The Big City and The Big River

We spent the last week in Kampala, the capital city in south central Uganda. Stew and Brad (the previous in-country directors) flew back to America yesterday. Life in the south is very different from the north. Most of the money in Uganda lies in the south, but even then, Kampala is a drastic contrast from most cities in the US. Our main mode of transport in the city is Bodas (motorcycles). The government is starting to crack down on Bodas by mandating helmets and only one passenger. However, all of our rides around the city were helmetless and with both Travis and I on the back. Don’t worry mom, I only thought I was going to die twice. One such ride I had my huge backpackers backpack o full of groceries and three smaller bags on my arms. I had a dress on so I could only side saddle. I counted 8 times that either my bags or legs or other body parts hit other vehicles…my balance (due mostly to side saddling) has much improved. It was nice to have pizza and go to the movies before heading back to beans and rice and rural life.

As a final goodbye for Stew and Brad we helped them conquer the Nile River…..by conquering, I mean rafted. By the end of our time I felt like we conquered the Nile in its entirety. I have never rafted before, but I guess you could say this was a good intro to rafting. All of the rapids were class 4s and 5s. At one point we were going down a 16ft waterfall backward. It was intense to say the least. I won’t even try to explain….we flipped over (and out) three times. My favorite part was that I didn’t see any crocodiles, my biggest fear. I am glad we got the opportunity to raft because they are damning the Nile this year!