Sorry it has been a few days BUT we had the adventure of a lifetime!!! It all started 5am Friday morning. We took a seven hour ride to Jinja riding in a sardine packed taxi. Not only were there 19 people crammed in the taxi/mini van, but a chicken with its feet tied rode underneath Kelley. Once we finally made it to Jinja, Sister Mary Lou came to pick us up. Sister Daisy had arranged for us to stay with the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Jinja...so many connections! Once we got settled we were given a tour of the grounds. We explored the lush gardens and got to see the schools that the sisters started. The view from the convent overlooked the beautiful Lake Victoria, it was so breathtaking! We met two Notre Dame students and one SMC alumn who are currently living in Jinja, volunteering for a year and a half. They were kind enough to take us to downtown Jinja to show us the market and all of the other quaint shops. We then settled at a local bar and enjoyed a few Nile Specials! We were so excited to finally have our first boda boda ride on the way back to the convent. Bodas are motorcycles that are found all over Uganda and serve as taxis. Once we got back to the convent the sisters had a wonderful meal ready for us and then we hit the sack to get some rest before our big day of rafting.
We woke up at 6:00 and enjoyed a nice cup of coffee/tea/hot cocoa with Sister Mary Lou. We waited for the rafting bus to come pick us up for almost 2 hours- the concept of time in Africa is basically absent; you just have to roll with the punches. We made it to the rafting and met some recent ND graduates all the way here in Uganda. What a small world! We became instant friends and made a South Bend rafting boat. We got a brief safety introduction, were fitted with life jackets and helmets, and grabbed breakfast. We boarded the bus to the river---the NILE RIVER that is. When we got to the waters edge we were introduced to the most special guide, Jeffrey. whose first words were "We are gonna have a f***ing good day" in a mixture of amazing accents despite being straight from Uganda. At that moment we knew it was going to be a great day.
We wish we could explain each rapid we went through but that might take all day (it was a five hour trip). It was a 5 hour adrenaline rush throughout the whole trip. We thought we were going to die at two points throughout the trip...this is not sarcasm!!! About an hour into the trip the sky started to get severely dark and the perfect storm brewed. It started with a little drizzle, but quickly turned into a torrential downpour complete with thunder and lightening. At home we would never consider continuing this journey in the water, but when in the Nile, its not even a question..."Onward!!!" As you can imagine, the storm made the rapids a wee bit more intense. This is when the near death experiences began. Our boat flipped multiple times and it was so hard getting to the surface of the water. We saw the light. But it all ended up well and we made it out of the Nile alive, but definitely bruised and battered. When we were done there was a delicious bbq waiting with endless, well-deserved, nice ice-cold, beer.
Mother nature dished out quite an interesting adventure back to the campsite. All of the rain that we experienced on the Nile took quite a toll on the roads. The moment we turned onto the roads, all 3 buses got stuck in the mud. The next 5 hours were full of peeing in the bush, pushing buses out of the mud, walking knee high in goat/cow poop and mud. The rescue buses were called, got just as stuck in the mud so we continued walking to more solid ground for over an hour. Then a bus successfully came to our rescue and took us back to the campsite. This normal 30 minute commute took us 5 hours. Once we got to the campsite, we dropped off our stuff and hit the bar. They treated us all to a free beer to compensate for the delayed return home. We had so much fun with out new friends and had an awesome end to the day.
Sunday morning we woke up bright and early and enjoyed a delicious rolex (Ugandan egg sandwich). We hopped on some bodas and headed to Adrift Rafting Company. This is where Remi and Meg paid $80 to risk ending their lives aka BUNGEE JUMPING OVER THE NILE!!! It was the most thrilling/freeing/terrifying experience of our lives. We cannot explain what it felt like standing over the edge a 45 meter drop, connected only by our ankles. Kelley stayed on safe ground to document the experience.
Now the adventure of a life time came to a close and it was time to head home. Since all the taxis had gone for the day, we had to take a huge public transportation bus all the way back to Kyarusozi. The bus was filled to capacity. About half way through, a young boy projectile vomited next to Kelley, Meg had chatty Kathy who asked for her hand in marriage, and Remi sat next to a guy who took up all of the leg room and had a breastfeeding mom on her other side. It was a great 7 hour ride to say the least. We were completely overjoyed to reach the end of our journey and see Sister Daisy anxiously waiting for us. The sisters had a delicious meal waiting for us. We took the longest showers of our lives, attempting to scrub the crusted leftovers from the weekend and then went to sleep.
We can all say this was honestly the best weekend of our lives!
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