First off, if you don't get the title of my post then look it up on IMDB. It's mid-morning on Wednesday here in Tanzania and I'm eagerly anticipating the end of the busy travel portion of my trip. From our arrival Sunday in Uganda until today has been fairly hectic and I'm ready for my flight to Kisumu this afternoon where we'll be settled for a solid 6 days straight. A few updates and thoughts...
I'm not entirely sure what I expected in Uganda but I was pretty shocked by what we found. Lots of poverty, lots and lots of military and police, and a general feeling that something just wasn't right in the country. One of the highlights though was a traditional African meal that we were invited to by Dr. Semazzi. I had goat for the first time and generally enjoyed the whole meal. Eating with your hands took some getting used to (I did remember not to use my left hand though, which according to my guidebook is considered extremely rude). I made the mistake of drinking some milk with breakfast on Monday morning and promptly got extremely sick. I say live and learn but my traveling companions have had fun giving me a hard time about it. Here's a shot of my mosquito net enclosed bed at our hotel in Kampala.
On Tuesday morning we flew to Mwanza (Tanzania) on the southern shore of Lake Victoria. Our flight left Entebbe at 5 am, went through Nairobi, and we eventually landed in Mwanza around 10 am. I had to wake up at 2:30 am and our driver picked us up at 3 so it was a long but very productive and enjoyable day. Driving through a small African town at 3 in the morning is just one of those experiences I'll never forget. Sometimes traveling has its benefits. Going through immigration at the "airport" in Mwanza was entertaining. A business visa is listed for $100 but they told the guy in front of us it was $300. Since everything is paid in cash they were clearly going to pocket the $200 difference they were going to get from this guy. He protested and said that a month ago it was $100. At this point one official said that the price went up last week to $300. What made it hilarious (to me at least) was his buddy official then walked up and claimed that "Yeah, yeah, price goes up to $200". They were clearly busted but tried to keep the gig up and fleece the guy out of his money. We were in line right behind the guy and got in on a $100 business visa without any questions. I hope the guy got out of the airport eventually. The lesson here is, if you're going to be corrupt and try to shakedown somebody you should at least get your story straight with your buddies.
Our host were very gracious and took us to the site they're intending to build their radar. If you were going to site a radar this was a textbook location. Really perfect views all around. Above is a picture of Lynn and I with our host standing on top of the mountain where the radar will be (the lake is in the hazy background). They're going to have some issues getting power up to the top of the mountain but I'm optimistic that they can get it done. The site visit was followed by a delicious lunch at a luxury hotel overlooking the lake. It was picturesque and quite enjoyable. On the whole the Tanzanians have been really good to us and I'm encouraged by everything they have going on here (weather wise). Here's a shot of our open-air lunch place.
I'll leave you with a few notes about our hotel in Mwanza. We really lucked up here because it's as close as we'll find to a tropical paradise. Nice rooms, right on the lake, outdoor bar, hot water, and great service. We grabbed a beer when we got in around 5 and discussed how disappointed we were to only be here one night. After a brief rest we had dinner at a Japanese grill out on a pier extending from the hotel. I've had a lot of great meals in my life but this one will easily vault into the top 10. Sun setting, cool breeze, good views and seemingly infinite courses of very very good food. Salad followed by shrimp, then calamari and vegetables, followed by tilapia (Mwanza is the world's leading supplier of tilapia), then chicken and rice, and capped off by a course of steak and vegetables. The total (sans beer) was about $15 US each. Not too bad for a meal and ambiance that charming. Here also is the view out my window.
Today we're resting this morning and trying to get all of our notes typed up from a slew of meetings. This afternoon we fly direct to Kisumu (back in Kenya) on the eastern shore of the lake. I look forward to unpacking. More meetings tomorrow followed by a trip out to a potential radar site on Friday.
I hope you're enjoying following along. I'm a little road weary but in good spirits. Love you all.
Cheers,
Casey
PS - The guard at our hotel was wearing an Atlanta Braves hat. I'm going to try to get a picture. My guess is he has no idea who the Braves are but it sure made me smile.
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