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    Waterfalls and a Border

    3. März 2016 in Kenia ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    As cute as our little banda was, we realised the spider population greatly out numbered us, about 200 to 2. No mosquito nets because according to our friend Tom, there are no mosquitos in Sipi. So we took the one bunk bed in the room and set up our hammock tent over the bottom bunk acting as a net. Perfect! Not too spacious, but considering we weren't hanging in the hammock, but laying against the bed, it was so much more spacious then our last night in the tent. We just needed to cuddle a little, darn.

    Up bright and early for our hike that should have started for 7am. We had our complimentary tea and bananas. Then waited. 730am off we go! Tom had woken late. No biggy. Grab a Rolex for the road and we walk. What was said to be 3-4 hours turned out to be a 2.5 hour, beautiful walk to 3 different waterfalls. We walked through crops and gardens. We got to walk up to the second waterfall which blessed us with its splashes, refreshing us for the second half of the walk. Even though it really wasn't that warm yet at 9am... There was a little cave behind it where Tom said he sometimes does picnics or camping with a fire. Sounds wonderful.

    We were back from our walk around 1020am ish... An easy stroll, not so much a hike. Grabbed our bags and by the time we were back on the main road Tom had stopped a pickup truck filled with plantains and Ugandans to take us to the border! So far, Tom has been really welcoming, nice guy, negotiated the price of the hike a little for us, made sure his staff at the camp site were taking good care of us... Great! They lit a fire under the water tank to give us a warm shower, tea was ready for us right on time in the morning... He was getting a great review on TripAdvisor! That is until he told us, and told the truck driver, it was 20,000USh each for the ride to the border. Now Jack and I have been here for a bit, we're not the easiest to rip off... That's a ton of money considering it cost us 14,000USh total for both of us to get to Sipi the day before... So I quickly pointed out that it was expensive, but at this point we're already comfortably sitting on our respective metal bars, so we left it at that. Along the way, a fellow passenger confirmed it was 10,000USh each, not 20, half the price. Oh Tom, you were doing so good!

    One person had said the ride was 3 hours, the people on the truck said it was 4 hours, so 5 hours later we reach the border! The first hour I was sitting on the side bars of the truck, holding on to keep me from rocking backwards off the truck. That was a tough hour, especially considering the ridiculously deep pot holes along this wonderful red dirt road. Wind blowing strong, so I wasn't too hot. I could feel my skin burning by the second but not much I can do about it when sitting on bags of plantain; except of course hoping the layer of sand on my skin would eventually be thick enough to act as a screen from the sun. Jack was better prepared, she had her Buff and sarong handy to cover up from the sand and sun. I eventually got a seat off the bars and onto the produce which was a little vacation for my bum. The scenery was gorgeous along the way. I actually preferred my 5 hour uncomfortable truck ride to my short yet terrible minibus ride from the day before.

    Arriving at the border, the "conductor" (yes, there was a guy in charge of taking the money from the passengers that got on and off the truck along the way) offered to have us follow him to the border, he said he could direct us. But Jack and I have these walking borders down tight now, so we handed the 20,000 total and walked away. He of course complained, seemed angry, to which we decided to pretend there was a misunderstanding and we thought Tom said 20,000 total. We obviously pointed out that everyone else was paying that price, so while he kept complaining we walked away. It's interesting how when we pay the same price as everyone else, they act and look like we just screwed them out of money when really they were the ones attempting to do the same to us. I guess we're not all equal after all.

    Crossing the border was, as usual, uneventful yet hilarious. We walked up the road, which was eventually "blocked" by a hanging chain. To the right of the chain was a sign telling us to report our departure with immigration. We went to get our exit stamps. Walked maybe 3 minutes on the other side of this high security chain, and got to the Kenyan immigration office. Along the way was one guard who barely looked at us. At least at the other borders someone looked in our bags. This guy barely set eyes on us. The border is called Suam River due to, yes, the river it crosses. There were children swimming along this river, so I wondered, Ugandans or Kenyans? The immigration officer was reading his newspaper when we arrived for our stamp. He had to stand from his chair on the deck outside to come in for our finger prints and picture. And that's it! The hardest part was counting how many days we had spent in Uganda since we had broken it up with Rwanda...

    1.5 hours on a matatu and we're in Kitale. The road was dirt for half of it, and the mini, mini towns along the way were made of wooden structures. Not plaster and cement like most town centres in Uganda. The kids and some adults had more torn and dirtier clothing... Within just our first hour and a half we had the sense Kenya was poorer... We had to keep in mind, we're in the North, where probably not too many resources reach since most larger cities, and therefore tourists, stay more south.

    For the sake of staying positive, I won't go too much into details about Kitale. To be fully honest, at this very minute that I'm writing this blog, I want to go back to Uganda. So far, the people aren't as warm, they're a little rougher, the boda drivers line the streets ALL of them yelling different things at us, the English is a little worse... And usually the language isn't an issue, I wouldn't judge a country or it's people with their amount of spoken English. But here, we've had people try to answer our questions or "helps us" (get business from us) yet leading us so far in the wrong direction because of their English... We spent 2 hours NOT organizing a hike for Jack, we've had multiple menu items be "not available", then available, then something different is served, we waited 25 minutes for a Wi-Fi password that never got checked, then 45 minutes waiting at a bank for nothing really since the ticket number wasn't getting called...

    Sorry! I said positive! I actually like the town. It's got tons of little markets. Clothing lining the streets. Fruits everywhere. Large supermarkets where I can find all the ice-cream that I want... There's a busy downtown and calmer surroundings. It's cool. And I have to keep reminding myself that this was just a rough start to what could be a great country. Fresh start tomorrow. I'll have plenty of time to "reset" in our 8.5 hour long bus ride up to Lake Turkana. That is if the bus leaves at 10am... The man selling the bus tickets assures me the bus will leave on time, even though we bought the tickets at 2pm when their 10am bus was currently leaving... And he asked for our cellphone number to "let us know when the bus is ready tomorrow"... Yet guarantees it will leave at 10am and didn't understand why he shouldn't need our phone number if the bus was to actually leave on time... Wish me luck. No, wish me patience!    Weiterlesen

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    Top Minibus ride

    1. März 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ☁️ -4 °C

    We've been taking minibuses (aka matatus or taxibus) mostly since we've arrived, as the locals do. Often when we ask our hotel or other travellers how to get places, they'll tell us the voyager or big bus options, which are often more expensive, and/or mostly taken by foreigners or higher class locals. We like the personal approach and challenge to minibuses.

    Today was a decision I think both Jack and I wished we could take back. We were instructed by our hostel on where to go for the big buses going to Mbale, but we chose to go to the taxi park where the minibuses leave from. I was in the back row against the window, with the usual 3 people to my right (4 per row), for which I thought I scored since they were small girls. Jack, the row in front of me, also had a small (maybe 10 years old) girl to her left. All good so far.

    It's should be a 2 hour bus ride, but I never checked the time, so who knows. About 10 minutes in, the 10 year old starts puking. At first in a handkerchief. Then someone gave her a bag. This was on and off throughout. Maybe an hour in Jack notices her thigh is wet. Unknown origins. Every once in a while, as we hit speed bumps or the breaks, there's a chicken, half of its body tied inside a plastic bag, the other half fighting to get out, which comes from underneath my seat to rub up against my leg. I got scared everytime, kicked my legs up everytime, only to get a dirty look from the women in front of me who's seat I'm kicking. The little girl in the middle of her two sisters to my right then pukes all over herself. That was a lot of fun since she was just eating a muffin and drinking an orange fizzy drink. My nursing friends won't mind reading this next part, but for the rest of you, if you've got a weaker stomach, skip ahead. Someone gave her a bag and she proceeded to wipe the puke bits off of herself and push them onto the ground using this bag as a glove. She then left the bag on the ground. So I supplied her a new bag that she can hopefully aim for next time. We eventually dropped off the lady that was sitting next to Jack's puker. As she got off, I noticed her bum area of her dress had a wet ring around it. And to further clarify what we were dealing with, I got an unmistakable whiff of urine. Remember, Jack has a wet thigh. I won't lie, I laughed a little on the inside. Few minutes later, we drop off Jack's puker and she's also wet, leaving behind a wet seat.

    As much as I'd like to say this is entirely out of the norm, it's not really. We've witnessed plenty of people being sick in buses. Sometimes in bags. Sometimes on the ground. People tend to ignore it. We were once behind a baby that projectile vomited against the seat, the window, the works. When they got off, people sat in that seat, no problem. And I've actually seen the peeing before also! I swear! I just can't remember where. The wet seat, the person looking awkward... I've seen it! I remember it being a long bus ride. But today! 2, maybe 3 hour bus ride, max! How bad can you have to go...

    Anywho, that's my input for today. To end on a good note, we made it to Sipi Falls. Found a place to stay where they gave us this cute little straw, round "bandas". We've got our hike for the morning booked nice and early so we can make it across to Kenya by tomorrow evening. Wait until you see the views!    Weiterlesen

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    Rafting!

    1. März 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    I guess 140$ goes a long way here... At least considering prices elsewhere. Confirmed via email the day before, Nile River explorers picked us up at our hotel, brought to their rafting headquarters/hostel in Jinja, fed us breakfast after a briefing (I asked for a second breakfast and got it!), followed by 3.5ish amazing hours on the river, a snack along the way, and a BBQ to end it all with free unlimited drinks. Yep, free beer. That never happens here. Usually they know it's their opportunity to make money so they charge even more then regular price because you're isolated. But here, free! We even arranged for our night in their dorm to be free! They used to do it but stopped in July last year apparently. But because we "asked nicely" according to our emails, we got a night for free!

    Their camp side hostel is absolutely beautiful. Restaurant and deck overlooking the river from on top on the hill, outdoor themed showers, there's a slide and zipline at the water... Just beautiful. Complete with a view of monkeys.

    The rafting was great! 8 grade 3-5 rapids, we fell out once and the boat flipped once... Good times! Bright sunny day, of course our legs got burnt despite sunscreen... They aren't used to being exposed! There was a lot of "dead" river between the rapids, so lots of rowing... Arms kind of tired... My workout of the week! Working out is easy when you just think back on your week!

    This morning we're off to our last stop in Uganda... I'm sad to leave but I feel quite satisfied with our time here. I feel I have a good idea of what Uganda is, and who Ugandans are... Almost time to move on.    Weiterlesen

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    Museums 101

    28. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    Apparently Jack needs more sleep then I do! We've been going to sleep at the same time, yet every morning I wake up around 7-730am and she's still sounds asleep. Around 8am I usually end up waking her to start our day. She made the request last night to sleep in today so I obliged. She finally got out of bed around 910am when I told I was going to breakfast (free with our hotel) without her. We took our time, read the news, brushed up on some Facebook time... By the time we actually stepped out of the hotel, it was 11am. Talk about a lazy morning. But after 2 months of travelling (there's a big difference between vacation and travelling), it feels nice and relaxing.

    We decided to walk to the National Museum of Uganda today, taking an hour to do so. By the time we arrived, 12pm, hot and sweaty, we did lunch instead. Lol. Lazy day. We went to a more "white people" filled place for lunch, a coffee shop with again - great coffees and fresh salads. Being in a big city allows you to treat yourself to the more westerner luxuries. Latte! I'm surprised at the limited amount of tourist we have come across in Uganda. Yet this coffee shop was probably half white, half black, the most whites I've seen yet. There were about 5 white folks at the movies yesterday and both Jack and I felt surrounded by them. We are so used to being the only white folk around, this shows how much expats and NGO workers only stay in the capital. It's quite nice to feel like we're surrounded by the people we are here to get to know, and that's the feeling you get in the rest of Uganda. Kampala is so big, so busy, there's no in between city. It makes everything else we've seen so rural and so real.

    Back to the museum we go. It's absolutely hilarious. This is the order in which things were presented : an old Ford car, next to a manually pulled 2-wheeled cart, then presentation of wood from different types of forests in Uganda, then medicinal plants, then the new petrol and oil digging going on in Uganda, expected to start expecting oil in the next few years, then a presentation on malaria with a really interesting "severe malaria algorythm" for us nurses, then of course - Ugandan participation in Olympics. Yep, that's that for the first section. Posters on the ground leaning against the wall, boards covered by furniture pilled in front, dust everywhere... And this is their biggest museum. And of course Justin Bieber's "Sorry" playing on repeat. That songs has been EVERYWHERE.

    There were 2 other sections slightly better presented, showing your typical archaeological findings, tribal history and traditions. Outside was a "cultural village" with representations of huts according to different geographical areas. If anything, this museum has been a good laugh. We spent almost 2 hours here, knowing that we needed to stay around this area all day.

    Since we got out just before 4pm, and we wanted to see a show (diner and theatre of sorts) in this area of town, we now have 2 hours to waste... Beer! Beer garden with micro brewery short walk away it is. They give you a shot glass of their different brews to taste. Unfortunate thing is, most of the beer is quite bland in Uganda, and this was no exception. They all tasted similar or bad. Lol. But ah well, the place looks nice.

    Finally time to make our way to Ndere Centre, a cultural dance show and food! After a little price negotiation (we thought food was included, it wasn't, so we paid the local price which was almost half off!), we got to sit back and enjoy an absolutely incredible show! To think we almost missed it because of the price... There were at points maybe 30 people on stage, either dancing or playing an instrument, with a pretty funny host telling which region they were representing. They even did an Intore dance from the people of Rwanda, a dance Jack was so disappointed we didn't get to witness in Rwanda. It was absolutely fantastic. I also enjoy the idea of paying a dance group to do a representation of their traditional dances and music instead of paying a tour guide to bring me to a village where they mascarade around as if they still live in the days where these costumes were worn. Much less of a "human safari" as they're called around here. It was fantastic and we loved it.    Weiterlesen

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    More of Kampala

    28. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We've been taking it easy in this big ol' capital. We walked over to a place called 1000 cups of coffee yesterday since both Jack and I have been itching for a good latte. So, so rewarding. Along the way was a little craft village with all your typical and repetitive tourist aimed crafts like wooden giraffes, drums and bags. We've decided to keep our shopping for our last stop - Nairobi. Thats hoping we'll find what we want there... You find yourself weighing the pros and cons of having to carry things for another month or not finding them again later.

    Visiting the Mengo Palace and Bulange Royal building gave us a good bit of new knowledge of Ugandan history and their attachement to their tribal history. The monarchs reign over social and cultural issues here, and are incredibly respected by the people. As our guide from yesterday put it, in newspapers here you will find many caricatures of the president, mocking him, but you will never find anyone saying something negative or mocking the kings in Uganda. The Buganda King, based in Kampala, has the largest Kingdom, was given the crown at 16 years old. It is passed on to the son of the Royal families chosing, and can not be given to the first son, unlike your usual royal line.

    Each Ugandan identifies to a tribe and a clan. The clans are all represented by animals or insects and such. It's interesting to hear them introduce themselves - I'm from the Buganda tribe, and the elephant clan. To this day, even the youth, are proud of their clans and follow the tradition (mostly) of never marrying someone from your clan, yet marrying within your tribe. They ask about Canadian clans and tribes. It's hard to justify that I know so little about our First Nations that I can't really contribute to that conversation.

    The visit at Mengo Palace also led us to this old underground torture chamber used by Idi Amin during his time as general commander. They say in the 6 years he used it, over 15000 people were killed here, mostly by the use of electricity run through the body of water kept along the corridor... It was marking.

    We made our afternoon into an art gallery one, quite like in Kigali. Free art galleries, why not. Again, having the money and space for these things, my apartment would look so eclectic and wonderful...

    Topped the night off with a movie - DeadPool! I was so excited! I've been talking about seeing a movie for a while, it's a way of letting go and really relaxing. My mind, which never usually stops working throughout that day, can finally stop and enjoy the movie. I laughed the entire time, loved it. I was probably in an extra good mood since I got to chat my sister thanks to the great Wi-Fi in the mall. It's was therapy of its own to get to hear her voice.

    Last day in Kampala before heading to Jinja for some River rafting... Wish me luck!

    FYI - I didn't elaborate yesterday, but the national mosque was beautiful! It had contributors from around the world, chandeliers from Egypt, carvings from Marrocco, stained glass from Italy... We even got to climb the minaret and had incredible views of the city. Only down side is the coverings they give - made me feel incredibly awkward to have to cover up into a hijjab and skirt... Like Halloween.    Weiterlesen

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    Finally the Capital

    27. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We made it to Kampala! Busy, tons of people, impossible to walk effectively Kampala!

    I'm a small town kind of gal when it comes to travelling. I like peaceful, simple places. Big cities are sometimes overwhelming. But there's a certain character in Kampala that really needs to be experienced first hand. The streets are lined with street vendors everywhere, and that's on top of the multiple markets. As much as I'd like to say you can find anything you need around every corner, most of these vendors just repeat themselves. Fruits, second hand clothing, snacks, and a bunch of handkerchiefs.

    There's people everywhere. Again, we haven't seen that many tourist though. Maybe that's because of the size of the city. Who knows. But the vendors will grab onto you, they'll use pitty tactics like buy from me, help me. You basically have to ignore everyone talking to you because responding to everyone would take too much time.

    Jack has an incredible sense of direction, so she managed to get us to the hotel and get us to a mosque and Hindu temple we wanted to see... It was impressive. Because of the size of the city, I'm afraid we will have to take boda-bodas to get from site to site. We're currently in a very central hotel, 6 floors up, broken elevator of course. According to lonely planet, it's the best deal you'll find in town. Whether or not that's true, who knows, but the location is fantastic. The fan wasn't working, and in this room you need a fan! So when we returned from our walk around 7pm they came to replace it. 10 minutes and we had a new fan. Then the TV, which is wall mounted, had no electrical plug around it. Whoever thought that through should be fired. So we asked for an extension cord and eventually got it, only to realize there's 2 channels - one with really boring news, mostly a list of statistics, and one with football highlights. Hm. Then the hot water never made its way up. Good thing the location is great... And there's Wi-Fi!    Weiterlesen

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    Perfect day

    25. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    What a day! Private driver, a 3 hour "game drive" as they call it, a 2.5 hour boat ride and an hour hike up the side of a powerful waterfall.

    We weren't thinking of doing a safari game drive in Uganda, but since the Murchison Falls NP entrance fees were 40$us, we decided to take advantage of a full day in the park. On this drive, we saw Jackson Heartbeats, waterbucks and a hippopotamus out of water - all in the first 10 minutes! The drive was absolutely beautiful, Savannah type landscapes, beautiful shining sun. By the end, we had seen waterbucks, African buffalo's, hippos, Jackson Heartbeats, elephants, Rothschild giraffes, Ugandan kobs (antilopes), warthogs (Gen! Pumba!) and a few gorgeous birds.

    As if that wasn't enough, we had a quick packed lunch and off we went on a boat tour along the Nile! 2.5 hours of wind blowing, cooling us down, drinks being served, and again all along the shores incredible animal watching! More hippos, one girafe, tons of elephants, birds and crocodiles! Beautifully sunny day. Incredibly warm.

    The boat stoped at a dock somewhat far from the falls themselves, but you could definitely appreciate their power and beauty! Jack and I were the only ones to get off as we planned to do the hike up to the falls, and the boat turned back around. Our hiking guide was waiting for us when we got there, arranged by our wonderful private driver Moses. The hike was super easy and it gave us a closer look at these falls. To be honest, they weren't very high, not the prettiest falls I've ever seen, but definitely powerful. I wouldn't want to fall in... Honestly the world's easiest walk, and I managed to fall. Yep, my first true reason to open my massive first aid kit! A bandaid and polysporin... Considering the size of my medical kit, it's kind of sad. I scraped my knee when my foot slid forward in a dry sandy downhill part. Honestly the lamest story ever. I'll be going with lion's bite from now on. This lion's bite was just deep enough to have people concerned about the bleeding, but just superficial enough to make me feel like an idiot. Meh.

    This is probably the most luxurious day we've had to this day, yet with our skills we are paying the same amount as advertised on a poster for a group of 8 people. We found a driver willing to take us for a good price. And by calculating all the fees along the way we paid the exact same amount as groups do, but we had a private driver doing exactly what we wanted... We want to stop for a photo, we ask. We want to go, we go. Easy.

    Fantastic day. Worth the pretty penny it cost. And now onto the capital! Kampala tomorrow should be quite the change of pace.    Weiterlesen

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    Sand Monsters

    24. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Murchinson Falls National Park, you have challenged us. After noticing that we weren't spending as much time in Fort Portal as we thought, we had extra days to work with for Uganda. We decided to go up north a little, outside your typical tourist trail, and see if we could get to the falls.

    A rocky minibus half way to Hoima and then a shared taxi the rest of the way was a warning sign for what was coming - challenges. We reached our record of 24 people in a minibus, going through unpaved red sand roads. The kinds where if a truck is passing in the opposite direction, you close all the windows and breath through your shirt as to not aspirate a ton of sand. The shared taxi broke the record - 10 people in a car that reminded me of my mom's old '85ish Honda accord. The last hour of that 2.5 hour car ride was one of the most painful things I've had to endure... And I have a decent amount of tattoos... My left buttock was screaming for blood that I could not provide...

    Hoima was... I don't know. It was dusty since all the roads were that red sand. Everytime any vehicle passed by, you took cover. We would have loved to shower since we felt like we were covered head to toe with either dry sand or mud, but we had made the decision not to find accommodation right away in the hopes to make our way to Masindi this same day. Turns out, the town really isn't that interesting. And carrying our backpacks in a dusty hot town made us a little low energy. Our highlight of the town was finally finding ice cream after searching for a bit. Ice cream has been a rare yet so, so welcomed treat.

    A little background on minibuses, or matatu's as they're called around here: it's a really old, yet rough an tough, 14 passenger minivan. There's the driver of course. There's also what they call a conductor. The conductor is the one yelling out the destination from the window, finding passengers, charging everyone while we're rolling and remembering where everyone is getting off. So as a client, you simply listen for the direction you're looking for, wave it down if you're on the street or approach it in a bus station. And you make space for yourself in the fullest one. I say fullest because it doesn't leave until it's satisfied with its number of customers. So you squeeze into the fullest, hoping it leaves soon.

    When we wanted to go to Masindi from Hoima, the conductor said his bus was full and pointed to the empty bus behind him. We counted and saw there were 3 people in the back which is usually 4 and no one was sitting on the conductor. Yes that's a legit seat. So we argued but they left us there, in an empty bus. We waited an hour and 10 minutes before leaving, finally full. The only positive there was that we got the front seats, which usually has a max of 2 plus the driver for visibility, which means you don't get piled on. We arrived in the dark, which I hate, but these things happen. Turns out litterally next door to where they dropped us, was a guest house offering "self contained" rooms (private washroom) with hot water for a reasonable price. I haven't had my own washroom with hot shower in a long time and considering the layer of sand we were dragging around, I was quite happy!

    Today we set out to find this map of a walking tour of Masindi, written by this volunteer group years ago. We had heard the sites weren't much to see, but the stories made it interesting. We were just looking for a good way to tour the town, so why not. The map took us to these really old schools, some still running, some abandoned, it took us by a hospital, an old European cemetery, a big fancy presidential Lodge and even a monument commemorating the first white guy to meet with the local King and to see Lake Albert in the 1800's. I really wanted to visit inside the hospital but felt a little awkward asking... The white nurse from Canada want to see how you do your work... Here, hospitals and schools aren't tall, no second stories, they are all individual buildings. One building, one class room. Or one building, one ward. There was a men's ward, female ward, children's ward, maternity and orthopaedics. It made for an interesting and different way of seeing the town as I'm sure we went places most white people never go... The people were smiling and friendly, a few welcomed and nice hellos from the locals.

    Mixed in with this fascinating walk was our attempt at planning to see the falls in the National Park. Uganda really isn't meant for independent travellers, at least not their parks. Just like in Kibale, they're clearly used to having people with their own drivers. There's no public transportation taking you to the park gates, and if you do make it there, there's no transportation inside the park, nor is there anything accessible without transportation. We looked into staying at a camp site inside the park, but their tours leave from Kampala, they don't offer transportation to their camp site, even though there's no other options, and they don't offer 1 day tours in the park... Every option of public transport or getting a ride was leading us no where. We had hoped to run into a group of fellow travellers going and to hitch a ride, but there's no other traveller that we've seen staying in this town, even though it's the closest to the park. They all leave from Kampala. So that left us with one option, and one option only, hiring a private driver. So for 330 000 shillings, we get someone picking us up at 630am, we get to the park entrance around 9am, do a game drive, then do the boat trip at 2pm, with a hike up the falls where he picks us up, and we return to town. This 330 000 includes the driver, the car, and the fuel. All other fees are on us, like the 40$ entrance to the park (crazy!), 32$ boat ride, 15$ hike... Ouch. This day will have coast around 130$US when all is said and done. And yes, it's the cheapest option. Obviously, we just grocery shopped at the market to pack a lunch. They won't get a single other penny from us! Lol.

    Tomorrow is the day we might see hippos, crocodiles, girafes, elephants... Pretty darn exciting! And we get to act like royals, private transportation. I feel like the rich!    Weiterlesen

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    Red beans and a pickup truck

    22. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Considering my excitement for the chimps themselves, I didn't elaborate on how this all came about. We knew that Kibale National Park was the place for chimp tracking. We also knew it was expensive. It's 150$ for the permit, entrance fee to the park, and they supply the guide. So kind of a package deal for chimp tracking. There's other parks in the country who offer "primate walks" for about 60-70$ on which you have roughly a 30% chance of seeing chimps. Jack and I discussed and decided I would be way too disappointed if I was to try another park and not see chimps, so we decided to bite the bullet and go big! A lot of tour companies offer something with the chimp tracking and crater lakes in a day, but those tours were 550$US for the two of us. One company did offer this crater lakes and chimp tour to us for 390$US, but that basically means you're paying 90$ for transportation there and around the lakes. We decided to do the crater lakes ourselves.

    We took a boda-boda (motorcycle taxi) out to where we thought we needed to go buy the tracking permit. This was at 630am, because since I'm a nervous wreck about making sure this happens and I'm convinced something will go wrong, I wanted to be at the park office as soon as it opened at 730am to reserve for the next morning. That's right, we were planning on doing the hike the next day, but I was determined to make it there before yesterday's group started, in case it was full today or something and I had to go another time. Who knows.

    The boda ride is an hour long in red dirt roads with speed bumps and potholes. We were covered, along with our bags, in a full layer of red dust once we arrived at the park's head office, only to be told the permits are sold at the headquarters, not the office, 10km back up the same road. I panicked. What if someone had woken up just as early and was at the right place just in time to buy out all the permits? Exhausted from the bike ride, we decided to go check in to our hotel before going back to the headquarters with this boda-boda.

    We chose the Primate Safari Lodge simply because it was the only lodge walking distance to the head office, which is where the chimp tracking walk starts from. It's actually right next door, but there isn't another option close enough to walk from. And of course, the idea of missing the hike simply because of ill planned transportation would make me cry.

    Turns out, the lodge was 14$US per PERSON to camp, not per tent like we thought. Picture this : super nice, fancy lodge, advertising private cottages with stone showers and hers and hers bathrobes, and a "full board" option or meals of 19$US each... EACH. That's more then our camp site price. And here we are, two girls hanging up a hammock tent under the not so well kept shelter because we don't have a rain cover. Granted, why would they upkeep their camp ground site, I don't think they've ever had campers... They didn't really know what to do with us. Of course we attempted to argue the price, but we weren't getting anywhere. So we made sure to get our 28 dollars' worth. Keep in mind - this is the most we've ever paid for a room in Uganda, and this wasn't a room! This was simply the permission to put our tent up. Getting back from our crater lakes walk yesterday, they let us use the empty room's shower. The cottage was gorgeous! I didn't want to leave. Part of me was angry we were sleeping two girls in one hammock when this cottage was going to be empty!

    Having seen the prices of the meals in the morning when we dropped our bags off, we knew groceries needed to be done. So after "checking into" our hotel (dropping our bags off in the office), our lovely boda-boda driver took us to the headquarters to buy our park permits which acted as reservations. The man must not have known about my anxiety, because we expressed what we want, 2 permits for tomorrow morning, and he looks down at his computer and starts typing... Something... And not saying anything... A good 5 minutes of torture later I break the silence and ask "is there still permits available? Are we good for tomorrow?" to which he replies ever so casually "oh yes yes, that's OK long time ago". Damn him! Making me sweat! So it's confirmed! I hike tomorrow! (well today).

    All that to say we managed to do it on our own! Insert blog from yesterday - we walked the lakes on our own. Then boda back to the Primate Lodge before dark to set up our luxurious accommodation for the night. I've never drank so many hot drinks in my life! Like I said, we wanted our 28 dollars worth... And hot drinks were included, buffet style. That night, I had a hot chocolate (my first since I've left) and 2 teas. Today, I had 2 coffees and 3 teas. Why not! We had bought a bunch of fruit and mini breads from the little towns along the lake, so we got them to supply us with bowls and cutlery to make a fruit salad. We bought Rolex from the town to have for diner (eggs rolled into chapati). We didn't order a thing from them for the 3 meals we were there, and I was never hungry! This wonderful American older couple took pitty on us I guess, they bought us lunch today! Never say no to free. They wanted to buy us each lunch, but the kitchen prepares the food ahead of time, so they only had the one plate, so we shared. Super appreciated.

    It was clear that the people who stay in this lodge have money. Most of them had their own guide following them in the country. Mostly an older crowd. I guess with the price of the permits, not very many backpackers do this... After our briefing at the park office, our chimp tracking guide goes "OK, everybody in your vehicles and we meet you at the trial". Jack and I look at her and respond "what vehicles?" so the lovely American couple who had their own guide for a week gave us a ride... Apparently tours are a big thing here... Lol.

    All that to say, we did it! We relaxed at the lodge after returning around 1130am (left at 8am), and hung up the hammock in the front lawn for Jack to read from. I don't think they've ever had guest quite like us, they didn't really know what to do with us... I asked to lay my clothes on a chair to dry, and they offered to put it in the dryer for me. I didn't think dryers existed here... We asked for a knife, they would bring a whole place setting. We made our way back to town today riding in the back of a pickup truck full of bags of red beans... Covered in dirt again on arrival. Jack was facing forward so had the outline of her sunglasses marked in dirt. Sexy.

    I get to sleep in a bed tonight. I don't have to calculate if my hip bone is digging into Jack's leg, or if I want to move my leg I have to ask Jack to roll over, or contemplating if it's really that important for me to have sensation and circulation in my right leg since I'll wake Jack up if I move... Two people in a hammock is not recommended... FYI.    Weiterlesen

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    It happened.

    22. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Yep. Amazing morning. I'm overwhelmed with random emotions that are kind of funny... All brought on because I've done something today I never thought I would... I saw chimpanzees! Lots of them! Like 20! For those who have known me for a while, I've been absolutely head over heels in love with chimps since my childhood, reading everything I can about them whenever I could. I remember I would rotate through renting out the chimp books at my primary school library over and over again...

    I was in a world of my own all morning. And now I'm emotional. It's making me wonder where did I go right in life? How did I deserve all this? I'm even getting as philosophical as going all the way back to how did I land such amazing parents? They gave me a sense of responsibility, they made sure we knew how important school was, and I made something of myself because of the values they taught me. I have an amazing job, great schooling, I'm incredibly happy in life, I have an amazing partner who encourages me to be confident and partake in making decisions... I've always been a follower and now I know I can make decisions and reach for goals of mine and be selfish sometimes... I say selfish because I just spent my morning running in front of the group of people on the hike to be the first one in line to see the chimps. Lol. Selfish because I asked Jack to carry everything including the camera so that I could be free to enjoy the experience.

    Yes, seeing chimps has made me rethink of my life and be incredibly proud of where I am. Best of all, and those who know me well will understand, I'm at a point in my life where I can actually say that I deserve all this. I deserve a good, supportive partner. I deserve to treat myself to these crazy adventures and expensive day trips. I worked for it. And I'm loving it.    Weiterlesen

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    It's tomorrow!

    21. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ 🌙 -5 °C

    Tomorrow, tomorrow! I had a great day today but it's tomorrow! You'll have to wait and see!

    Today we walked from 9am until 415pm around the crater lakes next to Kibale national park. There's about 10 lakes you can hike through. Jack had spotted a map that was pretty detailed, so of course we took pictures of it instead of buying it... Lol! So on my phone we managed to do a heck of a lot of ground on our own today, from lake to lake.

    The hike wasn't too challenging. For all the incline there was decline. Hot and sweaty by the end anyway. The views were absolutely incredible. The people all say hi. Some kids follow, some ask for money, but for the most part really friendly and simple people. We had a great satisfaction in being able to do it ourselves. So many people say you should take a guide everywhere, mostly so they can get paid. But with decent team work and confidence, we did it ourselves! Asking people for directions along the way was actually rare, and we were mostly right with our gut!

    We attempted to make our way to a waterfall but some guy showed up saying we had to pay 15000 each to go, with no signage anywhere saying so and no signage indicating that we were even on the correct route so we refused of course and made our way to the river that feeds the waterfall instead. We got to soak our feet and refresh ourselves from the super hot day. It was perfect! Until the crowd of children and teen boys around us got overwhelming... Asking for our mango, our orange our water, wanting my camera. Randomly laughing. They were brewing banana beer at the water so it was clear those teens were drunk and so so obnoxious.

    Drinking is an issue, especially in the rural towns... Every man we crossed at least smelled of alcohol. It was impressive. Old men, middle age men, walking crooked at 1pm and yelling random things to us... I'd walk into a shop and be followed super close by someone who reeks alcohol and doesn't understand a personal bubble... The only times I've ever felt more aware of my surroundings for safety purposes is with clearly drunk men. It's an issue. I guess when you have nothing else to do all day...

    Anywho, it's tomorrow! It's tomorrow!    Weiterlesen

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    A record!

    20. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ 🌙 -5 °C

    We hit a record! 24 people in a minibus that seats 14. Booya! I had my left cheek oh so uncomfortably sitting against the door and the right half on a seat, half in the air.

    The last couple days haven't been too much to write about... Elections day - the 18th - everything seemed closed. It continued on into Kasese where yesterday and this morning it seemed like nothing was open... We had difficulty finding a tour agency to help plan for Jack's hike on the Rwenzori mountains, which was our only true reason to stop in this town. Had ourselves a local diner while we watched the news about the elections with provisional results being reported.

    Sorry for the lack of excitement, not much has been going on. Still exploring everywhere, still enjoying the socialness of Ugandans. Made it to Fort Portal today for a better chance at finding a tour agency. Found out the pricing is absolutely ridiculous as usual... Uganda and Kenya, as we were warned, have very expensive package tours. Example - they were offering a combination package of a trek in the Kibale National Park and a lunch around the crater lakes. Their advertised price for the two of us was 550$US. As we continued to talk and made it clear we didn't have that kind of money, he offered it to us for 390$US. 160$ price drop in a heart beat, how much profit do they get!? You basically pay a ton of money for them to drive you around the different places that are accessible by local transport. It's basically just for convenience of being able to do it all in a shorter amount of time. Luckily for us, we have time! So we'll attempt this on our own.

    The most exciting part of Fort Portal is a restaurant called Duchesse. I had a club sandwich with fantastic homemade multi grain bread (they fry all their breads here so everything is so greasy!). Jack had herself an open faced sandwich with grilled eggplant, cheese and pesto. Fresh, non greasy foods are so so welcomed at this point. Who would have thought, I, the Queen of fast food, would be looking for fresh!

    Pictures are of the Tooro Palace and the Royal Tombs we visited. The King of the Tooro district was crowned at 3 years old... Must have been quite the responsibility! Lol. They are burried with their most important possessions such as spears, drums and serving jugs. When the president reviewed the Kings' involvement in the country, it was said he would take everything away from the Kings and remove their power all together, but decided to make them in charge of culture...

    The funny part was the caretaker for the tombs (guy in white shirt) looked like he was woken from a nap to bring us over. He was shirtless when he came out of his house, his daughters got him up. He was groggy. Hardly spoke English so his daughter who spoke ever so slightly more English accompanied us. They explained that just like being King, being the keeper of the burial grounds is past down from father to son and is an important role.

    If all goes well, I'll be making one of my dreams come true in 2 days... So stay tuned. Until then, I'll try to contain my excitement...    Weiterlesen

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    Rwanda impressions

    18. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    As I sit here along the shores of Lake Bunyonyi, I will attempt to sum up my thoughts on Rwanda. Here are a few points on the country :

    In physical appearance, it ranks among the nicest, prettiest countries I've seen! Everything is so green, thick beautiful vegetation. It's all so well kept also, trimmed lawns, clean... They even have a national cleaning day - last Saturday of the month - where everyone apparently willingly and excitedly cleans...

    Kigali, being their capital , is huge and developed with tons of high buildings and offices and everything you would need with its own bunch of subburbs. They say it's the country of a thousand hills and I believe it! Even the capital is spread between hills and valleys. Most of the other towns consist of one, maybe 2 main roads, never much more then 1-2 kilometres long.

    They have no street food. No street stalls at all. Apparently it's illegal to sell things on the street, you must have a shop. Which makes sense, because we once bought fruit from the first gang of women we saw sitting on the street, and yet 20 minutes later they were all packed up and gone, with a military man roaming around... I guess that's how they stay clean, no one there to dirty the streets.

    Their national park (at least the one we did) was gorgeous and again - clean. Seems silly to say but in Ethiopia, all along our hikes and street sides there were water bottles on the ground. Even our guides would throw their water bottle to the ground during our hikes in national parks. In Rwanda - not a single piece of anything on our hike... I even had a banana peel which I asked if I could throw in the nature (animals will eat it, no?) and I was told to hold onto it until the end for a garbage.

    The people try to be very helpful. Unfortunately language is very limited, be it French or English. They like to give directions when they have no clue where something is, but they try! They ask where do we want to go when we barely hesitate in our step.

    I've actually gotten even more stares in this country compared to all the other ones I've done. Thing is, I really don't think they mean any judgement from it... They just don't see it as a social faux pas. One lady even turned herself over in the bus to have a better view of us, looking without breaking eye contact for about an hour. Kids like to follow, but their lack of English means they follow in silence, or laughing amongst their friends. (I'll attempt to get some videos of this onto Facebook...)

    Many people blame the French and the Belgians for their genocide, basically saying they brought in the thoughts of racism when imposing the Hutu and Tutsi identity cards and then chosing one group as the educated leaders... They are now rebelling against those roots and learning English in school instead of French. The older generation we could communicate with in French, and the younger in English.

    The general feel of Rwandans are, as mentions, very restrained, a certain somber feel for the people... A lack of liveliness. Not as willing to chat or not as many smiles. Serious people.

    That's Rwanda in a nutshell!

    ------

    The lake itself here is absolutely gorgeous. We sat around the dock, soaked our feet, enjoying an outdoor shower with a view, and went for a walk to "town" where someone served us fries in what seemed like their living room. Beautiful, relaxing, and yet we've got ants in our pants so we're probably going to move on tomorrow to something more activity oriented. Unfortunately, a tour we were looking forward to doing on and by the Batwa people is too expensive. Our lovely lonely planet said it was 30$ per person. Turns out it's 60$ per person plus at 45$ transportation fee. Quite the price different. LP failed us again...

    FYI that last picture is of the many voting booths set up outside in Uganda. Line ups at all of them. I wish my voting booth had those views! Also, the government blocked Facebook and what'sapp for the day. Lol yep, it can do that! Apparently a bunch of people were already arrested for trying to buy votes at voting stations. Our shared taxi driver guy stopped in every little town along the way to yell out from his window his support for Museveni's re-election. All the stores and restaurants were closed. Streets are dead. Elections day is a big thing here!    Weiterlesen

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    Back to Uganda, so happy!

    17. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We walked back to Uganda! This is after a full day of activities at Red Rocks.

    Yesterday Harriet had taken us along with this other girl to tour around the different homes and families their organization was helping. It was pretty much a bunch of village home visits because this other girl was starting her own organization with homestays and wanted to check out what they had running in the local community. We were just bored so we joined.

    So today for our cultural walk, we said we wanted less of a house tour and more of a cultural experience. Instead we got more of a nature walk, with milking cows at the end (to my request). It was funny, we were asked what kind of experience we were looking for, so we expressed that other then the recent history of the genocide, we haven't gotten to know the true Rwandan culture, and that's what we wanted. Along our walk, we didn't talk to a single local person. Just walked through their town to get to the fields behind it, walked through beautiful greenery and nature, visited a power plant from the river waters, and that's about it... We actually really enjoyed it, we got to ask the guide a bunch of questions about their education system, their politics, they have quite a few women in the government, on coming elections in Uganda, their alcoholism problems, etc. We got followed by quite a few kids on our way back. I had asked to milk the cows because they had mentioned it as an option yesterday. It's a very odd, intimate thing to milk a cow... As you get wacked in the face by its tail...

    Get back, sweaty and hot, take a classic cold bucket shower, eat, and learn to make some banana beer! It's a local classic in Rwanda. You basically crush a bunch of bananas into a log with the help of long grass. Eventually you get quite an impressive amount of liquid out. This almost clear liquid taste really sweet, and obviously quite banana-y. Mix in some freshly crushed sorghum, and voilà! In 5 days, you get beer. Really sweet, strong (13%) beer. Not a fan, but meh. Like Uganda, Rwanda has its fair share of drinking men... They like their banana beer. Our guide from this morning was saying, as an example, the women work all day long and make 1000RFr. They spend 300 at the market to feed their family. They save 700. Their husband take 500 to go drinking. Only 200RFr left at the end of the day. Men. Pft.

    Once all is done and drank, what else does a girl due but cross a border the day before elections! This is, believe it or not, a different yet smaller boarder then our first border crossing. Quick minibus ride drops you at the gate separating Uganda and Rwanda. You walk across to the Uganda side where the "exit Rwanda" stamp office is right next to the "entry Uganda" stamp office. 5 minutes and we successfully walked across. There's a funny car gate with Rwanda written on one side and Uganda on the other. There was one armed security guy standing at the "gate" (rope across the dirt road) asking to see your passport. Then one armed army guy on the Uganda side once you get to the other rope across the dirt road. Very official business people!

    Kisoro is the closest town to the border and yet already we see so much more life and excitement. The difference is striking. Ugandans are all smiling and laughing and enjoying themselves. We hear music coming from the shops, street food being sold (it was illegal to have street shops in Rwanda, only legit store fronts). We went for a beer, and elections were being talked about all around. We'll keep our heads low and political opinions to ourselves for the next few days until the winner is announced and we see what that brings. If anything, we'll avoid Kampala. Easy. I for one am quite happy to be in Uganda again.

    We didn't know if we would spend the night in Kisoro or make our way to Kabale tonight, from where we could head to our next destination easier. By the time we were done exploring the town, and eating diner, it was 5.30pm, sun going down, so we decide Kisoro for the night, and Lake Bunyonyi for the morning via Kabale. It's been super easy to find accommodation during our trip - so it being 530pm, easy peasy. There's tons of options, our waiter gave us a suggestion which turned out perfect. Every second door seemed to be a bar and hotel. How they make money, no one knows.

    FYI : we're half way! If you make the quick count, we left on January 7th and are coming back for March 29th... We're half way! I feel a mix of excitement for what's to come, pride for what I've done, wanting to continue for ever and yet missing my people and wanting to see them... A whole mix!    Weiterlesen

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    It had to happen once...

    16. Februar 2016 in Ruanda ⋅ ☀️ -3 °C

    Gisenyi was perfect for relaxation. We had an amazing diner at a new Californian restaurant where we actually had baguette with pineapple chutney, and actual goat cheese, and caramelized onions... So good...

    We left early to get to Musanze so we could organize some tours we wanted to do. And then it happened. We were on the minibus about 20 minutes outside of town and Jack realized she couldn't find her phone. Last seen, in her bed last night. So we get off the minibus, pay, then cross the street and wait for another minibus. Thankfully they never take very long. Get to our "centre d'accueil", remember - this is a church, so I'm feeling good about our chances - and sure enough, phone still on the bed. Second take, off we go to Musanze!

    Again, pretty easy. Get off the bus at the bus station, follow lonely planet map to Amahoro Tours, only to find where it should be it wasn't. Then someone who clearly sees we're somewhat confused signals us to follow her, through a little alley, in a back alley, and into a courtyard and we're there! Turns out, we were at the right place but we never assumed there would be no signage at the street or any indication... Here, we reserve our camping tent, our village cultural tour and our banana beer making course. Done deal. The Red Rocks accommodation from where all this is based is outside of town, so they supply the transfer over after giving us time to explore the town for a few hours. Too easy.

    Once at Red Rocks, they decided to give us a room for the price of a tent, they say it's because they like us. We'll take it! This is turning out to be quite the useful last town in Rwanda. Harriet, the manager or something, is also planning to go to Uganda, but she says she's going tomorrow (17th) instead of the 18th because she believes the border will be closed the 18th. Even better - we get a ride! She's originally from Rwanda, her family moved to Uganda after the first genocide (1964ish), then in her childhood they moved to New York and eventually California. Anywho, she's organized our "cultural" tour to be in the morning, we get back, have lunch, do banana beer and off we go all together to the Ugandan border where she says we can then stay with her family for the night. How absolutely perfect!

    This hostel has a very easy vibe, relaxed, 3 other travellers. Breakfast included, communal meals, too easy. We're hoping to get to know some of the local culture tomorrow since it's our last chance in Rwanda and we feel we haven't seen much of it... Let's hope for tomorrow!    Weiterlesen

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    True Relax day

    15. Februar 2016 in Ruanda ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    After our not so relaxing relax day from yesterday, we made up for it today!

    Jack and I decided to separate for the first time since we got here (except the couple hours Jack spent alone in Addis when I wasn't eating). She wanted to do a tea factory tour, and I wasn't that interested. We decided a bit of time apart isn't a bad idea. I got to just walk around Gisenyi and walk down the beach, enjoy some quiet solo time. To be honest, for me, it just confirms that I'm not that great with solo traveling. I don't get enjoyment out of doing it alone, I like the company. I'm not outgoing enough to just meet people along the way. So I checked out the town, mapped out where I wanted to prep our picnic lunch date, and headed back home for a peaceful tea and reading.

    Jack unfortunately didn't get to do her tour afterall. She got there successfully with the minibuses but apparently the factory was closed for the day. At least that's what the security guard could gather in English. Little did I know she was back in town after just an hour.

    Meeting at our hotel at our agreed upon time, we went to the local market to gather our lunch - salad, fruit salad, and chapatis! It was too easy, no one in Rwanda has set foreigner prices on us... All fairly priced produce. Drop by the supermarket (which is what they call their do it all corner stores) and off we go! Incredibly peaceful, waterfront, waves and birds being heard, Valentine's day lunch. Again, only thing missing is hand holding and steeling kisses.

    I lied about the birds. It sounds like birds which makes it sound better. It's bats. Tons of them. I don't get it, I thought they liked the dark, but there's hundreds of bats hanging upside down in the trees above us. It's kind of cool. I've got batman imagery in my mind... Lol.

    We took the lunch as an opportunity to "check in" with each other. Open and honest communication y'all! I finally got to articulate why it is I'm so impressed with myself here, and I'll try to do the same for you all.

    Over the last few years, I've seen my anxiety worsen. Situations that would not have affected me in the past have started to make my heart race, to keep my up at night, making my mind go over and over possible outcomes, making me react inappropriately to situations, to make me doubt doing certain things, or stop myself entirely from certain experiences. I've travelled long term in the past, but it's been a few years since I've left the country for longer then a few weeks. I thought my increased anxiety would translate to my needing certain comforts. That I would have a stricter limit on how long I could be put in uncomfortable or unfamiliar situations before my body or mind gives out. I thought I could no longer tolerate, as well as I used to, not knowing where I was staying or going. All these preconceived notions about my anxiety is why I'm so impressed with myself today. I have been in uncomfortable situations, I don't have my usual comforts or support system from home. I don't get to go home and hide for a few days when I'm overwhelmed, and yet, I'm doing great! I'm eating all kinds of new foods (as you now know, my anxiety is closely related to my ability to eat), I'm staying in all kinds of accommodation (including homestays), and leaving towns and arriving in towns with no set plans or need to set plans, I'm doing great. And I'm proud. I just thought I'd share this proud moment of mine. :)    Weiterlesen

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    What's with the name changes?

    14. Februar 2016 in Ruanda ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Alright Rwanda, pick a name already! Honestly, except for Kigali, the capital, every town we've visited has changed their names either in recent years (so it shows as both options in lonely planet) or in the last year. For the most part, we've been attempting to explain where we want to go, plan buses, ask questions about towns, all of which we are referring to in the wrong name! The worst part is when taking the bus, because there's so little English, communication starts with us expressing where we want to go, and them telling us how much, and they hand over the ticket. The destination is written on the ticket. The following towns, all of which we travelled to, were written on the ticket as a name we didn't recognize :

    Huye was now Butare
    Gikongoro was now Nyamagabe
    Kibuye was now Karongi
    Gitarama was now Muhanga
    Gisenyi was now Rubavu
    Ruhengeri will be Musanze after tomorrow. That one we looked up!

    So for example, we were headed to Kibuye yesterday. We asked for Kibuye, they give us a ticket written Karongi. We confirm with the ticket lady that we are going to Kibuye, not Karongi, and she says "yes yes Kibuye". So off we went. We also confirm with the guy checking tickets on the bus "Kibuye not Karongi" to which he responds "Kibuye Kibuye". We arrive at the town of Karongi, as indicated by many signs, and a lady next to us tells us to get off. We were so confused, especially since our book said it would be a 5 hour bus ride and it had only been 2.5 hours (but as you've read, our Lonely Planet has been terrible for Rwanda, it's like they never came to do the research). At this point there's about 5 people telling us to get off, none of which have enough English or French to explain why, and the bus driver who is supposed to signal to us when we're there, drives off. Jack and I are still so confused. The people around us yell at the driver to stop, and finally a lady turns to me and says "change name, Kibuye now Karongi". Ah ha! English! So we get off. Turns out, they all changed names! Now we know to ask all possible names so we can avoid this in the future.

    Yesterday and today were a mix of transportation and relaxing. We stood at a bus stop in the middle of nowhere waiting for a bus for about an hour yesterday, getting us to Kibuye, a town of lounging and enjoying the scenery. There's apparently a beach somewhere, but about 2 feet wide of thick grainy sand, so we just went for a walk and enjoyed the green everywhere. Even the ride over was gorgeous! Field after field of green farming perfectly squared off. We stayed at a church of course, Home Saint Jean, where the room was clean and cheap! It was at the very tip of a little peninsula on the lake, perfect location and amazing views for 6000RFr for the night (10.90$C). Coming home on Saturday afternoon, we heard 3 different choirs practising for tomorrow. It was a beautiful and serene atmosphere.

    We walked around town, stumbling upon a market yesterday. Jack had a craving for guacamole the other day, so we challenged ourselves to make some! Got what we needed at the market, borrowed the tools from the restaurant at our hotel, and voilà! Some pretty decent guacamole, not that I eat it, ew avocado, but Jack liked it! :)

    We debatted if we should stay a second night to just laze around, but decided to make our way to Gisenyi (Rubavu now), a very similar low key water front town. We were told the transit time was 3 hours, which is easy, plenty of time to relax at both towns. Turns out, we left at 1pm and arrived here at 830pm. Yep, not so relaxing of a day after all. Our second bus was supposed to take 3 hours and it took over 4.5. He kept stopping at all the towns but then waiting there... Who knows for what. And of course no one had the English or French to try and explain the ridiculous delays. So we wait. Jack likes to remind me that the lack of communication only confirms that we really are somewhere where we are the minority, we have the true opportunity to see Rwanda as Rwandans do. There are so few tourists here, it's impressive. Untainted land to discover.

    We still managed to finish on a high note, walking over to our chosen accommodation, settling into our room (Presbyterian Church this time!), going out for some local food and having a drink. We're planning a picnic on the beach for lunch tomorrow as our on little valentine's day date. We'll see how that goes!

    -----

    Travellers we met along the way have said Rwanda is very safe. I didn't understand what they were comparing it to, or why, but that's what people said. Turns out, at night, even if it's dark out, you do have a sense of safety - people are still walking around, no one appears to hesitate around each other no matter the time of day... We met an Indian man who lives in Kigali who said he tried living in Kampala before settling in Kigali but choose to leave because he couldn't walk around at night. Here, he can. And I get it.

    I also have this odd, undescribable impression of Rwanda that I will now attempt to form into words... The people still all seem to be mourning... Or if it's not mourning, there's a certain lack of liveliness... It's all quite somber, or maybe more reserved. Yes people will say hi to you, they will giggle and stare, but as a general feeling, it seems somber. I absolutely loved my few days in Uganda because their people were all so smiley and welcoming and open to attempt communication, even if it's without words, there's happiness and liveliness all around. I don't have that same feeling in Rwanda. Like I said, hard to explain. I wonder if what used to be mourning is now almost a cultural trait, a way of life learned through sadness...    Weiterlesen

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    Memorial and a hike...

    12. Februar 2016 in Ruanda ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    Odd combination, I know. For most of the trip, Jack and I have found a way to compromise on our styles of traveling. I usually like to take my time, doing fewer towns whereas she likes to bus hop with our backpacks on from town to town, sleeping in the last one we wind up in. Unfortunately, a compromise means I don't get enough time in places and she doesn't get to move around as much as she's like. So for these last couple days, we're doing it her way. It's exhausting! Lol.

    Huye and Nyanza yesterday, today Murambi and Gisakura.

    Murambi had a memorial we wanted to see because, as per others, it was a very moving experience and they displayed preserved bodies exhumed from the mass graves. They were right. It started with much of the same information as the first memorial about the history before the genocide and the events that unfolded. But this specific site was set in a school where an estimate 50,000 people were killed between 3am and 11am April 21st. One day, 50,000 people. The bullet wholes still seen in the walls. Preserved bodies in lime (they become white), some showing expressions of terror, some holding each other, some holding their children. Tiny bodies, on display. After seeing this, you really wonder how anyone could ever have attempted to call this an ethnic war or civil war.

    Following this, a lovely walk back to town brought us to a bus, which brought us to a town, which had a car conveniently going to where we wanted to go, which drove us to Gisakura National Park head offices, which had the hike we wanted to do leaving NOW as per the office... I was starved! And we all know I don't do well hungry, and the hike is 4 hours long, and it's now 1pm and I haven't had lunch. Arg! So I bought 4 bananas and a waterbottle and rushed to change my shoes, and shot something angry at Jack to express my hatred for rushing, and off we went! I calmed down once I had my banana and cookies. :)

    The hike was through one of Africa's oldest rain forests, and the vegetation was absolutely gorgeous! You know you're amazed by everything when you listen to information like "that is the oldest plant on earth" - a fern - and you're amazed! The waterfall at the end was strong and perfect.

    Of course we thought 63$CAD was absurd for a room at the guest house across the street, so starved and grumpy we made our way to town, 8 long minutes of walking, to find a place for 37$CAD. Still not anywhere near our usual price, but Rwanda's expensive y'all! 50$US each for this 4 hour walk...

    Leaving on this trip, I had a set idea for a budget. Im the type to convert prices every now and then to make sure I'm still on my mark. I wanted to average a maximum of 100$US per day, since according to everything we read, Africa was expensive! This was to include safaris (if we do them), our hikes, diving when we get to the coast, everything. To my surprise, Ethiopia, the country in which we were spending the longest, was super easy on the budget! 35$US was our (very rough) calculations, right on par with the books budget suggestion of 30$US per day, seeing as it was written 3 years ago. Jack's more the type to just keep it as cheap as she can without holding back on things she wants, and it all works out in the end.

    Basically this little budget insert is maybe for those looking to do their own travels! No matter where you go in the world, there's expensive countries and there's cheaper ones. Rwanda - expensive. Food is double if not triple that of Ethiopia. Accommodation is double the price at its cheapest. Transportation is slightly more, but not crazy. Activities are all more expensive. The little we saw of Uganda, seems more affordable then here. Food at least was cheaper. I guess we'll find out when we tally everything in the end.    Weiterlesen

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    South We Go, Rwanda

    11. Februar 2016 in Ruanda ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    Rwanda, why are you treating me so? Bus ticket offices? Listed destinations? Displayed prices? Set departure times? Actually leaving at these departure times? Just as I was starting to master the chaos of travelling in East Africa, you take the chaos away. Too much comfort, this is weird.

    In Nyanza, there were signs all along the way to the King's Palace and National Art Museum. The King's Palace was a great big straw hut, filled with rules and traditional ways like the king having his own entry to his bedroom, the Queen having to go another way, and having a sitting room for the chiefs and another for their wifes, having to walk out of the court yard backwards as to not put your back to the King, having a house for the virgin girl who takes care of the King's milk (yep, she's not allowed to marry if she's in charge of the milk), having an enclosure for the Ankole cows which are only used to parade (well respected, prestigious cow) ... Interesting. We weren't allowed to take pictures unless we paid extra, so sorry if the ones I have are blurry, they were taken behind the guide's back... Lol.

    Jack did the art gallery on her own. I had appreciated the paintings for Kigali but this was sculptures, something I usually end up mocking for thinking I could do the same... She loved it as usual. Not a difficult person to please.

    As I'm reading this to Jack, she believes I did not speak enough about the cows. Added info - their horns can reach 2.5 to 3m long. They're keeper sings poems to them and pets them. Quite different then the usual cow treatment.

    Jack also commented I should add a bit about our bus ride over to Huye. We paid for a Volcano Bus, which usually means it's a direct express bus where you actually get your own seat. It's not more expensive then the minibuses, same price, but you have to wait for the departure times, whereas a minibus leaves as soon as it's full enough. Little did we know, we took off with Jack having a mother with baby next to her, while she sat in the fold out middle isle seat. We then stopped 2 minutes outside of the city to pick up others, including another mother with baby now sharing Jack's middle isle seat. I was laughing behind her. If you know Jack, she's not the biggest baby fan. She now had 2 mothers breast feeding 6 months old babies on either side of her, while she sat with one butt cheek on the bus seat and one butt cheek on the fold out seat. Priceless. Rest assured, she still managed to sleep!

    Staying in Huye for the night, a university town. The campus was beautiful! There's a full on forest next to it, monkeys and all. I can only imagine myself finishing class and going to study amongst the monkeys! Still getting stares from everyone but not much commenting.

    Now that we are out of the capital, we are getting some "Give me money"s but not anywhere near as often as Ethiopia. People still try to help us as best they can, but the English in incredibly limited. I just had difficulty telling the waitress to come back in 2 minutes because we hadn't chosen our meal yet... English and French wasn't working so I pretty much just motioned my hand for her to leave the table... I felt bad, but when words aren't working, you're left with motions.

    FYI - a test to see who reads this - I changed my lockscreen photo when I got here to one of my family at a paint night event. My brother is next to me. I decided if I felt "discovered" or if I was asked about my family, I could show them the photos of my husband and his sister and mother... Lol. So far I haven't had to use it, but it's there in case!

    So Frank, you're my safety husband!    Weiterlesen

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    Kigali. Confusing Kigali.

    10. Februar 2016 in Ruanda ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Apparently our really long and confusing walk from our first day arriving in Kigali was not enough to teach us a lesson. We started off our first morning here thinking we could walk to the Kigali Genocide Memorial. We set out, following our lonely planet book we were 2km away... We asked about 5-6 different people along the way all pointing to different directions. Even the motorcycle taxi men had difficulty telling us where it was... After an hour of walking, we gave up and took a moto-taxi. Turns out we were in the right district, maybe 4 blocks away. But with all the hills and wavy turns, we wouldn't have found it alone.

    The memorial was an incredibly emotional and eye opening experience. We spent over 3 hours here reading their displays, seeing their photos, hearing their video testimonies. 1,000,000 people dead in 100 days. Their neighbours, the same people with whom their kids played the day before, were now the ones murdering their family before their eyes. I learnt a great deal. Now, everyone I cross on the street who's 27 years old and up, I wonder what have they seen? 1994 was not that long ago, I was 6. I would remember too if my family was killed all around me. What these people have seen, I can't imagine. Before leaving I was asked to write a message of my experience. I responded "I find it incredibly overwhelming to think of a message to write on a piece of paper right now...", and the man responded "that's perfect, write that". So I did.

    Our afternoon was lighter, spent looking at 3 different art galleries. We've now learnt no walking, so we motor taxi'd to the first and walk to the others (google map helped with that). Jack was in heaven! Unlike me, she grew up going to art galleries and art shows, learning about all these great artists and techniques. She's in her world when she's surrounded by art, and she loved every bit of our afternoon.

    Another moto-taxi and we're at Hotel Des Milles Collines, or as some of you know it, Hotel Rwanda (the movie?). This is where the Belgian owner decided to stay with his family instead of fleeing, taking in Tutsi and moderate Hutu people. We read this was the place to have a drink, but it was empty. We used their maps and reception staff for directions before heading out. Beautiful hotel, we'll kept, metal detector to get in and everything, fancy!

    Interesting that the book mentions this hotel as a memorable place post genocide. This entire city is a walking memorial. The church in which we're staying, St Famille Church, housed and protected over 2000 people! Not mentioned in the book. The way we see it, Hotel des Milles Collines was recognized as a memorial because it was a white man who stayed to help, when he could have fled. Though this is honorable and note worthy, there are an incredible amount of places and people that deserve all the same recognition. Interestingly, as most would assume churches are always safe havens, there were many churches who's clergy actually betrayed the people they were told to protect. There are 2 more notable churches south of the city who, through information given by the clergy, became mass graves and mass killing sites, including grenades being thrown and people burning alive! Some of these are mentioned at the memorial centre, with pictures of nuns and priests being prosecuted for war crimes.

    We had originally thought that we would leave Kigali the next morning. But both Jack and I felt we hadn't done Kigali justice. I can't say I like this city yet, it's not walkable, I can't find anything, and no one seems to be able to help me with directions... All the buildings are well kept. Lawns are well manicured. There's traffic lights. Helmets for the moto-taxis. It is a very different city then what we've seen so far, and yet I can't say I'm attached or have any opinion formed yet... So we decided an extra day might give us a better opinion; be it a "turns out I love it" or "nope, I don't get it".

    Day 2
    Turns out, good decision! We managed to walk first to the Kamp Kigali Memorial, this time having researched the Google map ahead of time and following with my gps. It was here that 10 Belgian UN workers assigned to protect the prime minister were brought and killed, encouraging foreign troops to exit Rwanda. This was what started it all. Bullet wholes in the building, 32 years old was the oldest killed of the 10, again an emotional experience. There was these two posters, side by side, showing a very VERY simple way of looking at conditions that make for a genocide to be possible, and how to avoid genocide. I attached a photo as it resonated with me.

    We then made our way to another district called Nyamirambo, which was lively, and colourful, and full of little stores and restaurants and tons of bars. It's considered the Muslim area, but we rarely saw a veiled woman. I guess even in their area of town they're a minority. We got stared at all day, long prolonged mouth wide open stairs, but all out of what seemed like curiosity. I didn't feel judged, they were all really curious. Not too many yelled comments at all, very few "mzungu"s.

    We did a version of a day time pub crawl, walked for a bit, sat and shared a beer, and repeat. We wanted to be in this part of town of the night life so we knew we had all day here. 8 hours we spent in about 5km of town. Thanks to my gps on my phone, we didn't get lost. Didn't need a moto-taxi. It was a great and satisfying day, capped off with a shisha bar before bed... At 830pm. Yes, we set out to spend a night on the town in one of the liveliest places in Rwanda, and we were laying in bed by 830pm. In our defence, we went back an hour when we walked across the border from Uganda, so for us it felt like 930pm! Kigali, you've been alright.

    As for the people, we are pretty much left to our own devices. I can't figure out if it's just that they've seen plenty of white people considering they have a lot of NGOs and expects, or maybe they just don't care... It is rare that we get "hello" from anyone, even kids. No one asking for anything. The prices quoted to us are usually always fair. Even the motor taxis haven't tried to screw us over too much... Some speak a little French, some a little English, but still quite limited so we haven't had the chance to really have a conversation with anyone yet. They pretty much just keep to themselves, which leaves us to wonder uninterrupted.    Weiterlesen

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    Rwanda!

    8. Februar 2016 in Ruanda ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We're in Rwanda! Kigali to be exact! We treated ourselves - I'm writing this blog while laying in bed, eating my first chocolate bar since I've arrived, and drinking from our mini wine bottle. Simple pleasures.

    To save on the details, we took a boda-boda for 10 minutes, a minibus for 2.5 hours, another minibus for 3 hours, a shared taxi for 30 minutes to the border, and this same shared taxi for another 2.5 hours. And done!

    As you'll notice in the photos, the first bus stop we were dropped at this morning was very official. Obviously they pack the minibuses very well - 12 official seats, with up to 23 people in them at any given time.

    Timing was flawless though, we'd get off and there was another bus leaving... And we scored big time with the last shared taxi! For the same price as what our book was telling us it would cost for a ride to Kigali after crossing the border, this taxi picked us up in Kabale, brought us to the border, where we all crossed by foot, then picked us up and we drove into Kigali. And this time, unlike the one on the island, Jack and I shared the back row of the car with one person, one seat per person! Luxury!

    The border was hilarious. A wooden gate lifted by a person to let the car in, which pulled over to the side to let us out. We all go in line at the exiting Uganda office, where we filled out an exit card, got a stamp, and were told to go on. We had our east Africa visa so no charge for us. We then walk about 6 minutes on a dirt road surrounded by construction trucks over to the Gatuna Immigration office. We hand over our passports, simple questions, thumb print and photo and that's it. We walk back to the car, they looked through our bags really quickly, and off we go to Kigali!

    We've been told by many travellers that Kigali was something special! It was organized, and clean, and welcoming. I was expecting to be wow'd. Meh. It was hot, we decided to walk up to town from the bus station, which even the book says you need "gorilla legs" if you decide to walk it instead of taking public transportation. I do not have gorilla legs. But we made it! One soaked freshly washed t-shirt later we were at the top of the hill! We asked about 5 different people where this central roundabout was called Place de l'unité Nationale. We were pointed in all kinds of directions. Turns out, if Rwandans don't know where something is, they point somewhere anyway.

    A 3km walk took 2 hours. And at this point, with all the transportation, my last meal was an egg and chapati at 10am. It's now 5pm and we've just dropped our bags off at our room. I'm hungry! FYI our lonely planet map blows for this town, nothing makes sense on it. Restaurants aren't where they should be. Roads entirely are missing or just wrong... It was so frustrating.

    The town appears at times just as disorganized and chaotic as any other city we've seen, and at other times there's street names displayed, actual roundabouts, street lighting, well manicured landscaping along the streets all making it appear organized.

    Our home for the night - a nuns convent! We're room A1, that means the very first room after passing the group of nuns sitting at a table reviewing the Bible together. How perfect! It's the cheapest place in town, and quite the ambiance! Once we got back to our room in the evening after diner, we could hear their choir practising, seranating us!

    I got to call my mom from a coffee shop today, best Wi-Fi we've had yet! Felt nice to hear her voice. Jack was asking me the other day if I missed anything from home, I told her I didn't miss anything at all, just people. My friends, my family, being surrounded by people I love and I know love me... A month into this trip, and I don't miss any foods, or my bed, or my shower or clothes, just my people.    Weiterlesen

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    Onwards we go!

    7. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Still keen on keeping active, we decided we had seen what we needed on Baggala Island, and wanted to move on! While getting my new favourite quick breakfast Rolex, our friend Abraham came to see us and offered us a free ride to the town from which we could get a shard taxi over to the ferry. We are now heading to Masaka which was west, so getting the ferry from a different town on the island. The shared taxi was an experience of its own!

    The driver very casually tried to point as to who goes where, but really we just followed suit. I was pointed to go in along with the other boys. I didn't make anything of it at the time but eventually I noticed all the women were on top of the boys - I of course being on the bottom (there's a first! wink wink). So the back seat consisted of 4 boys (that's including me) on the seats with Jack and another lady shared amongst our laps. Funny part is, boy or not, I'm small and don't weigh much. They lady sitting on the guy next to me was relatively large and heavy. I just remember telling Jack the second time we got into the car to make sure she was on top of me because I don't think I could support that lady for the hour long ride! There was another 4 people in front, leaving just enough room for the driver to drive while squeezed against the door, head bent sideways. We added in a 10ish year old boy once back in the car after the ferry. In case you're not following, this taxi brought us to a ferry, on which we sat on benches, then we sat back in the car and it continued onto the town we wanted, Masaka.

    11 people total in a 5 seat passenger car. And let's not forget the 3 lives chickens in a box in the front seat. Even the driver had trouble closing his door once seated because of the 2 women and child next to him. I couldn't feel my right leg for most of the trip. Jack being on top had her head pined against the ceiling of the car, sitting half on my lap and half on the guy next to us. Funny how all ideas of a personal bubbles and space melts away in these countries. Even when your sitting on a boda boda, you hold onto the guys waist in hills or press your thighs against his to hold on. You become friends very quickly!

    The ferry ride, being just under an hour, was a welcomed, open and breezy moment of freedom before getting back into that car. As for Masaka, and once the feeling returned to my leg, we walked around with our backpacks and found our lunch spot. We had Greek! Legit and wonderful Greek! Fresh Greek salad. Actual feta cheese. Tzaziki! We even allowed ourselves to go all out and order desert - ice cream! I was in heaven. After ordering it, we noticed it had been 1 month since our departure from Ottawa. Desert for a celebration!

    The rest of the day was just spent walking through this wonderful, busy, small shops kind of town, eventually stumbling upon what became our accommodation for the night. According to the travel book, there was not much to do but wonder around in this town, and it was right. But we both loved it! It's hard to explain why one town hits you in a really positive way, more then another. Especially when you don't have reference points to compare. I can't say the museum was nicer, or the restaurant better, or the parks nicer, just the feeling of the place was great. Still, Ugandans are impressing me. No one bothering us, everyone actually giving us real pricing for things like accommodation and transportation. We walked by a minibus station and were approached by two men, I automatically though they would sell me something but they just wanted to help - gave us the information we needed for tomorrow's bus to Kabale.

    The evening was spent having a drink on a patio, people watching, and eating food from the street vendors around. It's cool, here - you can sit in any restaurant or coffee shop, buy something or not, doesn't matter, bring in something from outside, anything goes. Food with the vendors was cheaper and more interesting, do that's what we ate at the bar! A slight miscommunication - Jack wanted to try a different bier, so she asked the waiting if she could have his favourite beer. He got so excited, thanked us both and walked away. Maybe 10 minutes later, no beer, I call him over again and say "the beer, she wanted to try your favourite beer". And he goes "oh! She wants to try?" and again very happily walks away, eventually to return with Bell beer. Once the bill was in, turns out I had bought him a beer! Lol oops. He seemed so happy about it, I guess it's one good deed.

    I've actually noticed - Ugandans drink... A lot... Well men do. I've seen an incredible amount of men drinking straight from these tiny mickeys of vodka. Even our spiritual medium from yesterday was drinking from his mickey while he was telling us about his religion. According to them, if you drink and have a job, no problem. If you drink and don't have a job, that's an issue. More often then I probably should, I find myself wondering "is that guy off or waisted?"

    Side note - traveling is surprisingly tiring. We thought jet-lag was the reason we were in bed so early at first. I think at this point, it's safe to say we're just old! In bed by 8-9pm. Up by 630-7am. Going out for those drinks, we thought we would have a night on the town! 9pm, we're in bed, lights out. Party!

    Second side note - check out the big ugly birds we keep spotting everywhere! They're literally everywhere. They're balding, long necked and about 3-4 feet tall... Creepy.    Weiterlesen

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    My Faith has been Restored

    6. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C

    I am loving Uganda! The people have been incredibly nice, and actually wanting to help us! The kids still sometimes say hi, but with a smile, authentic attempt at just saying hi! Who would have thought. None of them have tried following us. None asking for anything. Just saying hi. Actually many of the Ugandans, kids or not, say hi. As if to welcome us to their homes. Maybe Ethiopia has made me excited at simple things, but this is wonderful. I'm still getting gender mix ups, but none of which have made me feel awkward or judged.

    Our walk around Entebbe started off very positive and light, but after 2 hours of me expressing my hunger and not finding anywhere that serves breakfast, I got slightly frustrated. It's hot, humid, and I'm hungry! We're not used to this heat and humidity in the morning, we actually had our sweaters on in the morning in Ethiopia because of the altitude, temperatures dropped at night. Here, it's 9am and we're already sweating. Water was available everywhere in Ethiopia, you couldn't pass 2 shops without water bottles being sold. Here I actually walked 3-4 blocks before finding someone who sold small bottles of water, odd.

    In case it was too much suspense for you, we found food, lots of little street vendors set up in front of a construction zone. I got to try my first chapati, and I loved it! Rolex (eggs rolled into a chapati), also amazing breakfast! We finally got to the botanical gardens, and they were so worth it! As soon as you come in, you spot the area all the monkeys hang out in, we just sat with them for like 30 minutes while they played around us...

    The walk through these gardens brought us through incredible trees and tropical like forests, to the water front of Lake Victoria. Peaceful and wonderful. We had to eventually boda boda (motorcycle taxi) back to our hostel because Jack was exhausted, it was her first full day out since she was sick.... Well full, it was 1pm. But she did amazing! This same boda driver waiting while we grabbed our bags from the hostel to head out to the pier where we would head to the Ssese Islands. The 3.5 hour ferry ride should be relaxing enough for Jack... Lol.

    We bought the second class tickets, having read there's no real difference between first and second... Of course once on the boat, there's no signage as to which is where, so we make ourself comfy on a seat, the rest of the seats fill up, and just before leaving they come around checking tickets, and sure enough we're in the wrong section. There's no seats left in our section. Damn.

    Eventually people were curious to see outside and get some fresh air so we score 1.5 seats. Jack sat down, exhausted, and I get half a butt cheek on. Just enough to be able to read my book, and watch the bags as she slept with her head against the table. She's absolutely amazing in her abilities to sleep anywhere, anyhow. Again, the people on the boat, no stairs, no awkwardness. The people on our bench squished in to make space for us. Honestly wonderful people. Some saying hi, trying to practice whatever English they can manage, some of which actually welcomed us, and said "I hope you like Uganda" or "you will love Uganda". I do already.

    Ssese islands, more specifically Baggala Island, was peaceful, beautiful, and welcoming. We arrived at the dock and there was literally a line up of women with signs from all their accommodations. Jack and I started from opposite ends, asking each of them about their options. There was about 10. Turns out, literally the first place to our right, where we had already wanted to check out since we could see it from the pier, was the least expensive. A third of the next best price actually. Camping it is! They had these strong, sturdy tents up, with an actual running shower and flushing toilet... Seems like a lot of luxury for such a tiny, not developed town at all! We've gathered, Uganda and Ethiopia are very different, different in its people, in its weather, in its religion, in its humidity, but also in it's finances! Uganda has money. For 30,000 shillings (12$CAD) we had flushing toilets and a running shower!

    No actual beach at our camp site despite being at the water front, but we had read that we could just go to the nicer ground places and pay for pool access. Walking through the downtown (which is a funny statement if you look at the picture), we got some local food and met a man that would take us on a tour the next day! The food, which was the only thing this particular place sold, was boiled plantain, white rice and a fried fish. Mmm mm good. Surprising what I'll allow myself to eat when I'm travelling. FYI Jack and I have been sharing every meal since day 3 of our trip. Portions are huge. We have yet to pay for 2 meals in a restaurant. Not a budget question, there's just too much food... And kind of a budget question....

    Because of Jack's rencent stint in bed, we were both looking to get active, and not just lounge on a beach or pool side all day, so we got Abraham Thompson (awesome name) to tour us around the island from his motorbike. The whole tour brought me back to the day my dad and I spent riding in the Gatineau hills, he brought me for ice cream, I always remembered that day so fondly... 4 hours with this guy, we saw a pineapple farm, palm tree plantations for palm oil, a mini cave in which a "medium" stayed and helped communicate with spirits of the dead ancestors (an ancient religion here, still practiced by some), some view points, some villages, fishermen prepping their boats and nets... Abraham was able to explain everything, it was fascinating. He drops us off at the resort next to ours where we paid for their pool access (after bargaining it down of course) and had a late, but wonderful lunch while enjoying the water and the sun by the lake side! Absolutely beautiful day.

    We watched the sunset from the pier, having brought over our lawn chairs from the camp site and bought a beer in town. Talk about québecer! Lawn chairs and beers on the pier. Beautiful sunset. To finish the night off, like the previous night, our Lovely King Fisher camp site staff made us a bonfire. Just for us 2. 4 employees running around every time we just mentioning wanting something. At the fire Jack mentioned to me she'd like some tea. Next thing you know, there's a kettle on the fire and we're served fresh ginger and African mint... Perfect! I did some laundry using the buckets that were left in the shower, and they ran over with laundry soap. Funny bunch. All for a whopping 30,000 shillings (12$CAD), after negotiating from 40,000 of course.

    Fantastic staff, fantastic people, and a true rural Ugandan experience.    Weiterlesen

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  • Vee LEast AfricaVee L

    We're in Uganda!

    5. Februar 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We moved on! As usual, my anxiety came into full force in the airport. I asked our hotel to drop us at the airport for 2pm, we got there at 245pm. Our flight was only scheduled for 415pm but I wanted to be at the airport before our schedule flight left from Dire Dawa, the one we weren't on, to make sure they didn't cancel our tickets for the whole flight like they had said they would. Turns out, we presented our passports, my heart beating into my throat, and nothing. No questions about the missed flight. No arguing. Just a hand over of boarding passes and that's it. Hm.

    Once passed security, it was around 305pm when Jack decided she was hungry and wanted to sit down for some food. Boarding in 25 mins. So we get her food that the bar promises in 5 minutes. 10 minutes later food comes out, scorching hot spring rolls. Now it's 325pm. I can see a relatively long line up to get through security, but I was comforted by the long boarding line up. Once my anxiety of getting into the flight on time bothered Jack enough, we got in line to pass security, for me to notice I was looking at the wrong gate, and our gate was almost empty. Panic! Heart beating. I was being a monster to Jack, blaming her for things out of her control... After security I ran to the gate only to find out our flight had just started boarding, there just so happens to be about 12 passengers on this 100+ passenger plane... I can breath again. I really don't do well in airports. Good thing Jack can recognize that and give me some slack on how I treat her...

    Ugandans have given me hope! So far, mostly nice, helpful people! The lady at immigration didn't want to accept my 50$US bill because of a minuscule tear in it. But she was very good at instructing me on how to get to an ATM to get Ugandans shillings out. They were pleasant. Smiling. Even the driver Jack was chatting with had a smile on the whole time we were negotiating the price of our ride into town. It was a very pleasant interaction that got his price down from 10$US (34,000 shillings) to 25,000 and then down to the 15,000 I was insisting on. Thank you lonely planet! We chatted the whole way to our hostel, learnt how to great someone in the local language, which of course I forgot by now. He says 80% of Ugandans speak English, I have a feeling this will be a whole new world compared to Ethiopia. Our hostel was also great, they gave us a room for the same price as 2 dorm beds, the room usually only for one person. It's our first real backpacker style hostel, so we got to socialize all evening with other travellers, including 2 guys who were here for a 6 week placement as medical residence. Nice to get some medical talk in.

    I have a good feeling about this! I've decided to reboot and trust people again, new country, new trust. Let's do it.    Weiterlesen

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  • Vee LEast AfricaVee L

    My Ethiopian Conclusion

    3. Februar 2016 in Äthiopien ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    A month in Ethiopia has left me satisfied and confident I have explored all that I wanted. My lasting impressions are a little mixed.

    I know I've had a few harsher things to stay about Ethiopian people. Let's keep in mind, this only my experience, and I do not want others to feel the need to defend it's people. I'm very aware we all have different experiences, and that there are wonderful Ethiopian people out there.

    My lasting impression of the people is they really don't seem to care about helping you... Sounds harsh, but I've mentioned a few examples already. Small yet frequent things like when a waiter has difficulty understanding you, they leave, disappear. But minutes later you find them doing nothing, just standing somewhere else. They didn't understand so they gave up and left. No bill was ever coming, no food. They can always go get someone with better English. Or ask me to say it different ways. But no, they just leave.

    The kids all mock faranjis, their hellos and "give me money" all sound like a game to them. One where they've aloud themselves to grab onto whatever they can, to fully reach their arms out and point and laugh at you, to have full conversations about you in front of you... They act as if we owe them these things, offended when we don't comply. I really wish I could meet the first white person who decided it was a good idea to give out candy to all the kids. As if that would help their nutrition, or further their education, or health.

    I find it very difficult to leave with this impression, but my few positive experiences were overshadowed by the number of negative experiences.

    The country itself, absolutely beautiful! The towns themselves were incredibly interesting, with so much character and history. Following the travel book was one way to go about exploring, but some of my favourite moments were those where we just went for a walk, off the usual path, and see what the country gives us. I still think my favourite walk was in Bahir Dar where we just walked down the main road until it was no longer a main road... Some nature mixed in with villages, gives a deeper understanding of the true Ethiopia. The nature was gorgeous, mountain after mountain leading to incredible views. I mean, the volcano, and the whole Danakil Depression speaks for itself. I honestly, truly enjoyed my experiences here.

    Most of my travels have been in South East Asia, with some of Europe more recently. I have never seen the continent of Africa, and it has opened my eyes to a whole new world needing to be explored. The way of life, culture, traditions are all so unique and beautiful. Granted, the poverty is also at a level I haven't seen, except maybe my little time spend in Cambodia. People seem to help each other out here. From what I've understood of their interactions, they appear to share with themselves, they give their seats up to others, they show affection amongst friends and family, their greetings to each other always appear sincere and respectful... Like when we were on an 8 hour bus to Shire, there was a baby (maybe 5-6 months old) that was being passed around to probably 10 people to give mom a break, the little sister being around 5 was sitting on her brothers one by one. Why us faranjis don't deserve the same respect, I will never understand.

    Onto new discoveries! Ethiopia, thank you.    Weiterlesen

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  • Vee LEast AfricaVee L

    Started February with a bang!

    2. Februar 2016 in Äthiopien ⋅ ⛅ -1 °C

    One heck of a bang actually, just not a good one.
    Jack got food poisoning. At least that's what we assume. I recently saw what food poisoning can do to someone I love and I got scared. She got the kind you bring a bowl with you to the washroom just in case. It started at 3am yesterday (Feb 1st) and is ongoing. As nice and new as our hotel is, it's still a shared bathroom. No one wants to feel like this, and then have to walk down the hallway to see if the washroom is available. I offered to get us a room elsewhere, I'd even carry her, but she didn't have the energy to move. By around 1pm yesterday she was able to start hydrating, it took her the rest of the day to finish one 1L bottle including 2 glasses of our hydralyte tablets. Problem is, it's still coming out. We've gotten the nausea mostly under control with our strict gravol every 6 hour regiment, but at the other end, that's a different story.

    According to our book, and we believe it, the better health care available in the country, really the only facilities worth going to for treatment, are in Addis. So we were determined to make our flight to Addis this morning. We decided that on the flight to Addis we would decide if she was well enough to continue to Dire Dawa. Otherwise we can just stay in Addis, and make our connection flight to Entebbe in 2 days. Simple.

    She's breaking my heart. No energy what so ever. She's currently lying on the airport floor, waiting to board. Cheeks sunken in, but definitely better then they were yesterday afternoon! She couldn't stand without help yesterday, today she can walk short distances. We walked from our ride to the airport to the entrance and sat. We passed security and sat. She wanted to try eating bread, which she actually managed to do, including an egg. I think we're looking up. Problem is, drinking water all day isn't much fun when you know you'll just have to go back to the washroom so I'm spending the day encouraging her to hydrate. It's now 1015am. Boarding the flight soon. Let's see how the day goes. What's making me want to cry right now is that I can't hold her, I can't kiss her forehead or tell her I love her, because we're in public.

    It's now 1.30pm and we've made it to the room! Success! Jack slept sitting up in the airport in Lalibela, slept on the floor once passed security, slept the whole way on the plane... It was clear we weren't making it to Harar today, and that's OK. I had already made the decision in my mind that we would stay in Addis, and once I woke Jack up after the plane landed, she said she didn't have the strength to argue with me. I think we did Ethiopia justice. We saw absolutely beautiful things, we got to know the culture and the people, and we both feel very satisfied with the Ethiopia portion of the trip. I'm ready to move on.

    I actually got a partial refund of the flight we didn't take today to Dire Dawa. I wanted to inform them we wouldn't be on the flight back from Dire Dawa obviously, but that we planned on taking the flight from Addis to Entebbe. They said they needed to reimburse my ticket, and sell me a flight only from Addis to Entebbe. Problem is, we paid 6300 for our flight and they want to sell me a flight that's 9300. The same flight I'm currently booked on, minus a leg, would cost me more... According to them, because they were booked together I can not take one leg only. So we decided to gamble, show up on the 4th and argue our way on. We'll see how that goes.

    Jack barely made it up that stairs once at the hotel room and hit the bed. She's finished another water bottle, kept the egg and bread... We're on the right path! We went for luxury this time. And by that, I mean it's 31$us and we get our own satellite TV, mini fridge, private washroom... Score! Everything I need to entertain myself while she sleeps.

    Longer term traveling means you have the time to fully recover, you don't have to be miserable on somekind of time restraint. We will get Jack back to 100% before starting Uganda. More good times to come!

    It's now 7pm, and she's doing fantastic! I wanted to wait for a positive outcome before posting about this, and the time has come! She slept all afternoon. I brought back my left over rice which she ate, ate some bread, still drinking water. Nausea under control. She even peed! She's now awake, for the first time in 2 days, eyes wide open, watching a movie in bed, eating a mango. Her colour is back. Best of all, her smile is back. Tomorrow is another relax day in our luxury room, and maybe a 5 minute for Jack... Stretch her legs. She'll be back up and running in no time!

    Jack says : Uganda here we come! Oh and if my parents are reading this, I'm fine. Vee just gets nervous.    Weiterlesen

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