The second half of the trip involved traveling around Western Uganda with Steven and his family. Saturday morning we got up and ate breakfast at a local restaurant, we definitely stuck out as the only white people, and it does not seem that many are around there often. Then steven took us to different parts of Queen Elizabeth park. 9 of us squished into a car that can really handle 7 and started driving to a local fishing dock. We stopped at the fishing area and looked at the boats and fishermen. All the kids just started running up to us and holding our hands, i do not think Ugandans use the motto "do not talk to strangers". We left the fishing village and started traveling to another lake, lake edward. On the way we saw baboons, and a leopard!! Leopards are very rarely seen. Our safari guide from the day before said he has only seen 6 total in the 15 years he has been doing safaris. It was amazing, a magnificent creature. Unfortunately i only saw it for a split second before it dashed into the bushes.
When we arrived at the other lake, we were planning on swimming but quickly realized it was not really a swimming shore, and no one was swimming. So we hired some local fishermen to take us across the lake to an island where we could go swimming with more privacy. The place where we swam was really sketch, it was a swampy area surrounding us and not very deep. But it was fun, I just let Phil go in first to make sure it was safe! haha I did not want to swim next to a snake, or hippo for that matter.
We then returned to stevens house in the village for lunch. Steven's dads property was amazing. He had a lot of land covered in plants, beans, ginuts(there version of peanuts), coffee, bananas and so much more! He also had about 5 pigs, 8 goats and various other small livestock. they are almost completely self sufficent when it comes to food. Everything we ate was from their farm.
Stevens home was beautiful. His familys land was situated on the side of a mountain and you could see the Congo from their land. The congo is located across the river that is at the edge of the village.
It was difficult at times to communicate and understand the cultural differences, but it was a great experience! We stayed at Stevens until dinner just hanging out with their family. During dinner it rained so the car was unable to pick us up, so we walked down the dirt road to the place where the car could reach. We looked very silly, me in flipflops and a dress and phil with his high socks, and everyone sliding everywhere, but it was fun.
The next morning we walked to the congo border, just to say we have been there and then we had an 8 hour bus ride back to kampala!! The bus was impressively uncomfortable. the seats were just wide enough that you were squished next to the person next to you. then your knees were crammed into the seat in front of you. The taller boys could not fit their knees in the leg space, they ended up sitting in seats that had no other seats in front of it so they could fit. I am very easy when it comes to travel, and i was impressed how difficult it was to get comfortable on that bus! But it was a cheap ride back. When we returned to Kampala i rode a boda boda back to my apartment (about 30 min drive) with my duffel bag backpack and purse! a boda boda is a motorcycle. they are a type of taxi, someone drives and you just hop on the back and tell them where you want to go! It was not my first boda ride, but my first one from downtown.
This week has been relatively uneventful. I have been working on various different projects, getting experience in both AutoCAD and design.
God has been teaching me so much. I think I am getting better at keeping him involved in my everyday activity, hopefully that can continue when i return home. It is harder because America has so many more distractions, but i am so excited to see my friends and family again! miss you all and love you!
still trying to memorize Micah 7:7 :)
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