Rafting the Nile

Saturday:

After the two-hour roller coaster bus ride of bumping over potholes, dodging oncoming traffic, and just praying for my life, we finally arrived to Jinja around 10 am. We were dropped off on the side of the a random road and we flagged down a few Boda Boda’s (motorcycle taxis)…we only needed four Boda’s for the seven of us, but next thing we knew there were ten or twelve big black men on Boda’s fighting over us. Why don’t men fight for me like that in America? Okay, they just wanted my money. But I’m a romantic, okay? Anyway, we finally hopped on our Boda’s…but there was no way out. The vacant Boda’s were TICKED. They jumped off their Boda’s and were pushing, shoving, and screaming at our drivers! I don’t speak Lugandan…but I’m guessing it was something like, “I WANT TO GIVE THESE BEAUTIFUL AMERICANS A RIDE!” but it was probably… “YOU SON OF A @#$*%! I WANT THEIR MONEY!” I’m getting carried away. I don’t want to make light of this serious situation! At the time I was scared out of my mind, but looking back, it was aaaawesome. There was one point that a driver was taking air out of our tire to keep us from going. We jumped off the Boda and ran to the next Boda. After getting settled on the next Boda I turned around and saw a man throw a punch the Boda driving that was carrying two of my friends. They were sitting on the Boda like a deer in the headlights. I yelled at them to get off…and by the time they were off the Boda, their Boda had tipped over and there were four men on the ground in a fist fighting rage. We finally zoomed off, and being the genius tourist I am, I snagged a picture. Enjoy!

After an eventful day, to say the least, we finally arrived at the Explorers Backpackers Hostel…which is right smack on the Nile. I set my bags in my room and walked out to the view. And bam…there was the Nile. I was in awe. I mean, I LITERALLY lost my breath at first sight of the Nile. I know it’s cliché, but this is for real life, I lost my breath. Completely. After gazing at the Nile, we got some real American burgers and everyone got that beer stuff. EXCEPT ME, MOM. My friends kept saying stuff like, “Ah, I couldn’t survive another minute without this beer!” I was like, “Yeah, girl. H20 for life.” I’m sure some of the girls will end up reading this. So…I love you girls so much…like, even more than I love water;)

Sunday: RIVER RAFTING

Alarm went off at the crack of dawn. I flung on a swimsuit and ran out the door. I felt like I was back in Hawaii. But soon realized I wasn’t as we jumped on a bus and hit those potholes again. The ride was roughly an hour of inhaling dust and trying to breath through my freaking extra small life jacket. I was flattered when I was given the extra small…until I couldn’t breath.

FINALLY ARRIVED AT THE NILE. We had short, terrifying instructions that made me question my sanity, and next thing I knew we were in the water! We started at calm part of the river and practiced rowing, ducking, etc. Then we practiced tipping. Our instructor, Naithan (rad Ugandan man with a 12 pack. I love Africa), tipped us over and we had to climb back in. Naturally, I was the last one struggling to get in. I over launched myself in and took a nose dive into a paddle. Embarrassed as all get out, I sit up laughing and everyone looked at me like a deer in the headlights. Seriously, ENOUGH WITH THE DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS LOOK. And next thing I know they say…”Chanel you’re bleeding.” I was like you have got to be kidding me. We haven’t even started yet and I split my lip open on a FREAKING PRACTICE TIP? It all went downhill from there. Or, downstream. There were 8 rapids and the first rapid we hit was literally a vertical 12 feet drop. TERRIFYING. But, I’m still here. The third rapid is where I lost it. I like to think of myself as an adventurous stud muffin. But I was shaking in my diva boots at this point. We got stuck between two currents and were sucked in. On my way off the raft, I got wacked with the paddle on my chin. I immediately thought…PARALYZED. Then I was thrown in the gushing water rapid. I nailed my foot on a rock and gashed it open. Then I thought…my foot has been amputated. And for a split second I thought, “Well, it’s a cool way to die.” Unfortunately and fortunately, I finally popped up. The raft was nowhere in sight and I was floating downstream at 10 miles per hour. I hung to my life jacket for dear life and finally I hit into a canoe. I wrapped my legs around the canoe, again, for dear life, and after a solid five minutes I arrived back at my raft. I could have kissed the canoer dude. What a champ. After the third rapid of hell, we got a nice break. We had fresh cut pineapple on the Nile for lunch and went for a swim. We then hit five more rapids, but I won’t bore you with my horror stories. Rafting the Nile was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. Aside from the near death experience, it was one of thee scariest most incredible experiences of my 20 years of livin’. . But I am now able to say; “I split my lip open rafting the Nile River.” Let’s just forget the minor detail of how I split my lip open.

Monday:

Decided to get up early and fit in some shopping. After hitting a few shops we were informed there was a transportation strike in Uganda due to the vehicle tax raises. UH OH. We had to be back in four hours to work and there wasn’t any transportation? Yeah, that’s a problem. We finally found a van that would take us for $160,000 shillings, which was a complete rip off, but we were desperate, and the jerk knew it. Just before jumping in the sketch van, we found a bus that would take us for dirt-cheap. Which is even sketchier, I know. We loaded on the bus that was already packed like sardines. We were sitting on laps, in aisles, or even standing. ¼ of the windows on the bus were shattered with glass on the seats. The Ugandan civilians were livid that the bus was in route because all of the bus drivers were supposed to be on strike too. About 20 minutes into the trip we hear a rock hit and shatter a window just a few rows in front of us. Everyone on the bus began screaming and ducking to the ground for cover. I felt like I was in one of those high school movies in the hood with the shootings. Terrified would be an understatement. I won’t go into detail for the sake of my parents. But yeah, I’m still in one piece. Aside the small piece of my left big toe that’s floating in the Nile somewhere.

BOTTOM LINE: I am alive. I’m here.  I had one of the greatest weekends of my life with some pretty dang awesome people. AND, lets not forget that I can now say…I split open my lip while rafting the Nile River. ;)