Note: This is the last and the longest installment of Ethan's Adventures. I hope you've enjoyed! :-)
It took about 4 hours to reach Mbale, and then we had a decision to make. It was already dark. Should we risk it in a new town in the dark, and try to find a taxi straight up the mountain, on the dirt roads, to the tiny village of Sipi Falls? Or should we find some food, and cheap accomodation there in Mbale, and get a ride up the mountain in the morning, when it's brighter and safer? And of course we chose to take the riskier route and make it up to Moses' campsite, on the edge of the cliff in Sipi. It took some fierce negotiating and many walk-aways, until we found a taxi driver willing to take us up the mountain in the dark for a good rate....or so we thought.
It was well past dark now, and we had been in his car for a few minutes, before he stops and picks up two other local guys trying to find their way up the mountain too. They didn't know that I understood Swahili, and he was telling them that they could pay a super cheap rate because he was gonna jack up the price for Ethan and I. Not cool. I played it cool for a while, and didn't let on that I understood everything he was plotting. Then I informed Ethan of the deal they had just struck, and then about 10 minutes later we stopped for petrol. The driver was being very rude and argumentative and kept asking me for some of the money. Even though I usually never offer money for transportation until the ride is complete, I offered a little bit up front, to help with gas, because to be honest, we were tired, hungry, and just wanted to get to Sipi as fast as we could...and I was tired of arguing with this man. But then he refused, and demanded much more money and tried to lock us in his car. Again, not cool. Then I broke out my Swahili, and I argued back best I could for a good 20 minutes in broken Swahili-English, and then I realized that he was NOT backing down, and he was about to just leave us on the side of this road, in the dark, in this random village.
So I said some prayers under my breath, and tried to think quickly. I was still trying to calm this driver down, negotiate once again, and just get to our destination. But finally, Ethan and I made a smart decision when we just said we HAVE to get out of this car now...and we'll just have FAITH that we'll be safe, because there's no way we wanna go anywhere with this wacky guy now, even if it's a free ride. We were starting to think he was a bit nuts and/or had been drinking, because it was not the typical negotiating-for-a-ride story. I'm usually cool when these different, unexpected situations arise, but this time I have to admit, I was starting to become afraid. I told Ethan to just pray, and I was praying under my breath. Finally I decided we had to get out, but the doors wouldn't open. Then I looked out the window and saw this one man....a tall, big man with glasses, and he was wearing an American flag hat. I just yelled out the window, "Sir, can you help us? We need help. This man is crazy." And immediately he came over to the car, opened the doors and let us out. And then, in perfect English, he just let the driver have it. The driver got out and other men who were on the street came to see what all the commotion with the mzungus was all about. And then, for 30 minutes, the driver tried to tell his story, and our new friend scolded him for being manipulative and trying to cheat us/rob us, and then all the other men started scolding him too. Eventually he left.
Finally we got to talk to this guy who helped us. His name was Daniel. He was Ugandan, and his mom lived in the village where we were heading. He had just come to visit for the holidays. He had lived in Florida, and even went to law school in Chicago....just like our dad! Me and Ethan just looked at each other and smiled. We had called on our Father, and in the middle of nowhere, he sent us a "father" on earth to help us just when we needed one. A father to stick up for us, defend us, and send the bad man on his way. :) It was such a reminder that our Father knows ALL our needs, and is looking out for us. We were in a situation where we needed a daddy, and our Dad provided. Anyway, one of the guys on the street offered to drive us the rest of the way up the mountain in his brother's car. So we finally made it to Moses' camp at 10:00, still hungry, tired, and hadn't eaten since breakfast. Of course, there was no food when we got there. But Moses had stayed up to welcome us to his camp, and was even on the roadside to greet us. He went to get our key to our banda, and before he could give it to us, he accidentally dropped it, and it fell through the cracks in the floor, to the dirt below it. oops! It was the only key he had.
So, for the next hour we used some wire, string, sticks, and our headlamps to try and rescue the key. We all had a turn trying. Finally, after an hour, he decided to try and dig underneath and make it to the key. I'm sure he dug through mud and cow dung, and worse stuff until he made it to where Ethan was shining the light. Finally, we had a key. By this time it was close to midnight.
When we finally made it to our hut, I pulled out the half of apple I had saved that was smooshed down in my pack, and the week old piece of bread that was crunched up. And of course, our jar of peanut butter. There was no water or electricity in our hut, as was the case with most places we stayed. So that was our midnight meal. :) But we were just so thankful to actually be there and safely too!
The outside of our hut at Moses' camp
Inside of our hut
When we stepped out of our hut in the morning, this is what we saw!! A totally breathtaking view of the valley below, from high up on the cliff at Sipi Falls. You could literally see everywhere, in all directions. We ate some chapati bread and a boiled egg for breakfast, and set off for Lacam Lodge to see if we could get a hut there for the night, and find a guide for the waterfall hike. Sipi Falls is actually three waterfalls very close together, but spread out around the valley. We were able to do a 4 hour hike, stopping at each of the falls.
Our guide, Alex.
This was my favorite one. We could have swam in the bottom, but it was starting to rain and we were getting cold!
We stopped at one of the swimming holes, and played with the kids. They loved Ethan's camera. I always love the simplicity of African toys. A stick and a tire, and it's entertainment for all! No need for batteries or a Playstation.
The hike was pretty strenuous, but awesome! We had to climb up and down this ladder to get to one of the falls.
Nearing the end of the hike
The huts in the top right-hand corner were Lacam Lodge, our home for the next night. Again, no water or electricity, and it was absolutely WONDERFUL! We had delicious food here, and the best views ever. Ethan took advantage of the opportunity to go rappeling down this waterfall with our guide! Crazy! They hiked over there early afternoon, harnessed into the top, and rappelled down the entire waterfall, then hiked back out. I was trying to watch for him, and had the camera ready, but then I fell asleep, and missed him! I was so bummed! But below is a picture of the top of the waterfall, where he hooked in! Amazing!
We ate all our meals on the porch.
Inside our hut at Lacam
Getting ready to leave. :(
African transportation always makes for the best adventure stories, but for this trip to Sipi, we had already had our full share! But wait, there was more. We wanted to leave our hut as early as possible after breakfast, because we knew we would have to hitch a ride down the mountain. Of course that was the morning that breakfast took over an hour. :) We packed our stuff and waited out on the roadside with one of the guides. He kept assuring us for a half hour that in no time we would see a car. No car. No matatu. Full matatu. Still no car. Finally a car came by...but didn't stop. We waited on the side of the road for almost an hour, before this broken-down white little car stopped. Dang it. It was a car that could only seat 5, and it already had 6 in it. No fear. This is Africa, and they know how to pack vehicles. So we crammed in with all our stuff, the 6 others, and some chickens in the back. Once we got going down the mountain, we realized that 5 of the boys, (or should I say, men), had JUST FINISHED participating in the morning circumcision ceremonies. (and sadly, there was one female too. The Sabiny tribe near Sipi is one of the only tribes in Uganda that still particpates in female circumcision. They have ceremonies every August and December, in even years only.) And by just finished, I mean, they were dressed all in red (even red skirts), faces still withered in pain, and they looked awfully uncomfortable squooshed in the back....(bless their hearts.) But don't worry, they wouldn't be squooshed for long. Because 10 minutes later, the broken-down car actually DID break down on the side of the mountain road. Everyone got out and we hung around for a few minutes waiting to see what the deal was. The boys men, took off walking to their destination; albeit very slowly. The chickens got out too and wondered what was going on. Ethan and I waited for a little while longer, until a matatu mini-bus came by and we hopped on. Thankfully, this bus took us the rest of the way to the Mbale bus park, where we bought tickets for The Flame! (see above picture.)
Above is a picture of chickens (and some goat) being loaded and unloaded underneath the flame bus! I can say that I will never get used to having live animals riding underneath your feet, on top of the bus, and with your luggage on the rack on any and all African transportation! We stopped multiple times on the way to Kampala to load and unload animals and sacks of potatoes and charcoal. We made the 10:00 bus, and were supposed to arrive in Kampala around 2. We then wanted to hurry and find a bus to take us to Kabale, which would take another 4-5 hours. It was our hope to make it back to Lake Bunyonyi, and spend one more night in paradise! Not happening. We didn't make it back to crowded Kampala until after 4, and we jumped off at an intersection when the bus stopped at a light. Having been in Krazy Kampala before, I knew the way to the "nice" mall, where we would grub and regroup. We walked the couple of miles there, and found a pizza joint inside the mall that advertises for "ice scating," but it's really a sketchy roller rink. Over pizza we decided that there was no way we could make it back to the lake, plus we didn't even think we had enough money! And we couldn't try and make it to Kabale, and then on to Kigali the next morning, because we didn't have enough money for two bus rides, only one. So it was looking like an overnight bus to Kigali was our only option. I tried to use the ATM, but since ATMs are a new thing in Kigali, and I don't use them there, of course I had forgotten my Pin number. Doh! So then we did a desperate thing, and exchanged all of our $1 and $5 bills into Ugandan shillings, which amounted to like $15. Then, we bought some fruit for our dinner, and made sure we had enough to pay the moto driver to take us to the bus stop. Motos in Uganda are much bigger and more "spacious," but there are no helmets. Ethan and I rode tandem multiple times! Fun! Except when my ponytail whipped Ethan in his face. Whip my hair! After banging on the door at Kampala Coach, (our ride of choice), we were told there were no buses that night. But we HAD to get back home because we had no money to stay the night anywhere! Only enough for our bus ride home. So then I knew we were gonna have to take the "ghetto" buses, and I knew they would be full too. We had our moto stop at multiple bus stations, and I jumped off and ran to ask about tickets for that night, only to be told that the bus was broken down, or the bus was full, or there were no more night buses. Ugh. So we kept trying every little bus stall, until we found one with tickets for that night! Horizon Bus it was. We waited under this tiny hut for a couple hours until the bus finally boarded at 11pm, an hour late. We were smooshed in the very back row, in ONE seat, and no leg room. And to make matters worse, there was a very large Congolese woman sitting next to on top of Ethan, and her armpit was smooshed in his face the entire ride. It took us 3 hours just to even get out of Kampala traffic. There were multiple times during those three hours where Ethan and I contemplated just jumping out of the window on the road, and using a credit card to stay at the Kampala Hilton for the night, but then we realized we didn't even have enough Ugandan shillings to pay a moto to drive us there, ha! So we persevered. We took deep breaths, put our music in, said lots of prayers, and said, we can do this! We slept, (if you can call it that) curled up in a ball, I on Ethan's lap, he on my back. Whenever we hit a bump, our heads would hit the ceiling of the bus. But 12 hours later, we finally made it back to Kigali, and we couldn't have been happier! We were tired and bruised, but we felt like we had conquered the world! I've had some pretty awful African bus stories to tell, but that one took the cake! But we made it together! :) And spent a fun New Years and my birthday in Kigali! I know this won't be the last of adventures with Ethan. :)
