[Wrote the following after setting my own alarm to get up early enough to have breakfast at 5 a.m. before getting on the bus at 5:45 – what I didn’t realize was that I had miscalculated the time and that it was actually 1 a.m.!]

Jet-lag is a very good thing for me! I awoke on my own about 4 a.m. (actually midnight) Our bus for Pader arrived at 4:12 a.m. Decided to play a quick game of BrickBreaker on my cell phone (all it is currently good for as it won’t accept the local SIM card) before getting ready for the day.

Anna, my bungalow mate, was to wake me at 4:30 a.m….I finally checked on her at 5 a.m. (yep, just 1 a.m.) and she was still asleep. Not much jet lag for her as she is from our Scotland office! 🙂

More about yesterday…
The sugar cane fields and tea plantations were impressive! Sadly given their proximity to the rainforest, I believe that a lot of forest was destroyed to create land for the plantations.

Living conditions improved slightly as we left the outskirts of Kampala behind. The dirt is omnipresent as are the vehicles belching smoke and fumes. Among the worst offenders are the motorcycles that are used as mini taxis.

One of the great things about the mini taxis is that the women ride sidesaddle. Even carrying bags, or infants, they’re perched sidesaddle! Also, they have perfect posture. They carry themselves tall and proud – constantly reminds me not to slouch.

The landscape between Kampala and Jinja can best be described as rolling hills. Once the plantation begin the foliage is lush and green, infrequently carved by ribbons of red roads.

I asked our driver, Ben, what makes the soil so red. He insisted that it was brown. I suspect this gives me my first glimpse into cultural differences. When the only dirt you know is called “brown” doesn’t matter what other color someone else might see in it, it is still just brown.