Entebbe

I got in to Entebbe late last night after two long days of travel. It's quite warm here, but dry. There is only one airport in the entire country and it's in Entebbe, which is about 20 km from the capital city of Kampala. The country is approximately the size of Idaho and is landlocked between Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Sudan. The primary language is English, but they speak with a very unique accent. Swahili is also spoken, along with about 100+ tribal languages.

My hotel room is very different from American standards, but quite comfortable. For example, there is only one bath towel, only one outlet and there is a mosquito net above the bed.

I had a continental breakfast here in the hotel, which consisted of bottled water, sliced pineapple, watermelon and passion fruit, toast w/honey and some eggs, which I believe were scrambled with onio:00ns and peppers. They were white, so that was odd. Instead of coffee, I had African spiced tea, which is similar to Chai. It has ginger and garam masala in it and it's brewed with milk. I always wondered what garam masala was used for! It was all quite good!

I'm being picked up shortly for the long car journey to Kilembe (pronounced "key-lem-bay"). I've been told it's about 7 hours over very rough, unpaved roads. This is where I get into the "real" Uganda! I will be staying on the grounds of a 200-bed hospital in their 3 room guest house, located in the SW corner of Uganda, on the border of The DRC(Democratic Republic of the Congo) and at the base of the Rwenzori Mountain range. I do not believe my house has running water or western toilets and the power is by generator only from 7p-7a. I won't have a/c, shower or even a refrigerator. All water must be boiled before drinking or brushing teeth, etc.

I believe there is only one doctor in the entire hospital and approx. 40-50 patients per nurse, which is nuts! The main diseases there are Typhoid (caused from drinking the contaminated river water), Malaria (obviously from mosquitos) and AIDS. The average life expectancy of a Ugandan is 38 and the average woman has about 10 children.

Time to pack up...more later. I won't have wireless after today and will only have sketchy dial-up service, but I will post as I can.

Christy