clothing, maps, phone accessories, meat from the butcher... You name it, you can probably find it on the side of the road somewhere in Kampala. Or even things like the concept of time, and patience, and flexibility. Time runs differently in Africa and you just have to go with it or be perpetually punctual but frustrated. And then there's the stark contrast between the rich and the poor. It is never more clear than it is here in Kampala. You can travel from the slums to the malls and the fancy restaurants in a matter of minutes. You can see children wearing rags, or nothing at all, and walk down the road and see private boarding schools and shops with new clothes and shoes, toys and games..

I have so much processing to do about this experience and the things I've seen, and I don't think I'll be able to fully start that decompression until I get back home. And I don't know what that will even look like yet. But I hope I'm able to fully comprehend what this experience has meant to me, how it has changed me, and what actions I will now take in my life because of it.

Final pics in Kampala

Sunsets in Kampala

Tofu and kimchi at a Korean restaurant

Tav enjoying the afternoon

Boda selfie

Just a view of one of the streets from the car

Some local food

Ugandan whiskey

African rugby tournament- it was so hot that day!!

We take off tomorrow morning for Tanzania!!

July 7th

Still hanging out in Kampala. Yesterday we went to a hotel to hang out and use the wifi. We went with Tuspa who, according to Martina, may be the craziest driver in Kampala. And that is saying something! At one point an ambulance managed to sneak through the insane bumper to bumper traffic and Tuspa followed- right on its tail to get through the traffic jam. At one point we actually side-swiped another car, but this is Kampala- you can't stop for things like that. While we were driving Tuspa (Tuspa is Pam the peanut butter gal I wrote about in an earlier blog, by the way- so sweet and just wants everyone to enjoy themselves) was telling us about how she was in a Boda accident a few weeks ago, and that one of her friends was killed on a Boda last week. Apparently he had a five day old newborn as well. And the other day as we driving down the road we saw a man, facedown in the middle of the street. Our driver told us this wasn't unusual. We weren't sure if he was alive or not. The fact that these road accidents are so commonplace here but little is done to regulate the roads further speaks to the lack of infrastructure here in Uganda. In Rwanda there were lanes and traffic lights, and Boda Boda drivers were required to wear helmets as well as provide them for their passengers. As much as Kampala is growing on me, I'll be glad to leave these roads behind me. And as much fun as riding on the back of a Boda can be, I'm certainly not feeling inclined to jump on one again unless we steer clear of the main roads. Luckily, Martina and Tuspa both have cars, and there's always public transport.

Today I'm just hanging out at the house reading, and tomorrow we are hoping to go to a rugby match. The hotel we went to yesterday had about 50 rugby players staying there (which was apparent by all the extremely large men in extremely short shorts), and we found out that there is an international tournament going on for some of the B teams (I think is what they called themselves) in Africa. We were invited to go watch Uganda and another team play tomorrow, which I think will be really fun and a nice change of pace.

And speaking of, Tavia and I gave in to an absolute luxury yesterday and took our clothes to the dry cleaners. With a little over three weeks left in our travel, and absolutely no clean clothes, we decided now would be a good time to splurge .

One week left in Kampala and then we head off for our next adventure in Arusha!

A few pics from Kampala

They ran out of breakfast food at Entusi, so we had popcorn and Nutella:

View from the Kampala house. It's difficult to give a sense of just how big Kampala is. It goes on and on and on.

Boda Boda driver. Last night Tavia and I went on our first Boda. It was crazy and exhilarating.

The craft market.

A glimpse of downtown. I didn't take many photos because I was worried my phone would be taken, but there are just people everywhere you look!

4th of July:

Tavia and Victor toasting the 4th of July at a restaurant called Cassia. It was super delicious.

July 2nd

The last few days have been extremely difficult for a number of reasons. First, our family dog, Diego, passed away a few days ago. They think he had a stroke and just became too sick to recover. I do take solace in the fact that he lived such an amazing long life and that people who loved him were with him when he went. I wish I could have been there, too, and that part is difficult. That has cast a pretty dark cloud over the last few days for me here and for my family back home, as well. It's not an easy thing. And that's all I can say about that.

As far as the trip goes, things have been a little crazy. I became pretty ill about a week ago. I started coughing up blood and my chest began to hurt and I feared that my pneumonia was returning. To prevent it from becoming worse, I went to the Kabale Hospital and met with Catherine and Jacqueline. Catherine wanted to do some tests (which they call "investigations") and I was sent for blood work and an x-ray. We saw a lot about how the health care system works, first-hand. First, as a patient, everything is on your own. You have to figure out where to go and how to get there- and everything is in a separate buildings. First we determined that you have to pay for your services and get a receipt before you receive your services. The x-ray and CBC blood work together was about 15,000UGX which is roughly $5. Can you imagine? Anyway, we set off to find x-ray, which we did but they told us to come back. So we went to get blood work done. That is in a small lab in the pediatric ward (I have no idea why it is located there) and they take your blood and run all the labs right in that same room. Tavia had to ask them to use a different needle because the one the lab tech was about to use had been sitting open on the table. So we watched her open a fresh packet. After the lab we headed back to x-ray and they got me right in, surprisingly. I walked in and she told me to remove my shirt and everything I was wearing on the top half of my body. Just standing in the middle of this room, no gown or anything of course. I tried to remember that in African culture, women often are exposed in this way for breastfeeding, and that it is our American culture which places such shame and discomfort on women being topless. Besides the fact that I was in a medical facility. So we did the x-ray and she told me to wait. Waiting occurs outside on the lawn, and there was already a huge crowd. We sat down and waited with everyone else. Many people appeared to have broken bones or sprains. We waited for about 20 minutes and I was called to get my x-ray. I'm quite sure that being a muzungu sped along this process as most people were still waiting. We picked up my blood results and went back to Catherine. The rest of the afternoon was mostly spent in the waiting room. Eventually, Catherine and Jacqueline set up a treatment room for me and got some IV antibiotics going for what they told me looked like pneumonia. Catherine told me the lymph nodes in my lungs looked enlarged, and she assumed it was from the damp and cold at the lake.They put the IV in on the back of my hand in a vein I've never had an IV in before. And it definitely hurt. The IV itself was much longer than any I've had and extended at least 3 inches into my vein. So we waited. They told us the IV would take about an hour, but TIA (this is Africa) and it took closer to 4. I was feeling anxious because I wanted to get back to Entusi and just rest. They also gave me some Tramadol for the pain so I was pretty loopy and exhausted. Hannington came in to check on me (he stayed with us at the hospital) and asked when we would be done. The mental health facilitator party was going on back at Entusi and everyone was waiting for us. Beyond that, a woman from a village across the lake had given birth at the hospital over night, and Hannington wanted to know if we could bring her, her mother, baby, and brand new infant back to their village when we were done, as they didn't have transport and we were already paying for a car. So then I felt more anxious that this woman who had literally just given birth was sitting outside of the hospital waiting for us. But I couldn't make the IV go any faster, so we just waited. Hannington brought in some mangoes, avocados and pineapple from a vendor traveling around the hospital, so Tavia and I got a little bit of a snack. Eventually, the IV finished and Catherine told me she wanted me to have another round. I told her I was not able to stay for 4 more hours because of transportation issues- not only did we have a car waiting with other people waiting to leave, but the boat was also waiting at the dock. So she left the IV in my hand, disconnected me from the bag and asked if Tavia could set me up with an IV back at Entusi. It seemed simple enough (although to be fair I was not capable of paying attention at this point). So we took the IV and some additional antibiotics and loaded in a car. Imagine this: a small honda civic with grandma and infant baby and driver in the front seat, mom with newborn, Hannington, Tavia and me with an IV sticking out of my hand in the backseat. Bouncing around on unpaved, twisting roads down to the lake. We got down to the dock and all loaded on the boat. I don't remember too much of this trip at all. Eventually we got back to Entusi where party was in full swing and dinner was being served. I went straight to bed. Tavia tried to hook me up to the IV, but somehow the drip became completely filled with antibiotic and so there was no way to regulate the flow. I decided to forgo sticking the IV back in my hand and we pulled it out. I don't think either of us realized how long this IV tube went into my skin until we pulled it out. I've never seen anything like it. Anyway, I rested the next day and the day after, Tavia, Emily and I drove to Kampala. We already had transport secured, and quite honestly I was ready to leave the lake. We got here yesterday, and today I am just resting at the house, taking it easy and reading. It's been a whirlwind few days. My cough has definitely improved and I think I'm on the mend. And no one else appears to have had any symptoms or problems, so that's good.

But the experience of being in the hospital was certainly eye-opening. And I had it easy! I had connections with the doctor in the private wing, and I'm a muzungu and those two factors certainly made my experience quicker and easier. I can't imagine trying to navigate that system alone, or if I had been sicker, or if I didn't have money or a connection to a doctor there. Many of those people likely waited all day, and many more were probably never seen. And still more are out in the villages surrounding the lake with no way to reach help or see a doctor. The car that we paid for cost 50,000UGX, about $17 and we had a free boat because of Entusi. Typically a public boat would be at least 3,000UGX. It's no wonder people can't get the help they need.

We are now back at the GLI house in Kampala until July 14th. I don't know what the next two weeks will hold, but I am certainly hoping it will be low-key. There's a group of high school students here doing a trip (they're all super nice) but beds are a little short at the moment. I'm hoping to be able to unpack a bit at some point, but I don't know when that will be. I'm really ready for Tavia and I to start our independent travel. But I'm trying to continue soaking up every day as much as possible.