getting lost in the city

Today was my last free day in Uganda.

Steph, Amy, and I left in the afternoon for my last trip to the city to get some gifts from the craft market and have a good Indian meal. This was quite interesting because we were meeting the Ugandan who was going to help us at the craft market, so we had to navigate ourselves to the city. We ran into one of the other Ugandan volunteers on our way to catch a taxi, and he told us where we should get off the taxi and how much it should cost. We thanked him and grabbed the first taxi that didn’t charge us about 600 shillings extra because we are white. When we got off at our stop, Steph began to lead because she knew the way. I was thinking of a different craft market, but knowing my directional skills, I simply trusted whoever decided to lead. However, Amy believed she knew where the other one was and that was the one Jayan was meeting us. We knew Amy’s directional skills around Uganda were probably as good as mine, but for some reason we let her lead the way. We ended up walking circles around Kampala. She was convinced there was a craft market underneath the mall, and we probably walked around the mall 6 times before finally deciding that we should have followed Steph. We called Jayan and asked us to meet us at the mall, and once she did, she took us on a taxi to the craft market we were headed to in the first place. Our trip took about 2 hours longer than necessary, however it makes for a pretty hilarious story. (I love you Amy!) At the craft market I got some last minute gifts, though it is always hard for me to shop there because everything is so cool and unique that it makes me want it all so I’m sure I’m going to regret not getting a few things, but oh well. We then went back to the mall, seriously, I probably could tell you my way around Kampala, or at least the space between this craft market and the mall like the back of my hand. We went to the Indian restaurant that I absolutely love and sat at this awesome table that was on a raised platform so when we were waiting for our food we could lay down and lounge, and then we sat cross-legged to eat. We sat there for a very long time, soaking in the goodness of a nice meal with boneless chicken (amazing!), surrounded by the best company anyone could ask for, and the interesting, inspiring, hilarious, heartbreaking, and humbling stories of life.

We went back to the house, satisfied with our Kampala adventure and the wonderful company, even though we all knew it would be my last.