Uganda

Uganda

As sad as it was to leave Zambia I was pretty excited for Uganda! We have now been here a few days and are quite settled. There is a bit more of a relaxed lifestyle here, that’s for sure. Uganda is situated about 45km from the equator. On arrival in Entebbe airport the first planes we saw were UN planes. We then were treated so some typical crazy African driving. Uganda is an even more underdeveloped country then Zambia and this was quite noticeable as soon as we arrived.
I love it here so much! Paddling is easy and fun and I am even getting the chance to practice some sweet play moves. We are staying right next to the river at a backpackers place called NRE (Nile River Explorers) and it is at the start of a descent play run called ‘Silverback’. I am really loving it here. Everyday is very chilled out! We wake up, go paddling and then just chill at the bar that is here at the backpackers. There are loads of paddlers around which is cool and makes for lots of fun. The part of Uganda we are in is pretty in the wild. We are staying near a place called Jinja. It is beautiful and green here. After kayaking we catch boda boda’s (little motorbikes) back up the track. The drivers are pretty crazy and you count your lucky stars everytime you make it back unscathed! Outside the backpackers all the locals have their little stalls. Best one is the Chapati stand. A chapatti is like a pancake and each one gets full of whatever you want…omelette, nutella, banana etc. They only cost about 1000 ping each(not even $1 Kiwi) which is awesome coz they full you up! People here are pretty friendly. Yesterday we went on a mission to a playhole called ‘Superhole’. About 10 of us caught a matato(van) up there and it was pretty fun. The van unfortunately ran out of gas so we had to wait by one of the local villages for another van to come for 3hours!!!In Africa anything goes and things are never in any hurry! It was a fun wait though because the locals lit a fire that we danced around and chilled by until the van came. They have the funniest adverts here… like ‘Say no to bad Sex’ and ‘Say no to morning Sex, Africa’ and ‘Shagging a virgin does not cure aids’. They are all trying to promote people using condoms but are worded so funny.
Leela and I caught a boda boda into town the other day and my guys bike ran out of gas so we had to sqeeze onto Leela’s. It was pretty fun. We checked out the markets which are really cool. We got a whole lot of pineapple and mangos and passionfruit and some massive avocados! Awesome. All the local black people call us Mazongu’s(White people) and are always yelling Jumbo Mazungu(Hello white person). Food is really cheap here along with everything else! I had fish curry the other night and it was really good. There is even a local chick that is doing Slalom here. She has put up some flat water gates on the river and has a brand new Vajda boat she got from the ICF. She said Mike and I can borrow it while we are here which is awesome. She wants to train up for the next Olympics.
Sweet, I am off to find some dinner then I think there is a wee party going down here, last night we celebrated Halloween and I painted myself green and went as The Incredible Hulk!
I will try get some pics up soon.