My first weekend in Kampala

This weekend was epic. 

Friday, I decided not to feel bad for myself and stay home uploading another “scary” (as my mom puts it) YouTube video, so I called up Morgan: A friend of a friend of my friend Jessie, who lives in Kampala.  I met Morgan and her friends at Little Donkey, a surprisingly authentic Mexican place with delicious flautas and strawberry margaritas.

The women were loud, tattoo having, motorcycle riding, feminists working in women’s health—just like I like ‘em.  I jumped on the back of Morgan’s motorcycle and we drove across the city to a Chocolate Party.  A German friend brought back a suitcase of fine German chocolate.  We ate ourselves silly and Ricardo from Peru made us all passion fruit pisco sours, and we sang 80’s karaoke songs until 2am.  Women’s right and chocolate make for fast friends.

Saturday I met Morgan at the Kabira Club where we worked out and lounged out.  Everyone was like “oh god, Chelsea is going to Uganda, she is so brave.”  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

We went for dinner at a Sudanese stall on the terrace of a building in the heart of Kampala.  We ate Okra and Aseeya (a sticky bread wheaty thing you use to scoop up the rest of the stuff) and some kind of meat (unsure) and beans.  It was sticky, slimy, and delicious.  Morgan told me of her time in South Sudan when she had very little to eat and developed a sweet spot for tuna with oil in a can.

We went upstairs to a local bar on the rooftop of the building.  Everything it seems, is outside here.  It’s lovely.  The bar was covered in green plants and I felt like I was sitting in a jungle.  We drank crappy beer which was made better by our view of the entire city.  What makes Kampala so beautiful and unique are its hills.  The entire city is made up of huge hills with houses and businesses dotting the sides.  When on a roof, the hills make the night lights feel 3-D.

We rode the motorcycle slowly through the hills and Morgan leaned back and told me what I was seeing.  She has lived here off and on since she was younger and knows the city very well.  We drove to a house party on the very top of one of the hills.  We drank and danced and laid in the grass with people from all nations, and I saw a shooting star so close it touched the tip of the city.