I had the most incredible weekend. I really thought I was in paradise because our surrounding were just out of this world. I knew Uganda was beautiful, but I never new what was outside of the general vicinity of Lugazi. Well, let me tell you, it was absolutely amazing and I have the pictures to prove it. Although, the pictures aren’t going to do justice, you won’t really see what I saw, unfortunately. Just try to imagine the most beautiful place you have ever been or seen and then amplify that again.
The bus ride was about 3 hours from Lugazi to the city where we went, which, I don’t recall what is was called. Where we went it’s called Sipi Falls. We went through a major city called Mbale to get there. You pronounce that by making the sound of “m”, and then saying “bale” with what is pretty much a spanish accent. We stopped in Mbale and paid 5000 for a sack lunch. We didn’t realize what we were getting when they said we’d be paying 5000 for a lunch. Unfortunately, it was much less food than we could have bought with that much money, MUCH less in fact. We got a boiled egg, ham sandwich (ham that I had to remove because it was like raw bacon), weird local yogurt in a bag, samosa (we call them empanadas in spanish), banana, and 2 waters. Not what I call a good lunch for 5000. Anyway, I wasn’t too happy but dealt with what I was given.
We got back on the road and made our way toward Sipi Falls. The bus drive was nice. We listened to a little music, closed our eyes for a bit, and we were there. The trip was all inclusive so we didn’t have to worry about getting a taxi or anything. We road on this bigger sized bus, it was like an airport shuttle type of vehicle.
The climb was pretty intense, not exactly what I expected, buy I loved every moment of it, even with my 30 pound backpack that I carried. The problem with being a photographer is that you have to carry a camera and multiple lenses on ALL of your hikes and trips. Not only is it scary to do so in a foreign country where you are unsure of the security you have, but it gets extremely hard to do so EVERYWHERE you go. But, of course, I deal with it, suck it up, and get going. You just can’t afford to miss any shots. I would have to say that I can some great shots, you'll have to check them out on my picture site.
The climb I suspect was about 2000 ft in 1.5 hours. Not too bad. It was a lot of hiking very fast. And the extra 30 pounds definitely gave me a challenge which I enjoy. Hiking to me really isn’t hiking unless you have a pack on anyway so I shouldn’t be complaining or otherwise. Along the first part of the hike Amber complained that her shorts were falling off and that she had forgotten to bring a belt with here. I told her I would make here a belt, though I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to accomplish that. We finally came to this ginormous rock that we were told was used by people for a home and/or shelter. There were some vines coming down from the top. I grabbed them and started braiding a belt. I gave it to Amber 20 minutes later. She was pretty elated and it actually worked pretty well. We got near the top and there was this manmade ladder that had to be climbed in order to get to the next level and continue hiking. I’ve never seen anything so cool! It was very sturdy, well built, and well traveled. The view from the top was absolutely amazing, the valley was immense as ever. We could almost had a 180ยบ viewing angle (ok, a little on the nerd side, sorry). We hiked along the top for a bit until we made our way down another side of the mountain. As we started our way down the mountain, raindrops began to fall. I panicked because I had all of my camera equipment on me. Luckily, before I left, I picked up a wet back at Out-n-Back because I KNEW something would go wrong and I would need to keep my computer and/or camera out of the water. So, I stopped on the side of the path and put all my stuff in the bag. I ended being a couple minutes behind the rest of the group but I caught up quickly. Within 5 minutes of putting my things in my wet back the rain started to come down. At first, it was a pretty good rain fall, we all got pretty wet. I put my handy rain jacket on and it did me well. I also pulled out the rain fly on my backpack, though, that didn’t really keep the rain out too well. As we came to the bottom of the mountain the rain really started to come down, and I mean SERIOUS rain. If you’ve only lived in Utah and seen the rain there, you’ve only seen half of what falls out of the sky here. It came down like crazy, but I was confident my stuff was safe. The rain continued and we came upon a house or two that we took shelter under. It was very generous of the lady that let us come first into her outdoor kitchen area and then ushered in to her home. We stood there for about 10 minutes until the rain cleared up a bit. Our guide led us out of the madams house, we thanked her, and we were on our way.
We arrived at the home where a women’s group in the area congregated. To our surprise they invited us all to come in even though we were sopping wet and mudding up to our calves and beyond for some. We removed our shoes and went inside. Again, to our surprise they had steamed lemon grass milk ready for us. This milk was straight from the cow. The only thing that comforted me was that they had obviously boiled the milk for at least a little time because it was absolutely burning hot. It disgustingly good actually, and I almost hate to admit that it was such. Milk straight from the utter? Mmm, not exactly what I’m used to or would choose for myself, but it was SO good. So good that I think I might have to find a recipe for it on the internet when I get home. The women were so kind and happy to have us in their home. The were working on weaving baskets and whatnot as part of the group. I bought a couple of things as did other volunteers. We felt good that we were able to support them in their new efforts to provide money for themselves.
The night was amazing. We slept in the most amazing little cabana things you’ve ever seen. I really felt like I was on an exclusive island in Hawaii, that’s how great it was. It was cool, quiet, and just plain serene. I could have lived up there. We had a great dinner that consisted of Onion Soup and Spaghetti with meat sauce. I had two Pepsi’s of course, it was just to awesome there not to.
The next day we hiked up to the upper falls of Sipi after a nice breakfast of toast and fruit. The hike was beautiful, amazing, unreal. Country like you’ve never seen before. Green until you can’t see anymore. There were small children that followed us up along the way, they made the hike interesting and fun. We came back for lunch and hopped on the shuttle to go back home. We all wished that the cabana part of the trip could have lasted forever because it was so amazing there. I got some pictures, you’ll have to check them out.
I took a good number of pictures today and I’m really happy about it; around 300. I really need to keep good habits of taking plenty of pictures because I only have so much time left. Well, the weekend was amazing and it only cost $106 USD!! I couldn't believe it, I was very happy about that price. Now I’m tired and need to get in bed. Bye.
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