So there we were, stranded on the side of the road in Uganda at night....

This weekend I went with a group of med and pharmacy students on a rafting trip down the Nile in Uganda. I conveniently waited to tell the parental units about this one until AFTER we were back for the day. So we headed out mid-afternoon on Friday, I think there were 16 of us total in 2 vans. Crossing the border was a bit of an ordeal. There were a ton of people traveling to Uganda for a Kenya-Uganda soccer game, so we waited for an hour or so. It was getting dark by the time we got back on the road, which was a problem because the med and pharm students signed a form stating they wouldn't travel at night for safety reasons. We still had over two hours to drive before we got to the camp site in Uganda....oops. So we're riding along, it's pitch black because there are no street lights in Uganda, and all of the sudden we stop on the side of the road in a village. Kelvin, a Kenyan who was coordinating the majority of our weekend, came back to our van and told us they were having trouble with the first van. He said, "We're just going to change batteries and let it charge for a bit, then we'll leave soon, no problem." An hour later....

So there we were, stranded on the side of the road in Uganda at night.  We passed the time with many a joke about dying in Uganda, remarks about how this is exactly the situation that all of the supervisors want to avoid....16 mzungus chillin in parked, broken down vans at night in a foreign country....yes, yes, we were sitting ducks. (PS Med and pharm students, my apologies if any of your supervisors somehow read this...but it's too good not to share...) After letting the first van charge on the battery of the second van for an hour or so, the drivers realized that the battery wasn't in fact the problem. So now the first van wouldn't start at all. Sweet. So, all 16 of us piled in the second van for the remaining 45 minutes or so of the trip. It was truly mzungu matatu style, quite entertaining. We got to the camp site and found very nice, SAFE, camping accommodations awaiting us. Side note, I'm pretty sure doxycycl, the malaria prophylaxis I'm taking is giving me wicked dreams and making me do goofy things in my sleep. So far they've included being chased by unknown furry beasts, talking about small birds lined up on the perimeters of my bed, coming to in the middle of the night and realizing I'm eating peanut butter (that's happened before...) and waking up wandering aimlessly in my room with the lights on. Interesting.

On Saturday we ventured out on an all day rafting excursion. The company we went with was a pretty commercial one--definitely aimed at tourists. Rafting in Africa was very different than rafting in Colorado or West Virginia. In the states, the goal of the trip is to stay IN the raft. Here, we only stayed in our raft maybe 2 out of the 9 or 10 rapids? In fact, I'm pretty sure the three guides had a competition going for who could flip their raft the most times, or maybe a competition for who could eject their rafters the furthest or highest into the air?! It was crazy and awesome, but actually quite scary. I don't usually think things like that are scary, I'm usually pumped to do the most extreme things in these situations, but man. We're talking about some crazy class 5 rapids in the Nile. Mother nature done messed us up.  It's funny too, because everything that they tell you safety wise while you're on land makes complete sense at the time, but when you're being flung around by these massive waves, you don't think of ANY of that stuff.

Some words of advice from our crazy Zimbabwean guides:

1.) "Ball yourself up when you're pulled under, you'll pop up to the surface faster. The worst thing you could do is flail like a ragdoll."  Beaucoup de ragdoll flailing? Check.

2.) " If you haven't been rescued by one of the kayaks or the safety raft, swim away from the main current. Float on your back with your feet up, you'll use less energy than flailing and won't hit your feet on rocks or have them tickled by crocs." Again, major flailing in the middle of the current while waiting to be rescued? Check.

3.) The final one, our guide's reply when we gave him a hard time about the fact that we'd spent more time thrashing for our lives in the rapids than in the raft: "If you're in the raft you're just floating. We are RAFTING!" Yes sir, we are.

For one of the final, bigger rapids, our guide put Alana, one of the med students, and myself at the front of the boat and the other four bigger guys at the back. He reasoned that the weight distribution would ideally help us "surf the rapid" and not flip. But what he really wanted to do was have the raft launch 90 degrees upright, then flip from the front to back and LAUNCH Alana and I as far and high out of the raft as possible. It worked. We went flying and I swear I was 20 feet in the air before I hit the water. When we finally got back in the raft, our guide was having a good chuckle to himself and asked if we ladies had enjoyed ourselves. Ha. During all of these adventures it was funny to see locals who lived on the islands and mainlands standing as close to the water as possible to watch the action.  Crazy tourists willingly flying down water falls and through the air must have been their entertainment, and I guess I can't really blame them. One of the highlights was taking a break midday to have a snack.  Each person got half of a pineapple (literally) sliced into pieces, and some "glucose biscuits." It was absolutely delish!

Anyway, I don't have any pictures from the Nile rafting day, but here are several pictures from the last month or so:

 My Kenyan mama and me over looking Lake Baringo

 Out in the village on a hunt for a wise Kenyan prophet who apparently had all of the answers to life's burning questions...it was a really long day.

 Some great medical play at the Sally Test Pediatric Center, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. These are some of the cuties I get to spend my days with.

 Everyone's favorite kiddo.

 The view of the Nile in Uganda from our camp site.

Making crafts with Samuel.  He is really helping me with my Swahili, and I'm helping him with English. His favorite thing to say to me is, "Kathleen, kuuuu-ja!" (Kathleen, come!) Then he grabs my hand and pulls me while he hops on his good leg and uses me for balance.