Masaka to Kabale

I left Masaka around 10am. I took a boda to the main road 3km outside of town because no transport passes through Masaka town. I didn't have to wait long before a big bus came along that was going directly to Kabale. I took a seat near the back of the bus beside a young girl and her son sitting on her lap. It was a fairly comfortable bus and not overcrowded. For the first time in a while there were 4 other foriegners on the bus. The road wasn't great but it was paved just with some patchy potholed areas. Halfway through the 5 hour ride to Kabale, the young kid sitting on his mother's lap beside vomitted on himself and her. Thankfully none of it got on me and it didn't smell too bad. A little while later, the guy sitting 2 seats over from me across the aisle, vomitted all over the back of the seat in front of him. It was on the floor, himself and his luggage. He didn't make any effort to lean out the window, just vomitted all over the place. It smelled and was really disgusting. I have my menthol inhaler and eucalyptus dabber and put some of the liquid under my nose to take away from the stench. This worked great. I talked with Seva, one of the white girls on the bus later and she told me the woman sitting beside her also vomitted. She had a bag but didn't get it all in and some of it got on Seva. The road was not that bad and it wasn't winding enough to cause motion sickness I would think but I was obviously on the puke bus!
I got off in our first stop in Kabale. I went to the Flockline hotel and got a nice room with private bath for $6. Kabale would be my base town while I went to visit the gorillas in Bwindi national park. I went to the park office after I finished lunch. The guy there wasn't very helpful or knowledgeable. I actually knew more about the parks than he did! What I did find out was that it was difficult to get the park except on market days tuesday (today) and friday. I was too late today and if I couldn't find any transport myself, I would wait in Kabale till friday. I went to the Home of Edirisa, a museum, lounge, hostel, cafe and internet cafe place. I was surprised to see many white faces. It seems like this is the place to stay in Kabale. It was here that I met Seva from the bus. We recognized each other from the bus and shot the shit for a while. She was here to do some volunteer work ( surprise!) and was also travelling with guitar. I saw her on the bus and wanted to talk to her but when I saw she was travelling with a guitar, I really wanted to talk to her. I was glad I ran into. I am a musician myself, mostly playing drums but I can play a bit of acoustic and have written many of my own simple tunes on guitar. I thought it would be fun to jam with Seva. We made plans to meet up later at Edirisa. My hotel was a 15 minute walk on the other side of town. After eating a delicious veggie curry I went to Edirisa at 9pm. I found Seva upstairs in 'the nest' with a bunch of other playing cards. I was surprised to find Frank here. I met Frank in Kalinzu forest and we had tentatively planned to meet up on Lake Bunyoni but my malaria got in the way so I was much behind my anticipated arrival, so it was nice to run into Frank again unexpectedly. I hung around for a few hours and then walked back to my hotel.
Kabale is the highest town in Uganda at 2000M and is surrounded by intensely cultivated hills and terraces. It's a pretty place with lots of opportunity for outdoor activities. I met lots of friendly people at Edirisa and figured it would be ok to spend a few days here waiting for tranport to the park. So that's what I'm doing. I've been spending most of my time at Edirisa. Tomorrow is friday and I will be heading to Bwindi national park for my most anticipated event of the trip, the mountain gorillas.