Special-K

I love Kampala, K-town, K'la, the Special-K!!

It's probably because I'm with Ally doing more of a local thing vs. being on the tourist track, but this is by far my favorite big city in Africa. First, while there is a decent amount of security, it's nothing like Joberg or Nairobi, so I feel much, much safer here. It's also a lot less expensive than those other large cities. And while every country has had friendly locals, it seems especially true here. Or perhaps here, the locals have been more genuine. In Kenya & Tanzania, every local would ask the same series of questions as if they'd all been pre-programmed..."Where from? Which state? You like the weather better here?..." Going through the answers grew tiresome, and toward the end, even annoying. Thankfully I haven't faced that series of Qs here in Uganda...yet!

The city is beautiful. It's very lush & green with lots of rolling hills and peaks. And the nicer houses, built up on the hills, have almost Mediterranean style red-tile roofs that peek out amongst the greenery. The dirt is very red too, like a red clay. Again, so beautiful against the many shades of green.

Driving around the city is insane. There are around 2.5 million people here and there's ALWAYS horrible traffic. It probably doesn't help that I haven't seen a single stoplight -- not one! Ally said she knows of only two in the entire city! And once again the roads are in pretty poor shape - lots of potholes. Last night we were returning from a trip up north (total of 7 hrs driving!), and the last leg of our drive, through the city to Ally's home, should have taken about 20 minutes, but instead was a greuling 1.5 hours of bumper-to-bumper, cars coming from every direction, horrible car exhaust blowing in our faces, and just general driver's hell. Poor Ally! I would have gone ballistic! When we finally pulled into her home, she burst from The Beast and jumped into the swimming pool fully clothed!

The restaurants have been quite good in Special-K too, and the nightlife isn't bad either. The big ex-pat hangout is this Irish pub named Bubbles O'Leary. It's a crazy fun spot, and last Friday we tore it up on the dance floor to the likes of Bon Jovi, Guns-N-Roses (I thought of you Sarah Grace!!), and even the Grease soundtrack! So funny, and oddly comforting, to have those moments here in Africa!

Mere