1st day in Uganda...I rolled up to the Central bus station in Kampalah the capital...
Stood around for a while and stared at a map...There were busses going in every direction to different countries and I had to pick...
I got on a bus that said "Fort Portal".
I liked the name....I like portals....And it was headed towards the Rawenzori Mountains, the tallest in Africa...This region is also allegedly the densest most monkifull place on the planet (though I doubt the researchers have been to brothers Apt on the upper left side or to Nachlaot Jerusalem). So I sat parked in the non-airconditioned equatorial mid-day heat, waiting for the bus to depart for FIVE HOURS! Didnt move...for five hours. Luckily I didnt have to pee the whole time becaue all the water in me was dripping out sweat. It was an incredible meditation. In hour two of the sit I reminded myself that this bus station was just as much Uganda as any other, and I had come to experience Uganda, so I was doing what I came for. I had arrived, though the bus hadn't budged. That thought morphed into brother Yonis Snorkling Meditation. When Yoni and I snorkeled in the Red sea, we'ed often just float limp on the top of the water...We'd become water...and so much more would become revealed once we stopped moving. I did this on the bus.
Hour four I spent pondering the nature of frustration and my lack there of. I reminded myself that if I ever wanted to try getting angry or frustrated at something, there were far greater sources to choose from, like the
Invisible Children in the north, or the uninterupted Genocide in
Darfur, or the killing in Kenya....
Then the engine fired...the air started moving...and we were on our way...
We pulled into town at night and the first two Hotels I went to were booked...The third one I walked in and a local was sitting at the cafe writing a song...I pulled up a stool, pulled out my guitar and we started to Jam...Turns out hes famous around here. James Katz (Katzchululi)is his name...His break through hit was a song he wrote a few years ago about Ebola prevention....Soon afterwards Ebola cases dropped severely. We're working on an HIV diddy. So he's my new best friend. Hes got a heart of gold. We ride all around together...and he takes me to gigs and has introduced me to Members of Parliament and other fancy people...and lots and lots of people people.
Rodger, the guy who works the desk at my guest house, makes 3 dollars a day. He works from 8Am till midnight every day of the week. His transportation costs are $1.50. Then food and rent...the math doesn't add up.
So James was throwing a new years Concert where thousands were due to attend and he invited me to be a featured performer!
Ill tell you about it in the next episode.........
