Day 28- A Rest Day, Finally
I woke up knowing that today was going to be an awesome adventure. We were eating breakfast then heading into Jinja for internet and food! It’s not that I don’t get fed on the island, it’s that, when one is on an island for 28 days there are cravings. My cravings are Chicken Pad Thai and ice cream, I usually don’t really dig on ice cream but it’s hot here.
Dr. Sarah, a British girl who is living on the island, helping out, Kalob Grady and myself headed across the river to the mainland. Sarah had been having some problems with her car battery and once again, the car would not start. Bummer. Luckily, some other guys off the island were taking a taxi up river to Super Hole so we jumped in with them and paid an extra 10$ (for all three of us) to get us into Jinja. We got to Sarahs house and there was no power, pretty normal for mid day but sub par for needing to do laundry.
We rode boda boda’s into town and ate Chicken Pad Thai which was amazing. I then realized that Bank of America had cancelled my debit card due to a nationwide breach in security, they had already changed my account to follow a new debit card which is 8,000 miles away. I had made sure to have enough money, if I would have not changed my flight it would have been perfect. Now, I just can’t get to my money. I spoke to Snowy, it was so nice to hear his voice and (as always) he told me that everything was going to be ok.
The bank saga; I called Bank of America and they told me that they could reinstate my card if I called them when I was at an ATM, for a one time transaction. The girl I spoke to was very helpful and she understood the situation pretty well. After we had an amazing curry dinner, we headed to the Barclay’s, to the ATM. I called Bank of America, after multiple failed attempts, I finally got through to a woman who tried her best to help but, I am relatively sure she had never been north of the Mason Dixon. I put my card in the machine and all was going well until I tried to get money out and the card was retained in the machine. Now, I have no money or even a debit card to get the money, in Africa. The woman, bless her heart, had no idea about international time change, the fact that there is only power for a certain amount of hours during the day, and has clearly never been stuck in a different country with no money. She told me “There is nothing I can do for you, I’m sorry.” At this time I promptly hung up and counted my blessings, I have the best friends, they all offered to get me though the rest of my trip and I can pay them back later.
What an amazing day, and for the record, Bank of America has been great to me until now, and they are going to hear about it. Either way, my tummy is full and my heart is overflowing with love, now it’s time for a sleepover!