The Trip Back from Jinga

Sunday Bry'Chell and I returned from Jinga. We did it all by ourselves--no driver, no UMU coach, just us. Well, that's not entirely true, we did hire a driver to get from the place we were staying to the taxi park in Jinga.

From the taxi park we caught a coaster to Kampala. By this time we were hungry so we walked over to Shop Rite and had a hamburger at Mr. Tasty. It wasn't really that great. We found a bathroom and walked back to the taxi park.

It took us a while to find the right bus, but we found a bus to Masaka that would drop us at Kayabwe. This wasn't a coaster, it was actually a coach bus, but it had seen better days. I've since been told that Gaso--the company name on the bus--is not the most dependable.

Waiting wasn't as much fun this time. The windows on the bus are higher than those on the coaster, so it's not a convenient for the vendors to come by the window. Since we were off in a corner, it wasn't as central for the vendors.

However, the vendors did come inside the bus. They were squeezing past each other in the isle to try and sell us everything from food to undershirts. They didn't have Bry'Chell's favorite, rings. Well, we did find a couple of vendors with rings, but they weren't the type Bry'Chell, the queen of cheap jewelry, wanted. (Actually, she would be the queen of expensive jewelry if I let her.)

The bus finally filled up and we were on our way. For a while. The bus died about 30 minutes outside of Kampala. The driver assured us that we would be on our way shortly. I've experienced similar events, so I decided to sit tight and wait. I didn't exactly sit, I went outside to get some fresh air.

We waited and we waited. Several people were getting restless. It started raining, so I figured just sit and wait for a while. The rain let up. Finally, Bry'Chell said it was time to find another ride. I figured she was right, so we got off the bus. In less than five minutes a half-full coaster--a nice new one--came by and offered us a ride. We had to pay again, but with both fares, it was still cheaper than taking the Metra to downtown Chicago.

The coaster dropped us off at Kayawbe and we caught boda-bodas up to Nkozi. All in all, I felt it was a pretty successful trip.