sorry it's been a while, I'll do better

This week was insane. Part of the delay in my blog update is explained below. I would have updated in the past three days but we had a huge storm one day, power outage the next, and then internet was down another.

Last week on Monday we had 9 sick volunteers who had been throwing up through the night and 3 who had diahhrea. Tuesday I took Stacy to the doctor who had a throat infection. Wednesday I took Andrew to the hospital who is now being treated for malaria. Thursday we took Becca to the hospital in Kampala because her back is hurting her a lot and she previously needed surgery on it. Brook was in bed for three days with heat flashes and the chills. People had things stolen this week, more people got sick in waves, elections happened and were really intense, and a group went to kampala on Friday for domino's,lost two wallets and didn’t get home until 2am. It was a rough week. But give us a week and we will hopefully be able to laugh it all off.

When we went to Kampala on Thursday, Becca, Ivan, Mellissa, and I bargained for a while and waited for a taxi until we finally started our trek into the city. We arrived in kampala about 90 minutes later and hopped on two boda’s who were to take us to the international hospital. Sadly, Ivan told them the wrong hospital and so after swerving in-between cars and busses and even hopping a medium and turning into oncoming traffic (a policeman drove up next to the motorcycle after that maneuver and yelled at him and then yelled at us for not yelling at him) we ended up across town at the wrong hospital. When we finally reached the international hospital, the boda drivers charged three times as much. We argued and eventually had to give them a little over twice as much as we initially bargained. Instead of $1.50 each motorcycle, we paid $3.50. We entered the westernized hospital and Becca saw a phillipino doctor around 2:30 pm who referred her to a specialist at 5. So we went to the embassy on more boda’s. The consulate was closed so we went to a grocery store self titled “the embassy grocery store” and were really excited about buying oatmeal.

At this point Melissa and ivan had other errands to run and needed to make it back home, so went their separate way. Becca and I saw the doctor, got xrays, a prescription, and the name of a hotel that had a store underneath it where we may be able to buy a back brace. It was basically a scavenger hunt, racing against the sun. We hopped on yet another boda and went across town, ironically close to the first wrong hospital of the day and were dropped off, got a brace and went back outside with vague directions to where to pick up a cab back to Lugazi. Ironically we had to motorcycle to get becca a back brace, but just pretend that is logical. I was getting nervous as the day came to an end because we had a long trip home and Uganda at night is a completely different place than Uganda during the daylight. We started walking in the direction of a man’s waving hand and then asked someone else who sent us walking perpendicular to our trajectory. Finally I asked a girl who was about our age to take us. She was a saint and walked through alleys and through a night market to get us to a hectic taxi park. There were hundreds of taxi’s (aka minivans that have four seats of three but somehow manage to frequently squeeze in well over twenty people). She helped us ask and found that we can’t get directly to Lugazi. So, we went halfway home, waited again in the dark, and then got on another very crowded bus to town. It was election night and there was a lot of partying going on so we jumped on boda number…I don’t even know, and booked it home. Besides being stopped by a group of drunk twenty something year olds who were up to no good (yes I'm embracing that I sound like a grandma with that statement), had our boda driver not taken off with a jolt, we arrived home safe and sound. I am grateful for our no traveling after dark rule and plan to obey that.

Friday night before we saw a bunch of kids perform traditional African dance which once again made me in awe at the African gene to dance. It’s got to be genetic. They had rattles on their ankles, some half hula skirt and a fur around their waist and would put shakira to shame if she were to see how they shake it. There were a few boys playing the drums who were equally as talented. The dance troop performs, most are orphans, and the money they make from performances fund their school fees.

On Saturday we went rafting on the Nile. It was amazing. Probably one of the top ten things I’ve done while on vacation in my life. Yes, I realize I made another sweeping absolute statement, I just can’t help myself. Some went bungee jumping before but around 10 am we all separated into boats of 8 people and my group included our Ugandan guide Sadun who is hilarious and awkwardly gave me a hug at the end and asked for my number infront of all of his other rafting buddies. We rafted through three class 5 rapids, two class 4, and about five class 3. We flipped during one where I got hit by drew and then by the boat. I thought I might die.
That being said, It was so fun and I’m going to go again with the mindset of what sacrifice I’m going to put my body through. I once again had to face the reality that 1. My arms are really weak. 2. Doxycyclene + 8 hours in the sun without any shade = major sunburns. 3. Inhaling Nile water causes my body to naturally cleanse itself. I have been daydreaming of the good old days when I was a little more comfortable. Days when I took for granted things like, being able to choose when I go to the bathroom instead if it choosing me. I’m also thinking back to this time last year when I actually PAID for a cleanse. I’m ridiculous.

We ended up going down about 17 miles of the Nile which was breathtaking. (if you are curious, which I was, it takes 3 months to raft to Egypt). And I always assumed that rivers should run north to south because of a gravititational pull. It’s just logical. But the Nile obviously missed that physics lesson.

During our trek we paddled past lush Ugandan countryside with hills and mountains on both sides. We also passed villages with people washing their clothes (pronounced clothe-ez here). There were places we were able to get out and swim and tried to overtake another boat pirate style.

We were able to stop for sandwiches, potato salad, pineapple, and watermelon at lunch time and we all felt like we were in heaven.

The weekend was great. We officially have a day guard who I need to keep reminding of his responsibilities considering I spent ten minutes banging on our fence in a really heavy rainstorm to eventually get let in by a sick volunteer. We should have a refrigerator tonight, and we are taking legal action against the guy that we think stole from us. Such are the adventures here in the pearl of africa.