Seeing Life From A Bus

Our trip to Uganda to see mountain gorillas was undertaken in a massive 24 passenger truck equipped with a kitchen setup to feed us lunch on the side of the road while we travelled. Taller than a normal 45 passenger coach, the truck is truly massive, and incredibly bouncy. As we drove from dusk until dawn for the better part of a week in total, I must say that East Africa was fully displayed for us on the side of the road. Traveling on a bus that elicits staring from every one of the thousands of people who work and have their homes by the road is almost a personal experience. Every child waves excitedly and runs to the road to greet the foreigners with waves and chants of "how are you?!"

Commerce occurs at the road side not only in markets where bananas, tomatoes, corn, passion fruit, and potatoes are frequently sold, but also at the many speed bumps that are strategically positioned in all towns. Our cook frequently stopped to purchase carrots, bananas, and avocados from local farmers when the bus slowed at the speed bumps. In more populated areas, more industrious entrepreneurs try to hawk an enormous variety of wares to cars waiting for traffic including energy saving light bulbs, belts, soccer balls, cell phone chargers, sandals, and even power tools.

Along the way through Uganda and Kenya we saw two outdoor weddings, we saw a processional of 100 people singing their way to the initiation ceremony of a boy (aka the circumcision ritual), we saw the crowds surrounding 2 more circumcision rituals that were ongoing, in the lead up to a ministerial election in Uganda we saw two extremely well attended political rallies at which candidates were speaking, and we even saw an arrest in which four individuals were on the ground being held by machine gun wielding police officers.

The hours of travel showed people who were businessmen, farmers, poor and very poor, people playing sports, people finding afternoon shade outside their homes, women working fields, kids herding cows, sheep, and goats, and all other manners of every day life from which many of my later posts are derived.