Bike in Kampala

A refurbished Yamaha Mate - the sort of motorbike V wants to buy.

In my mind this shares some family resemblance with Johnny 5

Boda Boda drivers in Kampala

Veronica smiles politely as I recklessly extend my arm to photograph us on the back of a boda boda

Things Seen Balanced (this week)

On heads:

sack of beans

suitcase

3ft tall pile of dish cloths

ceramic jar

bundle of twigs (more or less round, 3ft in circumference)

2 liter bottle of coke

On Motorbikes:

6ft lengths of 2x4's

family of 5

bed frame (queen size)

goat

balding and portly astride a little Suzuki

 

Last night we were walking back from the pool at the Rock Classic Hotel, where Veronica and I have been swimming in the evenings.  The sun had set, but we could make out bicycles and motorbikes, with their lights off, passing us in each direction on the road.  A motorcycle, called a boda boda when acting as a taxi, slowed and the driver asked us if we wanted a ride. We turned him down.

 

More motorbikes passed then a truck and more bikes.  Then a little motorcycle came up fast from the rear.  The driver slowed and I heard him say to himself “Muzungus!” then cut across the road and pull up in front of us.  I could see he was white himself, but he delightedly repeated the Luganda word white people after he turned off his bike, “Muzungus!”

 

He was balding and portly astride a little Suzuki. “Where are from? Are you here for a long time or passing through?  You’re Americans?”  He asked us in one excited string.  We gave him the information as he bounced up and down on the shocks of the bike making exaggeratedly pleased noises.

 

“And why are you in Tororo?” I asked.

 

“I’m from San Francisco,” he said as if that explained a lot, then “I got a kid here.”  Veronica had mentioned that she worked at the hospital.  He said, “I live near the hospital.  That’s where my kid lives.  Things are so cheap here and I don’t pay rent and they feed me.  How long are you here?”

 

“A year.”

 

“I’m here for, I don’t know. I keep extending.”  Then he repeated himself,  “I got a kid here, so it’s good.  Maybe one more on the way.  I don’t know.  They have so many babies here!”

 

White people come to Tororo for all sorts of reasons.

My itinerary

8.6                       MPLS - Atlanta

8.6                        Atlanta - Boston

8.7                        Boston – NYC

8.7            NYC – Dubai

8.9            Dubai – Addis Ababa

8.9            Addis Ababa – Entebbe

 

Depart MPLS 5:55pm 8.6

Arrive Entebbe, Uganda 2:45pm 8.9