Day 13: Piglets and Puppies

It was a little sad to say goodbye to our friends at The Nile Hotel. Liz, the young woman who we’ve known for several years, is leaving to get married next month so chances are we won’t cross paths again. We ran into Innocent (the hotel manager) on our way to the car and got to say goodbye and as always he wished us well. The receptionists again expressed their gratitude for the MCP kits we gave them. We all slept like rocks and loved that we had to use the comforters because of a delightful chill in the air last night.

The GPS said it would take us 1 ½ hrs to get to Kampala so we were pretty sure it would be at least 3. As expected, the traffic was crazy with long delays a lot of the way. Phoebe is a patient driver and was good humored throughout. We ended up pulling into her driveway at around 3:00 and after a quick emptying of the car raced to the pigsty. Nineteen piglets were racing around and squealing. Of course we had to hold them and Phoebe chose the one who is now named Gussie (after one of my sisters). Gussie had written saying that since her birthday was coming up wouldn’t it be nice to name one of the piglets after her? The really good news is that when Phoebe names a pig that pig stays here.

And we held some baby puppies too. They are so tiny with closed eyes and really small ears. They mostly sleep and all are black except the one outlier who looks like her mom who is a lighter tawny color. Eight puppies and nineteen piglets. This place is bursting with life.

We repacked our belongings in preparation for Monday’s early morning departure for Malawi. As Charlotte was packing baskets she noticed a lizard in one, screamed which made me scream and throw the basket towards her as I ran into the bathroom. Apparently I’m really not  great in a crisis!!

We read and relaxed and eventually helped with dinner. It felt like a Ugandan cooking class and the meal was even made on an open fire outside so that we could experience how people here  have been preparing food for years. Alfred (Phoebe’s home assistant) washed and cut banana leaves. He carefully cut the leaves off the stalk and then crisscrossed pieces of stalks in the base of the pan to provide a place for steam to work its way through the food. The pan was then lined with the leaves and the food layered on top of that. Finally a lid was placed over all of it.

We had pumpkin fresh from the garden, rice with carrots and peppers and fish with a creamy groundnut sauce over it. Oh there was also fresh made passion and mango fruit juice.

We ate under the stars (Orion to be exact) and Charlotte proclaimed this the best meal we’d had so far on this trip. She’s definitely right about this. It was perfect.

Goodnight everyone!