The Sisters warned us that we might have to wait for a matatu (shared bus/taxi) for possibly two to three hours. We headed out before seven with the expectation of sitting for several hours and waiting for a ride. But, I’m pretty positive all of the Sisters said a little prayer for us because when we arrived to the junction, a truck had just pulled up and we happily squeezed in. It was extra bumpy, but we made it to Mubende and after a short twenty minutes we were on the bus to Fort Portal.
The ride was uneventful, yet beautiful and we were in Fort Portal earlier than we had planned. Not having arranged a hotel for the night, we had a short standoff in the bus parking lot until we agreed to jump in a taxi (whose driver wasn’t being as pushy as the rest) and as we pulled out onto the road, we simply asked him to take us to a hotel. Of course, he takes us to one we could not afford. We stop by another before giving directions to one Andrew had read about online. This was all within a 2-3 kilometer radius. Not far between stops. At all. Yet, when we climbed out of the taxi… his fee had doubled. This is what visitors call the “Mzungu (Swahili for white person) price” in other words, a price that is not asked of native Ugandans. Andrew laughed. I argued that it was too expensive, but we were tired, and annoyed and not really in the mood to fight. We paid, and then took a nap before walking across town to a guesthouse TripAdvisor said had good pizza, and called it an early night.
