Only in Uganda

A few things have happened recently that have made me think to myself “only in Uganda.” Now by no means am I trying to give Uganda a bad name, and these things don't really only happen in Uganda. I am sure things like the following happen in a lot of different places and for me they have only brought great stories, cultural experiences, a reminder that I need to have a good attitude about the unexpected, and lots of laughter.

A couple of weeks ago I was traveling back from the town of Fort Portal, which is on the other side of the mountains from Bundibugyo, on public transport. I had a front seat in the pickup truck, which is usually more comfortable than the back and more spacious. We were about 30 minutes from home when the truck broke down. Now the breaking down I was not surprised by, it happens all the time and usually people know what to do. However, because we were not moving I decided to get out and stretch my legs. As I got out of the car and looked to the floor of the vehicle where my feet were, there sticking out of a black plastic bag was the head of a goat. Oh yes, the head of a goat. I actually tried not to have too big of a reaction because for everyone else traveling with a goat head is not a big deal. I was thankful that I did not know that I was sharing my leg room with a goat head until the ride was almost over. And yes, I did get back in the car, but I made sure my feet were as far away from the head as they could be.

This story isn’t as bad, but still funny. To travel back to Kampala from Gulu we took a bus. Any time you travel on public transport long distances in Uganda they have periodic stops where the bus pulls to the side of the road and venders run up selling meat on a stick, corn, fruit, and other Ugandan food. This is what we call “the fast food of Uganda.” Well during this trip I saw a couple of venders selling live chickens. I guess people were buying these to eat later. I didn’t realize that the person sitting behind me had purchased one of these chickens until my feet felt some feathers under my seat. Throughout the rest of the trip the chicken kept scooting further and further forward until it was pretty much right under my feet. I continually tried to gentle scoot it back with my foot, but wasn’t too successful, I don’t think it liked it too much either because it kept making squawking noises.

There is one decent movie theater in Kampala. The only problem is power in Kampala is not reliable. We were about an hour and forty minutes into the movie when the power shut off. We were told it would come back on in 5 minutes, but the 5 turned to 10 and then 15 and finally people decided to leave and get free movie ticket. The funny part is that we decided to go an eat dinner and come back to the theater to catch the end of the next showing. We arrived a little early and watched about 15 minutes we had already seen and then it finally got to the part where it shut off and guess how much was left? Two minutes! It did shut off on a very suspenseful part and we would have always been wondering.

As I write these stories I am realizing that most of them are about animals. Am I am magnet to livestock or something? Well, this one isn’t about livestock, but it is about a furry creature people don’t want to run into too often, if at all. The other night we went out to dinner in Kampala and the restaurant we chose was what you could call an open air restaurant. Our food had just arrived when out of the corner of my eye I noticed something darting towards me. My reaction was not fast enough and so this furry creature, which ended up being a small rodent, ran over my lap and onto the floor. I will admit a small scream did escape my mouth. We did get some free drinks and a discount on the bill because of it.