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well, i actually have a lot to say, and i spent nearly three hours writing it down, but of course my computer crashed and i lost it all. instead i will do a quick recap and explain to anyone who is interested when i get home!
my plan was to volunteer for 2 months, then travel for 1 month and thank goodness another volunteer, laura, who i adore, was planning the same thing, so everything we did fit into a three and a half week period. looking back, we packed quite a lot of incredible experiences in that relatively short time.
first up, uganda:
trip to the sussy islands - unexpected, nearly kidnapped into a boat, went on a three hour boat ride to an unknown island, kicked out of boat not knowing where we were, no signs of civilization, not knowing when a boat was coming to pick us up. hiked through a village of 120 islanders who didn't speak english, followed by a hike through a poisonous snake, man-eating ant infested, trail free rainforest, led by three guys - not knowing where we were going, getting dark. they left us in the forest and turned back. met up
with an abandoned looking house just as the sun was disappearing. ended up being an old resort no one visits anymore, owned by a drunk, weed smoking millionaire - retired from the explosive business (blood diamond style). a few cocktails of banana moonshine and coke later, we went to bed before the storm we were watching from the beach move in, hit. next day was exploration of the island and many prayers another boat was coming back that day.
another 3 hour boat ride, two matatu rides and a boda boda (taxis that are actually just a seat on the back of a bike) ride later, we reached our accomodations on the Nile river in time to get a few hours sleep before white water rafting the next morning. after an early morning bungy jump over the river, we were off on a two day rafting trip. not too shaby! amazing scenery, amazing rapids, amazing time. even went boogie boarding in the last rapid and, i must admit, i was better than all the boys 😊.
after a train ride home the next day we were off to climb mt. meru in tanzania. we hiked in moshi to view some
waterfall, hired rain gear and headed out to the mountain. little did we know the mountain was a harder climb than it's neighbor, mt. kiliminjaro and was capable of reaching temps of below freezing! that's okay, i had a long sleeve t-shirt and my hired pastel patched rain jacket! hiked up for 2 days, awoke on the third day at midnight, summited at 5:30. we wanted to see the sunrise over kili, but we were too early and it was too freezing to wait. we had to proceed hiking down the intensely steep terrain in the dark - did i mention i didn't have a torch? a little terrifying! it was the most amazing hike down (especially during the sunrise), only i was in disbelief every time i turned around to see what we hiked up seeing the direction our path actually took! we reached our camp, ate breakfast, hiked the rest of the way down, all in the same day. needless to say, our legs and lungs were killing us. spent the night in arusha and headed back to nairobi the next day.
Laura and i decided to skip another horrendous bus ride (when i say horrendous, i mean
worst experience here by far) and take a plane to the coast for our next adventure. we flew to malindi, pretended i was canadian (the entire coast of muslims and somolians despise americans), went snorkeling, saw the gedi ruins, then took a short bus to Lamu the next day.
Lamu . . . wow, don't even know what to say! I am not really a beachy person (more of an active/adventure type) but lamu changed my own opinion of myself. everything we did up to this point was in the off season, meaning we didn't have to share our experience with too many other peeps. lamu was no exception. beautiful 13 km. beach, sand dunes, old swahili buildings, no cars, many donkeys, streets that were merely 5 ft. wide alleys that had stores/cubby holes hidden among them, displaying amazing crafts and art work. walls made of coral stone, white, pink, peachy colored. stayed in a hotel (more of a white stone, three level house) which had a surreal view of other buildings in the refreshingly quiet town, a towering mosque, along with a perfect peak of the ocean and palm tree littered beach. add in an outside terrace (where we
slept), stunning show of the moon rising and bright, sparking, stories among the stars. unfortunately i cant begin to do it justice and even worse, i had no camera! i have to rely on my memory which isn't necessarily the best! so - headed three days later to the airport on the island- two wall-less, dry-grass roofed huts- a quick stop to one for what you can hardly consider security check (a man casually looking through your bag), benches in the other acting as the check in/waiting area, flew out two hours late on an airline we didn't book with because our plane just didn't show up, and were back in nairobi in no time at all.
whew! did that make any sense to you? maybe not, but it will when i come home and can explain more! i left out so much detail- i can't wait to talk more about it!
Anyway this past week and next week i am in Nairobi with other volunteers doing home visits in Kibera (the slums) passing out supplies to people with HIV/aids (with or without children) who are too weak to work. Traveling was amazing and i am truly blessed to see
various parts of east africa, but i almost forgot the true africa- the third world africa- the africa that is in desperate need of food, jobs, and dying of HIV - among many other sad situations. it is not only a reality check, but a gut check to come back to this. I am glad, really. glad to come back if only to be reminded of how truly blessed i am. also glad to assist in anyway i can for the remainder of my time here. mom will be here in a week and a half (yay!!!) so until then i will keep you updated on my new project in kibera. no fear- more pictures to come!
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