Yep, the ride back from Fort Portal was even more interesting than the first (which was relatively noneventful, aside from accidentally offending the conductor...more in a minute). Someone had a chicken, which squawked the entire drive back to Kampala. And, too, 3 bus conductors had to bodily remove a crazy man before we set off from FP--he really didn't want to get off that bus, man, he was grabbing at every seat as they carried him out. But yes. When I boarded the bus in Kampala to go to FP, the conductor said "Ohhh, madame, I saved this seat for you!" And he patted the seat next to him, in the very front of the bus. Now, experience in the past month and a half has taught me that this sort of attention is generally motivated by the fact that a) the man is excited about the prospect of interacting with a mzungu woman and b) he wants to flirt. So, I tried to politely decline and took a seat about halfway to the back of the bus. His friend then proceeded to find me and say, "Why didn't you want to sit next to Henry?" SO. PERSISTENT. I just told him I had things I needed to do and couldn't really converse with anyone, as the prospect of spending 4-6 hours fending off unwanted advances was wholly unappetizing. Anyway, long story short, I told Brede about this that night and she said "Oh, getting a seat at the front of the bus is considered a privilege, one which they usually give to any mzungus...". Oops. Ugandan propriety 1, Natalie 0. Sorry, Henry!!!
Despite the heat and discomfort of the bus rides, I have to say that I do love the fact that I can, at the various break stops, buy sizzling meat on a stick, hot chapatis, and roasted bananas--through the bus window. I don't even have to get off :) AND, it's all REALLY, REALLY good.
We've been having loads of "new apartment'-type problems at our place, which makes me miss the Lodge and its lushness even more, despite the accumulated years of grime on everything...first it was tiny black ants, which we still haven't managed to rid the place of, in the kitchen. Then, whilst cooking dinner one night, small, idiotic-looking bugs began gathering on the kitchen floor: white ants, which are really just termites with wings (that can't fly). They flopped around and became more and more, till we swept them out the door...oooh, poem?
Then it was lake flies, tiny little gnat-like creatures that swarmed around our front door. Trying to secure the padlock and lock everything up was...disgusting. Thankfully those have gone away, as have the white ants, but the black little dudes are still populous as ever. We're workin' on it. And, too, the power has been out intermittently since we've moved in; a few nights ago the power AND the water cut out for about 6 hours. Cooking dinner that night was interesting.
Anyway, there's more to come, as always, hopefully I'm not boring any of you guys with details of my mundane African life. Back to my African milk tea and Ivanhoe.
As ever,
N
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