Sipi Falls

See that cabin to the right of the waterfall?  That's where we stayed.

I had a wonderful weekend.  I went to Sipi Falls, Uganda with some great people and it was beautiful and peaceful and I loved it.  Sipi Falls are a series of waterfalls that all feed into each other.  We went hiking and had leisurely two hour dinners and played games and enjoyed being in a really beautiful place.  It is cold enough that there are no mosquitos, hallelujah!  The place was fairly rustic with no electricity so at night everything was lit with kerosene lamps which was beautiful.

Monkeys playing outside our front door.

Hiking!  We walked to the top of this waterfall, and then to the next one.  That stick came in really handy when I started slipping in the mud from the recent rains.  I came back just a little bit dirty and completely exhausted.

Ndere Island

I went to Ndere Island, a Kenyan National Park in the middle of Lake Victoria, close to the city of Kisumu.  I don't think it is one of the more popular national parks because the park rangers seemed so happy to see us and excited to share their place with us.  You could smell Lake Victoria before you could see it as all the villages we drove past on the way there smelled of drying fish.  To get there you take a little boat, that seemed about 2,000 years old, from the mainland and then you're on an island with literally no one else.  We spent a few hours hiking up from the shore to the top of the hills and the views were beautiful.  We were told stories about wildlife but all we saw were a few lizards and a few antelope in the distance that ran away from us.  Later we heard mysterious rustling as we were walking through the forested part of the island and then I was happy not to see anything!  We also didn't see the Nile crocodiles I keep hearing about, which I kind of do want to see, but preferably at a distance.  

Hunger Season

It is the hunger season in Bungoma.  This is time when the previous harvest is gone and the current crops will not be ready to harvest until at least July.  It is a hard time and there are many hungry people.  When we visit the farmers I see many, many children with the big, bloated stomach of malnutrition.  All the children in town smile at me but many children I have seen out in the country look very sad and when I smile, wave, and say hello there is no response.  Everyone is hoping and praying for a good maize and bean harvest and I hope you will too.

My Backyard

Our lovely trash pile out back where we burn  everything - including plastics - there is no trash pick-up here

The very kind gentleman who wakes me up every morning before 6am, without me even having to ask!

Maize fields out back.  Maize is everywhere you look.

Fresh laundry.  Just remember to bring it in before the afternoon rainstorm.

The Road To My House

Jinja

Kayakers in the Nile

Ugandan pineapples and bananas were delicious

The view from the porch of the house

Another beautiful view

Jinja

I went to Jinja, Uganda this weekend, which is famous for being the source of the Nile.  I got to kayak along what was either Lake Victoria or the Nile and it was gorgeous!  I felt like I was living 2,000 years ago.  I stayed in an amazing house right on the Nile.  Uganda is a beautiful country.  I'll post some pictures once I get my camera working.  I also got to properly get to know my new Kindle.  Kindles are very good for pack rats like me: they are compact and allow you to bring everything you own everywhere you go.

The drive between Kenya and Uganda was beautiful and lush and filled with rice paddies and maize fields.  Crossing the border I accidentally gave the money for a travel visa to the wrong man and I think he thought I was bribing him.  It was $50 so he was happy.  Luckily a friend corrected me.  Beginners mistake!

tropical diseases

I spent the afternoon at the hospital because a friend has malaria and because of her symptoms there was some fear she had meningitis.  The hospital was not good.  At all. They lost her tests and didn't keep adequate records so when one doctor came to relieve another, they kind of had no idea who she was or what she was there for.  I tried asking a nurse for help but I had to really push her for any sort of information or attention and then she got frustrated and short with me.  I kind of understood her attitude because getting malaria here is probably as common as getting the flu at home and so to these people it is just not the huge deal that it sounds like at home and they don't want to deal with some pushy person.  But the disorganization was still frustrating and just kind of sad.    The resources they had to work with were very minimal.  It got me thinking how we value human life differently.   It makes me appreciate all the more all the various vaccines I got in New York and how fortunate I am to have access to the anti-malaria medication I take every morning, the pharmacy in my closet I brought from New York, and the mosquito net on my bed.   I want everyone to have access to these things.