Chimp Tracking!

Since we got the car back and my physical therapist said I was fine to hike, we took a fairly last-minute trip to Fort Portal, in Eastern Uganda, this weekend. I'd heard that the landscape is incredible (true) and that chimp tracking in Kibale National Park is a must-do (also true). We took off early Friday morning and made pretty good time out there despite some terrible roads; arrived in time for a delicious lunch at the lodge, called Turaco Treetops. A couple of friends from the Embassy were staying at the same lodge, so we had company for some of our dinners and the tracking.

Saturday morning was chimp tracking! We wanted to get that done first, before I had time to potentially hurt myself, because the permits were expensive and we weren't sure how rugged the terrain would be. So we showed up at the visitor's center at 8 AM for a briefing, then drove a few kilometers to where the rangers had left the chimps the day before. Each guide carried a rifle to scare away any potential threats (probably forest elephants--which we didn't see--or if someone angered a chimp I guess?) and was responsible for a group of six, so we and our Embassy friends were matched with a couple of very adventurous retired ladies from California who were heading to see gorillas next. We were told not to eat anything in the woods, to make sure to wear our masks whenever we were around primates, to watch out for safari ants (and tuck our pants into our socks just in case) but that their bites would hurt but wouldn't have any lasting effects so please don't scream, and to stay 10 meters away from the chimps.

We didn't have to walk very far before we started hearing some unnerving noises that our guide said were chimp calls, so he took us off the road onto some much smaller trails, following the calls. Soon we saw one! He was sitting on a log in a classic Thinker pose, but he left pretty fast. Our guide gave him a minute, then followed. Soon we found a bunch more, up in a tree eating figs. We spent the next couple hours following them around and taking lots of photos...and definitely not staying 30 feet away (although our guide did call out someone who got too close). Sometimes the rainforest felt a little crowded- there were at least three and maybe four groups of six following the same group of chimps around, and lots of them had Very Serious Cameras with Very Big Lenses, but it wasn't that bad. Just as we started to get tired and hungry, the chimps moved on again and our guide took us to watch them cross the road to another area of the forest as we said goodbye. It was such a great experience; one of the coolest things I've ever done, and I'm so glad we made it out there.

Our guide, Alex. Luckily he didn't need to use his rifle!

For Sunday morning we asked the lodge to set us up with a hike; they offered a swamp walk (hot, bugs, no thank you) or a crater lake tour with optional waterfall. We chose that one, obviously. There was apparently a teensy miscommunication, because the crater lake tour was 3 1/2 hours bumping along on terrible dirt roads in our car looking at lakes, with a very, very short hike to the waterfall. The landscape was indeed beautiful (we saw the lake pictured on the 20k shilling note, among others), but the morning was....not fun. Until we were driving back to the lodge, and one of the baboons on the road in the park not only didn't move out of the way, but climbed up on our car when we stopped! He hung out on the windshield and side mirror for a while, then eventually tumbled off and sat on the road as we drove away.

We took off back to Kampala early this morning to try to beat some traffic, and on the way through the park a baboon I'm convinced was the same one climbed back up on our car...then sat on the side mirror and peed. I'm sure he was just marking his territory because we were his special friends, but I was pretty relieved when we hit some rain on the way back.

My friend Tina says he'll rip my face off but I think he's our special friend.

All in all, despite the bumping, it was a great weekend.* I'd love to go back to Fort Portal and stay at a different lodge (ours was a fantastic location for chimps but not great for anything else), and try to hook up with a hiking club out that direction for an actual hike. Another lodge someone recommended is actually adjacent to a vanilla plantation, and I'd really love to try Ugandan vanilla; plus you're supposed to be able to buy beautiful baskets in that area. 

*I've said it before and this weekend did solidify for me that you can't really go on vacation in Uganda: no matter how relaxing the lodge, the roads and traffic are such an ordeal that you get home not feeling relaxed at all. But it was a good trip!

Feel like I've Been Hit by a Truck

I mentioned early on that driving here is a little different than driving at home. One aspect of that is that people will come up to a corner or the end of a driveway really fast and kind of nose out into the road. I finally stopped panicking when I saw it, trusting that they would stop. Well, the Tuesday before Christmas, Dustin was driving me into the Embassy, and a big blue Pepsi delivery truck came down a steeply sloped parking lot as we were going by. And it slammed into the passenger door of our car, scraped along it as we moved forward, and kept going into the ditch on the other side of the street. Apparently the parking brake failed and no one had put rocks behind the wheels (a common practice here); the driver wasn't even in it.

(there used to be a side mirror and the door used to open)

That wasn't really how we wanted to start Christmas, but we have a lot to be grateful for. First of course, that our car is a tank; my neck was a little sore for a few days (the doctor ruled out a fracture or head injury) but otherwise we're totally fine. I'm pretty shaken thinking about how my old Civic would have handled that (not well, is my guess). Second, that it was so unambiguously not our fault, so no angry mobs to worry about; the bystanders just wanted to help. Third, that we got amazing support from the Embassy. I called the Marines at Post One right away; they made sure we were safe and sent a local security guard and Ugandan investigators. The Marine called back twice, once with an update and once to make sure we were ok. It helped that we were 200 meters from the Embassy, but the guard and investigators were there within 10 minutes and the motor pool supervisor soon after that. The investigators handled the police (we didn't even have to go give a statement, just write one and send it in the next day), and motor pool took charge of our car.

We found out afterward that the police impounded the truck once the owner took responsibility. Motor pool took our car to two garages they use and trust to get the mandatory two repair estimates, which they brought to the owner. He paid the lower one, motor pool took the car to the garage and paid, and we signed a form saying we were satisfied so the police could release the truck. We're hoping to get an idea of when we'll get the car back this week.

The last thing we have to be grateful for is that one of my coworkers lent us their second car. We're trying not to make any frivolous trips, but it's really reassuring to know that we can go where we need to, and it's been so helpful with all my appointments.

So a week later, Dustin went back to the Embassy to pick up mail. There was a big blue Pepsi delivery truck in that same lot....but someone had parked another truck perpendicular to it in case it rolled again.

Ugandan Hospitals

The medical system here is a bit different than we're used to. First off, appointments as we know them are not a thing despite the hospital having a link to make one (I tried this and no one ever responded). But you can call and tell them whom you want to see, and the operator will tell you that the doctor will be seeing patients at this time, in the order in which they sign up.

So we showed up an hour early and registered at the front desk. They took my name, asked whom I was there to see, asked for 100,000 shillings (~$30) that I sincerely hoped wasn't a bribe but paid because I really wanted to see the doctor (but was relieved to find a receipt for later), then gave me a number and sent me to wait. Someone called my number, then took my vitals and wrote everything down in a big book along with my next of kin's name and phone number (reassuring!) and sent me to a different waiting room, outside the doctor's office. 

We eventually saw the doctor; he looked at the x-rays and said (mostly to Dustin) yes, this is a fracture and we're going to put on a cast because he doesn't believe in surgery (seriously, but I would also rather not have surgery in Uganda), so please go over to the treatment rooms. We went to the other side of the hospital and sat down to wait for a room to become available. Then Dustin had to go to the cashier and pay for the treatment I was eventually going to get. Waited some more. Eventually went back to the doctor's office to put the cast on there because it's faster and there no saws involved on this end. Six weeks later we waited almost two hours for a treatment room and x-rays to get the cast taken off. But we always pay before any service, and when that's not possible the therapist or staff person will walk to the cashier with you. 

I guess medical insurance is a thing here, but we're paying in cash (or card if we're lucky) and then submitting receipts online for reimbursement...but getting the x-rays and cast on was a total of $300. Each PT session is about $20, which is less than my copay for PT was in DC.

A Relaxing Safari; or, why I haven't blogged in months

 On Thursday, November 11, we arrived at a highly recommended lodge at Lake Mburo National Park, one of the closest safari parks to Kampala, looking forward to a weekend of relaxing, taking pictures of animals, walking, and biking around the park. We went on a night safari drive, figuring that the lodge would get a lot more crowded on Friday (we were correct), then had dinner, and planned to do the mountain bike safari the next morning.

Friday morning I fell off an elephant* and landed hard on my wrist. Dustin grabbed the ibuprofen, but we realized the first aid kit was in the backpack we hadn't brought and (luckily) the trauma kit wasn't going to do any good. So we went to the office and I asked for Tylenol, some ice, and an ace wrap, figuring it was a bad sprain- not my first sprained wrist, but definitely the worst. In the office, they had a first aid kit but it turns out not a lot of training, so they gave me some faux-tylenol and found some ice, and someone went to get some wood from the stables (seriously) to make a splint. In the meantime, the massage therapist put some yellow ointment on my skin and went to town and assured me that it wasn't broken because he couldn't feel any bones out of place. That hurt about as much as you'd guess. They ended up putting two sticks of wood against my arm and wrapping a very sad ace wrap around the whole thing, and giving me a sling. At this point I texted the health unit back at the Embassy; the doctor there said it could very well be broken, but the nearest hospital was an hour and a half away over terrible bumpy roads and I wasn't likely to do any more damage by waiting, so as long as I could handle the pain there was no reason to come home, but to please for the love of God not leave my arm splinted with the two sticks right against my skin.

So we stayed. Every staff member at the lodge stopped by to tell me they were sure I'd be fine tomorrow, and the assistant manager said she hoped we wouldn't let this ruin our vacation. Mountain biking was out, and game drives were out, since I'd need to brace myself on the roads and the bumping would be painful. But a walk should be safe, we thought, especially since I was pretty sure I wouldn't be going to yoga for a while and it's not like we can walk in Kampala. So Saturday morning, just after sunrise, we set out down the hill toward the park. Five minutes later, I stepped on a rock in the dirt road, rolled my ankle, and fell. Luckily, I was wearing the sling, so I didn't land on my wrist again; just scraped up my knee and my ankle felt a little weird. But I was wearing good boots and roll my ankles all the time, so we kept going. It was a fun walk, we saw a bunch of zebras, various antelope, and baby warthogs, plus hippo tracks (but luckily no hippos). But the further we went, the more my ankle hurt. And it hurt more throughout the day, to the point where I almost couldn't walk on it at all. By the time I realized I absolutely could not handle the pain, it was too late to head home- we'd never get there before dark. So I dealt with it, but we left pretty early Sunday morning. At each meal, every staff member working stopped by our table to ask if I was fine now, which was not at all infuriating.

I guess the universe decided I'd suffered enough, or I'd just pinched a nerve or something, but by Monday morning my ankle felt like a mild sprain. My wrist was not better, though. Monday morning I saw the doctor at the Embassy, who gave me a referral for x-rays, so we waited three+ hours at the hospital to get the x-rays done, then brought them back to the Embassy. Fracture. Got a temporary splint and a referral to an orthopedist. 

Medical appointments are not exactly a thing here in Uganda, so the doctor would see patients from 11 to 1 in the order in which you sign up. We got there at 10, eventually saw the doctor, waited forever for a treatment room, and eventually got a cast, finally leaving at 2:30. Luckily, it was my left wrist and I'm right handed, but I spent the next six weeks trying to type one handed, not driving, having someone come to the house to wash and dry my hair, and sticking various long, thin, objects inside the cast to try to manage the itching (the eraser end of a pencil Molly gave me years ago saved my sanity). I got the cast off on Tuesday and have had two of ten prescribed physical therapy appointments since. It hurts pretty much every time I move it, but I can do a lot more already (like typing) so I do know it's working. The fracture isn't completely healed, though, so I don't know when I'll be able to put enough weight on it for yoga. 

*And by fell off an elephant, I mean stepped off a bathmat and slipped on a floor made slippery by spray from the open-air shower.

We have WIFI!!

MTN came late Saturday afternoon to install our fiber and then came back and stayed well after curfew to finish the installation once the connection was live - it works great! Last night I did a video call while Dustin watched football and neither of us had issues. And I had a great connection for my team meeting this morning. It's such a relief!

Good news and bad news

 The good news is that we did not die from the sour cream. The bad news, which I suspect is a surprise to no one but me, is that MTN did not show up to install our fiber internet on Friday. We're complaining to customer service but no real response yet.

Risky Business

 We haven't been able to find sour cream here, so I made some... Which involves adding some vinegar to heavy cream and letting it sit out for 24 hours. We had it tonight with quesadillas and it tasted good, but now I'm playing the fun game of does my stomach hurt because of my malaria meds, was homemade sour cream a terrible idea, or have we eaten in Africa?