That's right, while the Coronavirus makes its rampage around the world, we are in Uganda. The US State Department has just emailed me their last alert notifying any US citizens still in Uganda that there may be one final “care lift" flight out that will head back to the USA. This would be our last chance out, and our last chance to get home. It sounds dire and certainly scary, and the situation in the world is dire and scary, but after weighing all of our options, we have decided to stay in Uganda.

This has not been an easy choice, as it seems that finding a perfect “safe haven" no longer is a reality for us, or anyone for that matter. But I will try to convey in this post a sense of what life is like here in Uganda, and what our reasons are for staying. Plus, we'll give you a little tour of our new home.

Amazingly, Uganda and most of Sub-Saharan Africa (except maybe South Africa) has not been hit hard yet with the Coronavirus. As of today, Uganda has had 33 confirmed cases and nearly all of these have been from people who were immediately quarantined after flying in from other countries. So far, three of these cases were from one Ugandan transmitting the virus to his family members. But besides that, it has not spread within the country itself. 

​That we know of.

Will it be contained to these isolated cases? Well, it's nice to be optimistic, but if there's any indication from other countries of what this virus will do, the realistic answer would be it will probably spread.

So now the real question is how will Uganda handle an outbreak?

As of today (March 31), Uganda is on a 14-day lock-down. The reason for this is because three of the institutionally quarantined travelers who tested positive for Coronavirus escaped a few days ago and interacted with the public. Therefore, all non-essential movement and most person-to-person contact will be suspended for two weeks in order to locate any new cases before this virus spreads.

Yesterday, life here continued more or less normally. Most people still went to work, and there was still plenty of traffic in the streets. Some things had been closed, such as schools and religious centers, the tourist industry had dried up, large social gatherings had been canceled, and the little mototaxis that zip around town had been forbidden. But besides that, daily life went on.

But today, things are supposed to change. No more driving around, even in private vehicles. No more going to work if you are not part of the allowed emergency and essential professions, and even if you are, you are supposed to camp and live next to your place of work for 14 days without going home. Unfortunately, I don't know how easy it will be to implement such social distancing and lock-down techniques here. This is a country where many people are used to living close together, sometimes with whole families staying in one room, and moving around is essential for many people to get their daily rice and bread.

​But we will see. I believe if this country puts their mind to it, they can do anything for 14 days. But if it needs to be longer... there is no financial safety-net here big enough to support all the people that will need basic supplies without their jobs and without movement. So let's keep our fingers crossed for the people of Uganda.

President Museveni has made many speeches to the nation about the situation, and he seems to be a respected and reassuring presence here. He speaks clearly and simply, and he does it all with a touch of humor. Also, the advice he gives is from scientists and specialists, as he's working hard to put into practice all the latest suggestions. He is also not afraid to administer harsh and economically-damaging measures in order to quell the spread of Coronavirus.

I hope that all of these precautions and measures work. We will see.

Besides Uganda having evaded a major outbreak so far, there are some real advantages for us staying here. Financially, it makes a lot of sense since life here is very cheap compared to life in the States, not to mention the cost of getting us (and the motorcycle?) back to the US.

But also we don't really have a home in the US to return to, since we quit our jobs and sold everything to travel the world on our motorcycle. This means that if we were to fly back, not only would we be taking a big risk of getting the Coronavirus on the several flights required to get us to Chicago (one of which is through NYC), but we'd have to stay with family and friends once there. Therefore, we'd risk infecting them, and this would be a nightmare situation for us.

The truth is, as far as prevention goes, it's much safer for us and everyone else if we stay here where we have a wonderful house to live in that we really never need to leave.

There are two very bad scenarios that could happen by staying here, but they are both unlikely. If we were to get the virus and need hospitalization, the health care system here is not up to Western standards. I don't even know how many ventilators are in Uganda, but I've heard three. I've also heard zero. Either way, it's not enough. It's almost laughable in a very sad, depressing way.

But there's no place on the planet right now that has enough ventilators, so like I said before, finding that perfect “safe haven" that will be able to care for and hospitalize everyone who needs it is almost non-existent at this point.

The other apocalyptic scenario that could happen here is if a lot of people die, and others are going hungry and are angry and need someone to blame, they may take it out on mzungus (white people). They already call this virus the mzungu corona.

But I see the chance of this happening on a large scale to be slim. We have found the Ugandan people to be extremely welcoming and understanding. Plus, the place we are at is well guarded with high fences all around, and the staff here are wonderful.

Thus, Tim and I are going to be here in Uganda for the long-haul. How long will that be? We don't know. But it will probably be a while.

​So in the meantime, let me introduce you to our new home.

We are living in a house that is connected to a hotel on the outskirts of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. The hotel has a few live-in staff members, including the chef of the restaurant, the bartender, the gardener, and some 24-hr guards. So not only do we have our own kitchen that we've stocked up, but there's a restaurant and bar here as well (there's even a couple of pool tables).

The property is huge and has lots of lawn space for going for a jog, doing exercises, or morning yoga, or simply reading in the shade of the banana trees. It's pretty nice, I have to admit.

Despite being on the equator, the weather here is perfect every day. The sun is bright and hot, but the daily thunderstorms come to cool everything off. The plants and trees are vibrant and green from all the rains, and there are lots of interesting and exotic birds that hang out in the gardens.
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But I think my favorite part of the place is Tom, the Red-Tailed Monkey with white whiskers. He's a wild monkey that steals bananas and guavas from our trees, but of course he's so cute, everyone just lets him.

We made some runs to the mall a week ago to purchase a few anti-boredom necessities before the shops closed, such as three guitars (Tim is teaching Leo and Lucy) and an old Nintendo set with over 400 terrible games. With the addition of a deck of cards, a few dice for Farkle, and Leo's portable speaker, we've actually had a lot of fun here.

At the moment, no one is going in and out of the complex unless it's for an essential purchase, and we try to have one person buy everything for everyone. Besides that, we stay here doing our best to enjoy and entertain ourselves, and I'm trying not watch the news every moment of the day because it makes me crazy. But that is the basic summery of our life in Uganda.

I truly hope that everyone out there is healthy and doing well. Please keep us updated on how you are doing through facebook or by commenting here.

Stay safe.

Our time traveling through Tanzania was a bit different than what most tourists do. Due to costs, we didn't go on any safaris and we didn't hike up Mount Kilimanjaro or snorkel around Zanzibar. But what we did see and do in Tanzania was truly memorable, unique, and special, not because of lions and elephants, but because of the people we met along the way.

“You will never want to leave Malawi," is what people told us. “The lake is perfectly placid and warm, and swimming in it is divine." Hearing things like this got me excited to visit this small African nation bordering the most biodiverse lake in the world: Lake Malawi. But then we also heard the many warnings: “Watch out for the Bilharzia parasite," and “Beware of crocodiles."

Moreover, it was going to be $75 per person just for the visa to enter Malawi, and because we happened to be visiting in the midst of the rainy season, the weather would be at its worst. In the end, we worried the high price to see this small country would not be worth it for us.

We entered Zambia from Botswana through one of the most difficult border crossings we’ve ever experienced. We were traveling with our motorcycle friend, Emiliano, and crossing borders with another traveler usually makes things easier. With three people, two of them can try to figure out the procedures and stand in separate lines, and one can watch the bikes (me).
 
But for some reason, nothing seemed to be easy when it came to the convoluted process that was getting a visa and vehicle entry permit into Zambia. The heat, the lack of signage, the expense of it ($50 USD for a Zambia/Zimbabwe visa, $20 USD for road tax, more money for carbon taxes, insurance, paying fixers, all in Zambian Kwacha), and most of all, the chaos of the place, made it a horrible experience.

​We have nothing against Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, but when you’re stuck there for weeks on end because your motorcycle is broken, all you can think about is leaving.
 
We had unfortunately snapped our monoshock (rear suspension) when we’d first entered Namibia. We waited for two weeks for our new shock to arrive from Austria, and when it did, we packed up the bike, got on the road, and headed to Botswana when we realized something horrible: the monoshock was not the only thing that needed replacing. The shock’s spring was also damaged, and we would have to turn back.
 
That meant it would be another week and a half of waiting in Windhoek and paying for repairs and living expenses before we could continue with our African travels.
 
This was very depressing for us, and it certainly wasn’t a great beginning to the holiday season.

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday upon us once again, it is time to start pondering what to get our two-wheeled riding loved ones for Christmas, Hanukkah, whatever gift-giving traditions that the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster may have, and even for the atheist in your life that likes receiving gifts on a cold December day.

Here is a brief list for those motorcycle enthusiasts in your life. These are some of our favorite items which have served us well on our round-the-world trip.  We are not sponsored by any of the products below, and bought each item ourselves with our hard-earned money. These are simply our fair, honest opinions after putting them through hell over the last two years.

Most people who visit Africa usually go on a safari. And there's nothing else on the planet like it: driving through the flat grasslands of thorny acacia trees, telling your fellow travelers to hush when you think you see something, and then whipping out your camera and holding your breath as a several-ton elephant lumbers out of the trees. It's the stuff of legends.

But there is a high price to be paid.