September 1, 2015
To Ruhengeri: border crossing into Rwanda
Today we leave Uganda. The ride to the border is about 10kms on unsealed road practically at the base of Virunga chain of volcanos. This is a very green lush area. Today the kids go directly to "give me money", not even a hello. Before writing about the border crossing into Rwanda, here are our Impressions of Uganda:
1. Money is a shilling. 3500 shillings = 1USD. Accommodations averaged 40,000 shillings or $12 USD
2. Red African Dust....rough roads, hills
3. Boda boda (motorcycle) drivers and Matatus are major form of transportation
4. Large groups of men stand around large groups of boda boda drivers seemingly doing nothing
5. Women do most of the work i.e. in the fields, small shops, carrying babies on their backs while working
6. Children are important to Ugandans and it's important to have many children. The youngest inherits the property, because they will be the ones to take care of the parents in old age. One of the first questions we are asked is "how many children do you have?" We see children carrying children on their backs
7. Waterfalls and Lakes. To name a few: Murchison Falls in the north (we didn't visit), Sipi Falls around Mt. Elgon, Crater lakes, Bunyonyi Lake
8. Children say "hello muzungu" and wave, in the middle of Uganda they sing "by-ye, by-ye muzungu and in the southwest toward Rwanda the children shout "give me money" with their hand outstretched. Adults too would ask for money.
9. Boda boda drivers would whistle and shout madame muzungu at Rachel, and muzungu to Patrick.
10. Mt. Elgon is beautiful area, very rural, very bad road around it
11. Uganda is a birdwatchers dream
12. Queen Elizabeth National Park is a beautiful savannah with the Ugandan Cobb (antelope) where the Kazinga Channel connects Lake Albert to Lake Edward
13. Source of the Nile at Jinja and Lake Victoria
14. Indian influence to food remains with samosas and curries and chapati
15. Rolex: Omelet rolled in Chapati. Sometimes tomato and cabbage added. Cooked over a charcoal stove at the side of the road
16. Matoke: made from the plantain banana
17. Ugali: a starchy paste from corn
18. Dresses in the rural area made from a metallic satin with big puffy sleeves, the top over the long skirt hangs over the hips and a wide sash tied around the waist
19. Milk is still collected and delivered in big silver milk cans
20. Stair risers are of an uneven height
21. Western style toilets but the seats are mismatched shapes or non-existent
22. Speedbumps! Every town at each end would have a series of 4-5 humps and in the middle of the town would have one large hump. Ruins a good downhill. And painful going over on a bike
23. The biggest avocados ever! and cheap.
24. Even the roosters seem to crow "a mu-zunnn-guuuu"
25. Ugandans love beer(Nile Speciale is the best) and loud music
26. Things sold in single serving sizes: tomato paste, curry powder, milk powder, laundry soap
27. "Safe journey" At the end of any conversation we are wished a safe journey
Today we crossed the border into Rwanda. This was quite the process.
First, finding where to get the exit stamp for Uganda. Patrick goes to a little building marked police and Rachel watches the bikes. Our information is written in a ledger and Patrick is given two postage stamp sized pieces of paper to give at the Rwandan immigration office.
Next, we go through a screening for ebola with our temperatures taken. Then, we find the immigration building. The first window, we need to fill out forms, turn over the two tiny pieces of paper and our passports, and we get the Ugandan exit stamp. The next window is where we get the entry stamp for Rwanda. The officer takes our passports one at a time, and our picture is taken.
For US citizens, there is no visa but a $30 USD fee. If interested in traveling in this area, there is an available 3 country visa for Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. The officer passes our money and passports to the third window....and we wait. Finally we get our passports back and we are on our way again.
Only now, we are back riding on the right side of the road because of the Belgian history. There are no boda bodas (motorcycles), few matatus, a few people on bikes carrying loads and most people are walking. So many people walking, women carrying loads on their heads with very colorful sarongs with more greens, blues, and yellows. The towns we go through have very little activity. Store fronts are mostly closed, the building very clean, landscaping between the stores and road, nothing being sold along the side of the road.
An early day into town, Patrick finds a bike shop to fix Rachel's freewheel that has been clicking for a couple of days. And we enjoy our first Rwandan meal...very sophisticated with soup or salad, fish, fries, rice, vegetables and fruit dessert.
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Today's ride: 39 km (24 miles)
Total: 6,507 km (4,041 miles)
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