Tours with Luta

Since arriving in Uganda, we've had some pretty great times outside the Musana workshop (which I will write about next!). Luta, one of the Musana coordinators, graciously volunteered to be our unofficial tour guide / entertainer. (Note: if you ever meet Luta during your lifetime, be sure to ask him to do an impression of a lady in distress or a lady putting on make-up. Just do it.)

First, Luta took us to Jinja, a small city about an hour from Lugazi. This is the "Source of the Nile," or where the Nile River begins from Lake Victoria. We went boating and saw a giant lizard.

We also completed Luta's Unofficial Walking Tour of Lugazi, featuring a venture through the city's districts, a stop by his family's home, and a beautiful tour of the Mehta Golf Course where he occasionally teaches golf. Luta is a great golfer. He won a coffeemaker in a golf tournament one time.

Luta and his mother, Mama Christine,
who is also a Musana artisan

The Mehtas, an Indian family, have owned Lugazi's sugarcane plantation since the late 1800s. They have lots of money, so they built a golf course, as people with lots of money tend to do. Recently, Mrs. Mehta also designed near the course one of the most beautiful, near-deserted gardens I've ever seen. It's very zen.

Luta also took us took us to Namango, a district of Lugazi, where we hiked up a large hill to get a view of the area. The rolling green hills were lovely. However, at one point some locals living on the hill (Hill People!?) spied us and persuaded Luta to let them kidnap us.

Just kidding. They persuaded Luta to let them take us to a sacred spot (essentially some rocks in the shade) where we could leave money for "the gods," who would then grant our wishes. "And if you come back tomorrow, the money will be gone!" the old leader-dude told us, as if this was undeniable evidence that the gods had indeed stopped by. We played along.

The gods are here.

Seeing Lugazi and learning about the surrounding areas was wonderful, but learning Luta's life story along the way was also awesome. He had a few stories ready at every turn - wandering through the Mehta golf course, meandering through the child-packed streets of the Ghery-Ghery district, walking by the Lugazi prison. Also, absolutely everyone in town knows him. They call him the town dog because of this (which sounds awful to me, but for him it's a source of pride).

We made some new friends walking
through Ghery-Ghery.