#4 - May 20th 2007

Death-defying drive…

First thing in the morning Natalie, Peter, Peter’s dad, Persis, her friend Sam and I all headed downtown to the new taxi park (there is an old and a new one, basically the same destinations) to find a ride out to Jinja. Jinja is a small, sleepy town northeast of Kampala, situated at the exact spot where Lake Victoria feeds the Nile. For those of you that didn’t know, Lake Victoria is the base of the famous Nile river, which runs north through Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt, and has various tributaries running throughout the African continent. The drive took about an hour an a half through a paved and potholed ‘highway’ of sorts, in a taxi with about 15 other people in it. I’ve just begun to get used to driving in downtown Kampala, and now I have to work on getting used to ‘highway’ driving, which is an even more extreme experience. Very similar to the feeling you get on your very first rollercoaster ride, there is a fear, a rush of adrenaline and a small amount of pure terror at various parts of the experience. We would pass on the right with huge trucks coming straight for us on a road barely big enough for two vehicles, we would pass on the left with large ditches inches from our tiny tires, we would fly at 140 km/hr down hills as the taxi shook and creaked and wobbled. I noticed myself praying for salvation several times. I attempted to distract myself with the beautiful countryside, by the intriguing roadside stands, by the dilapidated huts and naked babies running around, but alas, it was as futile as running in the opposite direction on an escalator.

We ate lunch in Jinja, where we were less than delighted by our bowls of dyed green rice with chicken bones dispersed throughout. Our own faults for going to a restaurant geared towards ‘Mazungos’. We slowly made our way down to the exact spot where Lake Victoria flows into the Nile, which was beautiful, but also very touristy. There were some American Missionaries there who were doing everything in their power to ruin the experience for me. One of the women was trying to buy a tacky knick-knack from one of the stands by the mouth of the river and was basically demanding a better price, “Look here, I am a Missionary, I don’t have money, I need a better price now.” It really turned my stomach. They were all so loud, bossy, and intrusive.

Walking through Jinja on our way back to the taxi stand, we passed many decapitated old colonial mansions. From the few pictures I took you may be able to imagine what the town would have looked like in the 40’s and 50’s.

I think the power is about to go off again, so I had better be going, bye for now!

~Nicole