What a full day!
And I learned some new words.
And I now notice I have what appear to be two mosquito bites. :(
Last night was not good. I settled in at around 11, just when all the outside sounds died down. All I could hear was the fan. But my mind kept going, and going, and going. For the entire night! I literally did not sleep the entire night. How messed up is that?! The dawn came, well, even before it, outside of my room the hotel people were washing their (I hope!) dishes, right outside. Water, clanking, and chatter. At least then I had a reason for not sleeping. I finally got up, with a balloon head, at 8.30 and went upstairs for breakfast. The coffee did me some good, and Spanish omelet was well prepared, too.
Our host at the inn told us that Mass today was at 9.30, but maybe he didn’t quite understand us because he kept telling us he’ll come at 9.30 to take us there, 10 min walk. We kept asking shouldn’t we leave earlier if it starts at that time, and then he finally said that time for Mass is not always accurate (Ugandan time : )). And boy, was he right.
He didn’t show up by 10, so we just started walking. We figured we’ll just follow the locals. We asked a teenage girl walking if she was going to church, and she nodded, although I’m not sure she understood. But she was going, and we arrived there at 10.15. Along the way, everyone stared at us. Kids waved and run closer; the adults just stood there and stared. Like we have horns or something! : ) They were polite and greeted us back when we first said something or waived. Same thing at the church grounds. Majority of people were still just standing outside, and, without saying anything among themselves, just stared at us. Um, yeah, we definitely didn’t blend in. It wasn’t like we were scared or anything, it was just funny and weird to have EVERYONE just freeze and stare. There were also several French UN soldiers there waiting, a somewhat regulars it appeared, so at least we were not the only Muzungus there. : )
The church was well built, with concrete floors and walls, and fairly comfortable pews. They were playing drums while we waited. The Mass started at 11, and ended close to 1.30. (going to church on Sunday here is definitely a whole day event). The Mass began with children in yellow and white uniforms processing in and dancing to the drum beats. The only difference between the boys and girls was that one wear shorts and others skirts. Their heads looked all the same. Lectors and couple of priests followed.
They spread out mats in front of the first pew for all the kids to sit. They all settled there, those who had shoes took them off and stayed on the floor during the entire Mass. They were quiet, but when they needed a break, they’d just put on their shoes and walk outside. The very little ones would mingle longer in the isle, but eventually made their way in and out. They didn’t come in the pews. Kids as young as 3-4 would carry their younger siblings. The adults paid virtually no attention to them, so they were not a distraction to them.
The dancing kids stayed at the foot of the altar, in front of the other kids on the mats, and would do a different dance for every song. The musicians played several drums and an electric organ. The choir sang quadraphonic. Everyone clapped in different beats and danced in place. People were still giving us looks, but the kids were the most hilarious. Some would literally freeze when seeing me in the pew, and just stand there staring at me for a minute or two. All I could do was chuckle. One little boy came over to me and was telling me something that I of course couldn't understand. I pointed to my lap if he wanted to sit, and he hoped on. He was mesmerized while I was taping the kids dancing, and wanted to touch them on the screen. He played with and examined my hands, leaned on and was quiet. He was sad when we all had to get up.
There was a baptism, a 30+ min homily, introduction of a seminarian and his 10-15 min speech, and another speech by the priest at the end. The part AFTER the Communion, you know the one that's supposed to last 5 min, was 45 min long! But everyone seemed to just used to that as normal. They were in no rush. I'd say 98% of time they spoke the local language, and just when they addressed something about us visitors did they speak in English. Everyone was invited to greet us outside, and sure they did! I learned Agandi is hello, and everyone was laughing when they heard me say it. The kids, small and big, although a bit shy, all wanted to be in the picture. They would line up as soon as you show them you want to take their picture. (some would genuflect when greeting us – embarrassing!) None of them were rude or begging for anything. Nice kids.
After that, the driver took us some 3 min away to fr. Issidore's parents' house. Everyone else was already there when we arrived. There were more than 200 people, easily, sitting and standing in the front lawn. Looked like the entire village, but it wasn't. There are some 2000 people here. And the stares continued. I felt like a pig in Teheran! :)
The house was really nice and big, with a gate and garage. They had two huge tents spread out, and chairs for almost everyone under them and under a large tree. For us, they had special chairs under a decorated tent behind a table with drinks. There were other people, family behind us. We were like in a store window! It felt like we were some kind of royalty. I understand for fr. Izzy to do that, but us... come on! There was also a video camera man, and of course we were often the object of his attention. The town manager, or something like that, stood up to greet everyone, and announce why we gathered. Then someone like the church elder, acting as a master of the ceremony explained there will first be a song and dance to welcome the visitors from a far, then several speeches, and then they will serve us food. And they were not kidding about the speeches. Everyone who took the mic had a lot to say, and was speaking confidently. Finally, fr. Izzy got up to introduce us, in his own language, and he introduced me as an engineer. I was a bit more than little uncomfortable with that display. The fun continued as he led us in a dance toward the house to go eat.
For us and the close family and friends, the food was served in the large dining area, where we could sit around the table or on the couches. Everyone else got food and ate outside. The food was good, and there was plenty of it. Later I found out about, and saw pictures of, the animals in the backyard from that morning, a cow, 2 goats, and chickens, that we had for that meal. Talk about fresh food! It felt like the prodigal son scene, when the best calf was slaughtered and the entire village gathered to celebrate. They even had a beer keg!
After the meal, I finally felt a bit more relaxed to go out and mingle with people. Met the musicians, some family members, and of course the kids were always near by. That Agandi really put smiles on people's faces. This Muzungu either says it completely wrong, or they've never met one who says it. Either way, they greeted back.
The party lasted until sundown. While it was still visible, we went on a quick tour of the village downtown, and were the only car on the road. No wonder that everyone stops what they are doing to see who is passing by. We said our goodbyes, Kale-Kale, I got a pet name akiki, which apparently means part of the royalty, and most people are called by the pet names.
At our inn, the good warm shower at the Sequeira’s room felt really nice. I got a less strong sleeping pill from Ada, so we'll see how it works out tonight. I'll do my best to sleep.
Ada was staying behind, because she was already at the wild part that last time she was here. We headed back to Fort Portal on the same bumpy dirt road. It was not as hazy, so we got some nice pictures. Since there was virtually no traffic on this road, people along side would stop and wave at us. Getting used to that. We also stopped at one arts and crafts store in the middle of nowhere and got some good deals. We had to stop for a minor car tune up, passed the Crater Lake, and the Kibale National Park again. There were many of those huge butterflies dancing around us again. Lovely! 
After we dropped of some things in Fort Portal, we continued south toward the national park, but now we were on tarmac road – much better. The view of the mountains around the town was much clearer. Maybe they also had the rain the day before that cleared the air. Finally, by 4 we were at Yerya parish, where we had our lunch. Then we had couple of more hours to the park. 
Down through the Rift valley we went, all alongside the beautiful peaks of Mt. Rwenzory. In some tiny town we even saw Snow Views Hotel, which sounds so out of place in Uganda. But, actually, on a real clear day, the snow caps can be seen almost year round. We were just 38 km from Congo border, not that I wanted to go there. We also passed the equator, around 6.30 PM. There was a little sign on the side of the road, marking north and south side of the world. We were now in the southern hemisphere already, and driving through the northern part of the Queen Elizabeth National Park. The scenery looked more like Africa I imagined; yellow, tall grass, sparse, mid-height trees, with wide, flat tree tops. We saw few deer or antelope herds in the distance. 
We were at the first park gate at 7, and it took another two gates and long time to clear up some receipt confusion, for us to finally get our keys at almost 8. I think the original plan was to be here at 2 (U.S.T.!), so we missed lunch, for which they said they’ll compensate us. When we were almost at the second gate, we saw a herd of 4-5 elephants just a stone throw away. They were just leisurely eating in the bushes, not paying attention to us. 
The hotel looked wonderful. It is owned by the same Indian guy who owns the big factories in Kampala and a few other resorts in National Parks. While we waited in the lobby, they brought us wet towels to freshen up and some passion fruit juice. The personnel and service were very professional. They took us to our rooms, on the other wing of the hotel, in the golf cart. The room was really nice, air-conditioned, balcony, specious, two ‘net walls’ that open with a cord, and a nice bathroom with a long bathtub. I even though I’d have a bath, but the hot water was yellow even after running for 10 min. But the warm shower was just as wonderful, with a strong massaging jet. It felt good after that bumpy ride.
