Our First Vacation!

Last weekend we took our first vacation day and headed to Jinja. Its about two hours away and is quite the tourist town. We left Friday morning and ate lunch when we got there at this place called “The Source” café. Jinja is where the source of the Nile is, so lots of things are named after it. The food was DIVINE. It was really Americanized, because there are Mzungus everywhere in Jinja! I had a milkshake, and it actually tasted like one! We all loved it. We spent the rest of the day shopping, though I think we only covered about 2 blocks. We were so excited and interested in all the little souvenirs…we definitely looked like tourists J. I felt like I got a ton of things, but only spent probably $50 US. After our shopping excursion we headed to the hostile we were staying at for the night. It, too, was the most Americanized place I’ve seen since I’ve been here (its run by mostly Australians). Our room was really nice, and we had a great dinner there (I ate a B.L.A.T.- bacon, lettuce, avacado and tomato-mmm!) After hanging out in the lounge for awhie, it was time to call it a night.

The next day began very nervously. We were going to raft the Nile river. I’ve never been river rafting before, and really didn’t know what to expect. In fact, it had taken some talking-into to get myself there. I mean, lets be honest: parasites, crocodiles, drowning…all legit fears. It made me feel a touch better to hear that no one had died since this company we went with starting rafting. Okay, I said, so maybe I’ll be scared out of my mind but at least HELP won’t have to send my body back! That morning they gave us a breakfast of Rolex (like a breakfast burrito) and fruit, and we headed off in our life jackets and helmets.

The part of the Nile we were rafting was about 30 minutes away. When we got there we divided into groups. I went with my friend Sarah, and Andy, Remmick, and Kate. We hopped into a raft and met our guide, Alex (although he jokingly told us for the first 20 minutes that his name was Mzungu.) He had us start in still water and we practiced things like emergency procedures and listening to his voice commands. Then it was time to go and meet my potential death. (Does anyone think I sound like Caryn when I talk like that?)

The first rapid we came to was a Class 5. That’s about as big as they go, but I was surprised because I had expected bigger. We were the last raft to do it, and we watched two others tip over before we went. Great, I thought, why don’t I just get out and swim now J. So we headed over the rapid and somehow came out of it and were still in the raft! It was a miracle! We were definitely celebrating. The next rapid, Class 3, came soon after and we man-handled that one too. After that, we had a long stretch of still water. Alex gave us a break from paddling, and would paddle the whole thing himself. We had water fights with the other rafts and made our own raft cheer. I think we thought we were pretty cool.

When we met rapid number 3, I was feeling pretty confident and ready. But, as is typical when you get cocky, we were humbled and tipped the raft. For a minute I was caught under it, but Alex called out to see if anyone was there, and he had that thing flipped and me back in it in record timing. Andy was near me too, but the other three had drifted off somewhere and were eventually brought to us. One of the things that made me feel the safest were these tough guys in rescue kayaks all around us. They would hit the rapids before us and pick up anyone who had fallen out. We’ll hear more about them later. :)

I remember thinking before the next rapid, “Heavenly Father, I would really feel loved right now if maybe we didn’t flip on the next one.” And I know I’m loved because we didn’t! I was feeling pretty good again and in the next section of still water they had crackers and fresh pineapple for us, and we had time to reapply the sunblock (although apparently that was pointless because even though I put sunblock on 4 times, my legs still got burned). On the next rapid we flipped again but I came up in open water instead of under the raft, so I was feeling great! But when Alex saw me he said, “Actually! (he always called me that) RELAX!” Then a kayak came and brought me to the raft. Alex told me, “I watched your face just before we flipped, and you looked terrified!” The phrase, “Actually, relax” became a catch-phrase for the rest of the day.

Well if you’re still reading this terribly long entry, the rest of the rapids were a blast and there was no more flipping. After the last one I got out and decided to swim to shore, and I couldn’t believe I was actually in the Nile. The whole time the scenery was beautiful. Occasionally we would see villagers coming down to the river to get water to cook or bathe with. I pondered about the differences in our lives as I looked into the water and it was so brown you couldn’t see any depth of it. But this was their only water source. In fact, Alex told us we were lucky to get to raft, because in the coming years the whole Nile will be shut down and damned so that the water can be used for electricity. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I was glad I got to go.

Serious about rafting

I don't want to die