I apologize for my sparse posting and the lack a news as a result, but it has been a busy week along with the power outages and internet malfunctions coinciding with all my free time. This includes Tuesday in which we had off of school for Uganda's Independence Day.
A big event from the past week was the weekend trip to Bujagali where we spent the night at a backpackers bar on the Nile. I went with Clay, Patrick, and Jimmy, the long term volunteers, and to get there we took public transport to Jinja town and from there we each took an extremely thrilling boda ride to this little utopia looking down on the Nile. We were able to get a tent space and also reserve two beds for the night. The tent was right next to the building with the beds and the dirty bathrooms, and across was the bar with the American music putting the four of us in a wonderful mood.
The bar, complete with couches, tables, a bunch of Canadian and British backpackers, a dirt floor, and of course a bar, was situated on a steep slope and had a deck protruding out high above the river, and had GREAT food. I ordered the belly buster cheese burger which had two enormous patties and bacon to top it off. I had to take off one patty and eat it by itself just so I could barely get my mouth because they were so big. Once I finished my meal I used up all my airtime calling people to tell them how cool this was.
At around 2:30 we called it a night, but the room where we had reserved our beds had been locked by some jerk that wanted the room to himself, so the four of us had to share a two man tent. This did not look very good, and I knew that I was not nearly assertive enough to demand any space so I curled up in the corner and went in and out of sleep for four hours until sunrise. At that time I abandoned the tent and went to try and draw some comfort from the rising sun, and just as it came up I fell asleep on a couch in the bar. I then found peace two hours later when I found out the breakfast came with sausage, bacon, eggs, tomato, beans, mushrooms, and a biscuit.
After that glorious meal on the deck under the morning sun, we walked about a half mile to Bujagali Falls, a small section of the Nile, and a class five rapid. This high powered blender of Mother Nature threatens to destroy anything that comes through, even the natives. Yet they still try to get us to pay them to jump in with no more than a jerry can (a four gallon container). I did not get to see it, and I would not pay or encourage these men to risk their lives like this, but I don't think that I would look away if one of them just jumped in for fun.
When we had finished marveling at the incomprehensible power of the Nile, we walked back, packed up, and headed home.
