Uganda 2025 Day 13

Uganda 2025 Day 13

Today I woke up at 12:30am to say goodbye to Ben, Chelsea, and Hector. It is always hard to say goodbye to team members. They left around 1a. I decided not to go back to sleep because I still needed to shower and have breakfast before we left for safari. After my shower I FaceTimed with my friend Molly for an hour and a half. Not long later it was time for breakfast. We had breakfast at 3a and left around 4a. One of the drivers had picked up Jeff on the way to the guest house. Only 9 of us were riding to safari. We had three cars and four people who could drive along with a photographer. Of course Martin was one of our drivers. Then we had Sam (safari driver not bus driver), Ema who I met in 2022, and another Ema as drivers. The photographer’s name is also Ema. Due to few of us riding we had a lot of space. Papa Tony, Mama JoAnne, Josh, and Ethan were in one vehicle, the second vehicle had Algena, Sydney and Arianna, the last vehicle had Jeff and I. Our other team members would fly out later and arrive at the hotel before us. We loaded up our stuff and ourselves and headed out. It was good to have a car alone with Jeff to catch up with each other. Our driver was the Ema I know. He called me Kwagala a few times between the moment we saw each other at the guest house and a few times in the car when checking on how we were doing. Ema asked Jeff if he knew why he kept calling me that. Obviously Jeff didn’t, so Ema went on to explain he gave me my Ugandan name Kwagala when we first met. It was due to our conversation and him learning how much I love Uganda (especially Karamoja) and people in general. Ema also called Jeff my cousin brother. It was funny. Our first bathroom break was at the equator. We took photos at the equator sign before we continued driving. It was fun to do that because I see Martin post photos from here on his Instagram often. Between there and our next stop there is an area that is know for people who raise cows. In this area you can also see zebra. They are in that area because of a near by National park. A few hours later we stopped at a coffee shop for a bathroom break. We also got drinks and JoAnne bought a bread to share. It might have been banana or lemon. Martin and a couple of the guys got food too. 

Once we turned off the main road, we drove for some time on a dirt road with many turns and a drop off on one side. The view was beautiful! The people here farm on cliffs that are so steep. Many kids that were along side the road waved at us, but I could tell some of them were doing it to ask for food or money because we were in safari vehicles. It was so sad. After the long, but beautiful drive, we arrived at our first hotel. They immediately took us inside and started making the lunch for us. I ordered a pasta dish. Then they had us pre order our dinner so they knew how much to make of each meal. After lunch Algena and I went to our room. There was a rain storm not long after we arrived in the room. Both of us took videos. We are definitely from Washington state. Algena then took a nap until she had to wake up and shower before her massage. I tried to journal, but it was a struggle because I was falling asleep myself. Thankfully, I set an alarm to wake Algena up when it was time, so if I would have fallen asleep, I would have been fine. My alarm went off at 5, so I woke her up and she said 5 more minutes. I gave her 6 minutes. Then she wanted me to give her until 5:15. When I woke her up again she did not want to get out of bed. I finally said, “I can’t leave the room until you are out of bed because you will fall back to sleep.” She finally got up. I then left and went to the dining room/sitting area. Some of the team was playing Black 7, so I watched a round before mama JoAnne gave me her place. Not long after we started a new game, the dancing and singing event they were doing started. We had to pause to go outside. They put a row of seats out in front of the dancers for us to sit in and watch. It was people from the community that were singing and dancing. For a couple songs, they pulled people out to dance with them. Josh was amazing! During the dancing our other people who danced were Jess, Chloe, driver Sam and both drivers named Ema. I think I got lucky because I was recording. Otherwise, I think one of the drivers would have pulled me out on the dance floor. After that it was dinner time. I decided on the battered fish. It was actually good. Most times, I don’t enjoy fish, but I am happy I ordered it. After dinner Jeff tried to get my data that I bought to use in Uganda working. He figured out the problem, but I had to ask Quinn, who is housesitting to do something for me so it would work. The only way I have to communicate with him is Marco Polo. This a a video chat. Ethan was the only one in our group left at the table so I ended up having him and Quinn talk together too. They were cracking me up! Actually, I have missed my teens a lot this year and I think that is because of Ethan. He is 16 years old and reminds me a lot of Quinn. I was happy to introduce them and hear from both of them how much they like each other. Actually, they spent most of their time acting like boys and using the voice changing option and/or burping at each other. I must also act like a teenage boy when I am sleepy because I was laughing so hard at all of it. I finally made Ethan and I go to our rooms at 10p, but he was also ready.