Riding Through The Streets of Jinja

I took this video on the back of a motorcycle boda boda taxi while driving down the main street of Jinja. Hopefully it's a good look into what we see everyday when we ride from place to place!

Organized Chaos

I love when I learn about some reason or meaning for typical parts of life in Uganda, especially concerning their language. For example: A Rolex (no not the watch) is Chapatti rolled up with a fried egg omelet and costs around 1000/= Ugandan Shillings (Again not the watch for $.50 USD, that would be too cool). Anyways, it was named a Rolex because you take the food, and roll it up. Plain and simple, and delicious.

Also I have learned so much about Boda Bodas this week!

First interesting fact is that their name was shortened from border-to-border. Motorcycle taxis provided cheap transportation across the border in the East to Kenya and became known for taking people from one border to another. Convenient name? I think so!

The second thing I learned is that they are incredibly organized! While visiting Mallory and another intern, Nick, in Bugembe on Wednesday I arrived rather early with no idea which way to go. A colleague was dropping me from work (hence the early arrival) and instructed me to sit with the bodas and wait. Among the ten bodas at this boda stage, I met the Bugembe boda Chairman! They have a chairman! So does Jinja apparently, and everywhere.

After being introduced to each by their name and religion, I asked about how they got stationed at this particular coaster stop. It is a prime location, and I am not sure how some end up working that corner, and another guy sits all day at the end of my street waiting for someone to come by. No clear answer emerged from the conversation. All I know though, is it may be more competitive than I first thought!

I'm so curious about this taxiing industry, I have many follow up questions for my new friends next time I visit Bugembe, but perhaps I will save that for a sunny day!

(View of Lake Victoria from some hilltop in Bugembe)

Top 20 Best Things About Uganda

Like Laura was saying earlier, it's shocking how the weeks have gone by - next week we will be going on our midterm retreat, and my program will be halfway done! I wanted to chronicle all the best things about Uganda (so far...).

1. Friendly people
2. Awesome weather and amazing, lush scenery
3. Boda boda rides!
4. Tea time + dubbed over Spanish soap operas = supreme happiness
5. Coming home to your host family and being tackled by your host brothers/sisters
6. Fresh fruit and vegetables - avocados, mangos, bananas, pineapples, passionfruits...
7. Organic/nonprocessed food in general
8. Street food! Chapati, rolex, samosas, pancakes...
9. Sodas. A Stoney (spicy ginger ale) a day makes a happy Mallory.
10. Awesome FSD interns
11. Being so close to the Nile makes for great scenery and tourism opportunities!
12. Our favorite hostel, Backpackers, has an awesome crowd of 20-somethings from the U.S. or the U.K. on weekends.
13. Beer. Big beers. Good beers. My favorite is the Nile Special.
14. Blue Band. It's this margarine spread from Unilever and it's sooooo good.
15. Ugandan friends calling you to update them on where they are and what they're doing.
16. Obama-fever. There are Obama tote bags, hair salons, belt buckles...
17. National football matches! Vuvuzelas, anyone?
18. Copies of your favorite movies and TV shows before they're even in the stores in the US....
19. The Ugandan ice cream truck
20. Chickens, goats, and cows running all over the place. I think I just really like farm animals...
21. The markets in Bugembe and Jinja. So lively and so much good food.
22. The touristy shops selling traditional crafts. It's all I can do to keep from buying them all!
23. Ugandan fabrics. I bought a purse in Kampala that's made out of traditional Ugandan fabric, and it's my favorite thing.

I lied and went over my list! Definitely more good things to come, so I'll just keep this running for now.