No more Moraji!

Sipi Falls
Originally uploaded by An Smith

Denise and I have started speaking in half sentences. (Well, not exactly). What I mean is that she starts a sentence and I finish it and we frequently add in the odd word between breaths and vice versa. It's started happening a lot lately when we tell stories to other people about our experiences but it's developed a really good flow! In truth our conversations (which never end because we are always chattering about something) can become very simple and sometimes a tad embarrassing when we realize the idiotic conversation we are having about how confusing it is that oranges are green in Tanzania is being overheard by someone with an intelligence level higher than a fish. It happens a lot - and we get some strange looks, especially during the frequent (sometimes violent involving lame dance moves) giggle fits. It's kind of cool though because we can still stand each other after spending the last 200 or so days together :)

For example, a real conversation we had the other day:

A: Denise, what was your favorite meal in India?
D: Um, the one at that restaurant.
A: Oh yeah, me too.

Of course I knew exactly where and when she met. Yes, of course we ate at a restaurant every night, but I new she meant the one in
Mumbai (that incidently the waiter had to cut us off from ordering everything we wanted because he thought it would be 'too much'). So, maybe it's a bit of mental telepathy, I'm not sure. Grunts, mumblings and looks are easily translated now a days. I guess we are kind of a faux married couple in a way. We even resort to telling embarrassing stories about each other. :)

So I realize it's been awhile since my last update.. where are we ?? Let me get started here..

We have spent the last week and a half travelling around Uganda and plan on being here until the end of the month. Uganda really is as equally stunning as Tanzania, but everything is just that much more green and lush. It feels a bit more jungly and the soil is red red red.. it's actually like red clay so when it rains (and it does everyday!) everything gets a strange reddish tinge to it and when it's dry everything has a layer of red dust on it. The houses are reddy mud huts and the tin roofs have a thick layer of red dust. And of course our feet are red stained. It's next to impossible to get the suckers clean.

Last week I arrived in Kampala after a 34 hour (yes I said 34 hours by myself with no ipod cause i forgot it in Zanzibar) bus ride from Dar es Saleem. No bathroom stops and no food stops. Not that I had any money to buy food, but that is a really dumb long story. I found Denise in Kampala (with out luggage cause the airline misplaced it) and we immediately went to drown our sorrows in fast food and then caught up while watching a real TV in our hotel room. Met up with my friends Eric and Berenice the next day and stayed with them for a few days (they are house sitting at a gorgeous place with a view of the bay and the entire city and we watched MTV practically the entire time. It was like heaven. Hot shower.. laundry and good home cooked food and excellent company! What more could we ask for really? Personally I am shocked that Jayz and Beyonce broke up.. when did this happen?).

We then went to visit another friend in Jinja and spent most of our days lazing by a pool along the Nile (we saw a real live crocodile *NOT on safari*..it was creepy because we were on a bus and looked down and it was swimming hungrily from one side of the river to the other) and then took a two day trip (smushed with 25 other people in a Matatu - it should hold 12) to a place called Sipi Falls. Probably the most scenic place I've ever spent time in and worth the 6 hours of not moving and severe sweating that getting there and from involved. The view from our cabin (at $10 per night) included 5 waterfalls overlooking a deep valley lush with banana and coffee bean trees and the local village was adorable. We did a half day hike which took us to two of the waterfalls but unfortunately for us (and my sleeping bag which was airing out in the great outdoors) it poured rain for the last two hours. Imagine torrential rain and we are walking in corn fields which tower high above our heads and through jungle forest and absoltely the most remote villages and farm land to see these waterfalls but we are drenched to a point that I never thought was possible before. Since we were on a mountain (and they tend to slope) the red path we were walking on quickly turned into a gushing red river as deep as mid calf in some places. Needless to say, we made it home alive and drenched and frozen and then somehow managed to warm ourselves us with copious amounts of hot tea and a red liquidy thing that they called tomato soup. So it was back to Jinja for more pool time and then we had to celebrate our friends last night in Africa.. and we sent him out in style. We actually saw the sunrise this time.. from our 2 hour taxi ride to Kampala (where he dropped us and then continued to the airport). We really didn't intend to be at a club until 4:30am (the car came at 5am) and we really didn't intend to drink way too much local gin (tastes good but the hangover is like nothing you can even imagine). So we found ourselves at a mall coffee shop at 7am with no sleep and a stomach ache and no place to stay. Had to beg a backpackers place to find us a dorm bed and we slept for a few hours and proceeded to spend the rest of the day on a couch in the common room drinking fluids and eating lots of hamburgers. I hate gin.

Saying good-bye to the children (again) was one of the more challenging moments of my life. I tried very hard not to break down and cry in front of them but some of the older girls pulled me into their bedroom and sang good-bye songs to me in Swahili.. it turned into a bit of a sob fest and possibly one of the most unforgettable moments of my life. I miss them..

Gulu tomorrow..really looking forward to the next week. ..