Friday, July 25: So Many Goodbyes

I awoke at 5:00 sharp and Lisa woke up with the alarm a half hour later. Vincent wanted us on our way by 8:30. We got dressed and went to the dining room for a last breakfast. We were alone in the dining room. We had scrambled eggs, toast, marmalade, and pineapple. The only way to make it any better would be real coffee!

After breakfast, I asked to see the bill. It was a bit less than I expected – a little lower than the posted rate and 20% cheaper than the rate the front desk gave me a few nights earlier. I asked for the envelope I had stored in the safe. The clerk retrieved it in a flash. All the money was there.

Vincent, Joseph, and Grace arrived right on time. I asked them to take me to exchange money and Vincent maneuvered us through the rush hour traffic to the hotel downtown. I exchanged a lot of money, but this place gave me 50,000 shilling notes, so I was able to get it all in my billfold. We went back to the Kolping House and quickly loaded the van. I returned to the front desk and paid the bill. I had also completed a survey where I had praised the place in general, but suggested they needed Internet access, dependable power, and a system that allowed food delivery in less than 2 hours. The desk clerk read the survey as I counted out the money. "Sir, does this mean we would be better if we did these things?

"Yes," I said. "We really enjoyed our stay here, but these things would make it better."

"We will try to do them, sir!"

I went back to the room to add to the tip for the cleaning crew. We decided early in the trip to put our pocket change in a container for the cleaning folks. I added a few thousand shillings to the mix and made a sign thanking them for their work. While our team carried our bags to the van, I stopped at the desk and left a tip for the dining room staff.

Vincent had a lead on Babirye Phiona (Bill). We hurried into Ntinda and entered the unpaved, rutted maze of poverty. We drove to a house we hadn't visited before. Joseph jumped out, and soon returned with a very nervous Phiona. She had been very sick when the term started and had missed several weeks. She was waiting to return to school in January. She seemed determined to return to school, so we gave her a blanket and moved on.

I took a nap as we road through the city. That was the biggest change this trip. I simply had to sleep between stops or I couldn't keep going. So I awoke on a dirt road that I had never seen. We were away from the city because the land around us was vacant. We passed a sugar cane plantation and two areas that had been cleared for planting. I finally asked Vincent where we were. I had told him about a water fall off Jinja Road. He had followed the directions in the book.
There were few walkers on this road. At times, trees grew together above us in a living canopy of green.

We turned off the main road, then turned again at a sign. There was a huge gate (closed) with three men watching it. One came to the window. I counted out the entry fee (about $5 for all of us). The man wanted to be our guide, but Vincent firmly told him we didn't need a guide. Vincent parked in the empty parking lot. The waterfall was partly visible from the lot. We walked toward it, then onto a bridge that crossed to the other side of the stream (which was called a river). This is one of the stranger things I've seen in Uganda. There is heavy jungle growth on either side of the river – tall trees reaching up to grab their share of the sun with thick undergrowth and smaller trees below. There is a break in the forest for the river, then the river tumbles off an embankment to create the fall. A few large rocks stood in the path of the fall, and water ricocheted off these before coming to rest in a pool. There was a lot of water flowing down the fall, the result of the rains we'd seen over the last few days.

We walked across the stream on steady bridge. We stopped several times to make pictures of the fall. When we reached the other side, everyone wanted their picture made with the waterfall behind. Our non-guide followed us and watched our every move, but he never mentioned guiding again.

There was a trail to the top of the fall, but we didn't have time for that. We turned and started back across the bridge. When we turned we could see down river. The pool from the fall extended beyond our bridge. At its end, the pool emptied into two channels: one flowed to the right and the other to the left. There was an island between the two channels. The island was covered in very dense grass, but trees and undergrowth had been cleared. As we looked at the two channels and the island, we realized that downstream was as interesting as the waterfall!
A few more quick pictures and it was time to go.

We got in the van and Vincent retraced his route to Jinja Road. We had two last things to do before we caught our plane. One was to eat a good lunch somewhere. The other was interesting. Lisa wanted to talk with the headmistress at Kalinabari Primary School, a government owned school where many of our students attend. Her principal was preparing a grant which involved an exchange of best teaching practices with a foreign school. Vincent promised to take us to the school, but he simply did not. I have no idea what this was about. He kept saying he would call and make the appointment, but when we reached town, he turned away onto Entebbe Road. In 45 minutes, we were in Entebbe town.

I found a Chinese restaurant in the guide book and gave the address to Vincent. It wasn't a real address, just "old Entebbe." We looked for a few minutes, then Vincent asked for directions from a police officer. We still couldn't find the restaurant, so Vincent stopped a guy on a bicycle. The man pointed in the direction we had come. Vincent turned the van around. From this direction, the sign on the restaurant was clearly visible. We pulled throubh the gate and parked. We were greeted by a puppy. Michael tried to get the puppy to let him pet it, but the dog was afraid.

We took a large table in the garden. The waiter took our order, and the soup arrived about 20 minutes later. We each got ½ an egg roll, then the entrees. The food was quite good!
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:40, so we wanted to be at the airport by 5:30. We finished lunch at 4:50. Lisa and I went to the restroom to change into flying clothes (that is, something that wasn't dust covered and smelly). The restrooms were very odd. There was a room with a toilet in it and a room next door with a sink and a bath tub! Lisa went in the toilet side and I went in the bathtub side. Clothes were hanging from a line over the tub. This was a guesthouse as well as a restaurant, and the bathrooms were for both restaurant guests and guesthouse guests.

All changed, we were ready to go. No one spoke at all as we drove to the airport. We stopped while a soldier used a mirror to check out the chassis of the van, then we stopped again to pay for parking. Vincent drove through the lot and up to the departure level. We quickly unloaded the van and put our four suitcases on a free cart. Our friends could hardly look at us as we walked to the airport door. They insisted on pushing the cart and carrying our carry on bags. When w e reached the door, we found a long line of teen girls. I asked the guard if we needed to wait in this line. He opened the exit door and let us enter. Our team watched us go through the door. When we turned to look again, they were gone.

We walked through a door and into the area where bags are x-rayed. We unloaded our cart and we had to leave it. Lisa went through the metal detector first and she was cleared to go. She hurried to the end of the room and got another cart while I walked over to a table with my carry-on bag, a large back pack. The guard carrying my bag pointed to it, "Is okay?" he asked.

"Sure," I said.

The man opened a section of my pack. I had a set of colored pens (one each of black, blue, green, and red). The man pointed to the pens. "These are very nice pens."

"Uhh, well thank you," I said.

The man looked me straight in the eye. "I want one."

I fumbled through the bag and found a second green pen. I gave him the green pen. He didn't say a word. He patted down my pack and half way opened another compartment, then he handed the bag to me and indicated that I could go.

This was another first. I had heard that the border folks could be a bit unusual in their ways of doing things. I never expected to have to use a pen to bribe one in order to get my pack back!
Immigration was really backed up. WE got in a line and waited patiently as we didn't move. When few finally inched our way up to the window, we could see that the two immigration officers were talking and laughing and occasionally taking time off from their tale telling to look a t a passport or visa! We finally passed through without any questions.
We shopped a bit at the book store and souvenir shop I got a book that I'd seen two trips ago. We called both sets of parents to tell them we were leaving Uganda. We boarded on time and without incident.

The flight was unremarkable except that it was comfortable. The Airbus jet has more leg room than a 767, just enough to make a huge difference for me. I was actually able to doze a bit!