Friday, August 31, 2012

Just one of those days.....


I know that I have not blogged in FOREVER…..so please forgive that this first post in over a month is going to be me being a “negative Nancy”.

Today was quite the adventure. Sometimes, well almost always, I am in the mood for a wild time. Today…not so much and the LAST thing I wanted was a crazy adventure.

We had a late start leaving Jinja because my bungee pictures were not uploading on my computer and I had to go back to the place where we jumped to get them reloaded. We had bus reservations in Kampala at 2:00pm to head to Lira and the bus from Jinja wasn’t loaded and ready until noon. We were hopeful that we would make it in time….but then it started down pouring and the traffic once in Kampala was a nightmare. With the mixture of those two, we thought it would be best to jump off the coaster and get on some Boda’s(motorcycle taxi’s)  to take us to the bus park. Mind you, it is raining, I have my pink carry-on suitcase, backpack and a couple of sacks….way too much to travel on boda’s around kampala….but hey, it’s an adventure right?!? It all sounded fun in the beginning!

I have always said that I would never take a Boda in downtown Kampala because it is dangerous and the traffic is crazy. I did it on the day we left for Jinja and survived and in this moment we had no other choice. Seriously, maybe God has me take these because my prayer life increases drastically every time J

So we whistle over some boda’s (still raining) and I load up with my carry-on suitcase in front of the driver, over the handle bars and me on the back. Ronald and Cord hop on another. I was told that the bus park we were headed to was “very near”…which in Ugandan does not mean it is close J We take off and my Boda speeds past Cord and Ronald. We are zipping in and out of cars, squeezing our way through the tight traffic. Imagine a parking lot of cars….now picture a motorcycle between parked cars….now picture all of those vehicles moving….yup, that was me. Pretty sure we even scraped a few as we passed. I am holding my breath and praying for survival J

We are now down to 5 min left to make it to our bus. These buses leave exactly when they are supposed to and when my boda finally got me there, I see our bus pulling out. “Mzungu, Mzungu! Is that your bus you want? Chase it, chase it! Boda, take her!” The Ugandans were trying to be helpful and my boda took off following the bus. At this point, I have no idea where Cord and Ronald are at and even if we caught up to the bus I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do!

The bus was refusing to pull over to let me on and at this point I was so frustrated, covered in mud and soaking wet. The Boda continues to follow the bus and then all of the sudden another motorcycle comes out of nowhere, is parallel to us and then rams right into us! I grab the driver, thinking “dear God we are going to flip.” I was trying to brace myself for whatever was going to happen next and how to handle the fall the best. I was imaging a huge pile up if we crashed and then all the bodas and cars behind us running over us.  The motorcycle is out of control and we are wobbling and tilting back and forth.
The crazy roads
 
By God’s amazing protection, the boda was able to get control of the bike and we continued moving forward. He was still trying to catch the bus, but it was impossible and all I wanted was to get off the stupid boda! I told him to stop, but he kept going. I yelled a little louder…he still kept going. Finally, I just screamed in his ear “ Stop now!!!!”. He finally got the point. I jumped off and in that moment all I wanted to do was cry. I was soaked, my luggage was muddy and drenched, my body was shaking and I had no idea where Cord and Ronald were….I just wanted a freakin car! J

I took a deep breath, pulled up my big girl panties and knew that I had to get back on the boda to get to Ronald and Cord. I met them safely and then we took off walking to another bus park. I was told, “it’s just down the road”…Yeah right…..

We start walking in the muddy, jammed pack streets. I am trying to protect all my stuff and be aware of someone unzipping my backpack from behind….seriously insane streets at this moment. So thankful for burly men to help carry my load and a bright pink suitcase J  I looked at Ronald, half smiling/laughing, half NOT, saying “I do not want adventure right now. I do not like this at all right now…get me to the bus! J
Streets we had to walk through

We finally make it, load up the bus to find out that we still have 2 hours to wait until it fills up and can leave. Cord brings me my beloved Coke Zero (the only diet soda here) and I remember that I had some oreos in my bag. I sit down and for about 3.4 minutes I am relaxed. However, my peaceful moment is disrupted from then on with vendors crowding the aisles of the bus and getting in your face to buy their products….for the NEXT 2 HOURS! I feel claustrophobic often here because Ugandans or Africans in general have no concept of personal space….so needless to say; I had to practice a lot of deep breathing and taking vacations in my mind as I sat on the bus.
Why not have Matooke and Beans while you wait!?
Once we got moving (and crammed more people into the aisles for the 5 hour ride) I began to realize how normal this is becoming. This has been my normal for the past couple of months and will still be my normal for another month. I am not sure if I am ready for this all to end….in 30 days.

Bus Park
I am going to try REALLY hard to update my blog as frequently as possible throughout this next month. There is so much in store and even if there are days like today when I really don’t want an adventure….I will embrace it and remember that I will probably wake up the next morning itching for some drama J