the rains in Africa

Oh my. This last week in Gulu was an absolute adventure.  From beginning to end.  

It started at 6:30 a.m. on Monday morning as we made our way to the bus.  We got on a mutatu and just rode. None of us were really sure exactly where we should get off, but luckily people in the mutatu were willing to help.  We finally made it to some obscure bus stop and waited on the bus for two hours before it left.  (Skye asked when we would arrive in Gulu, and the driver said, "Sometime between 2:00 and 7:30.")  As the bus went along, we would make stops in small villages and they would try to sell us things through the window.  One man on the bus purchased two live chickens.  

So yeah, that happened.  It was a beautiful drive though.  I had every intention to work on some reading assignments on the drive but . . . let's be honest, when does that ever happen when combining me and scenery?

We finally made it into Gulu around 4:30, went right to our hotel and started doing interviews with LRA abductees.  Fascinating.  We then found a lovely American cafe and had pizza and passion juice for dinner by lantern light.  (We may or may not have eaten there every night....sometimes for lunch too.)  Great atmosphere, good people, fun conversation, etc.

AND, fell asleep to a rainstorm.  Every night.  It was lovely.  Every day was spent working on research projects all day. (Which included riding on bodas to get from place to place--so much fun.)  And then at night we would go to the restaurant and eat and talk.  One afternoon, though, we got to take a little field trip to the bush.  Dream come true?  Oh yeah.

Along the way, we stopped to look at Kony's church when he was a boy (oh also--we interviewed one of Kony's top commanders) and heard drums . . . went running to find children dancing.  I joined them and looked like a fool, but it was so much fun.

On the 4th, we focused our food efforts on being as American as possible.  (It was the only thing we could do to celebrate.)  So I got a burger and Coke.

We finished our week on Friday with breakfast at the cafe (amazing pancakes and French toast, I was shocked).  After wrapping up everything for research, made the long drive back home.  Which included driving over the Nile and through a baboon sanctuary.  And past a sunflower field.  Pretty neat.

I'll admit, it was a bit hard to come back to the crazy streets of Kampala.