Well, we just got back from a weekend in Fort Portal, a small town at the base of the Rwenzori Mountains. The town is in the western part of Uganda and is incredibly beautiful. We stayed at a small villa up in the hills, about a 15 minute walk from the main strip of town. I travelled with the other katosi interns and 3 other UNC students who are volunteering at a health clinic in a town Kyetume. We had "The Big 5 Guest House" all to ourselves, and had a lovely woman who offered to cook us all our meals. I didn't order breakfast saturday, but some of the other girls did, and it looked delicious! (veggie omelet, chapatis, fruit, and coffee). We did get to watch the USA v. Slovenia soccer match at a local bar. If you didn't see it, it was a really exciting game (USA almost won, but the ref recalled one of our goals saying we were off-sides. Ended in a tie)
On Saturday we rented bicycles* from Kabarole tours and biked out 15 km out into the countryside up and down hills to the Amabere caves and waterfalls. Biking seriously made me so so so happy. It reminded me so much of Summer's Best Two Weeks Camp (where I spent the last two summers leading mountain biking trips) and it was great to get to experience the same thing in Uganda. Recently, I have been missing being a camp counselor , and so it was good to get to take the role of "bike trip leader" this weekend!
*note: if you are thinking that we rented some really nice mountain bikes to ride on this long journey along mostly NOT paved roads…think again. These bikes were most definitely from the 1980's and have seen more wear and tear than any bike should ever experience. I'm also pretty sure that they just contacted locals around Kabarole tours and asked them if we could rent their bikes for the day. We had our fair share of bike break-downs and serious struggling to make it to the caves.
Once we reached our destination, we hired a guide to take us down to the caves to see the stalactites and stalagmites and an AWESOME waterfall. The cave opens up to the back of the waterfall and we got to climb down and stand behind it. We climbed around in the mud and walked through the jungle. I loved every second of it. It was so peaceful and secluded from everything else and we had a fun time taking pictures and laughing with our guide. One of the highlights of my time here.
The best part, however, was the hike afterwards up to the crater lakes. We walked up some giant hills through grassy fields, and palm tree forests up to a giant lake. We sat on the edge of a cliff and watched birds fly across the lake and marveled at the beauty of the towering mountains behind us. Then our guide pointed across the lake the tallest hill between Fort Portal and the mountains themselves. "We climb to the top now."
Best. Thing. Ever.
We hiked up a steep incline to the top of this semi-mountain and looked out over the entire valley. From there we could see three crater lakes, the giant Rwenzoris, the town of Fort Portal, and miles around us in all directions. We stayed up at the top for a long time taking in the view and catching some intense African rays before we descended the other side of the hill past some small homes and around the other side of the first lake.
After biking back to Fort Portal, we went to a local "Italian Pizzeria" to get some pizza and watch some more World cup games. We had a relaxing night back at the guest house after we got some local Ugandan food (rice, matooke and g-nut sauce, what did you expect???) for dinner.
This week, it's back to more grant research and also my intern project! On Tuesday, KWDT is holding a follow-up leadership meeting for all the leaders among the women's groups. I plan on giving a presentation on essential leadership skills and conducting an activity to re-enforce cooperation among leaders instead of competition. I am also donating three bio-sand filters using my internship funds and presenting them to the best three leaders in the community. The criteria for selection is based on nominations from other leaders, book-keeping skills and commitment to projects. I'll post an update later in the week with how the conference goes!
In July, I hope to go out to the Katosi field site for a few days to help build a bio-sand filter with some of the women construction masons and visit a hygiene and sanitation club at one of the schools in Katosi.
I'm incredibly exhausted right now. After two 5-6 hour bus rides (to fort portal and back), two nights of little sleep (the pillows in Uganda are less than optimal), a full day of biking, and a full load of laundry (washed by hand)…I think that a 9 pm bed-time may be in order.
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