Friday the 13th: bats, rats and cows?

As my mother used to say - and I hope she doesn't have personal experience with this: "It's hotter than the hinges of Hell."  I think it's not really THAT hot, but damn it's hot.  I think it's exacerbated by the fact that there is no respite from it:  no Ac, no fan, no cold water, no getting really clean and staying that way, mosquitoes...

So power "is finished" and has been for two days now.  We're back to scrounging power from places with generators, so that, no doubt will be how I spend part of the day tomorrow - recharging devices and paying for the privilege by paying for food.

And the night after that of the screams, my housemate reported that there was a cow moo-ing outside of his window.  We don't have a cow.  And looking a little bleary eyed today, he reported having gotten little sleep last night because he was up chasing mice - and he thinks at least one rat.  Now that does it!  And last night there were bats...  but not inside.  I have to say they're falling down on the job of eating mosquitoes.  Anyway, I'm so glad I'm at the other end of the house.  But since we don't know where they (the rats)  are coming from, I'm not sure that helps.  I'm happy I have no points of entry from the crawl space or the garage...  And tonight is Friday the 13th.  I'm sleeping with a flashlight and a wooden spike.

It's the beginning of another weekend in the metropolis of Gulu - the music is at full-tilt, the haze I saw when walking back from dinner with friends, is dust - although if you work hard at it, you might be able to come up with something more romantic and the streets are alive.

Sunday I get to ride the bus into Kampala.  I'd rather stick pins in my eyes that ride a bus to Kampala (6 sardined hours, almost certainly shared with chickens, 'n kids, and maybe a goat or two and god knows what else).  The good news is I'm riding in the company of four other people from our office so it will be easier.  The bus stops once along the way for what's called a "short call."  It's a bathroom stop where we get to pay 200 UgS to trot down a dirt path and use a pit latrine.  One avoids gagging from the smell by keeping the door open or wearing a bandana over your nose.  (Not much chance anyone will think you're trying to hold up the place.  Give me all your toilet paper or else! It could happen...)   If you're not riding with people you trust, you also have to take your possessions (backpack, etc) with you so it makes it all the way to your destination with you and not someone else. It means you'll also lose your seat and possibly end up sitting over the rear axel and spending the next half of the trip hoping you don't dislocate something or crack a tooth from all the banging around.   And then there are the 100+ hawkers of unidentifiable foods shoving things in your face until you can finally make it back to the "safe haven" of the bus.   Actually some are identifiable and safe, other's not so much:  steamed or roasted corn, roasted animal parts on a stick, fruit, ground nuts, a flat bread that looked like a puffy tortillas, something that is boiled or steamed and looks like a cross between a peanut and a bean...    Some is actually pretty good, but I don't eat it for health reasons - not wanting to tempt fate.  A friend whose family came to visit told me 3 of the 4 were tested positive for Typhoid.  The good news from that is that false positives abound.  The bad news is they still fell like #*&+!

When we get there we get the thrill of being dropped off in the bus park (remember the one that looks like a hornet's nest) and negotiate a Matatu (12 seat taxis filled with 20 people) and get to the LABE headquarters.  You can see why I'm ever-so-grateful to be going with a group of people who know how to do these things.

On that happy note, I'm going to finish Pillars of the Earth (rape, pillage, and popes in the Middle Ages) tonight, so I can start a trashy who-done-it on the trip next week.  Great escapes come in small packages - and I'm taking a supply of chocolate!  (Thanks Evie!).

Nighty night ya'll