The Adventures Begin! -- Kabale, Uganda

From Saint Paul’s Hostel in downtown Kigali, I headed to the Nyabigogo Bus Station. My big bag weighed heavily on my back as the driver inched up Kigali’s hills; gravity and my pack fighting to push me off the small motorcycle seat. In Nyabigogo, I met up with two other friends who were joining me for the start of my adventure. First stop: Uganda. More precisely, the town of Kabale, in Southwest Uganda.

If Kabale rings a bell, it’s probably because over the last few months the city has been the epicenter of Uganda’s most recent public health crisis: Ebola virus and Marburg fever. I am happy to report that neither my friends nor I contracted either deadly virus or fever, and the town itself seemed to be doing just fine.

Virginia, ready for Uganda

In Kigali, we mounted a Kampala Coach bus, which takes passengers from Kigali all the way to Uganda’s capital, Kampala in about fifteen hours. Less than three hours after our departure, we arrived at the border, where we were asked to dismount the bus, check out through Rwanda’s immigration office, walk across the border, and check in at Uganda’s immigration desk before getting back on the road.

My friends and I knew we were no longer in Rwanda the second we saw street food. In Rwanda, innocent civilians are deprived daily of the culinary delights that are fried street foods because of “sanitary and hygiene concerns”. Uganda seems to have its priorities more clearly in line, and street food is abundant. More on the escapades of my taste buds later.

Less than an hour after crossing the border, we were motioned off the bus. Welcome to Kabale! Eager motorcycle and taxi drivers offered to take us anywhere, but being the cheap (Returned) Peace Corps Volunteer that I am, I walked.

Bunks at Home of Edirisa

The walk to Home of Edirisa, a hostel recommended to me by other volunteers, took longer than I had expected, but offered a great first glance at Uganda. The streets seemed less organized and dirtier than Rwanda’s, yet somehow more vibrant and definitely wealthier: more grocery stores, more banks, and more clothing stores with more clothing. Amazing how, despite the distance being only a few kilometers, the differences between Rwanda and Uganda were so clear to me.

At the Home of Edirisa, we sat down for a nice, long lunch. The atmosphere and the place itself were nice, the food was fine once it got to the table, but the wait time for food tested even my well trained patience.

Rita, traditional umbrella model

For the unbeatable price of 9,000 Ugandan Shillings, the decision to stay the night was pretty easy. $3.50 got me not only a clean bunk bed and warm-ish shower, but a free tour of the “museum”. A very friendly staff member showed us around a large room where a traditional hut had been built and lots of traditional decorations hung. The guide explained everything along the way, including the traditional umbrellas, which I obviously tried on. 

The rest of our time in Kabale was spent admiring street food, admiring the shelves of Ugandan grocery stores (they have maple syrup!)…admiring food in general.