You never know what you might encounter while traveling.  Yesterday at “tea and chapati rounds” after post-take, I decided to order this dish I had tried previously called katogo (cat-oh-go).  Last time I had it it was a delicious mixture of plaintains, potatoes, tomatoes, peas and some sort of broth.  Yes for breakfast – it was phenomenal.  Anyway after I ordered it one of the residents informed me that “katogo” means “mixture”, and it can be different every time you have it depending on what’s available.  Well the plaintains potatoes and tomatoes were the same, but this time there was a strange meat in the mixture – TRIPE.  I ate about a third of the tripe and most of the plantains.  That was definitely a new dish for me.  It wasn’t as rubbery as I had imagined, but had a strange musty flavor, and the feeling of intestinal villi across your tongue isn’t very appetizing.

Then last night we went with some girls here from Harvard to a local aerobics class.  It’s in a dimly lit room that is actually a club at night, which is in a back ally somewhere in downtown Mbarara.  Of course there’s no air conditioner and no fans, and you run around and wallow around on a dirty floor.  There’s also a sauna next door so when you walk in there are random men with towels around their waists.  The class was a solid hour of consistent movement – it’s definitely the most I’ve sweat in a while and I’m definitely super sore today!  The class was about 1/3 muzungus and the rest Ugandans … and I may or may not have worked out in the “chubby lady” section of the class so as not to embarrass myself.  However, my nervousness/embarrassment disappeared whenever “Call Me Maybe” by the DJ in the corner started off the dance party.  When we came out of class the downtown area had totally transformed – ladies with leftover vegetables from the market were selling them on the street, and there were dozens of vendors that materialized out of nowhere making grilled goat on a stick, chapatis, fried eggs, etc.  I was tempted to eat some, but after the tripe that morning I didn’t want to tempt fate.

Then today after work we went downtown.  First we went to a UN (I think) sponsored place that helps a local village by selling their handmade jewelry.  I didn’t need to, but I bought a necklace or two that I was really excited about.  Then while walking downtown we happened upon a back alley FULL of tailors with sewing machines – it was quite odd.  They could custom make just about anything you wanted for a pretty fair price.  Then finally we went to the market for some fresh veggies.  I perused a while and then got okra, tomatoes, green beans, of course some passion fruit, avocado, an “African tomato” which I have no idea what I should do with, and finally Jack fruit.  When I went to India a few years ago, one of the girls there from California told me I needed to try it.  Turns out Cali is one of the few places it grows, so I’ve never been able to try.  But lo and behold I found one today!  I had the seller cut me a giant slice – which in hindsight wasn’t a great idea considering it’s the size of a small melon and I had to carry it home – and then enjoyed it when we got back.  It’s a super weird fruit – spiky and green on the outside, and full of large seeds with some inedible and some edible fruit on the inside.  The edible part is amazing, but then there’s also this slimy goo that literally turns to glue on your lips and hands after you eat it.  I need to figure out a better way to tackle it tomorrow.  Then I cooked a rather humble market-fresh dinner, and ate it while preparing a lecture!  Thursday Anem and I have been invited to give a lecture to one of the local college classes.  The students are working on a degree in women’s health, and have a few things they want to hear from some American doctors about.  One is how the American healthcare system works (or doesn’t work), which Anem will talk about.  The other is STDs, presented by yours truly.  So I enjoyed my meal over some engrossing reading on Gonorrhea, etc and social implications of STD’s. Should be a fun talk  =)

The sharp demarcation from our road to where downtown begins

My market buys!

My humble, but quite delicious, market dinner (please ignore that my beans from last week sprouted)