Hills and Sunsets

Of the seven hills surrounding Kampala, I have now seen the sunset from two, Tank Hill and Kololo Hill. These past five days have been incredible. I love the walk to the shopping center. It's not too far, about fifteen or twenty minutes. If you're lucky, the sidewalk is free of parked cars and you can walk along it the entire way. If you're unlucky, your path is blocked and you have to join the heavy traffic on the road! I've decided my first boda boda ride will be from the shopping center to the apartment, it's practically a straight shot so my chances of flying off have to be pretty slim. But then again this is me we're talking about, so I should probably consider investing in a full-body protective suit.

The walk to the shopping center is really interesting because you're confronted with so many different aspects of Ugandan life, in one short trip. Along the sidewalk is a seemingly endless nursery, with some of the most peculiar plants I've ever laid eyes on. The nursery stretches from our apartment to about halfway down to the shopping center. You constantly see men and women walking down the sidewalk with baskets balanced on their heads, I don't know how they do it! Eric and Courtney have both tried balancing baskets full of bananas on their heads, and say they are extremely heavy, these people must have some strong necks!

Tonight we drove out to Peter's house for dinner, where we met Melody's mother. In order to get to their house we had to drive through a totally packed street. There were so many different vendors out selling their merchandise, everything from fruits and veggies to shoes and beauty supplies. I would have loved to get out of the car and roam about, the hustle and bustle of it all looked so appealing! I exchanged phone numbers with Melody's brother after dinner, as Eric insists he take me out dancing. What an experience that will be! Hopefully my American dance moves won't make me look to silly!

Uganda is truly blessed with beautiful citizens. The women are beautiful, the men handsome, and the children have the sweetest, most precious faces I have ever seen! I think my red hair and white skin are pretty rare sites for them, and they always giggle at smile at me when I wave. Today as we were walking past the primary school next to our apartments, some children saw us and started shrieking, "Hi Misungu, Hi Misungu!!" Tomorrow we are driving down to the equator and to Queen Elizabeth National Park. I can't wait! I plan on taking a million pictures and uploading them as soon as we're back! Okay, until next time!