Sarah in Uganda

Recently I have been having the worst luck with taxis. I’m not sure if the luck we’ve encountered so far—considering the conditions of roads and/or taxis—has run out or if my bad luck in the transportation department gets saved up for one long stretch and things will go back to normal for another 3 months before I have another week of 2 extremely lost boda bodas, one melted flip flop, and 2 broken down taxis within the space of 5 days.

The trouble all started this past Friday when the free shuttle from our hostel to Jinja for Nile River white water rafting was a no show. After waiting half an hour past the time we were supposed to be picked up (hey it is Uganda time, you never know…) we finally called, only to find out they had lost our reservation and didn’t have time to come get us but would wait for us at the other mzungu hostel across town. We stepped outside into the pouring rain, hailed a boda (motorcycle), and asked him if he knew Red Chilli’s, which of course he knew, he told us. Now it’s not too uncommon to be reassured by a boda man that he knows such and such a place only to jump on and find him stopping at every corner to ask other boda men where your destination is located, but this guy seemed very sure so we got on without many worries. Well about 20 minutes later we ended up at the outskirts of town at a mall called “Garden City” and were told to get off an pay up. Too bad we asked to go to Red Chilli’s Hostel not Garden City Mall… We did convince him to take us to Red Chilli’s (after we stopped to ask no less than 3 boda men where it was located) and we arrived an hour after we had left our hostel. Thankfully the rest of the trip to Jinja was smooth sailing until our return journey the next day.

Another fun fact about transport in Uganda, it’s pretty common to find bodas and taxis with missing and/or broken crucial parts. Speedometer no longer works on your taxi? No problemo since the rest of the car works fine and can still carry as many passengers as you dare to squeeze in your backseat. Well this next boda we took was missing the back foot peg for the passenger, which didn’t seem like too much of a problem when I thought I was facing a 5 minute ride into town and I could handle resting my foot on the muffler for that short amount of time. Well that 5 minute ride was actually a 30 minute ride that has resulted in the bottom of my Old Navy flip flop being completely melted and deformed. Sweet dude, thanks for the souvenir. Other than the boda mishaps, in the last 2 of 3 taxi rides I’ve also encountered a flat tire and a totally broken down taxi due to the driver accidentally pulling out the whole ignition starter rather than just the key when he stopped to cramp 4 more passengers than I thought there was possibly room for. Both times I found myself wondering, “where do my loyalties lie?” “can I get into a new taxi or do I have to wait this one out?”. Turns out I think it’s basically up to your discretion since I stayed with the flat tire taxi but ditched the broken down taxi. My last taxi ride home to Ddegeya from Kampala went smoothly so here’s to hoping my luck has changed for the better.

When I refer to taxis, I’m actually referring to matatus, which are white, 14 passenger vans with blue-checkered pattern around the side. They are the easiest and cheapest way to get to destinations further than is advisable to travel on a boda to. Often drivers have personalized either the windshield or back window with some type of message. Most common are references to the Glory of God or Allah, depending upon the driver’s religion, or the declaration of their allegiance to either Manchester United or Arsenal football clubs. My favorite religious quote so far is that taxi that had “God is de Best” proudly proclaimed across the back window. Then there was the taxi where under the “Emergency Exit” sign it said “Try Again”. I am sure the driver means it as a remainder to try again when things get tough but the irony of it being directly under the Emergency Exit sign made me smile. And my very favorite so far was found on the windshield of a taxi making its way into Kampala. The driver was proudly displaying a tribute to the one and only Sean Puffy Combs with the words “Pee Diddy”. I am sure Diddy will be happy to know that he has one adoring fan in Uganda telling everyone how much he loves “Pee Diddy”.