When life gives you lemons

Make Kenya! Wait, that doesn't make any sense. Go to Kenya?

Just one day after returning from Rwanda, I’m on a bus on my way to Kenya now because I screwed up and forgot that my Uganda Visa was expiring. Apparently it’s like $100/day fine for each day you are here after your Visa has expired, so with almost no notice I had to take off and leave for Kenya – the closest border (a mere “6” but actually 8 plus hour bus ride) from Kampala.

So I decided to make the best of it. I chose Eldoret, a town known for producing some of the world’s best runners as these Kenyans continually train at high altitude (above 6,000 ft.) and it’s also a popular hang gliding destination as it overlooks the Great African Rift valley. Furthermore, Wikipedia tells me there is a good cheese factory there.

Sitting next to me on the bus is Maku Anderson, a Ugandan man that appears to be around my age. He’s very chatty and friendly and he’s looking me up on facebook just minutes into our trip. We spent at least 15 minutes alone talking about the Rolex, a Ugandan classic –simply an egg and chapatti (the Ugandan equivalent of Nan bread) that’s pretty bomb. It also reminds that everywhere you go in the world, people love the egg/bread combination, just like my birdy-in-the-nest back home. You can normally find Rolex on the street in Uganda (in contrast to Rwanda where street food is sadly forbidden) for $.50 and it makes an excellent snack. But I also learned from Makuy about variations of the Rolex that I hadn’t previously known existed – such as the commando (with veggies), the Titantic (4 eggs with 4 chapati’s wrapped on one side and 4 on the other –it’s hard to imagine just how massive this is), and “for thugs” Maku say’s, the Sugar Rey – which is a Rolex made with spirits (usually whisky). This sounds disgusting to me.

We also got to the topic of woman where Maku teaches me: “Rwandaise woman are like tortoises – they are shier than Ugandans, and even if they hide their heads, watch out, they can still come out and bite.”  This is contrast of course to Ugandan woman, who, Maku informs me, “are more like ostriches. When the leopard comes to hunt them they may hide their necks in the bushes but they forget about the biggest part, their behinds, the meat, just sticking out there for the leopard.”

Update from Eldoret:

I didn’t find the cheese factory, but I did find some amazing hiking. Despite being described as somewhat of a tourist town, very few African towns are actually set up for tourism and Eldoret was no different. I left after just one day since the only buses back to Kampala were hellish night buses and I have work Monday. Considering the ride was 90% of the point, it was not such a horrible trip after all.