A Black and White Colobus Party!

So going back a couple days in this blog entry, Saturday afternoon Beth and I finally went to the Entebbe Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful, very big but quite different than the RBG at home. We had a guide take us through who was quite knowledgable and we learned a great deal about Uganda's botany and wildlife. The gardens was the location of the first Tarzan, the old black and white version, and I could definetly see why...there is a jungle in the middle of the gardens! I think it is the first true jungle I have been in and I loved it. It is so lush with a million vibrant colours of green, it is so fresh, alive and full of life! There was even a spring water stream bubbling along the forest floor...There are so many different types of trees in the garden such as cinnamon, nutmeg and mint and they are all have an important purpose in African culture and daily life. They use every part of a tree that they can..

On Sunday morning Beth and I got up and went for a walk, it was very hot again, then we came back and helped Lou set up for Debby's party. We went back to the Botanical gardens where we had rented a pavillion and we worked at putting up balloons and streamers all around it. As we were decorating I looked up in the trees and saw a family of black and white colobus monkeys really close by as you can see in the photos! It was really neat to see them sitting there and watching us. Then the music people pulled up...now when Ugandan's are hired to play music for a party they bring every subwoofer and speaker in the county and the goal must be to play it so loud that everyone on the outskirts of entebbe can hear!! Hahaha that was funny, we had to explain to the DJ that we wanted to be able to talk!! The party had a great turnout and I think Debby was pleased to see everyone....That night Beth and I ended up heading to the 4 Turkeys, a local bar for some grub....not the nicest place that's for sure but it was an experience. We ended up sitting next to a Sweedish man who has been working with the UN there for years. From there we went and had a drink with Jane Lawton, Lou and Mary deen (who owns the Gatley Inn, a very nice place up the street). Then I started to feet terrible and had to leave...I think I had heat stroke and I called it a night...I sure learned my lesson, we had been so busy with the party that I had barely drank anything!!

Monday was a normal work day but that day we started making plans to head to Jinja this weekend (Beth, Anna and me and possibly Jacque). Earlier that day we met Chris, a man who has been working for years and years on building the sanctuaries. He invited us to a traditional Ugandan pork-roast, Ugandans are big on their pork. And I am sure you are wondering being a devout vegetarian if I went...well I still went for the cultural experience (and they told me there was other food too). When we got there, there was tables set up in an old church parking lot and behind a wall you could tell they were roasting a large pig on a spit. Jacque, Racheal and Beth were there too so there was definelty good company! There were probably about 12 of us sitting around a large table and when the food came everyone dug in with their hands...I think it would have been a cultural taboo to use cutlery at this event!! There was plenty of matooke, avocadoe and chips for me...all in all it was a really fun and delicious night.