We started off the weekend with the best Ethiopian food in town (not even sure the name of it. it's that good) they bring you a huge platter of food that you eat with your hands. Legit. We then hit up uchumi (market) for some snacks and water to prepare for our next days adventures - Murchison falls. We had a 6am wake up call and piled 10 people into a 7 passenger van (not recommended. but hey, this is africa right?) and drove the 3+ hours to the park. Four of us girl (me, maddy, charissa, and syd) were shoulder to shoulder in the back the whole ride there..until our break came and our driver let 3 people sit on top of the van. hallelujah. We were straight up living the african safari dream- driving through the park, spotting giraffes, water buffalo, warthogs (aka pumba), elephants, and plenty of deer and antelope.
We cruised through the park via safari car then eventually took a 2hr boat ride to get some closer views of the animals and then finished it off with a 1hr hike up to the falls. We took our time taking in the massive and powerful rush of water and were trying to get as much mist on our sweaty faces as possible. We then pilled back in our car and drove to our campsite for the night. Thankfully they had some pretty good food (moroccan curry and rice) and we stuffed our faces before sleep got the better of us. At this particular park, they charge you extra if you stay over 24 hrs - so we had to wake up at 530am to make sure we got out in time. It was worth it though, because the sunrise was radical.
On the drive out of the park I got my turn to sit up top on the car. One of the best moments of this trip. It was surreal. Sitting on top of a safari car riding through the African bush looking for animals in their natural habitat. so so cool.
After getting home from Murchison we slept for a few hours then headed to Ben and Lucas' (kku staff) house to play some spikeball and have a Gulu version of a Superbowl Sunday. They even had pulled pork sandwiches with bbq sauce! After a few hours the lack of sleep from the day prior caught up to us and my roommates and I all decided to go home and take a solid 3hr nap before heading out again at 12:45am. This time to the British guys' house towards the outskirts of town whey they blessed us all with their flat screen tv and pretty much hq quality super bowl game! It was wild. 30 ex-pats in the middle of Gulu Uganda watching the superbowl game from thousands of miles away. I couldnt help but laugh at the idea of it all. haha. It was cool celebrating that part of our culture all the way out here in Gulu. Like a little piece of our hometown had found us all the way out here.
Its funny how simple seemingly insignificant things like watching American football, playing spikeball barefoot, eating bbq sauce, or like a good pineapple, can give me such a strong reminder of that tiny spot on the map that I call home. Living abroad is such a wild experience. I think after the first week of craziness fades, you start to realize that life starts to click along per usual and you begin to understand how much of a shared humanity we all really have.
*also shout out to the seahawks for that without-a-doubt-we-are-the-better-team win. Gotta give it up to guys like Russell Wilson who work hard, have a great character, great sportsmanship, and do it all in the name of Jesus. Mad respect for a man that will tweet this after winning "ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you (matthew 7:7 NIV)"
awesommmmme
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