UGANDA!

So I started my new job last week. The first week went really well. I think everyone is receptive to me being there and they are excited to work hard this year... hopefully. My week ended short because we left for Uganda Thursday afternoon.

My sister, my friend Elizabeth, a family of 7 I know from Portland and I all decided to make the not-too-far trip to Uganda for the weekend. We left Kisumu in the afternoon and took a matatu (14 person van) to the border town, Busia. Immigration is quite easy to pass through.. especially after you have to pay USD $50 on the Ugandan side to enter the country. We then took another Matatu to the town of Jinja which sits right on Lake Victoria and the source of the river Nile. The family we were with had contacted a rafting company and already set everything up for us. So we arrived at the camp at night and relaxed at the bar/restaurant before bed. In the morning, we were able to see the place in the daylight... pretty sweet. The bar overlooks the Nile and it's absolutely beautiful. We left in the morning around 10 for our white-water rafting trip. There are two options for the trip: wild or mild. Of course, we did wild. Our guide was Canadian and pretty experienced on the river. The water was so warm and the sun was so hot. We went through 11 rapids, 4 of which were class 5 rapids. Our boat flipped three different times. It was such a fun day, but also scary. Some of the rapids were huge and you're basically guaranteed to flip. In which case, you either hold on to the boat or get rescued by one of the ten rescue kayakers who follow the boats. Two different times I was trapped under the boat when we flipped, yet I cam out fine. We stopped on an island for a great lunch during the middle and there was plenty of calm water where we could leisurely swim. Overall is was an awesome day, but there were plenty of scary moments. The family we were traveling with were doing a 2 day trip so they continued on when we came back to the camp at night.

We went into Jinja town to a restaurant for dinner and had REAL pizza and burgers with ACTUAL Heinz ketchup... quite the gourmet meal for us. In the morning, my friend Elizabeth and I had decided to bungee jump. The company has a bungee jumping option so we had decided when we arrived to do it. The platform is 145 feet over the river. I was definitely scared but it was absolutely worth it. They wrapped a towel around my ankles and then fastened a cord around that. I hopped to the edge of the platform and they told me how to jump out. After 3, 2, 1, BUNGEE... I don't even remember how I jumped. I just remember falling, but knowing it wasn't like a free fall. I could still feel some resistance and slowing as I fell. I was AWESOME. Swinging back and forth over the river and dangling from my ankles... quite a rush! Then they lowered my into a raft below and brought me to the shore. I watched my friend jump from down there. Kenzie filmed us from the lookout at the bar and had a great view of everything. We left for Kenya soon after.

Overall, our two days in Uganda were great. It was only about a five hour trip to get there so not too bad. I had quite the thrill-seeking weekend and it was totally worth the money (lots of money haha). Back to work tomorrow...