Busier still.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

I’m in the final stretch of my adventures in Uganda and the research is also almost complete. We are within reach of our final target number for blood samples and are working hard on getting more soil samples… OK, right now, I’m not working too hard as I have some sort of fever / nausea / yuckiness thing that keeps on coming back. Today I just relaxed all day after doing laundry and dishes. You see, it’s been an amazing and active week so far.

Sunday was a fast day. On Saturday night, I lit my room with one candle and read Ecclesiastes. The first 3 words really resonated with me. I am completely alone in religion here in Mpererwe. I wonder why we read it all together in the synagogue. Maybe being alone should be part of the experience. Sunday morning, after davening (praying), I went to ABC Primary school for the second time. They have so many children in Primary 1 that many parents did not get to come the first time around. We have a total of 57 children from their school. I was exhausted by the time testing was over, but was so excited to see my friend Sonia who came in from Tanzania for a visit to Uganda. I spent the rest of the afternoon reminding her how a faucet worked and about tiled floors.

Monday morning we left for Murchison Falls. Google it, it’s worth it. The bus ride up there was a disaster; it took about 7.5 hours from the time that we got on the bus, there was a woman sitting in the aisle who insisted on sharing my leg space, and the driver almost flipped the bus over. Yea, really. Luckily, nobody else was on the bus because we all had the brains to get off while he tried to bypass a broken down truck on a single lane road right next to a ditch. He attempted, but did not follow through. Smart move too, because the next truck that did attempt flipped on it’s side. We ended up backing up at about 20mph on a tiny dirt road so that we could turn around and take an even smaller road at faster speeds. I think we may have even run over a cow.

We got to the national park very late after taking a driver from the city square. We also found out that the transportation we were relying on did not exist and ended up having to hire the driver for the following 2 days. Which worked out perfectly. Julius took us to our campsite, Kanyiyo Pabidi (I still can’t pronounce it well), and we crashed in the nicest dorms I have ever seen in my entire life. And I had another hot shower. This was the best one so far because everything at KP is solar powered!

Breakfast on Tuesday was great fresh fruit and AMAZING FRENCH-PRESS coffee! I had 2 cups. Julius drove us to the Paraa river launch and we took a ride up the river to see Murchison Falls. The way to the falls was so much better than the falls itself. Every time people on the boat saw some sort of animal, the whole boat would tip towards that side. We saw hippos and crocs, deer and buffalo, and tons of birds. I’m glad because this way we didn’t feel the need for a game drive.

We rushed back to KP because we were hoping some people wouldn’t show up for their guided chimp trek. 2 people didn’t show up. It was perfect. We ended up getting a private guide to take us to the chimps. He said we were the luckiest people he has ever taken because of the private tour and because the chimps were on the ground in the middle of the path when we first encountered them. Chimps are a lot bigger than I imagined them. We spent an hour and a half with the chimps, saw some really old (500 years) trees, and had a general good time.

Wednesday morning, we decided to sleep late so that we could relax before taking another ride back to Kampala (besides, I ran out of money and there was no ATM in the park). At breakfast (which lasted 2 hours), Sonia introduced me to bonobos, another species of great apes. They are pretty funny animals, probably worth the Googling.

The ride back was pretty sweet. We got a matatu instead of going on a big bus. We met a cool guy named Justin who had been working with the Red Cross in Masindi, the town closest to the park. We went out for dinner at another Indian place, I had couscous…again. Though I did enjoy my drink; vodka was an excellent additive to my freshly-squeezed passion juice.

Today we planned on getting some more soil samples from ABC primary school, but only Lauren went because I felt a little tired. Tonight, Lauren and I are making a mzungu dinner for the Lubogas. Tomorrow, we are going to another school, Kittetika C/U, and then Shabbat comes. I leave for America on this coming Wednesday. Before I go, I know I have a lot more writing to do.