Country #40!

Today, I write to you from Kampala, Uganda - my 40th country, which means I've finally reached the countdown to 50! I am a list-maker and a count-keeper at heart and my competitive spirit grinned upon crossing the border :). So far, I've met a very friendly pair of couchsurfers that have opened their beautiful home to me as well as helped me shape the next stage of my journey. It is so nice to be in a home especially since I was feeling a bit under the weather with a cold and a sore foot (reason soon to be revealed ;).

Kampala, besides being a capital city is nothing like Nairobi. Nairobi surprised and impressed me with it's relative calm and order. The instant that I stepped off the train (after being given ample time to gather our things as opposed to rushed out) I noticed the platform was clean and there was a conspicuous lack of touts and cab drivers vying for our attention. Luckily, Arthur had a Kenyan friend from University here that came to pick us up and we walked into the city center to check out the business district as well as take in the view from a helipad atop a beautiful conference center. At the ticket desk, Arthur's friend Kigen and one of his friends tried to persuade the stoic man to let us in for the resident's price since we had been living in Tanzania and it was half that of the foreigners ticket. The man said that we had to convince him that we had been living there, so I tried some of my best swahili - to no avail. Suddenly I asked if we could sing and Arthur and I broke into the church song that we had learned in Mongola Ju village. There, in the midst of people in business suits and chandeliers, we sang for our supper and the ticket man, cracking a smile, gave in.

Over the next few days, we got an insiders view of Nairobi and the surrounding area. We tasted the night life including the strip of bars and clubs aptly named 'Electric Avenue' and Rafikiz (Friends) where we danced to a rhythmic mix of live and recorded East African hits. We visited Kigen's development project, were mobbed by more adorable children, drove through enchanting Kenyan countryside over more of the deeply saturated rust-red roads that I had come to love in Tanzania. We spent a night in, treated to a feast by Kigen's girlfriend Rachel - seriously the best meal that we have had in Africa and one too many glasses of wine to count inducing passionate discussions about life and travel and gender roles around the world - It was a splendid evening ('til 4am)!


The next morning, after about an hour and a half of sleep, I bid a fond farewell to Arthur who opted to spend his last few days relaxing on the beaches of Zanzibar and I joined Kigen in a drive 5 hours west to attend his friend's wedding. Another African wedding! This one was a lot different and since it was being held in quite a rural setting, I was probably the first white person that many of the kids had ever seen. Ha, the wide-eyed stares were amusing and I imagined what it must be like to see someone of another race for the first time... In America, I just grew up assuming everyone was American unless I heard an accent. I would never think of addressing someone by their skin color, but here, we have people shouting "Mizungu!" even in cosmopolitan Nairobi!


That night, after a nice meal of local food, Kigen and I met some of his buddies in his home town and after drinking my very first energy drink (I'm working on an hour and a half sleep remember, plus a couple brief dozes in the car), we hit up a place called Signatures - and ROCKED it! :) We claimed an area and the group of us danced until about 6am!!! Being the only white person in the club for most of the night, I had a plethora of people interested in dancing and/or speaking with me. Kigen and a couple of his friends declared themselves my personal body guards which was sweet and even then, I managed to have a handful of hilarious interactions. One massive bouncer took my hand as I passed by and said "I wish to be your very best friend". After dancing with one fellow several times he said, "I wish you were mine... I would have given you a heroic welcome" - Ha! One younger guy 'spelled my name' on his heart by holding my hand to his chest while he flexed his pec muscle and another older guy said that he really enjoyed speaking to... people of my... community, clearly struggling to be politically correct, which I gave him props for, however amusing the comment. Racism is a strange beast... a subject that deserves it's own blog entry at some point.

Needless to say, upon waking up around 8 am in order to visit Kigen's parent's orphan project, I was a bit tired. My left foot was tender to walk on - too much dancing? Never! ;) - and my voice was wavering. The facilities for the children were amazing and I enjoyed touring the compound, but waiting until midnight to catch the bus to Kampala, it was hard to muster much energy. So many nights out (not to mention those with Arthur in Mombasa and Mtwapa) in a row were beginning to take their toll and as I said, after bidding adieu to my new friend Kigen and an over night bus into Uganda, a day off to recover was much needed!


Now, after a day or two of relaxing and exploring the city (a chaotic cluster of crowded streets, cars and trucks and speeding motorcycles causing a choking amount of pollution, a golden mosque, a peaceful cathedral and a fascinating, but somewhat disconcerting market, all bunched together amongst an impressaive amount of green on 7 rolling hills), I'll take a jaunt out to the city if Jinja (love that name), one of the 3 places that claims to be the source of the mighty Nile and then I am organizing my next big adventure - a trek into the jungle to visit the endangered silverback gorillas! I cannot wait to track them deep into the lush flora, bushwhacking our way to observe one of the few families left. Just a couple months ago, Kampala's sole UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kasubi Tombs, were burned down due to civil violence which makes me sad that I came just a little too late and reminds me why I want to see as much as possible, before it's too late!