Day 2

Thursday, Feb. 15

Everything continues to pleasantly surprise – be it making a phone call to someone to set up a meeting and having them pick me up roadside within three minutes or being given a key to someone’s house with full access offered after knowing them via the internet for all of a week.

A friend (Kalema) of a friend (David G) put me in touch with his “young auntie,” a Makerere University student living in Kampala. Janet and her boyfriend have been incredible to me, and are incredible in and of themselves. My second night here, in an attempt to make me feel at home, they brought me to Domino’s Pizza. Albeit a namesake, they are certainly not the same domino’s from home. Delicious none the less, and the first spotting of cheese in the country.

We visited a bar near my hotel – a thatched roof joint with a DJ spinning bad house music. I tried Nile beer for the first time, something I’ll skip in the future. There are three popular Ugandan brews (that I’ve encountered thus far): Nile, Bell, and Club. The first is a bit too heavy, the latter are both up my alley. This bar was great – open air, old men playing pool, roasted goat meat – what else could I ask for? BUGSPRAY.

The Fairway hotel continues to be home base – my nets are secure and keeping me itch free; the breakfast is delightful with “Spanish omelets” every morning (note: NOT the same as Spanish omelets in Spain…) with fresh paw-paw (papaya), watermelon, and pineapple (which everyone except me will tell you is the best pineapple in the world; I prefer Dole, thank you).