Crater Lakes part III

Nothing strange wakes me up today and I sleep in till 9. While eating breakfast, Olga, a solo Israeli traveller arrives. Richie and I both think it's strange. We hardly ever meet solo female travellers and now we meet 2 here. We invite her to join us mountain biking but she decides just to hangout instead. I ask Richie if he wants to rent bikes today and tell him the area I want to visit. Like my walk yesterday, he asks ' What's there?' I'm like, ' Uhhhh, crater lakes.....? Visiting the lakes is the main reason I came to this area but it doesn't excite Richie much, but what else is there to do? He hung around all day yesterday and is looking to get out and do something. We both rent ' sport' bikes, really just shitty mountain bikes. Once on the road, Richie is having problems with his. Gears are changing by themselves and his chain keeps falling off. He's understandably frustrated and takes the bike back to camp. Looks like I'll be biking alone. I again leave at noon and it's hot and sunny.
I'm visiting the Kasenda region of crater lakes, the furthest area south on my map. The road is mostly downhill and bumpy as hell. I have to sit tight to the bike because the bumps bounce my feet right off the pedals. There's no suspension on this bike, unlike my mountain bike at home which I can take down mountains in comfort. I reach Kasenda in 45 minutes. It'a a beautiful but very small crater lake. I down a somewhat cold soda and relax for half an hour. The way back is mostly uphill but doable and sweaty. There are a lot of locals about it gets tiring the constant brigade of 'How are you?' children. Even when I answer, they keep asking or switch to ' Give me money.' Some kids can be great and others damn annoying. As I fly downhill, brakes slightly on (I don't trust this bike to go too fast), I hit a rock and the back tire hisses flat. Shit, this sucks, I'm still about 5km from camp. Amazingly, just down the road is a makeshift bike repair house. The guy is fixing a bike when I pull up but begins working on mine right away. A crowd gathers of mostly little kids. I'm getting annoyed and I feel like I'm in a zoo so I give them a short chase ( a few steps is all it takes), a false charge and this sends most of them running for their lives. White man is chasing me, run! It's all in good fun and they are laughing as they run. They learn to keep their distance after this and I know what to do if I get annoyed again. After some tedious but thorough roughing of the puncture, the guy cuts a rubber patch and glues it on. I'm back in business! I quickly ride away, happy to be on the move again.
The sky has become darkly overcast and a few drops of rain fall. I don't think it's going to materialize into anything but starting pedalling faster just in case. As soon as I reach the market village of Rwaihambo, 2km from camp and get under shelter, the sky opens up. Rain pounds the dust and creates small streams everywhere. People run for cover and the streets are empty. I duck into a super small shack with a few other guys. I eat a huge intact piece of sweet potatoe for 20 cents. A man comes in ( drunk, as a few others were who approached me early), he starts telling me I'm rude because I didn't offer him any of my sweet root. I almost finished and tell him there is a huge basket of them on the counter. He says he has no money. Oh well, I don't feel sorry for him. I tell him that he has no money for food but like many rural Ugandans has enough money to get drunk. Everyone laughs and he tries to tell me something but he generally just keeps repeating himself, telling me I'm welcome and not to be worried. I'm not worried and I thank him for the welcome. He leaves and the rain stops and has really cooled down the air. I arrive back at camp after 4 hours. I take a bucket shower and read till dinner. I actually wear a longsleeve shirt and my boots at dinner to ward of the chill, even though in reality it's only 15 C. However anything below 22 C, feels cold to me. I've really become a huge wimp for the cold and don't deny it. My blood has significantly thinned.
I pull out my other sleeping bag liner to keep me toasty for the night. I planned on spending about 6 days here and I did and really enjoyed it. Now it's time to move on. Richie and I call our driver, Gideon to come pick us up. He's there fast and in no time we are back in our same double room in Fort Portal.