Grasshoppers, Fort Portal, and more basketball

Yes...I ate a grasshopper. Actually I ate quite a few and they are really not that bad. Mostly they taste like salty, crunchy nothing - but we mzungus managed to make quite the spectacle of it, taking pictures and teasing each other. Miriam, Elena, and I went out for pork (a national pastime in itself, which I may have mentioned before) with Simon, Allen, Jenny, and Sister Immaculate at our favorite joint - Deep Blue in Wandegeya on Thursday night. It seems to be a prime spot for locals to hawk their wares, and happens to be where I bought dresses for Pyper in the past, but this time a man walking around with a large tupperware container caught our eye. Simon called him over and ordered a napkin-full of grasshoppers! At first I gagged when Allen took a handful and stuck them in her mouth, but then I tried it, with my free hand on my Nile Special as a chaser, but it went down fine, with more to follow.
After pork, we went to meet our friends at Quiz Night. This was our third night, winning the first time, hosting the second, and now participating once again. Unfortunately, we won again. It is bittersweet, because the competitive side of you wants to win, but the practical side does not want the responsibility of hosting it. However, our team members had not hosted before and thus still felt the urge to take it all the way (and get their own Bubbles t-shirts).

And this week were the final games of the Falcons' season. They were playing the Warriors and lost the first 2 games of a best of 5 series. However, games 3 and 4 went their way and they played particularly spectacular on Wednesday night - with all their fans, including a handful of mzungus, cheering them on. Saturday night was the final game, we were in Fort Portal and missed the loss that ended their season :( We look forward to next season, though, and I hope to be playing on a women's team by then!

This weekend we took a trip to Fort Portal, in western Uganda. Preparing for the trip, Grant and I made a trip down to the bus park to figure out the bus schedule.

This was quite the adventure in itself, and after asking multiple locals where the Link office was - and many polite but completely wrong answers - we found out there is no office. You just show up to the bus park, find a bus going to your destination, and wait until the bus is full and leaves. The bus ride was uncomfortable with the three of us squished together on a packed bus, but the 4.5 hour ride was much more enjoyable on the way home when we bought five tickets for the three of us.
We stayed at a very nice guest house just outside of town (and around the corner from the prison) that had comfy rooms, a relaxing atmosphere, and amazing food! We met a pair of Dutch medical students, Heleen and Sanne, and joined them on a tour on Saturday. The tour included some hiking...up to a vantage point to view the beautiful crater lakes, through lush agricultural land (matoke, banana, papaya, guava, avocado, maize, g-nut, yams, cassava, coffee) with community members, down to (and back up from) a beautiful waterfall, and through the forest to see monkeys, birds, and more flora.

Mahoma Falls

One of the deep, beautiful crater lakes

Some of the pretty flowers

Avocado Tree

Paw-paw (papaya)

Black and white Colobus Monkeys

Red-tailed monkey

At our final stop, out of the forest and at another crater lake

It was a fabulous weekend, and nice to get out of Kampala. Ironic that we sleep so much better when we leave home! Our friend Elena, who has joined us on many adventures (including Jinja, Murchison Falls, and Fort Portal) is leaving soon :( She also has a blog with more pictures and stories, www.ebyhoff.blogspot.com, check it out.