Friday October 9 was Uganda Independence Day – I took advantage of the long weekend and headed to Fort Portal, in Western Uganda, with Alison, Angela and Els for a girls weekend. The 3 – 4 hour drive for Fort Portal was along good roads passing through a number of small towns. We arrived in town in time for a late lunch of possibly the most unique pizza I have ever had. We thing they must have used Chiapati for the base. After another 45 minutes of dirt road driving we arrive at Kitojo Guest House – our home for the weekend. We were the only guests (this seems to be a theme for me). The hotel is a series of self-contained bandas with stunning views of the countryside and Rwenzori Mountains.
Saturday we set out for our hike to find the Crater Lakes. We set out from the hotel with only a vague idea of where to go. We walked through farmland and back roads in search of the lakes. Along the way we would often hear "Mzungu...how are youuuu" from people we could not see working in the fields. We decided to head towards Ndali Lodge (the fancy expensive accomodation) as we could see it on the map and people along the way could give us some direction. When we came across to crater lakes we were able to determine where we were. It was also time for a swim!! We headed down the steep path and into the lake. We ended up with a number of spectators - children gathering water, men hiding in bushes and 2 cows that came running down the path, giving us a bit of a fright! Once refreshed we continued on our way. At Ndali we booked dinner (only 35,000UGX, less than $20 for a 3 course meal) and then started the trek back to our hotel. We had told them we would be ready for lunch at 2pm. We had walked further than we thought and realized that we would not make it back in time. Just before 2 we started to look for bodas and eventually someone sent 2 our way. Angela and Els - boda experts hopped on together and off they went. Alison hopped on behind me and we followed on a bit of an awkward ride - I was sitting on a metal bar and Alison, being a little nervous on her only her second boda was reaching around me to hold onto the driver for security! We made it in one piece back to the hotel for a delicious lunch. The afternoon was spent on another game and then we headed to Ndali. The dinner was quite nice.
Sunday morning we were very lucky to see the snow-covered peaks of the Rwenzori Mountains, usually covered in clouds. After breakfast we took our packed lunches and started the journey back to Kampala. While there was not much traffic on the way as soon as we hit Kampala the gridlock set in. After dropping Els and Angela off, Alison drove me to pick up some groceries and we found Tofu!! I actually found this exciting and ended up making a great veggie stir fry. Slowly but surely my cooking (if stir fry and fried rice are considered cooking) is improving.
It was a great weekend. The girls, who did not know much about lulu lemon, discovered my addiction when I spent most of the weekend decked out entirely in lulu. Funny - it was not planned - I really just own a lot of it....perhaps too much...is that possible?
Click on the post title to see pictures from our Fort Portal adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment