The pics below are from a rally they held about 20 min walking from my house. It was 5,000 ($2.50) to get in, and you pretty much found wherever you wanted to stand. You can see in one of the pics where about seven kids climbed a tree to see the car races, only a few feet from where the cars went zooming by. I took a few pics of them and how perfectly precarious they were perched above the track, but kept getting caught and called out in Luganda. I just laughed awkwardly and turned to take more pics of the cars going by. I later had to plan my pics of them when the cars would race by, drawing their attention away from me.
The event lasted from about 11am - 4:30pm, at least that's how long Martin (my brother) and I stayed. The sun was out most of the time, and they were brutal equatorial rays. Being the smart mzungu I am, and one of about three amongst the thousands of Buganda, I was prepared with a full bottle of spf 50 sunblock. Lathering up every hour or so I stayed protected at the expense of my dignity, which quickly became last on the list of things to maintain due to a few earlier incidents. The first was a lesson I thought I'd learned in the Miami Ariport. Thinking my money would be safe zipped inside a leather purse, tied to my belt loop and tucked into my back pocket, I was mistaken. Walking through the shoulder to shoulder crowds I was preoccupied with keeping my camera safe, not realizing that my back pocket was being emptied. I had learned, however, not to carry much with me and only lost 7,000(about $3.50). None the less, my reaction was far from righteous. I felt super violated and envisioned myself taking out the thief who done it. It festered inside me for a couple of minutes as I looked at everyone with a condemning glare, saying to myself that all these people would take advantage of me if given the chance, that they would all be willing to stoop to the dirty level of whoever took the 7,000. How horrible of me! I immediately remembered Jesus' words about walking two miles with the guy who asks for one. What was I doing boiling about the lost of $3.50 due to my own carelessness? Two kids were sitting in front of me while all these things were spoiling my mind, who came up to me and touched my leg hair in amazement. This was surely God's way of cooling me off via his kingdom through children, and humbling me in the most profound way.
I also had this guy come up to me with his gourd (the equivalent of of a beer bottle filled with this nasty looking local brew made from fermented banana juice), wanting his picture taken and offering to trade me his gourd for my Nalgeen.
The races were very cool though. They first had the dirt bike races, which got more exciting as the number one Ugandan racer almost lost to mzungu, but pulled in front with only a lap to go. Next were the cars. They had two race against each other on parallel tracks and then switch. Many cars broke down, and one car crashed into a tree where a large crowd was. No one was hurt by the grace of God (it really looked as if someone should have been crushed). I was in a relatively place, though if the car had made a wrong move I would have needed to run. The last pic below, however, of the car that looks like it is real close is real close, maybe seven feet. I was still safe though (for all the parents that may read this).
No sunburn, loss of 7,000, great time and some cool snaps; t'was a good day.