Picnic on the Hill

Bry'Chell's friend Patricia has been staying with us for a few days. Yesterday, Bry'Chell suggested going up to the hill that overlooks the area. It's a bit of a hike, but nothing too strenuous. The view is beautiful. Although there are many places on campus with a view of Lake Victoria, the view from the top of the hill is spectacular. Unfortunately, the camera does not catch the breathtaking panorama of the view.

We packed a picnic lunch and headed for the hill. It was a perfect day for both a short hike and a picnic. As usual, we passed several groups of children all of whom had to say--muzungu, muzungu, muzungu. I smiled and waved. Bry'Chell told me to ignore them.

We took turns carrying the knapsack with our food and picnic stuff. I took the first leg which turned out to be the easiest. By the time it was Patricia's turn we were hiking up the hill. It was a pretty steep climb. There are no switchbacks on the trail to ease the climb (or prevent erosion), it's just straight up the hill.

Once we arrived at the top I scouted out a level spot with a good view. We spread the blanket--a sheet really--and sat down to eat. We could hear kids arriving shortly after we settled in. We ignored them. The cattle were less easy to ignore and they seemed to find us a curious attraction. They kept munching their way closer and closer to us. Before long we've surrounded on three sides by half a dozen head of cattle. They didn't get too close, so we just ate and enjoyed the view.

Once we finished eating Patricia settled down with a book and Bry'Chell went off to take pictures with the camera. At this point, the kids came closer and were giving me the muzungu stuff again. Patrica told them--in Lugunda--that my name was not muzungu, but Sister Judy. From then on they politely and incessantly started calling me Uncle Judy. Oh well, it was better than muzungu.

I gave them the rest of the chocolate chip cookies--there were six kids, so it was only a half a cookie each. It's better than nothing.

We finished up, cleaned up our stuff and checked out the view from all around the hill. I took several pictures of the kids. I'll try to post some, although I'm not having much luck with posting photos these days. The connection is just too slow. I do go back and add appropriate photos from time to time, so it might be worth checking some older posts to see what I've added. When I'm in Kampala the connection is faster and sometimes I can actually post photos.

We hung around for a while and then headed back. The downhill was more treacherous than uphill, but we made it down with no more than a couple of squeals from Bry'Chell and Patricia.