Goodbye Uganda

Today was our "fun day" in Uganda. We are headed to the airport EARLY tomorrow morning. So early our poor driver Patrick has to wake up at FOUR AM to come get us! Poor Patrick! Today the group split into two groups. One group chose to go rafting in the Nile the other chose a nice boat ride. I chose the less risky road and went with the nice boat tour of the Nile. The ride to Jinga where we departed from took us two hours. Once my group got the spot where we were to depart we had a large thunderstorm. We waited out the storm in the tour bus with our very interesting tour guide Elijah. Elijah was a goofy man who told us perhaps misinformed facts about the history of the Nile but we enjoyed it none the less. Once Mike, Tyler, Kelli, Emily, Danielle and I decided the storm had cleared enough to get in the boat we thought we saw a crocodile. I had my first melt down in Uganda and decided I should just stay in the bus and avoid the crocodile that may not have even existed. My team members helped calm me down (more like tried to scare me) and I reluctantly got in the boat. I am very glad I did! The view from the boat was amazing! We saw the Nile from Lake Victoria. We also saw Monkeys in the trees. We were told there were Hippos fourteen miles away. I am comfortable with fourteen miles! :) I am so happy I was given the opportunity to see the Nile and stick my hand in it.

After the tour we were on our way out of the grounds when we saw a man clapping his hands and monkeys were coming from everywhere. The man gave the monkeys bananas and allowed us to do so as well. The monkeys were hilarious. To be so close to wild animals is not something I will forget. We then ate with Josephina and Patrick at a restaurant in Jinga that had American type food. Afterwards, we shopped a little bit and then got on the bus for the two hour trip back to Kampala.

The six of us had a lot of downtime at the house today without the other team members. We talked about the children at the orphanage and how much we would miss them. I cannot believe this is our last night in Uganda. I cannot express how inspired I am by these children and how great of an experience I have had. I am anxiously awaiting my next journey to Uganda!