we made it to kampala

- and just barely.

The drive into Uganda was stressful. And loooong. It took 10 hours when it should have taken 5. And corrupt officials hustled almost all of our money away on the roads and at the border.

It was foul. But we made it. Broke, but safe.

On Sunday, when we arrived at the hotel in Kampala that Auntie had reserved for us (she had gotten there a day before), we ran to our room like somebody had just called us down on The Price is Right.

We screamed when we saw the fully-functioning, porcelain toilet, sink, and tub - complete with hot water. We screamed when we saw the TV set. We nearly tore our skin off when we saw the pool. It's hilarious in retrospect.

After the last 2 weeks I had lived through, I literally thought I had just walked into a 5 star resort. I felt like I had just won Survivor. It was the beginning of the vacation.

Obviously, the first thing I did was take a shower. Obviously, it was the best shower of my life.

We had roughed it. I mean, really roughed it, with perseverance and without a single complaint. We had pushed ourselves to new limits. And a week at a decent hotel felt like more than we could have ever asked for. Our appreciation was overwhelming. It was mind-blowing.

After a few hours, when my mind had gotten a chance to get resituated, I realized that the hotel was probably the equivalent in quality to a Super 8 back home. But we felt like royalty. In reality, we were 5 women, 1 man, a girl, and two babies sharing a 2 bedroom suite between 4 twin-sized beds and a loveseat. 'Livin it up'.