Entebbe – from the frying pan into the fire

Well, it’s more like from the delightfully warm Jacuzzi into the boiling cauldron.

Just two weeks ago, we were departing Copenhagen after the holiday of a lifetime. I spent a total of four days in the office, and find myself (literally) on the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda on a two week work trip. My work takes me away from home from time to time, often into Africa on long term governmental projects. This is one of those times. It’s rewarding at times, and frustrating at others. There is little grey area in between it seems. This trip is no different. Power failures seem common throughout Africa from south to north. There are times though, that everything comes together, and I can see the difference taking place.

I was told to leave my winter woollies behind in Cape Town. They were not joking. It would seem that the weather is a constant 24 Celsius, morning, noon and night, rain or shine. Except today when I decided on my ambitious 10 kilometre hike up the coast and back. The sunblock was a good idea. It would have stopped my head from looking like a radish. I’m going to look like a radiation victim if it starts peeling.

The hike was interesting. I ended up at a pizzeria on the beach. All I can say is that in my estimation, there is no such thing as bad pizza. This one went down a treat. I took a camera along, but in truth, I’m not feeling too inspired. The architecture is, well, non-existent. And any decent stuff there is around has a sign alongside warning that there is to be no photography. This would be at the presidential palace. Ho hum… moving along, please don’t shoot!! I’m not sure I have anything worth downloading from my camera, let along downloading and deleting. I’ll give it a shot anyway.

Alongside the office is a stand of bamboo. Not the puny inch-thick stuff I’m used to. No, this is the massive variety. Vegetation is like that at the equator. So I’ll be doing my best to get some arty shots of bamboo before I leave and will hope for the best.

Speaking of vegetation at the equator, it’s large. Everything from seeds, to leaves to bushes and trees. Massive, mostly. Meaning not too many landscapes, unless you’re on top of a mountain. Or one of the trees. It’s unlikely I’ll be there, so none of that on the menu.

IMG_0529And speaking of the equator, my sunrise/sunset application on my smartphone tells me that sunrise is at 06h39 and sunset at 18h39. The sun rises is exactly in the east, and sets exactly in the west. The time for beautiful light seems to be about ten seconds before and after the times above – meaning there isn’t any! One moment there’s shadows, the next minute you need streetlight to see where you’re going. It’s quite a difference from Greenland where the sun sets for hours and hours; and looks awesome during that time. If course, your fingers get frostbitten, but what’s art without the suffering?

I have one week left in Entebbe on this trip. It’s been good. The people are wonderful; the food is good, and the weather fantastic. What remains will be challenging and rewarding, simple and difficult.

     Aperture: ƒ/2.5 Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT Focal length: 50mm ISO: 200 Shutter speed: 1/30s
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