Back to Uganda (7/12/13)

This morning we got up and thought about going to one of the churches commemorating the genocide, but since they were far away we decided to just head back into Uganda a bit earlier. We worked out how to pay for the hotel with our remaining Rwandan francs, which was actually quite a fiasco and complicated, and then headed out to the main taxi park. A few Pete wanted to take the motos, but I still really didn't want to and a taxi offered to take me for free when I freaked out a bit. Somewhat embarrassing and I drew quite a crowd, but it was nice. When we got to the taxi park we were all pretty much split up since people's motos dropped them off in slightly different places and we had quite the time trying to get everyone back together. We eventually found everyone after some airtime fiascos but just missed the bus to the border and another one wasn't leaving for two hours. Luckily we found a man who was willing to drive us for the equivalent of $1 more, and we took him up on it.

The drive to the border of Rwanda and Uganda was quite beautiful. Rwanda has amazing roads,  maybe even better than most at home, and the hills are amazing. I could definitely spend some more time in Rwanda some day. We got to the broader and cleared immigration at Gatuna, Rwanda and walked across the stretch to the Ugandan side where we cleared immigration and bought our new single entry visas. I managed to not use too many pages and should officially have my two full pages for when I get to South Africa. Those are also the only two pages left in my passport that is valid for four more years, and I have three countries to go on this trip, so I will soon either need new pages or a new passport. I think I may omit for new pages so I can continue collecting my stamps :)

Once we are all done with immigration we took a beater taxi (very DMC for dangerous mechanical condition as Phidelis would say, but don't worry not actually dangerous just really beaten up) to Kabale where we got to the bank and found a place called Edrisa to eat lunch. Lunch was pretty good and we booked a canoe trek for tomorrow around Lake Bunyonyi which should be interesting. Our canoe trek included transportation so we got a free ride to the docks where we could meet the canoe to our hotel. 

The canoes were literally hollowed out eucalyptus trees and a kid in secondary school (S5) paddled us on the almost 30 minute journey to the island our hotel is on. It was quite a lovely ride and we helped paddle sometimes. The lake is beautiful and I can't wait to enjoy it. For the time we are here we are staying in the family cottage which is really cool. Two other girls are here with us, one who goes to Michigan and one who's an undergrad at Cornell and they are cool people. They are staying in a ego dome hut which is basically an open air hut with an amazing view. I would love to stay there sometime. Once we got here it got dark shortly after so we hung out and ordered dinner. I had a crayfish avocado which was literally an avocado stuffed with crayfish that were basically little shrimps. Super yummy. For the rest of the night we just hung out and talked and it was nice. This pace is beautiful and I can't wait to enjoy it. Tomorrow is canoe trekking all day and then Sunday relaxation. Looking forward to it all!

On the canoe to get to Byoona Amagara

Night time at Lake Bunyonyi