Juancho in Uganda

Marzo 8/24

02 Marzo/24

I am currently in Entebbe on my last day in Uganda. I came yesterday night from Iganga after taking two taxis/vans packed with people. The first one to Kampala was sad since just a couple of minutes before my taxi arrived to a spot a crash had pretty much destroyed a similar van and 8 people died. The second taxi was very hectic and long to take in a very packed taxi park in Kampala but I was able to make it to Entebbe Backpackers hostel by 5PM. Today I am taking my time here in town and probably walking towards the beach (not really a beach since this is a landlocked country but the sides of Lake Victoria) and taking a local breakfast. I already saw a place that has Katogo (I really don't know what it is but I am eating it!) and some African tea. The next post will probably be full of pictures when I am back in the US, but that won't be until friday night since I have a long layover in NY (Metropolitan Museum of Art... here I come!). I have had probably one of the best experiences in my life and hopefully one that determined what I want to do for the rest of it. This has been amazing!

Yesterday was good bye day and I even got the opportunity to visit Bunio again. The kids were jumping of joy when they saw me (at least that is what I believe) and the elders were very happy to see me again. It was interesting to hear that our house hadn't been opened since we left and we even got a tour of it again. It was very emotional and nice to see the Kidiki family, Patrick Kibumba, Auntie Joyce, Auntie Aida, Rejab, Idi, Waiswa and all the people that I am forgetting. Juliet went with me and she also had a great time. She took good care of me at the taxi park and fought her way to get me a front seat at the taxi at the same time that she was ready to cry. I will miss her too.

Other people that I said goodbye in the last two days are Medie and Reagan Kiviri from Safe Mothers Safe Babies organization, "my brother" at Moon supermarket (who wanted to give me a free Coca Cola), the Indian cook at the Pilau (rice with goat meat) place that invited me to eat at his house to learn the proper way to eat with the hands, the staff at Sol Café, and the rolex guy that gave me 2 additional mandazis for my taxi ride. I am very grateful to everybody in Uganda including the UVP staff. last note: The dinner at the UVP house with the pasta and the bottle of wine was delicious.... Thanks Kristen, Annie, Alanta, and Linnea!

Next post from Miami!!! See you all soon and I will remember Uganda forever!!!! Mwebale Uganda ino ino ino ino ino ino ino

Today is working day in Iganga. I am writing my report and even though it reminds me of a lot of nice memories in the village it gives me sadness too. Yesterday I was thinking about coming back to Miami and it kept me awake for quite some time since I know it is going to take me some time to accommodate. I will definitely miss this great country a lot.

Yesterday I came back from Mt. Elgon after a 4-day trip to climb Wagagai summit. It was one of the greatest adventures that I have ever taken and at some times I thought that I was not going to be able to achieved it. We started at the exploration center in Sipi Falls were we met our guides Jacob and Paul that were fully armed with AK-47 rifles (supposedly for poachers but it seemed a bit much to me!). We then proceeded to hike for 28km until our first camp that was at about 2900 meters high. We passed Tutum cave around lunch time, which was a large natural rock formation were tons of bats could be heard. The next day we did another long 20km hike to the second camp at 3900 meters of altitude. We were all pretty much exhausted from the long climbs, the amount of mud, and the blisters around our feet. Next day was Wagagai climb which took 9km and provided awesome views. We could even see the Kenyan mountains in the distance from this peak at 4300 meters. The descent was very comforting and we even made it to Sasa river camp which was at a much lower altitude (not as freezing cold as the night before!). The last day had an awful descent through the face of a mountain that looked like a wall. It took us about 4 hours to cover the 6km and it should had taken us a little longer if the rain would have been stronger the night before. All the clothes were pretty much covered in mud, but a nice shower and lunch at Rose's last chance restaurant gave us a much needed comfort.

Two of the team members of the expedition (Ted and Cameron) left this morning and the other one (Marshall) will leave for Nairobi tonight. I will be leaving for Entebbe tomorrow were I will spend the night and I will fly out on thursday via Addis, Dubai, and New York.

I AM GOING TO MISS AFRICA!!!

This has to be quick because we need to catch a car fast towards Sipi Falls. I went on Safari to Murchison Falls this past weekend and it was amazing. We camped close to the Nile at the Red Chili site and saw Giraffes, Hippos, Elephants, Lions (including cubs), tons of antelopes of any kind, warthogs, baboons, and crocodiles. There was a boat during monday afternoon that took us to the bottom of the falls and the views were just espectacular. We also did a hike on tuesday to the top of the falls and saw how powerful they are. Wednesday was spent shopping in Jinja (I got 1 awesome painting!) and saying good bye to the other team leaders from the program. We woke up really early and took a taxi to Iganga, proceeded to buy a jacket for the climb (jacket and Columbia sweter for 10 dollars total) and tried to exchange dirty clothes but my big bag was not available. We took a large coach bus to Mbale and we are ready for a 4 day hike towards Mt Elgon (highest peak is 4350 meters with a starting hike of 25 km tomorrow). I will enjoy the views from the Crow's nest today and also their Guacamole and chips as well as their tomato curry. On that note, I have become and absolute lover of Indian food and have eaten a lot of spices lately. I have been missing on something delicious for a very long time!!!

This was our last week and today we officially left our nice little piece of heaven. The village has been amazing and I am sure that I am going to miss its people and the peace that it exudes. Our main events this week were the finalization of the house to house sanitation pushes (a total of 137 were done) and arranging for our last event. Just after finishing the first one on tuesday we got caught by a huge rainstorm that made us wait at a small store. While waiting there were at least 8 kids that started running naked towards the road and played with the water and the rain. I almost wanted to join them, but I knew it was probably not a great idea. After some time throwing water at each other they even did some handstands and ran home were they coughed for quite some time (we got one of them inside the store and he wouldn't stop caughing!). After about an hour waiting we (Juliet and I) started walking in the middle of a drizzle and in full darkness. We made it home somehow with my newly nightly adapted Ugandan eyes and not as much mud on the shoes as expected.

The big event was fantastic with a huge xylophone type instrument that was made of long plantain three trunks and pieces of wood of different sizes. They played from 2PM (Esawa Munana) until 7PM. We got to even dance with some of the locals and enjoy little kids perform for us. We also arranged for a Chapatti maker to deliver 300 of these tortilla-like concoctions to the village and they were eaten in approximately 10 minutes. Everybody was very happy and we got to see even inhabitants of neighboring villages.

At night we got most of the farewells from the locals including uncle Willibur who promised to have his next son named Felipe because of me. To top everything off, Malaika and I decided to take the mattresses outside and slept with just a mosquito net above our heads. We didn't get to see as many stars as we wished, but the experienced was still great despite the lonely sheet that I had to cover myself and the lack of socks because I forgot to get them out of my room. This morning was pretty sad with everybody saying good bye and us not really wanting to leave. I will stay in Iganga tonight and tomorrow I will go to Kampala for a 3 day safari to Murcheson falls starting on Sunday. I will also go to Sipi Falls again next week to start the climb of Mt. Elgon on the morning of August 6.

PS. One person that I forgot to mentioned was "My Brother": This is the nicest store clerk in Iganga town from Moon Supermarket. This nice Pakistani always asks me... How is it going my brother? and was very concerned about my wallet when it was gone. He was very sad today when I bought airtime for the phone and found out that I will be leaving very soon.

There have been a lot of interesting people that I have not mentioned and it is now their time:

Smiling Jane: Jane is a secondary school student that once confessed to me that she wants to be a doctor and who loves biology class. Every time that collect water from the water we pass by her house and she greet us with a smile and a very long salute that includes greetings for every member of our team by name. I have not yet seen her without her huge smile, which is great!

Uncle Willibur: The son of the chairman, uncle Willibur delivers to us the milk every night and tells us what is happening in the town. He also is in charge of fixing the boreholes and has done a great job of following up on the engineers to finally have some water on the broken borehole (it broke down again today, but it should be fixed soon)

Patrick Kibumba: A cousin of the chairman, this mobilizer has killed all the pests from our house including the termites that were removed this week. His wife Justine is a very active participant in the community as well and someday she wants to be a village councellor. Good luck to her!!!

Auntie Joyce: The owner of our house is always laughing and loves to ask us questions in Lusoga. She is a very sweet woman that wouldn't let us go to bed if somebody forgets something outside or if the bikes are not properly parked. She also sweeps the compound in the most thorough form possible.

Auntie Ayda: Our cook has made our life great by giving us local Ugandan food. I even have special status now since she saves me some Posho to be turned into arepas when there is time for grilling. She is Rejab and Idi's mom.

Baby Goat: Not a person but the latest character in Bunio. This goat was born about 1 to 2 weeks ago and it is the craziest animal ever. It know stands on chairs, jumps on our walls like a skateboarder, or just slides on our porch like a skater. The craziest trick has been hitting both of the back legs on mid-air. We won't attach to much to it since he will probably turn to stew soon!