Jinja!

Family road trips always involve a very full and crowded van, but as of last Friday, I have a new understanding of what a full and crowded van is.  For our week off, Amy and I had been planning a weeklong vacation in Jinja, one of the most beautiful places in Uganda.  At the last minute, we changed our plans so we could travel with some of the friends we have made here. 

Last Friday we crammed 5 Irish lads, 2 Belgian girls, 2 American girls, and 1 American boy, and 1 Ugandan driver into an 8 passenger van to trek our way across Uganda.  This journey lasted for five hours and surprisingly wasn’t too traumatic, but I definitely will be rejoicing whenever I have my own seat on any future trip. 

We arrived minutes before our boat embarked on its’ sunset cruise on the Nile River.  The sunset was absolutely stunning. 

We stayed at Backpacker Explorers.  There were five bunk beds crammed into our room—a perfect fit for our group! 

We noticed that Jinja was much more touristy and clean than Masaka town.  We did a lot of souvenir shopping and ate at a great restaurant.

We played a game.  It was great to have so many new and fun people to interact with on our Jinja adventures.  We also got to learn some Irish phrases.

The best Jinja adventure of all was our rafting trip down the Nile!  Never in my life would I have guessed I would have the opportunity to do that.  It was an all day trip that consisted of 8 rapids.  In between the rapids were long stretched of very calm water, which has resulted in my arms and body being completely exhausted from so much paddling.  It was a nice company, they had safety boats for participants not so fond of the rapids as well as kayakers who would paddle up to you and return you safely to your raft.  It was an amazing way to experience the Nile River.  

Immediately following our journey down the Nile, we piled back into the van and made our way back home to Masaka.  It’s crazy that in the time I’ve been here, Masaka Town has become my home.  It was so great to climb through our compound gate, and sleep under my own pink mosquito net.  I can only imagine how much great it is going to be when I walk through my front door and fall asleep in my own bed back in America.