Getting Around

We are walking from a community campsite in the Crater Lakes to Fort Portal to get a bus to Kampala to watch the inauguration. We are on the lookout for matatus and taxis as we walk in the heat and the mud. Ugandans saunter along, pushing bicycles, or riding two or three to a motorcycle. A taxi rolls up to give us a ride. It is a low-riding Toyota, almost dragging its tail end in the red mud. In the cab, there are 8 people. The driver is sitting in the lap of another grown man as he drives, his chin resting on the steering wheel! We look at each other, we are carrying full backpacks, "We think you are full." No comprehension. We do not speak the local language. "Thank you! We will walk." Without a word, the driver puts the car into gear and creeps away.

Due to the traffic and the poor and narrow roads, this is a country of motorcycle taxis, boda-bodas, which we avoid for obvious reasons. On every corner from Bugembe to Bigodi there are 5 to 15 young men on their bikes, ready to give the next person a ride. The market is so saturated with boda drivers that they are often lined up asleep on their bikes. However, from some sixth sense, they know exactly when we are coming, they immediately wake up, throw one arm in the air and shout, "you come, and we go!" trying the beat out the other 14 guys. "No, thank you," we say, and the boda drivers immediately go back to dozing.

The old fashioned bicycle is the Prius of Uganda. You will not see one of the Seattle racer-commuters riding ridiculous alloys and wear silly spandex covered in advertisements. In Uganda, the bikes are the color and weight of cast iron, and the people bike just fast enough to stay upright. When it comes to moving goods, however, the Ugandans are more talented than Lance Armstrong. Huge bunches of bananas fastened on like saddle bags, large aluminum milk containers, water for a family for a week, crates of soda or beer stacked 5 high. In Kampala, we saw the frames of 2 couches and 4 arm chairs piled onto a single bike like a weird Dr. Suess drawing.

Of course, the best way to get around is on foot, and the best place to carry things is on the head. A mom and daughters at the local well, each one has an age appropriate sized water jug balanced on the head (jerry-can) : 20 liters for the mom, 10 liters for the school girl, 5 liters for the pre-schooler. Toddlers get off. We've seen barefoot boys with 40 kg sticks of lumber of their heads, using a flip-flop as a head-pad.

Tomorrow we travel on public transport to Mt. Elgon and Sipi falls, we will wait with the calm, patient Ugandans for the bus to fill completely before we leave Jinja, and we will silently endure speed bump after speed bump (this they use in lieu of enforcement). On the way, we will record more sites from the road.