Juancho in Uganda

I didn't finish the visit to Kampala, so here it is. On monday we visited the Uganda Wildlife office to request information about climbing Mt. Elgon (not really a reservation needed) and then spend about an hour at the Uganda Museum. It was interesting for all the cultural things it had, but the signs of lack of funding are evident. After this we were invited to eat at the house of Mansi's friends (one of the girls in Bunio) and had probably one of the best lunches that I have eaten in Uganda. It was a typical Indian food and the spices were just perfect. After this just a long taxi trip to Iganga and sleep at Bunio.

On wednesday we went to the Christian school in Namalemba for a sanitation push and met with some English people that are teaching during the summer. They were all very young (18 - 19) and just ready to go to Uni (their word, not mine). We had tea with them and invited them for burritos in our house next week. After this, one of the teachers guided us to a dance and singing practice that was amazing. The children had just learned a song and the female voices were very much in tune (sorry boys, you still need some work). They were very soft and soothing and I even got goosebumps. The dances from the girls were fantastic and they could give Shakira a good competition with the shaking. I thought that their hips were going to break a couple of times from all the movement.

This weekend was the big Nile rafting trip and it all started with a very dusty boda boda (motorcycle) ride to the campsite, which was about 7 km away from Jinja and took 10 minutes. The driver was insanely fast, but I made it in one piece. There were awesome views of the white Nile from the dorms and we had time for a couple of Nile Gold beers before sleep. The action on saturday was intense with a 20 minute ride on a bus to the departure site and a selection of a team since there were 5 boats available. Of course I took the one that wanted to flip the most and other 6 people (including Mike the Zimbabwean guide) joined in. I only survived without falling until the 1st grade 5 rapid and I was thrown out of the raft alone. I didn't have any idea of orientation until I finally made it to the surface for the second time and a safety kayak kept me up. I later on found out that I just flipped backwards and the raft passed above my head. The next grade 3 was also terrible and once again I was the only one to fall off... what can I say? I am just too tall for these things I thought. After lunch I changed sides and I made it through some falls (literally a 14 foot drop across rocks) without falling and then it was just mayhem for the rest of the day since the full boat flipped twice. The last one was the worst of it since it was supposedly the world's largest grade 5 rapid that can be rafted commercially. Its name: BAD PLACE. I hit my lip on someones helmet, but I would do it in a heartbeat. It was an amazing experience that could only be topped off with a very cold Club beer at the pickup place. Since it was somebody's birthday we finished the day with a shot of Zappa (they light it like Sambuca) and two shots of Olmeca tequila. Unfortunately there are no pictures of this, but I will try to find the video that somebody else bought of the whole adventure. The first one just tasted like warm mouthwash with liquor and the other two were ok, except for the lack of lime. I am now in Jinja in an internet cafe finally catching up on emails since last week and still savouring the orange chocolate cake that I just ate at Flavours cafe.

I am staying tonight in Iganga town to watch the World Cup final and see how Spain lifts the trophy!!! VAMOS ESPAÑA!

Lusoga words of the day: Tubonagane lelo = See you later today
Emesa = Table (is this not related to Spanish???)