After leaving the church in Buhoma, Nate and I took a ride towards Kahihi past an airfield where we were to meet a pilot who was bringing over a brake fluid cap from Kampala. We saw a small Cesna landed there, but the pilot, a little Japanese Canadian, wasn't the one with the part. She said the next plane was expected to land at 11:10 and that pilot had arrangements for a ride to Bwindi where she thought she could hitch a ride also. We realized that that ride would be us because Nate had agreed with the car rental company to give the pilot a lift back to Bwindi. So we told the female pilot to wait for us with the other pilot until we got back from our business in Kahihi which is about 17 km from Buhoma. This isn't that far but the roads are so bad it does take some time.
When we arrived in Kahihi we went straight to the ATM machine because both Nate and I were strapped for cash. However the ATM was void of money. Fortunately there was a bank next door and, even though it was Sunday, the teller window was open and a very friendly bank employee was there to talk to. Nate explained that we were interested in exchanging some American dollars for Ugandan schillings. The smiling clerk told us that he could easily help us but we'd have to come back tomorrow when the bank was open for business. A military officer, who was leaning on his AK47 within hearshot, reminded us that Uganda was a peaceful and Christian country and didn't conduct money business on Sundays. He later did confide in us that “Nahab” would do a money exchange at his hardware store locate one street away. We found the hardware store, which consisted of a small room with a desk and a few boxes of nails. Behind the desk was Nahab's son who was a pretty tough business man. Nate was able to negotiate an exchange at a fairly reasonable rate so we headed over to the nearest gas station to fill our empty tank. When we pulled up to the pump, the sole service attendant sauntered over to the car and began to methodically wash our windshield. He meticulously finished the passenger side and then walked over to clean Nate's side of the window. I couldn't understand why he didn't have the pump running while this process was going on, but I figured it was just the African way. After the attendant finished fastidiously polishing the glass, he offhandedly mentioned to Nate, “We have no fuel.” Nate thanked him and asked where we could get some deisel and he gave us directions to another place. I found this a little weird, but Nate seemed to take it in stride. We were eventually able to fill our tanks and to buy a few cases of juice boxes for future pygmy reciprocation. With that we headed back to the airstrip and picked up the petite Japanese pilot and the other pilot, who had our car part. We then drove them to the Gorilla Forest Camp in Bwindi.
The views were gorgeous coming back, but the rain clouds were starting to form.
No comments:
Post a Comment