Hello from Kampala!

So we have arrived in Uganda after years of dreaming and months of planning. We're staying in Kampala, the capital, for a few days and then will get a lift to the hospital on Monday morning. We got here on thursday after a very smart but very long journey with Emirates, via Dubai.The views from the plan as we landed were amazing. The international airport is in Entebbe, which is a city about an hour's drive from Kampala and it is on a penisula on the edge of  Lake Victoria, a massive lake bordering Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. It's the wet season here at the moment so everything is very green and lush, not sure if it's always like it!
We're staying in a lovely little hotel in quite a quiet and smart part of the city. It's like a little oasis of calm in the mad bustle! I feel very grown-up staying a hotel rather than a busy hostel with 20-bed rooms like I'm used to! Everyone is so friendly and kind here. We spent the first day and a half being lazy and resting in the hotel with the odd walk in the local area. Yesterday there was a massive thunderstorm and it poured with rain in the way it only does in the tropics- like someone is emptying a massive bucket! We were very pleased to be inside! The rest of the time it's been sunny and hot though. We're both re-adapting to the  sticky feeling of wearing high-factor sun-screen and deet all the time!

This morning we went to the National Ugandan Museum which is about a 15 minute walk from here. Walking is interesting as the pavements are quite pot-holed and the motorcycles often decide to drive on them instead of the road! The museum was realy interesting and about the history of Uganda from prehistoric times and the animals and geography of the area. My favourite facts were tt chimpanzees eat special leaves to treat themselves for malaria and worms and that all the water in Uganda used to drain from East to West into the Atlantic until the plates moved thousands of years ago and suddenly they changed direction! There were loads of school kids there and I think they were more interested in us than the exhibitions! We had loads of conversations along the lines of "Hello, how are you, I'm fine, how are you" The brave would try to touch us or hold our hands! Ugandas are known for being really friendly though and they definitely have been so far.