~~The rainy weather makes puddles in the capital's street that are a
deep orange color.
~~You are not a fan of taxi parks. Especially when, as in this case, it's just hundreds of taxi vans parked closely together and bumper to bumper....there's barely space to walk between! Plus the continuing rain doesn't help.
~~A couple boxes of chicks and at least one rooster
accompany you on the boat ride.
~~Said boat ride takes nearly four hours!
~~You are annoyed by said rain, (and very thankful that the
boat has a tarp over it!) until the sun begins to break through the clouds and
you get to see a rainbow!!!
~~A short drive from the island jetty brings you to the small
beach hotel where you will spend the night.
~~You eat dinner and go to bed listening to the crash of the
waves on the lake shore.
~~But before you go to bed, you take your first running
water shower in 10 weeks!! And with hot water too!! You’re surprised at how
much water you get in your eyes….but maybe that was just from this particular
shower head.
~~Trying to figure out a bathroom door that doesn’t want to
stay shut, how to make a round mosquito net work with a four-postered bed, and
overly-squishy pillows make you miss your banda bed back “home.”
~~You awake to take a long birding walk along the shore, and
love every moment.
~~A few steps away from the sandy beach, and you find
yourself in thick trees.
~~You sit on a bench swing back at the hotel’s beach doing
nothing except listening to the waves, watching the birds, and thinking about
how you could do this always…..but life doesn’t work like that… :/
~~One of the hotel staff comes and talks to you for a while,
and you learn more about Ugandan culture. Including the fact that this gal
thought she would never be of a high enough “level” to have a conversation with
a muzungu….
~~There’s a super playful (half-grown) puppy running around
the grounds that you quickly nickname “Floppy” because of his over-sized ears
;-)
~~As you eat lunch, you watch a large-ish lizard (I think he
must have been nearly two feet, including the tail!) eat his lunch….I think a
dragon fly?...on a nearby walkway.
~~You take tons of photos and videos……mostly of birds, I
must admit ;)
~~You’re fixing to go sit on another bench to journal, when
you suddenly see a monkey! And later, you realize there is a whole troop of
monkeys in the woods very nearby…..probably close to a dozen!
~~As you watch the monkeys groom one another and pick food
off the trees, it seems so very familiar. You’ve seen it before….in nature movies.
Then you remember that this isn’t a nature movie, that you’re standing there
watching live, wild monkeys in person. Wow!
~~You try to use the Internet to just check email and Facebook
(yes, I’m an addict….) but it’s too slow and you give up.
~~You eat fish for dinner….fish that in the morning had been
swimming around in the lake! Thanks to the fishing skills of the young couple
who knew about this beautiful island and let you tag along.
~~The next morning, you get a bike and enjoy a long ride….pushing
it up the hill, riding through the town, and out to a secluded spot overlooking
part of the island coast. You’re thankful to be wearing capris for all that
rather than a skirt!
~~During your ride, everyone from little kids to older folks
is excited to see you. The little kids yell “hi!” and “bye!” and it seems to
make their day when you say hi back. And the older ones holler “muzungu, what
are you doing??” or “where are you going?”….to which you don’t answer, because
the one is obvious and the other you don’t know for sure…
~~You spend the next three hours sitting in one place,
meditating on God’s Word and worshipping Him. It is a beautiful time, and
reminds you of times you’ve done the same in other places around the world. You
are thankful that God is the same always and everywhere!!! (for more on this, check out the post on my other blog)
~~When you ride back down the steep hill you came up, you
don’t pedal from the time you leave the town to the time you’re on the hotel
road. Instead, you’re squeezing the brakes almost non-stop. You’re thankful
they’re in good working condition!!!
~~You enjoy playing games with the folks you came with, and
wading in the lake, and just relaxing and recharging J
~~A couple times, African guys come over and try to strike up
a conversation. You’re not interested, so you keep responses short.
~~You hope to take another last hot shower……..but the hot
water does not come out. After dinner you try again, take half of a cold shower
and then the hot water comes!
~~Your room’s trash can displays the results of your “drinking
addiction” – it is FULL of WATER bottles! ;-) Since tap water is not safe to
drink, you must buy bottled water from the hotel restaurant. Every time you go
you ask for at least one bottle….sometimes three…..
~~You wake up at 2 a.m. from a dream of going for a walk
with one of your best college friends, wishing that you really could. You
listen to the rain that is pouring down, and go back to sleep…..to have a very
odd dream, probably thanks to the malaria med side effects :P
~~Morning comes, and with it the end of your time on the
beautiful island. You hope you’ll be back.
~~The boat ride back is super choppy. You grab the bench in
front of you and close your eyes often for the middle hour of the ride.
Thankfully the motion sickness doesn’t fully make its way to the point of
nausea.
~~You distract yourself by watching the antics of the
full-grown chickens trying to escape the handmade rough, wooden crates they’re
being transported in.
~~A little over three hours later, you’re very glad to be
back on solid ground.
~~Another three hours later, you arrive back at your banda.
One of the Institute girls has just gotten back from her school day and greets
you with an excited “Auntie!!!” and an enthusiastic hug.
~~Everyone is glad to see you again, and after dinner the
wee two-year-old is begging for a piggy back ride, as always. It’s good to be
home J
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