Holiday!

Last week we went on holiday for 5 days - it was gorgeous! On Sunday afternoon after street kid work and church we got on our bus and drove to Jinja, about 2 hours away. We got to our hotel at about 5. The hotel wasn't the most attractive thing - a seedy bar at the bottom and big construction work going on in the centre of the building, but it was only for 3 nights. Jinja itself is a nice town in some areas. We went for supper at a really touristy restaurant on the first night - I had pizza for the first time in 3 months, and got to watch the Liverpool victory against Aston Villa. It was quite expensive tho - blew half our week's food budget on that one-course meal.
The next day we went white-water-rafting on the Nile!! It was so much fun, I absolutely loved. There were some calmer bits where we paddled along in boats of six, swam or generally sunbathed, then the rapids themselves, grades 3, 4 and 5. We capsized on one which was a bit scary - I came up on the opposite side of the boat to the others and got carried off a bit but other than that they were all incredible. The waves are so big when you are in them! We stopped and had lunch on an island half way - pasta salad and cheese and ham snadwiches, the most Western food I've had so far. It was a great day but some people got very very sunburnt because we weren't in the shade at all. Nat got sunstroke and was acting completely drunk throughout supper - really dizzy and disorientated and giggly, then collapsing with exhaustion. The next day we went back to the same spot where a few people bungee-jumped. It was Ash's birthday so we took him to a coffee bar which was really nice, and had lunch there, then spent the rest of the day wandering round the city and had a long walk before a slightly disasterous supper. (Only one thing on the menu, no other customers, not much light and an IMMENSE amuont of insects and bats that actually fell into our food!)
The next morning we left for an island called the Hairy Lemon, about an hour away from Jinja, also on the Nile. It was the most beautiful island I've ever seen and was all eco-friendly - no electricty or running water or anything. There were only fuor other guests, it was a small place, so it was so peaceful too. We just pottered around for a day and half - reading, swimming a bit (I got a bit washed about by the super-strong currents, some good grazes on my hips and legs), playing volleyball in the water and lots of card playing too. We stargazed for an hour or two both nights, it was just idyllic. Ooh I even saw a snake! In our room at that! Our room had a roof and then had part walls/part mosquito nets round the edge which didn't quite meet the ceiling so I guess that's how it got in. It was a harmless one but they've seen lots of poisonous ones there too - even a Black Mamba a few months ago!
OK my time's up for this session,
Lots of love, xxxxxx