We took last Friday off of work to go to Sipi Falls, and it
took an entire day to travel to Mbale. But to be fair, I spent four hours
waiting for people, helping others check out because they forgot, and we ended
up taking the noon bus to Mbale (which we almost didn’t make). It’s fine. I’m
not going to miss waiting for people and being taken for granted.
We reached Mbale around 6 and checked into Traveler’s Inn
that Kristi and Efren recommended when they came a few weeks ago. The place was
really nice! We got local food for dinner and sat on the rooftop to watch the
lunar eclipse. The moon slowly disappeared behind the earth’s shadow, and it
was crazy to just sit and chat for four hours. It was a very relaxing way to
end the long day.
After breakfast, we drove an hour to Sipi Falls. We checked
into Sipi Falls Lodge, and look at the hut that we slept in!
The Hut
We settled in, and Rogers our guide took us on a six hour
hike to the three waterfalls in the park. We walked through lots of villages
with lots of banana, corn, and coffee plants. This is another post that I just
need to let the pictures speak for themselves. So here:
Sipi Falls
Hiking
Deep Thinkers
Water Falling
Then we went abseiling next to the waterfall. I had no idea
what that meant, but basically you have a rope tied around your waist, and you
are slowly let down 110 meters next to the waterfall. The view was stunning,
and pictures cannot do justice to the feeling of being dropped down into the
middle of a rainbow created by the mist from the waterfall.
Let me down!
God is so, so good to me. Even the sunset was amazing. The
clouds were just right to create the colours. I don’t know how much more
spoiled I can be…
Sipi Sunset
And I love Huda because she has a fantastic iPhone 8 camera
(with portrait mode!) and is not afraid to take too many pictures. Not gonna
lie but I take great pictures of her, too. Actually, she’s just a beautiful
model and poses well.
We woke up the next morning at 5:30 to watch the sunrise. I
love seeing colours come to life and watching the world light up under the sun. But I don’t have any good pictures because Huda didn’t go haha.
After breakfast, we went on a coffee tour. We learned to
make coffee from beginning to end. It was cool! More pics:
Coffee Beans
Human Coffee Grinder
Better than Peet's
We also met a tour guide named Job this weekend. He helped
us with abseiling and taught us how to dance after dinner Saturday night. It
was so much fun, and I doubt he usually gets to do this with other tourists who
come to Sipi. We had to say goodbye to him after our coffee tour, and he looked
so sad; he went inside the reception even before we
left. It felt like a withdrawal... What is it like to say
goodbye every single day, and never see the people you meet again? And risk being a fading
memory to them… This small incident reminded me that I need
to treasure every interaction I have. I won’t know how God will use the various
conversations and experiences to share His love.
Job
On our way back, we stopped in Jinja to get lunch and meet
Bashir. The rest of the story is in the previous post ("A Day as a Tugende Credit Officer").
Oh man, my mom just sent me the worship songs we sang at the
Hillsong service last year in Australia. I’m so excited to go back down under,
another country beautiful in its own way. But I’m still in Uganda for 36 hrs,
and it’s becoming real!
I don’t know if I’ll have time to blog again before we
leave, but brief work update: we reached 301 surveys, PTL! And we entered all
the data. Also had a round of intellectual property drama but it’s all fine
now. It was funny for everyone around us but not so funny for me and Joe. From
my point of view, John Henry still doesn’t understand that we're fellows
and not employees of Tugende. That’s why he was offended and somehow thought
there was “an unfair representation of [his] integrity.” But “Gosh this is sure
different from what we agreed to under the tree on July 13.” Thanks for bailing
us out, Keith.
OK, I need to go and pack. It’s our last night at Bushpig,
and it’s been a good time. See you all very, very soon :) Nkusubwa nyoo.
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