Miracles at the Border and Into Uganda

Ok, so I left the land of donkeys no sooner than I danced all night on the "floating bar" which sits itself in the middle of the ocean, only reachable by boat or swimsuit. And took the ferry at 6am to the mainland to start on bus extravaganza. I crossed Kenya and my second bus was overnight, I woke up to find the bus stopped because there were fears of thieves in the area who shoot th tires out of nice buses and loot. But alas, there was no problems.

And I forgot to mention the Somalian refugees I met in the northern part of Kenya, where there is the second largest refugee camp in the world, currently at quadruple mass capacity....I did not go there but met some folks along the way.

So I headed from Nairobi to Uganda. I needed to pass through there to get to Rwanda and planned to break up the long trip with a couple of days in the capital city of Kampala. The border crossing was hectic and miraculous...I (after being travel cushioned by the academic program taking care of everything) did NOT do my homework and got a surprise in the dusty border crossing line that I needed 50 dollars in U.S. currency to pass through. Yikes, long story short I held up the bus, almost got severly ripped off by a curreny change guy, and almost got left at the border of Kenya and Uganda. But my bus driver came to the rescue, and somehow I pulled 50 from my account. The thing is is that the inflation rates are insane around here. For example, in Rwanda a cup of tea is 1,000 franks. So conversion is not necessarily my bag so it takes alot to get used to.

But anyway, after some interesting conversations from East Africans on the bus I arrived in the "pearl of Africa" Kampala, Uganda. Which is an insane ball of perfect chaos!!! And I loved it. To my surprise the city of 7 hills (or 6?) like Rome, was amazing. The traffic blows Rio de Janeiro out of the water and speeding amongst all the insanity are these motorcycle taxis names Boda-Bodas.

I decided to spend my nights at a youth hostel (which I think I am growing out of ;( and researched the university library to post up in and do my essay.

Needless to say I was on the boda-bodas with a quickness and loved them. I told myself I must get out of this city because I liked the motorcycles too much.

So I talked the libraries into letting me pay a small fee to use the libraries and during my studies, which I spent all day there, I met intellectuals at the university and had dinner with them after studying all day. It was lovely, very non-touristy experience.

Another highlight of my grief stay in Kampala was contacting a former teaching assistant of mine at Columbia who is doing his dissertation work concerning the alleviation of poverty in Uganda. We had breakfast and he unexpectedly gave me a slew pf advice about my near graduation and pursuit into law school. He gave me contacts of amazing people doing projects such as refugee law and others in Kampala, who I have since contacted and had wonderful conversations with people who are actively doing my dreams.

Then Micheal Jackson died, and EVERY boda-boda driver knew in the whole city!! Through broken english wizzing down the street we would have conversations about the late pop idol.
Priceless.

Then after three nights it was off to Rwanda to start the human rights delegation, which has been VERY interesting!! More to come, love you guys. Thanks so much for reading and your comments, it gives me support here.

And I loaded pics! finally. p.s. they take 30 minutes to load dudes.
Oh and p.s.s....This is a shout out to my lovely world traveling sister....where are you my dear? I miss your words.

Love and Respect,
Chelsea