Again, this blog is purposed simply to recount something I have experienced that was awesome and not something that I will soon forget. It was raining yesterday morning and it was sort of cold if I’m being honest. The night before, we were able to sleep in a hostel in the city all together as a squad and after getting dressed I went to get breakfast only to find that everyone had a jacket on except me… I didn’t get that memo I guess.
Anyway, we boarded a shuttle bus and made the hourish trip to Jinja. We got out and walked into thick mud to a little tin roofed area where we stood in the rain and were instructed on how raft. Yeah… rafting… down the Nile River. After storing our things we were suited up complete with a helmet, life jacket and paddle. We grouped up, met our guide (Paul) and then decided on our new team name: Meatball… not sure where we got that, but it was fun to yell anyway. In a single file line, we made ourselves down to the water all to the entertainment of watching 36 white people slipping and sliding down the path in the wet mud and getting more scrapped up than when we actually reached the boat.
Paul decided it was time for us to be trained, so we proceeded out into the semi-still water to learn to paddle and how to get back into the boat; we even flipped the thing over so that we could be sure to know how to be rescued. When I tell you that watching someone being pulled into the boat from the water by the top of their life jacket is the funniest thing that I have ever seen… you have to just trust me. Something about a human body flopping awkwardly into a boat and landing either on their face or on top of whoever is helping gets me every time.
Finally, we were off and, within the first 3 minutes, approaching our first rapid. All going into panic mode, we decided that as a boat of all girls, it was time to be hardcore. We paddled and paddled and well… got through it. The rest of the trip included being purposely flipped twice all to the amusement of Paula and almost dying (not really Mom– although I’m pretty sure I saw a bright light). We stopped for lunch which as a World Race squad we completely scavenged because it was like cheese and guacamole and real wheat bread… yeah, that was good.
The sun finally came out, I got burnt of course, and we really had one of the most unforgettable experiences ever. Was it worth it?… without a doubt.
