Kampala, Uganda

LV > LA=1 hour

LA > Dubai=16 hours

Dubai > Uganda=5 hours

WE FINALLY MADE IT TO AFRICA!

I say finally, but to be honest it didn't feel like it took as long as it actually did. Our flights were beyond perfect--and that is a huge when you go on big trips in a short amount of time. I hardly felt the effects of jet lag, which I partly owe to our smart flight booking, but it also had a lot more to do with the fact that I had was in Africa!! A place I had only dreamed of going. And we weren't in just regular Africa, but we were in the "Pearl of Africa". I often got asked by fellow travelers why I chose Uganda. They always told me I made the right choice. And it didn't take me long to see why. 

Stepping off of that plane was surreal. The airport was tiny, and not just compared to where we had just come from. It was the smallest airport I'd ever been in. The land was green. Probably greener than I'd ever seen and the dirt was a bright reddish-brown. The contrast was like nothing I'd ever seen either. Everything was so vibrant and beautiful. The line for customs took a really long time and we were sweating in the unconditioned airport. But after about an hour of waiting we were finally done and on our way!

We walked out of the doors of the airport and in the midst of a ginormous crowd of Ugandans we heard my name and then saw my sign! I've always dreamed of a person holding my name on a sign at an airport. The fact that it was in Africa made it that much better. Nicolas was a man that Julie (BC's friend) had put me in touch with. We had been email communicating for a few weeks now. Poor Nic had been waiting for us for over an hour because of the customs line. I'm grateful he stuck around! Our union was joyous. I cannot say enough great things about this man.He was so happy and smiley and cheerful and just all-around great. More on why later, but we were all so excited to finally meet and get on the road to Kampala!

Entebbe>Kampala= 1 hour (without traffic) 

Traffic in Kampala is insane. Always congested. 

It took us a couple hours to finally make our way to our hostile. We went around to a few and our we fell in love with one called Cornerstone that was unavailable and by invite only. It was more of a house than a hostile for volunteers. We finally settled on staying at City Annex right in the heart of downtown Kampala. In hindsight, it was the perfect place. Within walking distance to a lot of places. After making future plans with Nic and then saying our goodbyes...we were on our own to explore the city. Everybody in Uganda takes boda-bodas everywhere. We were nervous to get on a bike with some random man in the middle of Africa in the crazy bad traffic. (Later that night we consulted with some fellow American travelers and they assured us that it was totally safe--well safe enough and fine to do). But for that evening we trusted our good 'ole feet. 

Our first stop was at a local mall. The mall in Uganda--is not what you think. I don't even know what was in there to be honest. Stores, but not like clothing stores. It was like i don't even know what kind of stores. We saw a computer hub, where you could pay to use a computer. And then we saw a grocery store. We decided to grab dinner real quick at a local restaurant that had wi-fi before heading back to explore the grocery store. PS: Wi-fi was impossible to find in Kampala for us. Everyone just told us to buy sim cards and pay for internet that way--well sim cards didn't fit in our iPhones...so we couldn't. I was shocked. It would have been helpful. Anyways we had a delicious, totally American meal as our first meal in Uganda. I think I got a burger and Margo got fish of some sort I think. It was good though. After dinner we headed back to the grocery store to explore. This was the straight up Wal-mart of grocery stores. There were appliances and everything for sale there! I was quite surprised. But i was definitely just because we were win the big city. We never saw stores like that again. Sidenote: There were police everywhere in Kampala. To get into the parking lot where the mall was a police officer had to search you. To get into the mall, you got searched. To get into the grocery store, you got checked. There were also officers up and down the streets and ones outside of our hostile as well. Only girl officers could search the women. If no female officer was present, you didn't get checked. It was insane how many police officers were everywhere!

Please notice the police officer in the background on guard

After dinner we spotted a massage place! Um...if you know anything about me and Margo--we are obsessed. So of course we had to see what African massages were all about. It was a really nice place and the prices were decent. We opted for the $20 scrub and massage. Boy were we in for a shock. What started out nice and completely normal ended a bit differently.We were given some carrot juice and  taken to individual rooms and asked if one of us would mind a male masseuse. Margo tends to like it "rougher" than me (pun intended, just kidding) so she opted for the male. We were given privacy to undress with a sheet to properly keep us covered and were scrubbed with some Hawaiian smelling scrub--seems normal enough. Until we got to the chest area. She folded that sheet right on down and rubbed my breasts. Yes, my breasts. I was shocked, speechless and completely alarmed, but I also didn't want to offend her. We were in Africa and I didn't know what was "deemed" normal. Plus I had just seen a woman whip her breast out on the street to nurse her baby...so I just held my breath and went with it. After she was finished we were taken to the sauna where I was reunited with Margo and together we sweated our butts off. Margo asked if I'd been violated too. Haha. We both had! Only hers was by a guy and took it to a whole new level--to the point where she had to ask him to stop! I was grateful at that point that I had gotten the woman :) We got lotioned down, paid and hurried our butts out of there! We later asked our suite-mates if that was normal here in Africa. They said no. Freaking heck.

 How's that for an exciting great day in Africa? Gettin' felt up by some locals. And the best part is that 5 days later I ran into my masseuse at a mall and she gave me the BIGGEST hug like we were the best of friends. Of course she remembered me :)

A dinosaur statue outside the massage place. I took this picture for Matix :)

We headed back to our room and happily slept like African princesses! 

Seriously, who hasn't dreamed of having a bed like that? 

(Minus the mosquitoes, ha)

Next up: Jinja, Uganda!