It was easy to find Atwooki in the Entebbe airport. He was holding a sign made by Carol that said: "Aloha Kaggy". He gave me a warm welcome and immediately took charge of my bags. We were greeted in the parking lot by David, one of the orphans in Carol's program. He was smiling ear to ear. Before beginning our journey, Atwooki prayed and asked for the Lord's blessing (trust me, we were going to need it). We headed for Kampala, Uganda's capital where we were to pick up Jacob, an 18 year old Canadian who had arrived two days earlier for a year of ministry with Y.E.S. Uganda. Traffic in Kampala is something that is difficult to describe. You just have to experience it I guess. I kept saying to Atwooki "I've never seen anything like this!" It was chaos. After picking up Jacob we began our six hour drive to Fort Portal. Atwooki told me that the bus companies claim they can make the trip in just four hours. “They drive too fast” he said. He wasn’t kidding. You may think I’m exaggerating (Shaun and Jess know that I’m not!) but the buses drive roughly between 90 and 100 miles per hour (Carol even said so!) Yep! That’s right! And these are huge buses mind you. Furthermore, Atwooki informed me that the rivaling bus companies actually compete with each other so are constantly trying to pass each other on the road (never mind that there is oncoming traffic). Half of the journey is spent dodging potholes and nobody seems to care that doing so sometimes requires driving on the wrong side of the road. Oh, and did I mention there are no rest stops along the way? I don’t mean to be dramatic but I really thought I was going to get heat stroke. I was trying to drink just enough water to stay hydrated without having to go to the bathroom. Call me prissy but I really didn’t want to have to go on the side of the road like everyone else does! Needless to say I was elated to hear Atwooki announce: “We’re almost there!” The Y.E.S. Hostel was a sight for sore eyes and it was so good to see Carol and her staff waiting on the lawn to welcome me! I was home!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Entebbe to Fort Portal
It was easy to find Atwooki in the Entebbe airport. He was holding a sign made by Carol that said: "Aloha Kaggy". He gave me a warm welcome and immediately took charge of my bags. We were greeted in the parking lot by David, one of the orphans in Carol's program. He was smiling ear to ear. Before beginning our journey, Atwooki prayed and asked for the Lord's blessing (trust me, we were going to need it). We headed for Kampala, Uganda's capital where we were to pick up Jacob, an 18 year old Canadian who had arrived two days earlier for a year of ministry with Y.E.S. Uganda. Traffic in Kampala is something that is difficult to describe. You just have to experience it I guess. I kept saying to Atwooki "I've never seen anything like this!" It was chaos. After picking up Jacob we began our six hour drive to Fort Portal. Atwooki told me that the bus companies claim they can make the trip in just four hours. “They drive too fast” he said. He wasn’t kidding. You may think I’m exaggerating (Shaun and Jess know that I’m not!) but the buses drive roughly between 90 and 100 miles per hour (Carol even said so!) Yep! That’s right! And these are huge buses mind you. Furthermore, Atwooki informed me that the rivaling bus companies actually compete with each other so are constantly trying to pass each other on the road (never mind that there is oncoming traffic). Half of the journey is spent dodging potholes and nobody seems to care that doing so sometimes requires driving on the wrong side of the road. Oh, and did I mention there are no rest stops along the way? I don’t mean to be dramatic but I really thought I was going to get heat stroke. I was trying to drink just enough water to stay hydrated without having to go to the bathroom. Call me prissy but I really didn’t want to have to go on the side of the road like everyone else does! Needless to say I was elated to hear Atwooki announce: “We’re almost there!” The Y.E.S. Hostel was a sight for sore eyes and it was so good to see Carol and her staff waiting on the lawn to welcome me! I was home!
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The last thing I said to you before you left was "Aloha"!
ReplyDeleteThose bus rides are hair-raising. Glad you didn't have to do it. Mark and I went on one of those competitive, go-as-fast-as-you-can-cuz-you're-in-a-James-Bond-high-speed-chase-sequence bus rides in El Salvador. We rented a car to get back...<><