I take back anything I said about Kampala being gentler and greener than other similar cities I've visited: we found the dirty and chaotic part. Today we went into downtown Kampala for an appointment with the lawyer, and then I figured we might as well explore for the day. What a day! It's exceptionally nice to get home and put my feet up.
We live just past the very end of Ggaba Road, so we started at the very end of the minibus route and took it all the way in to the other end. Miss B told us that from the last minibus stop, it was not far to the lawyer's office, but too far to walk, so we should take a boda-boda. These are the extremely precarious looking motorcycles, which we both wanted to avoid. I've seen car taxis, so we found one of those and took it. I didn't know the right price, but I am quite sure he dramatically cheated us with what he charged, and I'm still grumpy about that. It does make one funny little story though: we needed to go to the UTS Insurance Building, which is next to the Kampala Casino. Even though the building is obviously a major one, the driver didn't know it but he knew the casino. I told him several times we didn't want it, we wanted the insurance building, but he attempted to drive through the guarded gates anyways. I think the guard was thoroughly confused why anyone was trying to drive into the casino at 9 in the morning!
The lawyer was much more forthcoming with advice about how to walk around the area and what to see, so after our appointment we set off. There is apparently not that much of tourist-y interest in the main part of the city; most of the sites are off in different directions. (Actually, there is not an awful lot in Kampala in general; most tourists come to see the gorillas and the birds.) But personally, I find the most interesting part of traveling is just walking around and seeing how people do things and what the streets and the people and the buildings and everything looks like and works, so I didn't mind walking around to a couple of different destinations.
Here is what the afternoon's schedule would have looked like with typical travellers:
-walk past parliament and government buildings, take some pictures and read plaques
-lunch and bookstore in mall-y area (quick stop for Ugandan history books); check major grocery store for a couple of simple items not available in local tiny market
-walk through city area to Sheraton gardens
-if tired, tea at Sheraton before exploring gardens
-walk towards where to find minibus
-go through street market area and explore
-perhaps sidetrip to the busiest market in Uganda
Here is what the afternoon looked like with a four-year-old:
-walk past parliament buildings, which you see out of the corner of your eye as you try to keep your child out of traffic, and explain in some reasonable fashion about all the men with guns, and then answer even more questions about guns
-lunch in mall area overlooking beautiful golf course
-bookstore: spend an hour trying to keep your child from spending the entire afternoon in the extensive and beautiful toy area, children's area, and trinket area, while quickly grabbing a couple of inexpensive books about Uganda because you don't want to spend much money given that you have no chance to peruse the books. Read several fairy tales written for babies, multiple times each. At least it is cool and dim.
-go all the way to the top of the center, then all the way to the bottom. Your child needs to run headlong down all the ramps between floors, making vehicular sounds. You are glad that Ugandan people seem to like small, active children, and mostly move out of the way with a smile.
-try to convince child to go in grocery store, but cooperation is about out. It ends completely when he sees a coin-operated ride-on helicopter, which you did not put him in. Escape grocery store, but deal with a full-fledged tantrum on the ramp to the lower floor to find a bathroom.
-pee
-go up all the floors again, and finally find the fenced in outdoor playground you saw from the outside on the second-to-top floor
-playground
-urgent poop break
-back to playground
-drag child out of playground before you both faint in the 2 pm African sunshine
-commence long and whiney walk back up to town. Child insists that he gets his energy from a strange way of putting his fingers in his backpack straps, which means that he cannot hold hands properly, which is not acceptable. Finally, as you pass the major upscale hotels, child is distracted with more questions about men with guns.
-have tea and cake at the Sheraton cafe. (Guess who has tea and who wants cake!) Child skips maniacally through the marble hallways on the way to and from the bathroom, which happens in order to be clean enough to eat cake, and then to be clean enough to be done eating cake. Child is happy to rest and color for a while, but very abruptly is climbing on top of chair and asking loud questions. You are counting very hard on that Ugandan small-child patience, but unfortunately the hotel also is full of foreigners.
-find way into famous gardens
-spend almost all garden time in the playground
-start walking back towards where to catch the minibus
-walk towards fascinating market area, but you cannot risk stopping in because it is not a good place for a meltdown. You are not allowed to pay attention to all the fascinating sights anyways, because you are supposed to be telling about Hansel and Gretel, or someone's legs will stop. He does a good job walking along, though.
-survive walking through some of dramatic round-a-bouts imaginable, and get to the minibus stop
-take the minibus all the way to the end of the line, with a tired and slightly damp child draped across you lovingly, getting his orange-dust-y shoes on the very patient businessman in the next seat. Despite the tired limpness, he manages to ask questions the entire way home.
What an adventure!
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