Wednesday, July 2nd

Well, even the most seasoned travelers screw the pooch once in a while. In my anxiety about my previous flight debacles, I read my ticket wrong, and my flight leaves at 11:59 PM and not 11:59 AM. So, I am hanging out at the Entebbe airport for 14 hours. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I have ebooks and knitting and there's a cafe, so here I sit, completely annoyed with myself, expecting a not so delightful day at the airport...until Rachel came to my rescue! She called the guesthouse, and I was able to get a day rate for a room. I was also lucky enough to score a ride from the airport with a very nice gentleman who was dropping off his friends. I'll spend the day here and head back to the airport at 8pm tonight.

I arrived in Entebbe Monday afternoon and checked into a very sweet guesthouse Rachel had booked for me. There is a rooftop lounge and restaurant, many cute tables in the garden areas, and it's easy to walk nearby. I walked to a local craft market, then to a nearby mall with a grocery store. I spent the rest of the evening chatting with a German woman who was traveling from Tanzania, into Uganda, then on to Rwanda. It was nice to just relax and take a hot shower. 

Sometime in the very early morning, a storm arrived, and it did not stop raining until midday. I spent the morning repacking my bags and reading. Directly across from my guesthouse is the Entebbe Botanical gardens, so once the clouds cleared and the sun came out, I spent almost 2 hours wandering through the park. I had a delicious dinner of whole fish, and my friend Picho came to visit for a few hours. I finished a movie I had started earlier, then back to my book for the rest of the night. You would think that with a few days to rest and relax, my brain would calm down and know the difference between AM and PM, but I guess not. 😂

I am not looking forward to the flight travel, but I am looking forward to my own bed and my upcoming knee surgery. This trip felt so short, but I feel like much was accomplished and I am already looking forward to my return trip in the fall. I have a lot to think about and organize before the next trip. The knitting was a huge success, so I will plan on bringing more yarn and making a few more kits. (Knitters and Crocheters, I'll take an inventory when I get home and let you know what supplies I may need!) The surgical towels that I have brought in the past are almost gone, so I will plan on bringing more. The solar lamps have been an interesting experiment. They have all been put to good use, however they have not held up as well as I had hoped in the severe conditions. The solar panels are still working; however, the body of the lamp has not held up. Typically, you blow up the plastic body of the lamp, but the plastic has broken down or torn in quite a few, so they no longer inflate. The lamps live in rough conditions up north, both from the climate and the village children (one Midwife said her child threw her lamp on their fire), so I am considering other options, such as buying the sturdier more expensive options or going with the headlamps. All in all, it was still a better option than many of the choices at the markets, cheap lamps made in China that often work for only a short time or don't work at all. Plenty to consider during surgery recovery. :) For those of you who live in my neighborhood, I am hoping to give another presentation and slide show, possibly towards the end of my recovery. Stay tuned!

I might actually attempt a nap, something I am NOT good at, or just relax before heading back to the airport tonight. Another successful, albeit challenging, trip on the books! Thanks for joining me. 💗

Much love, 

MB/Jo