Bodas and Buses

April 17, 2009

Bodas and Buses

My weekend holiday to Kampala started at 8am at the front gate of the house. Mummy Eunice arranged with Jimmy Boda to take me to the Holiday Center to catch my bus. I had know idea where that was but I did know it was going to cost me 2,000 shillings.  I set side saddle on the back of Jimmy Boda’s motorcycle as he precariously balanced my rollie suitcase on the gas tank. Then we were off!!

As we whooshed by traffic it began to sprinkle. Up went the hood of my raincoat—thank God I was prepared! The Holiday Center turned out to be on the other side of Nyando—much farther then I had expected. No wonder it cost 2,000 shillings to take me there! When we arrived Jimmy unloaded my suitcase and he was off leaving me to fend for myself. I was excited to board my first bus in Uganda but as I looked around in the rain there were none in sight. What I did see were many taxis and a few coasters (mini-buses). Of course, as Jimmy left and I was standing there by myself in the rain I was mobbed by about ten guys saying, “mazungo, mazungo, taxi, taxi to Kampala!” Thank God I’ve traveled a lot in 3rd World countries and I was able to talk my way out of their aggressive offerings. I insisted that I was going to wait on the BIG BUS!

I moved away from them, rolled my suitcase through the mud and stood under a thatched canopy to get out of the rain. As I waited, I watched the commotion, the bartering and the people move up and down the area. It was quite a sight! After about 20 minutes I asked a guy when the big buses were arriving and he said in about 5 minutes. I thought to myself “yea right” but sure enough in about 5 minutes a bus came rolling up, passed me and parked on the side of the road. Just then a man in a trench coat came up to me and said you’re looking for the big bus to Kampala lets go! He grabbed my suitcase and I ran after him, as he said “hurry you don’t want to miss it”. I rushed on to the bus and realized it was very full. As I moved down the aisle to look for a seat I got calls for the people, “mazungo, mazungo sit here”, “are you going to Kampala”, “how are you mazungo”. I moved to the back of the bus and found an open seat with a girl and a guy. I introduced myself to my seat mates, Jessica and John and the bus was off. Whew I was on! Thank God!

It didn’t take long for some of the other passengers to start talking to me. As I looked around I noticed that everyone was younger. I asked Jessica, my seat mate, why everyone on the bus was young and she said that they were all students from the same university in Kabele. They were traveling home for Spring Break. They all had started their journey east at 2am that morning, so they’d been on the bus for about 7 hours already. She said she was getting tired, but the others on the bus were very lively. There was music and chatting and the two hour bus ride to Kampala flew by! I meet some interesting people and had some great conversations. I made it very easy since they all knew English very well. I’m so happy that my first experience on the BIG bus was a great one!