Hi all- ok. no pictures yet, i will post some soon. After a whirlwind 3 1/2 days in the capital of Kampala, arrived yesterday afternoon in my home base of Mbarara, a small-ish (40,000) town in SW Uganda, about a 4 hour drive from Kampala. Highlights of Kampala included passionfruit juice with every meal, watching the movie Goal (a movie about a Mexican immigrant in the US who ends up playing professional soccer in the U.K. Not a great movie, but satisfied my soccer and underdog wins requirement, ok, I admit, got teary-eyed at the end, but I am a SUCKER) at the Garden CEnter, a new downtown shopping center. Other highlights... also drove by the craziest market i have seen in my entire life. Not even sure how to describe it. Everything imaginable sold there. Streets full of pedestrians, taxis for hire, matatus (minibus taxis), boda-bodas (scooter-type motorcyles). The taxis for hire are easy but expensive; the matatus are less expensive but you have to know which one starts where and goes where, which at this point is a bit daunting; and the boda-bodas, which are the least expensive and go anywhere but require a serious faith in the afterlife. As a pedestrian, they are quite unpredictable and bold. Oh, and people drive on the other side of the rode so I have to remember to look the right way before crossing. Now about Mbarara- definitely quieter, a bit greener. Haven't explored yet. The guest house I'm staying in is extravagantly nice, my friend called the compound it's on "the palace on the hill". 4-poster bed with lovely mosquito net, table, chair, clean bathroom, internet access, a garden, my own little kitchen (the gas stove was a new thing to learn), and a porch area to sit on. There woman who owns the compund is a UCSF employee who runs the research here. She and her daughter and elderly aunt live in the main house, which is large. Also, there is woman who lives there who cleans, cooks, etc. I need to figure out how to include paragraphs in this thing. Oh, and on the drive down saw ankole cattle with the longest horns imaginable- 3-4 feet straight up with a slight curve. I'm told their gentle,but after my close encounter with the bull in MExico, am not taking chances.