I don't think I realized that I had left Uganda until I was coming back into the country. I was waiting in line at immigration after 5 weeks away, explaining to some other tourists how to get a taxi and what to pay. I recognized the immigration official (the airport is not big at Entebbe) and joked with him about how he was the one who gave me my exit visa, too. I pushed through the crowds with a stack of luggage that had multiplied over my journey. I left with 1 bag to check, and came back with three massive bags. A driver from our favorite Kampala hotel, Red Chilli, was there to pick me up. The night was warm and damp, it had clearly begun raining in Kampala. I was back on the left as a passenger, and on the left side of the road. Suddenly it hit me that I had actually been away. This realization, about 5 weeks too late, sent a dizzying flood of emotion into my small brain, and I promptly shut off and slept until arriving at Red Chilli 45 minutes later.
My trip started with a terrorist threat that was confirmed to be real and potentially very violent against Entebbe airport at the exact time I was supposed to fly out. We had the veracity of this published threat confirmed by a colleague who is a Member of Parliament, and head of the defense committee in parliament here in Uganda. He advised me, "fly out as soon as you can, or wait two days." Well. I wasn't going to wait two days, so I jumped in a taxi with a friend who was flying out that afternoon, rather than late at night. We arrived to the airport, bought a one-way ticket on Qatar airways from Entebbe to Washington DC (I was supposed to go to Seattle) and thought, well, I can figure the rest out in Doha. I just need to get clear of Entebbe. We spent a tense few hours waiting in the airport for either our plane to arrive, or the apocalypse. Fortunately the plane landed first. We boarded and were soon in the air on the way to Doha.
We landed in Doha, and after some finagling at the transfers desk, I had a flight to Chicago in the morning, a hotel for the night, and meal vouchers. So my friend and I proceeded down to immigration and passed the droves of officials in traditional Emirati clothes, jelaaba and head scarf. We cleared immigration and set off into a 100 degree night at 1:00 am to our hotel. We arrived at the hotel at 2:30, decided to take our meal right then (meals were still going on for Ramadhan, so people could eat before fasting at dawn). We ate around 3:00, and at 4:00 we went outside to listen to the call to prayer echo around the canyons of dazzlingly elctrified sky scrapers.
I caught about two and a half hours of sleep before getting a wake up call to come down for our transfer back to the airport. I took a quick cold shower, put my clothes back on and headed back to the glitzy, commercial chaos of Doha International airport. There was a ferrari for purchase in the duty free shops. I bought some chocolates and a coconut water (I was excited by these developed world choices) and then boarded my 14.5 hour flight to Chicago.
Upon landing in Chicago, I knew I would miss my flight. The flight was already 35 minutes late, on top of a 1.5 hour layover to clear immigration, pick up my bags from customs, re-check them, and get to my gate. No chance. I still ran all through O'hare trying to do my best to make it, but I couldn't. I ran to the wrong gate, then had to retrace my steps, and just sit with the knowledge that I wouldn't get to Seattle before 10:00 pm. I Was sweating, tired, had been wearing the same clothes for 30 hours, and needed a shower, so I bought a clean shirt and undies at Brooks Brothers, and bought a day pass to the United Admiral's club. I got a nice long shower, and clean clothes. I had three beers in the club for free, then a bourbon, and then headed down for my flight to Seattle.
Seattle was wonderful. It was so nice to spend time with my family. We went boating, saw art, ate at the top of the Space Needle, went to Pike Place Market, went walking around Green Lake, went on several nice jogs, grilled delicious burgers, caught up with dear friends (@maurawatts) and just generally soaked up my family. We even got to see the whole extended family and drive to the cascade mountains to our Cabin in the woods. It is a hodge podge place, a little bit of family chaos in the woods, but it has so many great memories attached to it.
From there we drove down the West Coast to Merced. I spent a very quick three nights in Merced. This whole time I was sort of a zombie. Up until midnight with work activities to stay connected to East Africa, and up early to check in before their work day ended.
From Merced I went to San Francisco where I stayed with Genny, one of my besties, for a week while working out of the US Office of Village Enterprise. It was a wonderful opportunity to get in touch with the home base and refresh my perspective on Village Enterprise from that side of the operations. It is so crucial, and all my meetings with the Staff there gave me a renewed appreciation for how our field work can inform our US work and vice versa. In the evenings I went to lovely dinners, cooked with Genny and John, saw wonderful friends from Pitzer and AU, and was genuinely honored to be in the presence of such good people.
From San Francisco I flew down to LA and spent an amazing weekend with Harrison Weinfeld, another one of my best friends. We ate amazing food, went to the beach, drank delicious scotch, stayed up far too late talking and catching up. He took me on tours of his neighborhood, and I was so happy to see how established he was in LA. It was such a pleasure. I also got to see Geraldine and we all went out for a night, and I met Harris' writing partner Danny at a nice little gathering in Hollywood. It was fun to be back in Los Angeles, and a good reminder of why I really wouldn't mind ending up there with Lee. Thank you Harris for a wonderful time. I spent an afternoon with my grandmother. It was so good to see her, as I am not sure if I will again. Then I had dinner with my aunt and uncle who shuttled me to the airport after great conversation and good food.
While in the car on the way to the airport, I got my last call before shutting off. I was on the phone as I checked in for my flight to Panama City, and up to going through Security. The phone call ended and I went straight through the security line to my gate. I boarded an overnight flight to Panama City.
I woke up in Panama City, breezed groggily through the airport to the gate for my flight to Quito. I barely had enough time to snag a water and a coffee before I got on my flight to Quito. I slept again until we were landing in Quito. The turbulence was such that we were dropping steeply, and sharply. People were screaming. Then we landed to a burst of applause and I had made it to Ecuador.
My trip started with a terrorist threat that was confirmed to be real and potentially very violent against Entebbe airport at the exact time I was supposed to fly out. We had the veracity of this published threat confirmed by a colleague who is a Member of Parliament, and head of the defense committee in parliament here in Uganda. He advised me, "fly out as soon as you can, or wait two days." Well. I wasn't going to wait two days, so I jumped in a taxi with a friend who was flying out that afternoon, rather than late at night. We arrived to the airport, bought a one-way ticket on Qatar airways from Entebbe to Washington DC (I was supposed to go to Seattle) and thought, well, I can figure the rest out in Doha. I just need to get clear of Entebbe. We spent a tense few hours waiting in the airport for either our plane to arrive, or the apocalypse. Fortunately the plane landed first. We boarded and were soon in the air on the way to Doha.
We landed in Doha, and after some finagling at the transfers desk, I had a flight to Chicago in the morning, a hotel for the night, and meal vouchers. So my friend and I proceeded down to immigration and passed the droves of officials in traditional Emirati clothes, jelaaba and head scarf. We cleared immigration and set off into a 100 degree night at 1:00 am to our hotel. We arrived at the hotel at 2:30, decided to take our meal right then (meals were still going on for Ramadhan, so people could eat before fasting at dawn). We ate around 3:00, and at 4:00 we went outside to listen to the call to prayer echo around the canyons of dazzlingly elctrified sky scrapers.
I caught about two and a half hours of sleep before getting a wake up call to come down for our transfer back to the airport. I took a quick cold shower, put my clothes back on and headed back to the glitzy, commercial chaos of Doha International airport. There was a ferrari for purchase in the duty free shops. I bought some chocolates and a coconut water (I was excited by these developed world choices) and then boarded my 14.5 hour flight to Chicago.
Upon landing in Chicago, I knew I would miss my flight. The flight was already 35 minutes late, on top of a 1.5 hour layover to clear immigration, pick up my bags from customs, re-check them, and get to my gate. No chance. I still ran all through O'hare trying to do my best to make it, but I couldn't. I ran to the wrong gate, then had to retrace my steps, and just sit with the knowledge that I wouldn't get to Seattle before 10:00 pm. I Was sweating, tired, had been wearing the same clothes for 30 hours, and needed a shower, so I bought a clean shirt and undies at Brooks Brothers, and bought a day pass to the United Admiral's club. I got a nice long shower, and clean clothes. I had three beers in the club for free, then a bourbon, and then headed down for my flight to Seattle.
Seattle was wonderful. It was so nice to spend time with my family. We went boating, saw art, ate at the top of the Space Needle, went to Pike Place Market, went walking around Green Lake, went on several nice jogs, grilled delicious burgers, caught up with dear friends (@maurawatts) and just generally soaked up my family. We even got to see the whole extended family and drive to the cascade mountains to our Cabin in the woods. It is a hodge podge place, a little bit of family chaos in the woods, but it has so many great memories attached to it.
From there we drove down the West Coast to Merced. I spent a very quick three nights in Merced. This whole time I was sort of a zombie. Up until midnight with work activities to stay connected to East Africa, and up early to check in before their work day ended.
From Merced I went to San Francisco where I stayed with Genny, one of my besties, for a week while working out of the US Office of Village Enterprise. It was a wonderful opportunity to get in touch with the home base and refresh my perspective on Village Enterprise from that side of the operations. It is so crucial, and all my meetings with the Staff there gave me a renewed appreciation for how our field work can inform our US work and vice versa. In the evenings I went to lovely dinners, cooked with Genny and John, saw wonderful friends from Pitzer and AU, and was genuinely honored to be in the presence of such good people.
From San Francisco I flew down to LA and spent an amazing weekend with Harrison Weinfeld, another one of my best friends. We ate amazing food, went to the beach, drank delicious scotch, stayed up far too late talking and catching up. He took me on tours of his neighborhood, and I was so happy to see how established he was in LA. It was such a pleasure. I also got to see Geraldine and we all went out for a night, and I met Harris' writing partner Danny at a nice little gathering in Hollywood. It was fun to be back in Los Angeles, and a good reminder of why I really wouldn't mind ending up there with Lee. Thank you Harris for a wonderful time. I spent an afternoon with my grandmother. It was so good to see her, as I am not sure if I will again. Then I had dinner with my aunt and uncle who shuttled me to the airport after great conversation and good food.
I woke up in Panama City, breezed groggily through the airport to the gate for my flight to Quito. I barely had enough time to snag a water and a coffee before I got on my flight to Quito. I slept again until we were landing in Quito. The turbulence was such that we were dropping steeply, and sharply. People were screaming. Then we landed to a burst of applause and I had made it to Ecuador.
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