Back home

I'm back home and so I will return to my home blog as well. The Office in Uganda is now closed. You are most welcome to my home in Boston, http://caipirau.blogspot.com/

Kampala

The Lonely Planet says about Kampala ‘like Rome, Kampala is built on seven hills, although that is where the comparisons begin and end.’ It seems to me obvious that the author of this has never been in Rome, otherwise he would find many other similarities.

Like Rome, traffic in Kampala is chaotic, one-way streets are a suggestion because if the street is wide enough for two then it’s a two-way street, people honk to release traffic stress, the air is heavy and polluted, and there are lots of pizzerias. I can’t find more similarities but I’ve only been in Kampala for a day and a half.

Chaos is probably the word that better defines Kampala, the capital of Uganda. With 1.2 million registered inhabitants, it’s likely that the true population is twice as much. The city and the roads to access the city were made for 400K people, which explains very well why you can spend 2h in traffic to cross 6-7 blocks. Walking is much faster but much riskier as well.
When I say risk I’m not talking about violence or mugging, just crazy traffic. The roads have a hierarchy, and the pedestrian is very low on that pyramid, which means that you are invisible to any hierarchical superior.

Nonetheless, Kampala is somehow charming. Maybe the seven hills give it a touch of romanticism that I recognize in many other hilly cities that I know: Rome, Lisbon, San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro. Maybe chaos is after all a fate of any capital and people eventually find their sweet spot in the middle the anarchy. Or maybe is just because it’s different, it’s an African capital, the safest capital I’ve been in Africa.

I like Kampala, it’s a city with personality. I think I could live here for a while.

The inauguration viewed by an European

For the first time in my life, as probably many other people, I watched the US presidential inauguration. Although I am in Uganda, I watched the inauguration among Americans. But in Uganda this day is huge, there are Obama pictures everywhere. In Buhoma, near the gorillas, you could only find gorilla shirts and obama shirts. Crazy!

Lots of people screaming, is this the Champions League Final? No? What football match is this?

Oh! Presidential inauguration, what exactly is that? Why does the president need to swear? Do you think he spent two years campaigning to drop in the last minute?

A woman comes and starts talking about being patriotic. Touching. Pause, some sort of pastor comes to speech. WTF? A pastor! Why the hell a pastor has the right to speak in front of a few million people? Why is he talking about god? Where is the State Church separation? This is horrible!

Biden comes to swear. The speech is ridiculous. What is that book the other is holding? The Constitution? No, the Bible! Why is the bible there? Isn’t he swearing to obey the constitution? What if the guy was not catholic?

It’s noon in the US and everyone starts cheering. Wait, why is that? Well, the swearing thing is just a joke. The guy is president anyway after noon. I knew it! This ceremony is ridiculous.

Ugandan Beer

The Winner! Nile Special

I believe I'm done with my research on Ugandan beer. After almost two weeks here, I have completed a thorough research and reached a conclusion. A cold Nile!

I excluded Guinness from my research since, although it is brewed in Uganda. It is no different from the original one and I am not a great fan of stout.

I started my research with a Bell, a light beer, not too light though but still with not enough taste. I then moved to Club, which is the closest to Bud Light, which means water in beer bottle. Then I tried Nile Special, a tasty lager, not too heavy but definitely not light with 5.6% alcohol. The perfect partner for all occasions. The next player was Tusker, a malt lager, brown beer, heavy and tasty. I liked it but it needs a good partner, like beef or the popular goat meat. Finally I tasted Moonberg, a german beer brewed here, very much like Nile but I believe less tasty. It was a close finish between Moonberg and Nile but I stick to Nile.

Closed for the weekend

This blog is closed for the weekend. We are headed to the Queen Elizabeth Park to do a safari. No hot water until Monday. I hope to have good pictures. Meanwhile, here is a picture from today's lunch break. I called it 'Cow Truck'.