Saturday, November 10, 2007

Finally

I'll start by saying that the 50 or so hours in transit from Ari's in Chennai to Kampala Uganda were some of the most harrowing of the trip. For instance, accidentally throwing away my passport in Ari's garbage and not realizing it until I had arrived at the airport to depart was a classic "Bohn" moment. Luckily, thanks to the regularity of flight delays in that country, my hour-long taxi ride to Ari's and back did not make me miss my flight. No thanks, however, to the Indian taxi driver who did everything in his capacity to extend my stay in Chennai (and then ask for a tip). Little did I know that I would be spending that night in the Mumbai airport (arriving at midnight, taking off at nine), rated one of the worst airports to sleep in by sleepinginairports.com (earlier Bankok entry now posted there). Let me say that I completely agree with this evaluation: Never, NEVER stay overnight in the Mumbai airport if you can help it.

Oddly, thankfully, it was a (literal) breath of fresh air landing in Nairobi. "Nairobbery" has a terrible reputation, but we found it temperate, sunny, and relaxed compared to the craziness of India. The 12 hour bus ride to Kampala however clearly demonstrated the lack of infrastructure (exampled here in the "off-road" roads) in Africa, even when compared to India. I spent the first 20 minutes of this ride thinking of apt anologies (examples: world's worst roller-coaster ride, a U.S. "shock and awe" military campaign, riding the end of a buzz saw, driving up my Santa Fe washboard driveway one million times in a row), and the other 11 1/2 hours hating myself for not flying.

We are now safely in Kawempe, a suburb of Kampala, working for an organization called TASAAGA (more on this later). Apologies for the brevity and vagueness of this post.