After dinner we checked out Iguana Bar, a popular hangout that’s a nice open air bar with a thatched roof hut. The power kept going out at first but finally they got it running again and we were able to enjoy the live band and lively mix of local people and expats.
After a good night’s sleep and a great breakfast at the hostel we headed out into town again this morning to check it out in the daylight. It seems like there’s not a whole lot of stuff to do in town during the day actually, we ended up walking around for a while not doing much, trying to avoid getting run over by the erratic cars, bodabodas (motorcycle taxis), and matatus (minivan buses) and getting very dusty in the process. Finally we decided to get a car to the Kusubi tombs, one of the few tourist attractions, or more accurately as we found out, a tourist trap. After paying 10,000 Ugandan shillings (a little more than $4) entrance fee, a guide led us inside the tomb, which was apparently the largest grass thatched hut in the world.
We got about a 10 minute description of the tomb, where Uganda’s past three kings are buried, and that was about it. After taking some pictures we headed to the African craft market, a small market with shops run by women’s craft-making groups. We didn’t end up buying anything since we can probably find the same stuff later in our travels in a less touristy place, but we got some good ideas for future purchases.
Then we took a long walk to Garden City, where there is a nice mall that lots of expats go to, and had a snack while a brief rain shower passed through. We decided after that to head back to the Iguana bar from the night before, since we had heard there was supposed to be some German cultural event and arts fair around there. We found the small side street lined on both sides with booths of different artists and local groups who were displaying their art and products, some of which were really beautiful.
A man working on a painting in the street had us each write our initials on his canvas to "be part of history", as he put it.
The “German culture” part of the event consisted of only a fake Berlin wall constructed in the middle of the road, and at the end of the day all the children got to break down the wall with hammers while a band and African drummers played behind them.
All three of us ended up making one purchase each at the fair, Katharine got a great dress and Elly and I each got a piece of art from one of the booths. To top off our exhausting day of walking and sightseeing, we walked one last trip to an Ethiopian restaurant that is our Ethiopian coworker’s favorite. We shared a delicious combo meal of various meat and vegetarian dishes, and it was definitely the best meal we’ve had here so far. I was planning on taking a picture of the food when it came out but got too excited with eating it that I forgot.
Its back to work today, and time to get my project really rolling. I promise to post something about actual work soon!
these pics are awesome. not at all what i would have imagined. goes to show how much i know.
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