Boda Boda

There are only a few ways of getting around in Mbale. One is walking, which is nice when it is not blisteringly hot... the other is a taxi which  an often used mode of transportation but it is a little more expensive. So the most common form of transportation is a Boda Boda. I would say a boda boda is a mix between a scooter and a motorcycle. It has one guy that is the driver and you can fit a good amount of people. I have seen two grown woman with a baby on the back, and the woman sit side saddle. which makes sense because you are in a skirt. but i haven't ventured to try the boda boda side saddle. But i did document one of our boda adventures and let me tell you, it was fun. 

We were going to the Namatala village but we didn't know exactly where we were going go we were going to meet with a man named Moses that was going to meet us at the shell gas station and then we were going to go from there. 

We flagged down a Boda driver whose name is John and we told him we needed him to take us to the Shell station near the Namatala Slum. He had a little bit of a glazed over eye look and then said, ok 2,000 schillings for both. this was pretty reasonable because we were going outside of town. So we jumped on, fulling trusting that they knew where we were going. Once we got to the first shell station it didn't look like it was where we were suppose to be so we told them the next Shell station. When we got there we couldn't find Moses. We couldn't find him, and had to wait for 20 minutes while our country director Rebecca tried to phone him and let him know where we were. 

While waiting, all of these children started coming out of their homes to see the muzungu's and we took tons of pictures with the children, then we were on our way again to find the Namatala slum. We had to make one more pit stop and then we finally arrived. it was a great adventure and i have decided that i love travel by Boda and it will be my preferred mode of transportation this summer.

We are so excited to Boda!!!

When we stopped at the first Shell gas station and were a bit confused...

I tried to learn their names so from the left to the right is boyee,( boy' e), Sophie, naumateria (Her name was the hardest to pronounce, but it sounded beautiful, she would smile every time i attempted to say her name), and Dauphine she was very sharp and had a great memory.

Video of one of the rides. 

Successful Boda ride!