Day 10 - Happy Halloween

Unfortunately it rained all night long so the road issue is a hot topic of discussion at breakfast; to go or not to go, that is the question.  We delayed our departure to see if the rain would continue and thought that if we did go, starting a bit later than planned might be better to give the road a bit of time to dry out. 

After much discussion we started off.  The roads were much worse than the day before and the vehicle kept sliding but Julius really knows what he’s doing so we kept going and dreading what would happen when we got to the mud hole.  We got there and we all got out and carefully looked it over.  Julius thought we might make it through but it was definitely touch and go.  After a lot of discussion we decided to turn back especially because we knew that even if we made it, the small lake from the day before which lay ahead, would now be a much bigger lake and we’d probably get caught there.  Besides as we learned yesterday even if we made it through we’d have to come back the same way and it was very cloudy and potentially we’d get even more rain.  

We’re disappointed but it was the wisest decision.  We called the ACE and they said only 2 board members had arrived due to the rain so we felt better about the decision.  So, we had an unexpected  day of rest. 

With unexpected time on our hands, I wanted to see if there was somewhere in town where I could get some Ugandan handicrafts so we went to the shopping area and I got a thing which I do not know the name of.  It’s a small musical stringed instrument that’s an odd shape covered in goat skin with bent nails to tune the strings which appear to be made of fishing line.  I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do with it but I really like it.  It was 10,000 Ugandan shillings – sounds like a lot but that’s only $4.00.

On the way we passed a wine shop and I decided we had to try Ugandan wine.  You go in this small dark shop (all the shops are like this: cement, about 6 foot square with no windows) with 5 litre plastic gas type cans which hold the wine.  You bring our own bottle (ours was an empty water bottle) and they fill it up for you.  It’s October 31^st today so we’ll have a Halloween party.  We’ll start with a wine tasting at the hotel and then go for Indian food for dinner; but we’ll forgo the costumes.

Finally the sun came out and I’m once again writing this under an umbrella in the courtyard of the hotel.   

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.  I’ll report on our Halloween party tomorrow.