to Bwindi and back again

LAst weekend was spent in a car driving to eastern uganda, to the Bwindi Impenetrable rain forest to engage in net sales over in that area. it ended up being about a 14 hour train ride, during which i tried chicken on a stick (delicious) took my picture at the equator, sang along to a lot of cheesy songs with morgan, and marveled at the ugandan countryside, which is absolutley beautiful. on the way to bwindi, the landscape completley changes, and these green bulbous hills develop, that just roll through the countryside, seemingly with out end. it was almost surreal l0oking. Jurg, jessies boyfriend, and swiss mountain man said it reminded him of new zealand. i wouldnt know, never having been, but ive never seen anything like it, and if new zealand does look that way, it is certainly high on my top five places to visit list. The rainforset itself is beautiful as well, really diverse in trees and plants, and everything there was ginourmous in size (except of course, the pygmies) I saw a giant centipede and an enormous tree snail. Bwindi is apparently also home to the largest population of gorillas, the park hosts 326 (half the remainign wild population, i had no idea gorillas were so endangered) I didnt get to see any gorillas while i was there, as i opted not to do a gorilla safari. i kept hoping one would show up, but no such luck. maybe next time.
The net sales we did were rather anticlimactic, which is disapointing. after hearing that bwindi depsratley needed nets, we brought 1500 to sell. The first two net sessions i went to had either been poorly moblized, or the villages we visited has recently recieved free gvt nets, leaving no interest or money for our nets. we sold only 21 nets in two days, but we left jessie and jurg in bwindi for two more days to see if they could organize another sale. they should be visiting the pygmies today to trade nets for arrows and honey. sadly, i dont get to trade with the pygmies this time, but i did get to trade nets for matoke (plantains ) and nkoko (chicken) which was exciting. The villages are much poorer in the west than the one here in the east that we visit. the difference was suprising.
One thing i learned this weekend that was slightly disconcerting was about the pygmies. they used to live, hunter gathering, in the bwindi forest. but after the gorillas became so endangered, the forest became a national park / conservation land, and the pygmies were forced to relocate, leave the forest, and attempt an agricultural life style that has pretty much forced themn into abject poverty. pretty depressing. JEssies plan is to try and mrket the honey we get from the pygmies in exchange for nets, and sell it at one of the fancy lodges i nbwindi to try and raise money for the pygmy population. there is already a similar project going on calle d hives save lives, sold under the label of "not tonite honey" . clever. very clever. so were going to try and come up with something just as good.
Our trip ended with a stop in kampala, the capital city where morgan and i treated ourselves to a sushi dinner thanks to a gift certificate she won in the festival. the sushi was amazing, way better than anticipated. sushi in uganda... who knew?
Its been quieter here in the aftermath of the festival, which is probably a good thing. On a side note, morgan and i ahave decided (in the interset of comfort and the safety of our things, to move into a banda together at NRE. after months of tenting, a bed is really suprisingly great. im l0ving the new digs, and it definatley helps it feel more like home.
things are super busy at the clinic as we head towards the holidays, the pres holiday rush never changes, nor do the cheesy christmas songs playing on the radio. it will be interseting for sure to see how uganda celebrates the holidays...