Aliya and Heida in Africa: Conquering Kampala

After sleeping for as long as we could sleep, it was time to cram-as-much-as-humanly-possible-into-our-one-full-day-in-Kampala. Which we did. In chronological order, a list of the things that you, too, could experience in a 15-hour time period:

• Eat fresh pineapple, mini sweet bananas, apple mangoes and passion fruit for breakfast. Enjoy some more than others.
  
• Take a trip to AFFORD/UHMG to get a visual of the office, see the jackfruit tree, meet everyone's favorite displaced Ghanaian Chief of Party, and let your loved ones back home know you haven't been captured by the LRA.
  
• Saunter past the airstrip and hike up Kololo Hill to capture some token city scenes.

• Stop by Kisimenti to check out the local grocery stores, browse the crafts at Banana Boat, and hope to God your ATM card lets you withdraw money at the Barclays.


• Hop on a matatu (mini-bus) and pay your 500 shillings to experience the thrills of Uganda's public transport.
  


• Get dumped off by the taxi park in town, and try and survive your way through the throngs of people walking, selling, buying, shouting, transporting, sweeping, mounting, dismounting, boarding, disembarking, beckoning, praying, sweating, fanning, grabbing, sitting, watching, eating, listening – all the while trying not to get hit by assorted motorists coming at you with speed from the less intuitive side of the road and with no qualms about giving you a little "knock."



• Stop for lunch at 1,000 Cups, a well-known coffee shop on Buganda Road, where it is likely you will have to retrieve your own menus, order at the counter, re-order at the counter when you learn that half the things you ordered are "finished", inquire about bill and pay at said counter – despite the fact that there are several employees who are paid to assist you in these endeavors.


• Bargain your way through the batiks, beaded sandals, colorful baskets, wooden carvings, soap stone statues, kikoi cloth, and hand-made jewelry on Buganda Road.



• Buy avocado, onions, tomatoes, and garlic from the stalls at Nakesero Market. Look the other way while walking past the livestock section.

• Stroll along Kampala Road, then up past Parliament and the National Theater to finally behold the wonders of Kampala's mall, Garden City. Here I thought it particularly important to give them a tour of the gym, brag about the impressively international food court, and buy bagels from New York Kitchen, a restaurant oddly yet famously situated in…the parking garage.
  
• Head back past the golf course to home sweet home for a refreshing Coke-out-of-a-glass-bottle and a lukewarm shower.
  
• Share wine and hummus and guacamole and stories with some of my Kampala favorites at a mini pre-dinner Plot 31 Acacia Avenue soiree.
  
• Get locked inside the compound when trying to leave, compliments of our extra tight, post-break-in security.


• Pile into some special hires and head out for a group dinner at Mediterraneano, an atmospheric Italian setting with the finest of bread baskets (don't worry, we eat local food eventually).



• Relocate with the gang to Iguana, a local pub, to sample some Ugandan Club.

Hey, I never said I was a relaxing hostess.

Which is why it was so fantastic that Aliya and Heida truly – as cheesie as it sounds – "seized the day," in spite of probable jetlag, forgotten sunscreen, and the scary (yet never voiced) thought of having to put their trust in a notoriously directionally-challenged navigator.

I only had to ask for directions once.