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Fortunately, I did not need to get up early, since we were leaving after lunch. I had got to sleep very late. I went down to the dining room for breakfast. It was now brightly lit by the large windows which surrounded three walls. A buffet was set out with assorted fruits and toast. I also had some thick, delicious coffee. I walked around the grounds and saw the swimming pool. There was a lot of construction, with a new floor being added to the hotel. They really should fix their water system first - people tend to expect hot water in a hotel charging $70 per night.
I wanted to send a card home, but the gift shop was closed, and the hotel was in a residential neighborhood with no other shops nearby. So I returned to my room and wrote a letter. Later, I went out and took some pictures around the grounds. I saw some interesting birds near the pool. Then I noticed that the gift shop had opened. There were not many post cards to choose from, but they had a kind of card with a wooden front and a selection of painted African scenes, and I bought one of these. There was enough room inside to copy my whole letter. The envelope provided didn't seal, so I used some tape. I thought this was more interesting than a post card, since you would never find such a primitive-looking thing in America. The hotel didn't have stamps, so I would have to mail it later.
I went to the dining room after noon for lunch, but they were behind schedule and sent me to the garden cafe out front, where they said I could order from a full menu. It was hot out, but shady. I ordered a chile cheeseburger with fries and carrots. The chile sauce was a bottled Kenyan brand served on the side. The burger was crisp outside but mushy inside. At first, I thought it was undercooked, but it appeared to be well-done. Then I realized that this was the texture of an Indian kofta, a meat patty containing onions and spices. There were koftas on the menu, so this was probably the same stuff. In fact, the burger was really tasty, as a kofta should be.
I called Catherine when I finished, and she and a driver came over. While I waited, a Kampala man in the lobby talked to me a while. He said this hotel was too expensive, and in fact it was, considering the water problems and all. Catherine and the driver took me to the Sheraton Forex to change money, since she said they had the best rate for travelers' checks. They had the same rate as for cash, which is rare here. The Sheraton was a beautiful, very expensive hotel on a hill overlooking a large park and downtown Kampala. Catherine suggested carrying $300 in US cash and $100 in Uganda shillings.
The Forex worker turned out to be at lunch, so we went down to the busy main street and went to a bank instead. Guards with machine guns stood in front of the entrance. I already had enough US cash, so I just got some shillings. Then, we mailed my letters at the main post office across the street, and set out for Fort Portal. Catherine asked how I liked the Fairway Hotel, and I told her about the water problems. She said it was hard to find a good reasonably-priced hotel in Kampala, and they are always trying to come up with something better. She said the Hotel Gloria, which is much cheaper, may be a good alternative. The Lonely Planet book said it was pretty bad, so I had rejected that idea earlier, but Catherine said it was not bad anymore since they remodeled it.
Catherine spoke to the driver in a local language. I asked what it was, and she said it was Lugandan, the most common language in Kampala, though the official language is English, and all signs are in English. Uganda has many local languages, and English is the only common language. I also asked the driver's name, but I had trouble understanding it. It sounded like "Bekka" or something.
I hadn't expected Catherine to come along to Fort Portal, but she did. The main traffic on the road was matatus, white minibuses that drove like crazy. They are cheap and popular among the locals and budget travelers, but crash often. I had read about them, and expected something grungier, but they were actually mostly new and clean-looking, which is not easy to maintain on the roads here.
We drove fast as well, passing through a number of villages. There were always a lot of pedestrians and bicycles on the road. The bicycles were usually being pushed, and used to carry a load of bananas or other items. Many people carried their loads on top of their heads, needing no hands to support them. A couple of trucks went by covered with large yellow plastic containers, hanging from every direction. Catherine said they are used to haul the local gin from Kasese to Kampala, and then the containers are returned empty.
The driver stopped at a number of fruit stands looking for a good pineapple. We stopped for refreshments in Mityana. At Mubende, the paved road ended. The next half of the ride was very dusty, not helping my scratchy eyes at all. We stopped at a fruit stand that had all the tomatoes arranged in tall stacks. Many of the stands did this. Most of the people in the villages were neatly dressed, with women wearing colorful dresses, and some of the men in suits. Finally, at the big market in Butiti, we stopped and the driver found some pineapples that met his standards. We bought some bananas too, as the car was surrounded by people bearing fruit. In a stand below, a woman was examining a large carcass for sale.
We drove past lots of banana trees. Catherine explained the many varieties. Some are sweet and eaten as fruit. Others are starchy and mashed like potatoes to make matooke. I had that last night. There were a lot of fruits for sale I didn't even recognize. Catherine told me the names of some. Most of the buildings in the villages seemed to be a kind of mud construction. There were a lot of what looked like termite mounds. I tried asking Catherine about them, but she thought I was asking about bananas.
Matatus sped by us, as we hurried to roll up the windows to keep the dust out. The small Korean sedan ("saloon car", Catherine called it) had no air conditioning. We stopped the car a few miles from Fort Portal to check the tires and steering after the bumpy high-speed drive. We were all covered by dust from having the windows open.
Finally, we arrived in Fort Portal and drove to the Mountains of the Moon Hotel, a large, single-story tin-roofed inn on the outskirts of town. The driver unpacked the car, and beat the dust off my duffle bag, which was now completely brown rather than blue. The sun was preparing to set over the Rwenzori foothills as we arrived. I thought it might be a nice sunset to photograph, but was disappointed as the sun simple disappeared into the haze, as it often does in the Smokies near home.
The hotel had beautiful grounds with big palm trees along the unpaved drive. The buildings were rustic, with very basic rooms, but at least the hot water worked. They offered to bring a bucket of it otherwise. Catherine wanted to stay here as well, but there were no more of the $25 singles, only $35 doubles, so she went elsewhere. The price was actually rather steep considering the condition of the hotel, which was big and nicely landscaped, but had seen better days and was now a bit run-down, though not unpleasant.
The lights went out at 7:00 PM as dusk fell, due to load-sharing. Electricity would return at 10 PM, they said. Candles were provided, and I showered by candle light. Hot water was slow to arrive, but came eventually. There was no shower curtain, but the shower head detached from the wall, on a hose so you could control it.
I went to the dining room and sat in front on the verandah. A generator provided fluorescent light here, though I think it would have been better with candles. I ordered pepper steak with fries and a Guinness Stout. Guinness is a bargain here, only $1.20. It would be about triple that in a restaurant at home. The bottle said "Guinness is good for you". No doubt it's nutritious stuff, but you wouldn't see that at home either. The steak was excellent. In fact, it was the kind of nondescript cut I had encountered in Nepal, but coated with a generous pepper crust which made it very spicy and delicious. It came with a gravy which was also good on the crispy tender fries (why can't they make them like that at home?). It was a fine meal.
Afterward, I took a nap until the lights returned at 10 PM, then repacked my bags so that my backpack (the 40 liter ArcTeryx pack I brought for supported treks) had only day-hiking things I might want for tomorrow's chimp-tracking in Kabale Forest: rain gear, photo equipment and binoculars. Catherine said it would be dry tomorrow, as it has not rained lately, so I may not need to bring my raingear. In fact, I may not even need the pack, but will be prepared in any case. Later in the night, a group of dogs outside had a howling-fest. It didn't last too long, fortunately. I was planning to get up at 6 AM, and still hadn't adjusted very well to the time change.
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| Previous: February 6 | Journal Contents | Next: February 8 |