June 24th, 2011

June 24th, 2011



Today Bryan and I went to Kampala.....which is the most crazy city i’ve been to hands down....American cities don’t have nuttin on this....no way. I’ve never been to NY but I’m still pretty sure the traffic in Kampala is more crazy. I wish I woulda filmed by Boda ride cus I thought I was close to death at some points. My driver even ran a red light. Guess we had some place to be, and quick. Even though Kampala is awesome and crazy, I don’t think I will go back soon just cus the taxi rides there and back are absolutely miserable. Being confined in a hot taxi with a two-by-two-by-four foot area for four hours isn’t the best time.

So I was able to kick it in a mall, like an actual legit mall, while Bryan visited his friend. It was certainly a taste of America. After that we headed into another world basically that was totally opposite of America. First the Boda ride took me for a loop, but then we arrived at the biggest, most gnarly market. The Awinno (not sure how to spell it but that is how it sounds to me). This place had to be a multiple acres in size and was completely covered by makeshift roofs. You have to keep track of all your things, especially valuables because people just grab you out of know where and you could easily get stuff stolen. Pretty sketchy. The whole time you are walking on dirty paths that twist and turn in every direction. It felt like an underground city with nothing but clothes and materials for sale. If there is a specific piece of clothing that you want, and you can’t find it in this Awinno market then it doesn’t exist. There has to be over a billion pairs of shoes in this place and even more t-shirts and hats. You can easily get turned around in this place and if you don’t have someone who knows where they are going then you will certainly be in for an adventure. It is a pretty elaborate maze of what looks like a lot of the same things. I ended up buying a couple pairs of jeans for a pretty good price. Their changing rooms consist of a person holding up a piece of cloth for you while you change in a corner. Ha, and you must take off your shoes before you step on their dirty benches, cus I got yelled at for not doing so. I really feel like one would have to see this place to believe it.

Kampala really blew my mind and I certainly am impressed with anyone who can live a good life in the downtown part of this city. I don’t think I have ever been around that many people at once. If there is one thing I am realizing more and more, it is that I am a very small piece of the world’s puzzle. Really nobody at all.