Carol Bontekoe

This blog has been keeping track of my adventures since 2004. The stories and the adventures have come from my college dorm room to Uganda, Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan, learning Dutch in the Netherlands to living in the wilds of Homer, Alaska. I went back to school in Amsterdam to study Theaterwetenschap (Theatre Science) at University of Amsterdam. And now my adventures as a Fruit Fly, a Sexy Unicorn, and creating a movement with Team Sparkle in Chicago.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

It's all coming back to me nooooooooowwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!

Okay let's just get this out of the way: Riding on a Bus in a Third World Country is not as glamorous as you may think it is. Don't get me wrong it defiantly has it's perks. On an 8 hour bus ride today with, No air conditioning, No leg room, and way too many passangers; we did get to hear A Whole New World on the Radio... not once but twice!!!! With in minutes of each other. And if that isn't a sign of how amazing riding the bus is, a few hours later I got to hear Celine Dion's It's all coming Back and right after that My Heart Will Go On. So Defiantly big perks, just not the glamorfest you might expect.I had two eight hour bus rides full of fun because this weekend was my last weekend in Uganda, and I didn't want to leave without having seen the country side. Grace, Catherine, Alison, Mary, Natalie, and I decided to go to Lake Buyonyi. It is right on the Uganda/Rwanda/Congo Border. So Grace and i figured it is like going to Rwanada but not as Expensive, and like Going to Congo but not quite as Dangerous.It was amazing. I pretty much just sat by the lake the whole time. It is up in the mountains and everything too. Grace and I did try to be over achivers and do something, but that lasted literally baout 20 minutes. We tried going Canoeing and it is complete madness to canoe in a dug out canoe. We just kept spinning in circles. And every time we started spinning in a cirlce we just quit and would sit there. There also happened to be a bunch of people sitting on the shore watching us and just laughing. So we eventually just quit for good and land next to the lake. There was no sun and it was chilly, so why we spent the day laying around nobody knows. The place also had Satelite TV so we were able to watch some of the Olympics with a Bunch of Aussies. I have never watched without a bunch of Americans cheering on all the same people I am. On Sunday everyone but Mary and I decided to go back to Ndejje Village, but Mary and I wanted one more day without all the pollution. It was really nice, we ended up going for a hike. And these children were begging for Pens and sweets and Money. ONe boy was really quite smooth, telling us he didn't want anything he just wanted to walk with us. And then he suggested that the children dance for us and we flat out said, "No, That would cost us money. We DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY." He literally stopped walking with us then and said "Bye Bye" No tact at all. Other kids tried to get us to go swimming with them. We think so that way they could take our bags while we are in the water. So they all went running into the water trying to get us to join. And once they were all in Mary and I just took off. Later that night we watched the Men's 4 X 1 freestyle in swimming. And it was so said the Aussies finished 6th and Americans 3rd. Pitiful!!!! But South Africa totally deserved it. South Africa's Version of Sports Center is Terrible by the way.Today our driver to get us back into Kabale to catch our bus home never showed up so this group called Overlanders gave us a ride in. They ride around in a truck/Winnibago/Semi/bus. It is the biggest thing I have ever seen. Mary and I ended up being in a seat that didn't attach so when we hit a Ugandain Pothole we went flying. So we have been initiated into the Overlanders. Though the bus ride stinks, the view was awesome!

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