Let's start the way the Dutch often start...

(Btw, I tend to not really proof read these... haha. Also, uploading photos and editing this stuff takes forever with the internet here, so there won't always be many photos I'm afraid)

Not sure where to start to be honest… We’ve been here for precisely fourteen days now. We arrived Sunday afternoon on the 24th of May and today is Sunday afternoon the 7th of June. As you might understand, in that time we’ve seen/done/experienced many things! (For those interested, I am currently looking at two geckos trying to hunt flies, fascinating animals!)

Let start the way the Dutch often start their conversations. Let’s talk about the weather! Hahaha, but also because the weather here is worthwhile to talk about, I think (but then… I am Dutch… despite people telling me more and more often I begin to sound Irish). In essence, the weather is unpredictable. Yes, the statistics tell you it will be lovely temperatures every day, ranging between 23 and 28 degrees, but I came to understand those are indeed averages (although of course it is true, sunny or not, it’s never really cold, something I very much appreciate about this country!). A day can start sunny and you think it’ll be the warmest day to date, and two hours later you find it raining so hard the electricity dies and you’re in a dark office. It can rain in the morning, so you decide to wear trousers and even long sleeves, and after a while the sky is suddenly blue and the sun burns. It’s rarely the same weather all day long, and more than once we’ve fled inside because the sky was pitch black and you could hear thunder, but nothing happened. Or we were walking around town because it was sunny, but ended up soaked because it was no longer so sunny. We now first ask David, one of the guys of the guesthouse, if he thinks it’ll rain. So far he seems to be right most of the time…

Maybe nice to know: as we are almost precisely on the equator, day and night are about equally long. A day starts around 7.00 in the morning, when the sun rises and ends 12 hours later at 19.00 when the sun sets. Around 19.15 it’s dark, which means we had to adapt a little to not so much longer nights, but mainly to long evenings. Your mind feels it should probably go to bed or something when it gets dark, but when you finish work at 17.00 and it’s dark at 19.00 that requires a little bit of adapting.

​​Anyway, enough about the weather, I guess in my head it sounds more exciting than it looks on paper. Perhaps you have to live here to understand what I mean! Let me write about some general things. The guesthouse for example. We are staying in the Manhattan Guesthouse (you can find it online, it’s also on Tripadvisor), a small guesthouse on of the many hills of Kampala (I think it’s Nemirembe hill). Anika, the girl who did her placement here last year, stayed in this guesthouse as well and recommended it to us. The main reason: it’s about 3 minutes walking from the CDRN office. I will resist the temptation to discuss precisely why that’s such a big advantage for now, but in Kampala it might (literally) save your life if you don’t have to commute far on a daily basis. We have two small rooms, probably the most basic rooms they have, but hey, that’s probably why their relatively cheap, each equipped with a bed and mosquito net (priceless!), a small table and chair and a basic bathroom. My room differs in that it has a smaller bed than Anna’s, a small wardrobe (one of those plastic boxes with a zipper, Anna doesn’t have one) and a toilet without toilet seat (I have found a toilet seat to be an unnecessary accessory). The water should theoretically be able to get warm, but because we’re far from the boiler (or something along those lines) it’s only cold water. Which on a day like today, when you get home overheated and sweaty after a long walk, is actually quite refreshing. You know what they say, always look on the bright side!

The guesthouse has a garden with a lovely view, especially in the evening when the sun sets behind the hills (the sunset skies can be stunning!).​​ It is here we eat our breakfast every morning (breakfast is included): fresh fruit, two toasts, egg, jam, tea/coffee. Every morning it’s a surprise what fruit we get served (most often it’s pineapple, water melon and papaya, but sometimes also banana or mango, each delicious and very juicy!) and what type of egg we get. They try vary a little, so there’s Spanish omelette (most common), plain omelette, scrambled eggs, boiled egg or some form of poached egg. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much egg in my life! As we stay here for a long time it is probably no surprise that we have come to get to know most of the staff already. David mainly works at the reception, George as waiter and Misage in housekeeping. With each of those we’ve had some conversations and whenever we have a question about anything Uganda related (be it about food, shops or travel destinations) we consult them for answers. In the evenings we often eat here, although after two weeks we’re beginning to explore other options more and more. Most of our meals are traditional, I’ll get back to that! All in all we’re happy to be here. The rooms will do, the staff is friendly, the service is good and the location is great! We’re close enough to the city (and most sights) to be able to walk (although that’s something Ugandans don’t do, walking. We’ve often encountered raised eyebrows when we told people we didn’t need a taxi because we were ‘just walking’) but far away enough to be in a less busy area with the option of walking into the greener suburbs.

#Weather #Guesthouse #Kampala #Uganda #FirstPost