The Pain of Overnight Buses

Cate with her little companion on the bus.
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Hi from Uganda!

Well, after many hours of pain, Cate and I have finally arrived in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.  I truly hate overnight buses!  Even more now, since this was the absolute worst bus ride ever!!

After getting back to Nairobi and crashing for awhile at Primetime Safaris, Cate and I left for the bus station.  Because bus tickets are really cheap (about $10 Canadian), Cate and I decided to buy 2 each that way we could keep our luggage with us and keep a better eye on it.  We felt bad though because there was a woman on the bus that had 3 children and they were all jammed into 2 seats.  I took one of our bags and Cate took one of the children into her 2 seats.  The girl was about 5 and super cute.  She curled up to Cate and fell asleep right away.

Me on yet another boat... and also on the Nile (sort of).
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The beginning of the bus ride was okay.  Both of us managed to fall asleep for a little bit before waking up at the only restroom break for the entire 12 hour bus ride.  Cate and I talked for awhile.  Here's a bit of our conversation:

Cate: It was funny.  At one point the bus stopped and there was this guy waving a flashlight and banging on the side of the bus.  I was like, "don't tell me that we're being attacked by bandits already!!"

Me: Bandits?

Moses and Cate on the boat.
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Cate: Yeah, Lonely Planet warns that bandits are common on this highway.  Didn't you read about that?

Me: No.  Fabulous.

The trip went downhill from there.

Remember how I previously was commenting about the hilarious road conditions and the off-roading that has become necessity?  I take it back.  It's good times when you're in a safari jeep that has amazing shocks and is built to go everywhere.  It's an entirely different experience when you're trying to sleep in a bus with no shocks.  We were bouncing so much that we were actually coming out of our seats.  By the time that we reached the border, both Cate and I felt so nauseous that it was insane.  For those of you that know me well, you know that I never get motion sickness.  Planes, cars, boats, they have never been a problem.  Anyways, I can now sympathize with people that get motion sickness because it was the worst feeling ever!  Cate and I spent a queasy 1.5 hours at the border standing in lines and paying ridiculous (and unnecessary) sums of money to get into Uganda.  Eventually we were able to get back onto the bus, and fortunately were able to sleep the rest of the way to Kampala (much better roads- wise investment Ugandian government!).

The clear waters of Lake Victoria with the Ugandian coastline in the background.
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After arriving in Kampala, we were both still feeling pretty disgusting.  We got into the first cab that we saw and proceeded to make our way to the hotel with a short stop at an ATM along the way.  Since we had always had great cabbies that made fantastic recommendations, we decided to trust this cab driver as well.  Big mistake!  We ended up at this horrible hotel complete with bugs, a recent electrical fire, and no water.  At least the location was decent as it was in the center of town (albeit down a sketchy alleyway).  At this point though, Cate and I were still feeling sick and decided that we could make do for one night.  Several trips down to the front desk and several arguments with reception later and we also managed to get (cold) water in our room.

Cate tying up her shoes before bed to keep the critters out.
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After taking a bit of a nap, we took off to meet with Cate's friend, Moses.  We ended up having a great afternoon with him.  We noticed that many of the children we were passing were yelling "mazumgu" as we passed.  After our time on the coast and the super-friendly, "jambo" yelling children there, I just assumed that they were saying hi.  Moses was like, "nope, they're saying "white person"."  Let's just say that it was really cute at first, but became tiresome and then annoying really quickly.  Moses took us to Lake Victoria, the birthplace of the Nile (ahh, such fond memories...).  We went out in a boat for about 30 minutes or so.  Water is so much cleaner when it isn't passing through 4 countries first.

That night before bed, Cate declared war on every roach in our room and the Great Roach Massacre of 2006 took place.  In all, probably about 70 roaches suffered untimely deaths.  C'est la vie.  After the horrible bus ride and in desperate need of sleep, we felt it was a just act.

Anyways, sorry for the really long entry.  Keep checking back for more entries soon!

Katie