Following my Mid-Service Conference, I was anxious for
Saturday night to finally come- Nathan was flying into Entebbe at 10:15
pm. I made my way to our lovely,
decadent hotel in the Entebbe area that afternoon so I could take two showers,
a nap and maybe a run at the hotel gym.
When I arrived, I realized immediately that I looked practically
homeless: dirty clothes, an overstuffed backpack, a beach back, two
on-the-verge-of-breaking plastic bags of groceries and windblown hair (not in
the good way). The Serena is
nothing like the hostels I usually stay in. Even though I looked quite out of place, the receptionist
brought me a glass of chilled passion juice as I attempted to check in. Much to my surprise and their guess, I
had no reservation! Yes, there was
a reservation for my father, who would arrive on Monday, but nothing for
Chelsea Roberts. Regardless, they
gave me a room and told me to get settled in. I finally was able to relax, stripped down immediately for
my first shower, threw on a robe and turned on some TV while I ate my
sandwich. When I picked up the
ringing phone, I could not have been more shocked when they informed me that I
had no reservation and demanded a deposit. I don’t have any
money… was my first thought.
Thankfully my second thought was NATHAN! “Uh, sir, is it possible it is
under the name Nathan Quilling?” I
felt like a 50’s wife who couldn’t possibly have made her own
reservations. “Why, yes, of
course. The room is paid in
full. Do you need anything else Madam? Are you comfortable?” Although they were now convinced I did
indeed belong at their hotel, I’m sure they were not pleased that I hand washed
all my clothes in the sink and hung them outside.
When the evening finally rolled around, I spoiled myself by
ordering room service and taking another shower. Despite my excitement to pick up Nathan, I am still a very
cheap Peace Corps Volunteer. On
our way to the airport, I had the driver stop at a supermarket to pick up 15
liters of water for the next few days, even though we were staying at one of
the nicest hotels in the Entebbe area.
My water stop made me a little late getting to the airport. As the driver was trying to find the
best parking spot, I assured the driver I could walk the short distance and
practically jumped out of the moving car.
All kinds of foreigners were trying to navigate the little sidewalk
leading away from the arrivals terminal.
I was rushing through rolling suitcases and confused tourists, until I
saw him. Nathan was not wearing a
suit this time, but the same disbelieving emotions sweep over me as I hugged
him for the first time in months.
Well, the hot, humid, Ugandan night sweep over Nathan. Nathan has never lived in a humid
climate before. Needless to say,
he sweat non-stop for the next three weeks. Even his shins would sweat! He claims he had never smelt that bad in his life. As we left the airport, Nathan looked
out the window watching flashes of Ugandan nightlife fly by as he wondered at
his first glimpses of Uganda and my life here.
Due to Nathan’s jetlag and my laziness, we spent the next
two days sleeping in, taking advantage of the amazing breakfast buffet, and
laying by the pool. On Monday, my
dad arrived with his girlfriend Shiera.
It was the first time I’ve seen my dad since I left last February. One of the things I love most about
seeing my dad is his all encompassing, borderline suffocating, bear hugs, which
I received right away.
We spent five days traveling around Uganda. For the first time in the history of my
dad’s travels, I was in charge. I
carried all the cash, arranged all the drivers and made the decisions. It was quite the role reversal, but I’m
happy my dad got to witness how well I’ve managed to take care of myself in
Uganda. We first made the 6-hour
trek to Sipi Falls, where we hiked with our guide George. George was a hilarious guide, with lots
of fun stories and information, who is currently trying to start his own
guiding business. After our hike,
Nathan and I sat down with George to edit his business description and try to
help him plan a website on paper.
The lodge had a resident dog and cat; unfortunately, the cat was not a
quick learner. He never quite
figured out that Nathan and I were not cat people. Every once in a while, we would feel some commotion under
the table when Nathan or I freaked out because cat rubbed against our legs.
From there, the gang got to experience “A Day in the Life of
Chelsea.” We took a terrifying
ride down the mountain in a tiny sedan that took several pit stops to be
refilled with gas from glass coke bottles sold on the side of the road. Once we reached Mbale, I repeated
several times that we wanted to be dropped near the taxi park. Quickly, I
realized he did not know where the taxi park was! When he pulled into the bus
park, I started yelling at him to just stop so we could all jump out, which
is exactly what my dad, Shiera and I did.
Nathan stayed in the car, as he clarified later, because all of our
luggage was still in the trunk.
Immediately, we are accosted by a man, “KAMPALA JINJA KAMPALA!” The driver tells the man we’re going to
Tororo. He grabs my arm and says
“TORORO!” “No, we’re not going to
Tororo,” I try to explain as I follow the car to where it finally stops. We collect all of our luggage and
Nathan, and this man again grabs me and says “TORORO! We go!” I just
snap, “NO, you are not LISTENING to me!
We’re not going to Tororo!”
And off we went to the taxi park, where everyone got the sardine can
experience of public transport to the village.
In the village, we were treated to white ants, a huge lunch
and sodas from my Ugandan family, who could not have been more excited to have
so many American visitors. We took
a short walk to my school, which was empty and quiet during holiday time. Two teachers were still living at
school, and were thrilled to show my visitors around. I got to finally unpack the infamous “blue bag”- a bag only
packed of goodies for me: beef jerkey, dried mangoes, new clothes, a new bag, 3
lbs of almonds, etc. The dried
mangoes are now all eaten! That
night, we stayed at a nearby guesthouse where there was no power all night!
After experiencing village life, we recuperated by taking a
private hire to Jinja, drinking Oreo milkshakes and laying by the pool. That night, we walked down to watch the
sunset over the Nile. As we stood
admiring the orange, yellows and red spill over the water, we realized we were
not alone. Troops of little
monkeys were playing on the grass, in the trees and on top of the roofs. Of course, my dad wandered off trying
to snap photos. A few minutes
later, we see my dad, who is 6’5”, running away from a monkey that stood no
more than 2 feet tall! Apparently,
the monkey thought my dad was a threat to the plastic bag he was playing with! It was the first of many hilarious
animal stories we would experience on this trip.
The following morning, as we made our way to the Entebbe
airport to embark on our Tanzanian adventure, I finally relinquished my travel
responsibilities to my father. In
Tanzania, we went on a five-day safari through Ngororo Crater and the Serengeti
with an addition to our party, Jim, a family friend. Unlike everyone else, I never received paperwork detailing
what to expect. I was completely
unprepared: we spent most of our time in the car, we saw tons of animals very close, we were “camping” in the
bush, and I was freezing most of the time. I put camping in quotes because it was luxury camping! We had several helpers including a cook,
showers, huge tents and hot water bottles at night in our beds; however, we
also were not allowed out of our tents at night because buffalo or leopards
could attack us! For two nights, a
man with a spear kept watch by a fire.
One night, the cook’s leather shoes went missing because hyenas snatched
them. I spent most of the day
expected to spot a fashionable hyena in dress shoes. Our last morning, as we filled out evaluations of the
services, my dad came running to tell us that a monkey had just run out of the
tent. None of us believed him,
until five minutes later when a monkey jumped on the breakfast table, took two
handfuls of cornflakes and dashed off!
Apparently, the safari company has a history with monkeys disturbing the
tents by jumping on the beds- I’m being completely serious. You can’t make this stuff up!
As for the animals we saw on the safari, not in our camp,
here’s brief list, but I’m sure I’m missing some: zebras, giraffes, lions,
leopards, cheetahs, elephants, impalas, antelope, wildebeests, ostriches,
rhinos, monkeys, baboons, hippos, crocodiles, hyenas, jackets, dik-diks,
buffalos and lots of birds. My
favorite animals were the elephants and giraffes, especially the babies. We learned about how zebras communicate
danger- it looks like they are nodding along to a really good song. I do a pretty good impression, don’t
worry. We witnessed the migration
of thousands of wildebeests and zebras across the Serengeti. We saw so many things all the while
hearing the click-click-click of my dad’s camera. He scored a grand total of 1,544 photos over five days! Sorry, I can’t post all of those. Actually, I’m in the village right now,
so I can’t post any right now.
The highlight of the safari was the kill. One morning as we’re driving around,
our guide spotted one lion, two lion, three! Suddenly, we realize that entire pride of lions is hanging
out to the left of our Landcruiser.
Then, our guide points out a lone male buffalo to the right in the tall,
dry grasses. Before we know it,
lions are crossing directly in front of our car with swift determination. The hunt was on! But, our guide had cut the engine as we
admired the lions. Now, we wanted
to see the fight in full action, which was a little ways ahead. The car had been experiencing some
technical difficulties: it needed a push start. With hungry lions close by, Nathan and my dad jumped out of
the car and started pushing!
Thankfully the car started, no one was mauled and we had front row seats
to a show-down. The lions worked
together and took down the buffalo, but it put up quite a fight. When the buffalo had turned into
brunch, more lions started to pour out of the fields, all headed to the
feast. We guess there were about
20-30 lions total. The guide said
that most girls don’t like watching kills because they feel bad for the
buffalo. Looks like I’ve been in
Africa for too long because I was rooting for the lions!
After our safari, we headed to Zanzibar, a beautiful, resort
island off the coast of Tanzania.
For four days, we soaked up the sun while lying on white beaches with
dazzling teal water. We got
massages, gorged buffet food, sailed on a catamaran, read books, kayaked and
most importantly, machine washed all of my filthy clothes. Zanzibar was exactly what the doctor
ordered: relaxation time before getting back to Peace Corps life. Now that vacation’s over, the doctor
has ordered lots of exercise to reverse the buffet effect.
