trip up north, back on!

So I am leaving tomorrow afternoon to go up north! The girls I was originally supposed to go with canceled on me, so now I am going with anther girl and a guy. It is better that way. Both of them have been up north and I feel safer going with a guy. We are going to Arua first and then onto Gulu. It is my hope to visit 1 or 2 IDP camps while there. We will be returning on Monday.

So I had my first break down yesterday. Yes I cried:) I was feeling sick because I hadn't eaten all day and I couldn't find any food. Yes a white person in Africa with a ton of money who can't find food. As I mentioned in a previous blog the grocery stores here don't sell much food so I went to one of the only restaurants in my town. Everything I ordered they were out of, so I got fed up and just left. I never ended up getting any food. Trust me, if you miss a meal or 2 here it takes a big toll on your body. I am already weak from lack of food so not having any for a day beat me up bad. I woke up with a screaming headache and I am soooo weak. I finally made it into Kampala to have a pizza. I am going to try to stuff myself full today because I am not sure what the food situation will be like up north.

It seems like all the volunteers are getting sick. It's usually from bad food. A few of them have had violent episodes of throwing up and some diarrhea. Glad I haven't had that yet!

In yesterday's entry I forgot to tell you about my bad trip back from Kampala one night. I went into town because some of the volunteers were playing in a band. I didn't want to go but felt I should be supportive. Because I am really the only volunteers with a heavy work load no one understood that I needed to get back to get my work done. Needless to say they all wanted to stay so I had to go home alone. Kampala is about 45 min away from Mukono, and you have to take a taxi to get there. So I left the club and took a scooter (boda boda) to the taxi park. When the driver asked me which taxi park I didn't know and just took a guess. On the way there I asked him if there would be any taxi's going to Mukono from that park. He didn't know. Once we got to the park he asked another driver in Lugandan if there were any taxi's going to Mukono. He said no. I had a feeling that the boda driver was just trying to get more money out of me so I went to check for myself. Here's another mental picture for you. The taxi park is HUGE and has no lights so I couldn't see anything. Plus I have come to the conclusion that the moon does not shine in Africa. When it's dark here, it's DARK. Anyway, here I am alone clutching my purse asking people if they could tell me where to go to get a taxi to Mukono. After many tries someone found me one. There was no conductor in the taxi so I wasn't 100% sure that I was even on the right one. After sitting inside for about 15 min waiting for it to fill up (and watching various bugs crawl around me) we took off. At first we were heading in the right direction but then they went off onto some back road. Again, I use the word road loosely. We were bouncing around and driving through holes like crazy. (the drivers here all drive the fastest the vehicle will go, no matter what the road conditions are like, scary!!!) I started texting my roommates to tell them I had no idea where I was. After about 1/2 and hour we came onto the main road again. I was never so happy. I made it home safe and sound but a little scared.

So yesterday I went to this HUGE outdoor local market. There is no way I could ever possibly fully explain this place but I will try. First of all it is probably over 1000 little shops. They aren't really shops but 5x5 lots with no walls where people lay out their stuff on the ground in piles, then they lay on top of them and yell and grab at you. The floor is mud and has random sticks on it to keep you from falling in a hole. You constantly have to balance yourself on the sticks to stay standing. The isles are only 1 to 2 people wide so you are always running into people. Everything is dirty and everyone is grabbing you. As soon as they see a white person they grab your hand or arm and try to pull you over to their location. Then they sift through their huge mound of stuff. There is so much to look at you don't know where to look. This market sells everything. You can buy clothes, shoes, jewelry, food, sports stuff, and live animals. At some point I saw a guy with probably 30 chickens tied upside down to his bicycle which he was trying to sell. The chickens were going crazy! I also saw this very large African lady sitting on these large bags of flower. She was covered in white powder and had her head wrapped in a scarf. It was really cool to see. Because they want to show as much stuff as possible the people lay on top of everything all day long.

Now, lets talk about prices here. Everything is sooooo cheap. I can buy a pair of good name brand (Puma) running shoes for $14 and they are good quality. Jeans are between $7 and $14. For me to get to Kampala in a taxi (40min to 1 hour) is $1. I am definitely going back to the market to see what else I can buy.

I think that's pretty much it for now. I will email again once I return from the north.