Mombasa - Jinja

Back in Uganda at last! :) It took 23 hours from Mombasa, setting off at 9pm and arriving just before 8pm in time to meet Jon, Alex, Harri, Sami, Tom and Carla for an Indian in Jinja. It was lovely to see everyone again and exchange stories. :) It sounds like they've had an amazing time and had loads of laughs, but Harri had a bad quad biking accident the previous day and Sami had broken a quad bike because she didn't know how to brake. So wish I could haev seen that, ha ha! Their pictues look great. :) Despite our excitement about washing, we dumped our bags, whipped out the dry shampoo, got changed and went out for dinner.

We were all excited to meet them again and sped up as we reached the Indian. However, it turns out they were not at the same Indian restaurant we went to before, oops. Probably should have checked that one... We went to an Indian that's kind of in/behind a petrol station. It's quite cool and quirky, and had really good food. Mind you, based on our standards after Lwannunda, most food has been pretty damn good, ha ha! Really was lovely to meet as a group again though. :)

After dinner Sami, Harri, Jon adn Alex went to stay in Tom and Carla newly rented house, but as we'd already checked into the Bellevue Hotel (we couldn't face another night at the Fair Way Guesthouse, especially after such a long journey!) we went back there for much anticipated showers. To our absolute delight, they were hot! =D Our first shower in 4 days (inc. long journey and a few days of camping/swimming in the sea) was well needed and felt amazing! By the time we were all showered it was midnight, and we were shattered. It was quite painful setting the alarm for half six this morning...

Tom and Carla met us at half seven so we could go back with them up to the village they're at, quite a way out of Jinja, and see the volunteers on the next project. Leaving that incredibly comfy bed and lovely pillow was not easy, but I dragged myself out of bed to give Jo and Annabelle a knock and then went back to bed for ten minutes. They were without phone; Annabelle's wasn't unlocked so they were sharing Jo's, but that got stolen out of her bag on the ferry the previous day. :( She's bought a new one here in Jinja today though, and I think we all clung extra tight to our bags after that.

We blatantly should have put work clothes and shoes on this morning for visiting the village, and we all have pood our pants trousers and a thick layer of mud attached to the bottom of our flip-flops. Some of the holes their digging are like going through concrete! Jon, one of the volunteers, was using the iron rod and there were actually sparks flying! I reckon the kids must be in the last week of their holiday, as there were only a few kids around, listening to Charlotte's ipod. It was really nice to go and see them and, in a sense, end where we started, only obviously not in Masaka. It was hard to say bye to Ken again; he's too lovely and we'll all miss him a lot! Not that we won't miss Tom and Carla, but hopefully we'll see them in Leeds really soon. :)

The others have all gone back to Entebbe this afternoon. We bumped into Harri in Jinja, then joined Sami and Jon in Flavours for amazing warm chocolate brownie and ice cream, mmm. They set off a while before Jo and Annabelle, and Kate and I are staying another night in Jinja, in Tom and Carla's house. We don't have a clue where it is, but we have Godfrey's number and Jon said it's easier to ring him and ask him to explain it to a boda driver. We've just had a chilled afternoon walking through the touristy shops, and will probably go get our bags from the hotel and then go for a curry before going to Tom and Carla's. They won't be there, as they're staying near the school in the village (it's about 45 minutes out of Jinja so quite rural), but I think Abe and Godfrey will be there.

On our boda journey back this morning (we left just after 11am), first of all I burned my leg on the right side of the boda. Very clever, since we'd just drank the last of our water. Then we broke down because our driver ran out of fuel. Jo and Annabelle's driver was lovely though, and they came back to find us. We're pretty sure our driver was just his friend and he was like "Hey hey, these mzungus need to go to Jinja!" so he took us, ha ha! Whilst we were waiting for him to get fuel, a teacher from the school we were standing outside came out and asked us if we would come and greet his children. We were a bit confused at first, but then he explained that they had never seena mzungu. There was another man who greeted me by touching shoulder to shoulder, held onto my hand for a while and then linked my arm for a while. Bit weird. We got back on the boda and all the kids were waiting outside so we gave them a big wave as we drove off, and they all waved back. :) It was lovely to go back to a rural village after a couple of weeks on the tourist trail. I miss it already, and would love to come back.

So yeah, the trip's nearly over. :( Kate and I will join the others in Entebbe tomorrow, stopping in Kampala for a leaving Uganda health check, where they check for malaria, bilhazia (sp?) etc., as if we get anything in the UK we'll have to travel to the nearet tropical doctor. Bit worried about having to poo on demand, hence the curry tonight... ha ha. Harri, Jon, Sami and Alex fly back on Friday. How Alex is gonna manage I would love to see! He's thrown away nearly all his clothes in order to fit a bongo and a stool in his bag, but he's still got a carrier bag attached and a couple of paintings duct taped on. I'd love to see the airline accept all this as hand luggage! He has way more stuff than any of the girls now. Hilarious.

On the plus side to leaving Uganda, it looks like we should be able to casually drop in and visit the pyramids on Sunday! =D We arrive in Cairo about 9am and have an 8 hour transfer. We'll only be 18km from the pyramids and the visa and pyramid entry don't look too expensive. Exciting times! =D We are gonna be so shattered when we arrive at Heathrow, since we'll have to be at Entebbe airport at about 1am. Definitely one last part of the trip to look forward to. :) Fingers crossed we're not delayed now and that airport security isn't a nightmare on the 10th anniversary of 9/11... hopefully won't be in Cairo.