Sweet Kampala

Now that we've arrived safely back in Kampala, I feel like I can post just how harrowing the trip is - especially when completed in a baby car.

The road out of Kampala is rough, filled with potholes. With good swerving action, it's possible to avoid many of them. Several miles out, construction started. Except one of the first steps of construction here is to put humps every 10 feet for 6 km or so. It was okay, we were expecting it. We came through the humps thinking we were past the worst. Then the real potholes started. These are the kind that blanket the road and are impossible to avoid, and we got really friendly with the shoulder. Once past the potholes, the road to Gulu was excellent. Potholes were rare and we made up for lost time. And then came the road to Kitgum. Oh, the road to Kitgum. It was 107 km of red dirt road, mostly washboard, and full of pot holes, rocks, people, bicycles, and bodas.

You can imagine how much we were looking forward to our drive today. We'd had a request to take some students and their teacher with us to Kampala. We told them that we had to leave at 7, and would be gone at 7:15 if they were not there. And then we forgot to turn our phone off silent. Oops. We woke up at 7 and ran out the door to find breakfast and our travel mates waiting. We were out of Kitgum by 7:45 and in Kampala by 3:30 - really good timing considering. And all of those humps - construction had progressed and most were gone. The potholes on the way in to Kampala - filled. Praise. God.

If we had not already asked our watchman to clean our car, I would have posted a picture. Instead, you will have to imagine a blue Toyota Corsa covered in red dirt. As we drove back from dinner tonight, we discovered that our headights were not all that effective what with the coating and all.

After passing off our passengers, we took warm showers, put on clean clothes, and drank cold mango juice. The maid was recalled to do our laundry, and we went to the mall food court for a mojito and a fanta. As much as we enjoyed trying out millet, we really enjoyed our pizza for dinner. And then we came home to clean laundry and an evening to ourselves. God is good.

The next two days look full, and then it's off to KENYA. Time is flying - I can't believe our trip is over halfway done!