A downer day to a delightful evening

9 December, Thursday; Lake Mburo to Jinja, Uganda. Today started as a downer. It’s just really hard to stay positive when it’s cold and raining and none of us has taken a shower in more than 24 hours. Taking down the tent when it’s cold and muddy is worse than normal. Neither Ben nor I could even stomach breakfast this morning. I think the feeling has permeated the group. The truck ride is quiet. The feeling doesn’t seem to be limited to inside our truck, either the rain permeates this place and it just seems a bit dreary with all of the cold and mud. We had a lot of driving to do today which was stretched out by stops for toilet/ATM, a quick shopping break at the Equator and then lunch in Kampala. It was cold and damp in the truck today and I was just thinking, geez, we have 3 more nights. I just want to get to warm Zanzibar and be in my cozy resort. Things start to turn around once we arrive at our campsite for the next two nights. Our tour leader had described the showers here as divine. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t necessarily agree, but compared to other campsites and the fact that we hadn’t showered for more than 24 hours, I’d have to agree on this occasion. If you don’t think too much about the slight public toilet smell and don’t pay attention to the mold growing on the stone wall or the gecko that has decided to share the space with you, they are not too bad and I would even agree with the tour leader. Basically, the fact that there was hot water that didn’t give you an electric shock when you used it would make the shower divine! Yeah, the hot shower was nice and lifted spirits a little bit. The icing on the cake is the view. We are perched over the Nile river just after it leaves Lake Victoria. After we set up our tent, Ben surprised me and upgraded us to a small chalet, which was nice. The lounge/bar overlooks the river and has some comfy couches. After dinner, we played another game of Skip Bo and are in bed before 11pm, which is late for us by our recent standards.


Our chalet	Vicky writing in her journal	The magnificent Nile