Ten Points Uganda, Zero Points Muzungus

So after a great experience in Rwanda learning about the genocide and talking with the survivors we came back to the hotel and had nice showers and some of us went to bed while the rest of us realized we had quite the money issue that needed to be resolved. We had a lot of money that we owed for the taxi, for the gas for Nadine’s truck, and for our hotel rooms. In fact, we realized that all of us did not have enough francs for all the money we owed. AND, it was too late to exchange money at the store and no atm would take our cards and no banks were open. We were short thousands and thousands of francs. Well after probably a good long stressful hour plus some of Jackie, Ashley, Emily, and me figuring it all out and who will owe who and how to exchange money we planned to be up by 4:30am and leave by 5:20am. Well, by 5:20am there was no taxi outside our hotel and we were getting worried that we might miss our bus. Finally, by 5:42am the taxi came and we hopped quickly inside and sped to the bus. The plan was for Corbin to jump out and exchange our last shillings for more francs to pay the taxi man and the rest of us were supposed to run to the bus. Corbin got the shillings and tossed them to Ash while the rest of us ran to the bus that was pulling away. We got on board and had to find seats sporadically throughout the very packed vehicle. It was pulling away and some of us were screaming out the window to Ash to run for the bus while the rest of us were screaming at the driver to wait for her. Chaotic and stressful the bus would not stop so we screamed louder to Ashley and she ditched the taxi driver and started booking it towards us. She literally jumped onto the moving bus while we were screaming at the driver to stop. It was a very stressful and intense couple of minutes of panicking. Ashley came to the back of the bus where there was one seat open next to a rather large human being. She had to sit sideways and was very much in the aisle just kiddy corner from me. Good thing she is little, but we felt bad for her and she was quite miserable. (SIDENOTE: some of this entry may seem like a lot of complaining, but in actuality it is really me just telling the facts)..I was sitting with Heidi and Rylee and across from Corbin and Les. For the first time in my life I was getting car sick. What a super great time to get car sick—at the beginning of a nine hour bus ride from H. E. Double Hockey Sticks. Corbin was great giving me hard candy, fanning my face, and filling out all the immigration cards for me. Les also kept the window wide open so I could have the cool wind on my face even though she was freezing. THANKS friends. Well while I was feeling ill and all thoughts were trying to focus on the funny things les and corb were saying something incredibly ridiculous happened. Ashley was still falling out of her seat and in the aisle when I looked up and all of sudden the man sitting directly in front of me and across the very narrow aisle from Ashley turned his body and crouched over and a consistent spew of some sort of liquid came out of him and landed on Ashley’s leg and foot. REALLY? Really. The liquid was going everywhere on the floor so I quickly picked up my backpack and gifts I had gotten and lifted my feet. Ashley was so grossed out she had no words for the current situation. The man that was to blame was acting like absolutely nothing had just occurred. No one had really noticed except for me and Ashley. WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!?! Did this man just vomit? We thought he seriously had just vomited everywhere, but as we thought about it more we realized it was a steady flow of liquid and there was really no vomiting sound which could only mean that mmmm, he did, in fact, just urinate all over the floor and Ashley on the very VERY crowded bus. GROSS. So, me being car sick instantly started praying that I would not throw up and add to the body fluids on the floor. Corb and les did not believe us, but they finally got the whole story and could obviously see the evidence. RIDICULOUS. Well, luckily we had reached the border of Rwanda and Uganda and had to get out for customs so we all got the heck outta there as quickly as we could. We were having a great time in the fresh air where we could stretch our bodies and breathe and not be sitting in someone else’s urine. We got through everything and then we all lined up to get our visas stamped which was just a routine and no big deal, right? WRONG. Apparently all of our visas had originally been stamped for ONE SINGLE ENTRY into Uganda and yes, you guessed it, since we had left this grand country and we were now RE-entering we had to pay $50 US dollars to enter once more. Needless to say, we were ALL VERY UPset. Infact, some of us were refusing and getting quite mad because a majority of us had absolutely no money and we were already owed each other money because we were short from the francs. But really, several of us just simply had no money. Thankfully, I randomly had $50 in my passport and was able to get through and then I had $20 more US dollars in my wallet that I gave to the money pile to try and get our friends over the border. I can’t even begin to express the chaos and the stress and the freaking out mode we were all in because all we wanted to do was get home and our bus was pulling through the border and half of our group couldn’t get through so we were scrounging up every cent we could find and discussing (yelling actually) back and forth about who is going to stay and if you stay who will take a taxi back to Kigali to get to a bank somehow to get more money for the group, etc, etc. So through all the chaos I got a phone and les and I ran to the bus and then Heidi and rylee got on too and the others were standing outside the bus frantically deciding what to do. Then somehow we had pulled enough money and we got two more of our group over the border and at the last second Jackie and Trent literally jumped onto the bus as it was pulling out. Lester and I looked out the window at Corbin, David, and Ashley left at the border and we felt like we had just betrayed our friends for life. It was the saddest feeling ever and they looked so devastated. Apparently nothing had been resolved and no plan had been laid out and everyone who could just jumped on the bus and we had both phones. Thankfully we realized Corb also had his phone so we were able to keep in contact with them. We then endured the worst bus ride I have ever encountered and will ever encounter. The bus ride to Rwanda really wasn’t that bad whatsoever, but the bus ride home was literally from H.E. Double Hockey Sticks. Horrible. I got even sicker and have never felt more claustrophobic in my entire life. I was so hot and sweaty and literally had a person on top of me for the whole nine hour journey. The people behind me also kept buying things from the side of the road when we stop (like cow brains on a stick) and kept hitting me with all the items and dropping crap on me. I also specifically remember them pulling out my hair. It was quite upsetting. In addition, my little ipod died within an hour of the bus so I couldn’t even drown out the horrible situation and had to listen to the blaring African music that gave me the largest headache I have ever had. Poor les also had a freak out moment. It truly was horrible and all the Africans kept staring at us. Not fun. AND, of course we felt awful for ditching our friends at the border. They had their own adventure too when they lost Ashley but then got everything resolved and she was able to get money for them to get on a bus back to kampala. Our bus made it to kampala at around four and we headed to Garden City mall to eat and to wait for the other three to show up. There bus didn’t come until around 9pm because it stopped in every village on the way home. We couldn’t even believe our lives….I know I say that every day, but really it is because every day that is true. Rwanda owned us that day. We have never been so happy to be back in Lugazi in our little crowded home.
That horrible journey home almost made the trip not worth it. Almost. Overall, Rwanda was incredible and unforgettable, but that last little stretch was quite insane.