Jinja, Uganda - Day 1

So I've been having such a good time in Nairobi that I have completely dropped the ball on updating my blog.  My apologies!  I'm going to try to catch up as much as possible this week, and get close to current!

I left off a few weeks ago with my trip to Uganda.  I went there with 9 other people from Nairobi - a mix of Accenture people and friends of friends, departing directly from work on Friday and leaving laptops with co-workers who stayed behind.  Flying out of the Nairobi airport was much easier than arriving, and even with a delay, we managed to enjoy ourselves in the gate area plenty - and got to know each other a little, since many people were meeting for the first time.

We arrived in Entebbe, Uganda late and took a bus to our 'hotel' for the night called Red Chili Hideaway an hour away in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.  It was set up with cabins and space for campers as well, but for about $6 you can't complain!  While a few from our group sampled the local bar scene, I collapsed into bed and slept amazingly well.  The bonus in the morning was a hot shower and freshly made breakfast!

From Kampala, we were picked up by the rafting company, Nile River Explorers, for the next hour trip to Jinja, Uganda, where all of the rafting trips are run from. The scenery from the bus was amazing - tons of little shops painted with bright colors of advertisements for Coca-Cola and cell phone companies, and a school every 5 minutes - with the smell of roasted corn wafting inside. Many of the buildings were built with a taller false front, reminding me off the architecture of the Old West made out of bricks instead of wood.

At the NRE headquarters, we dropped off our bags, and went on a bike ride through the countryside, organized by our guy, Nash, who was described as 'too much hair, not enough height'.  We rode for about an hour on main roads with huge hills, giving us some amazing views of the tea farms, then turned off into some of the farmland, seeing some of the small villages that are hidden within the trees, made up of tiny brick and mud houses and even a small mosque.

Many of the children at the farms would see us coming and call out after us - "mzungu" (white people) - and to fill many a cliche, some were playing with old bike tires, running after them down the road.  The farms were full of a wide variety of animals - everything from chickens to goats, as well as plants...we saw eggplants, sweet potatoes, mango trees, and even coffee trees (which had the sweetest smell!).  The most hilarious moment was while we were stopped, waiting for one of our group who had gotten himself lost, and a child of 4 came up and tried to sell us cigarettes.

We ended our bike ride at the campsite we were staying at that night, meeting our bags that had been sent over separately.  We relaxed, got some lunch and enjoyed the view of the Nile until the sunset cruise. The boat ride was a great way to end the day - with food, drinks (I have a new love of Krest soda- bitter lemon flavor- with gin), great music (everything from Paul Simon to Chumbawumba) and the chance to meet some of the other people staying at the camp! The best part was the amazing views (don't take pictures of the dam unless you want to get shot though!) and seeing the local people along the lake that were just as interested in us as we were in them.

At the end of the cruise, about a quarter of the boat decided it was time for a swim, though I decided to be the photographer :)  We all ended the night hanging out on the deck again, and prepping for our rafting expedition the next morning!