Journey to Uganda

Yesterday we made the long trek from Kakamega, Kenya to Soroti, Uganda.  The journey started at 8 a.m. that morning and ended around 7 p.m. that night. 

We began by meeting at the house/office.  We departed a little late (true to East African form), made a couple of stops in town, and then left Kakamega town around 9 a.m. (not too bad actually).  Fortunately, some of my colleagues were kind enough to help me haul around my ridiculously large amount of luggage.  

Way too much baggage!

We hired a matatu to get us to the border since we had a large group, and then we hired another one to pick us up on the Uganda side of the border to take us the rest of the way.  It was a long day, but the landscape was beautiful (as always) and we saw some interesting sights.   

More fun (or not so much) travelling in matatus

I'm always impressed by African ingenuity, doing the best with what you have

Line of trucks waiting to cross the border

 At one point, we got stuck with a train crossing the road.  The frustrating part was that it was moving really slow, then it stopped several times blocking the road, started to go backwards, then forward, then backwards, then forward...  Eventually it moved out of the way about 10-15 minutes later. 

Waiting for the train

We stopped for lunch in Mbale, Uganda (where I actually stayed a couple of days when I came to Uganda in January), and we had yet another delicious meal (if you haven't figured it out yet, I LOVE with the food here.)   :)

Beans, pilau rice and chapati. Yum!!

The roads in Uganda are definitely worse than Kenya, so we got to experience the more vigorous Ugandan massage for several hours. The first sign we were getting close to Soroti was the rock formation on the horizon that is situated near the town.  We then passed Lake Kyoga, which was really pretty, though I think it's a big factor in why there are SO many mosquitoes here. 

Challenging roads on the way to Soroti

Lake Kyoga

We arrived to a very warm reception by the staff here in Soroti, and I enjoyed watching joyous greetings of coworkers who had never met and those who were reuniting for the first time in a while. 

I'll be staying here in Soroti for 1 week. Below is a photo of my room. Unfortunately, the new digs have no hot water. :(  I had been spoiled by only having a couple cold showers while in Kenya.  A possible plus side though, is that it's a LOT hotter here, which makes the cold showers not quite as bad...

A downside though, is in my first night here, I got significantly more mosquito bites in a matter of hours than I received during the 5 weeks I was in Kenya.

We'll enjoy the week here in Soroti while at our summit of all field staff from Kenya and Uganda.  I'll then be heading to Hoima, Uganda, at the end of the week.