Escape to Sipi Falls

This weekend, the FSD interns escaped from Jinja to Sipi Falls, a locale in the west of the country near the Kenyan border. Sipi is on the slopes of Mount Elgon, which is one of the tallest mountains in East Africa. The falls are a series of waterfalls that cascade down the side of Mt. Elgon into the valley below.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and climbed up the side of the mountain through groves of coffee and fields of corn. We reached the first waterfall, which dropped from the edge of the mountain and almost turned entirely to mist before it hammered down on the rocks below. Getting close to the fall meant being soaked from head to toe from all the mist.

After a quick dip in an ice-cold stream, we climbed down the side of the mountain to another fall, and were able to go into a cave right below the waterfall. The climb down the side of the mountain was ended up in me sliding on my butt down the side of the muddy slope!

The hike was a great way to escape, and see another side of Uganda. I love mountains, and Jinja and Kampala are very flat. I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had seen mountains and valleys.

It was refreshing to escape from the demands of our work and have a change of scenery from Jinja, and it was hard to leave the amazing views. This week, it's back to work as I prepare for my second training on savings culture!

Top 20 Best Things About Uganda

Like Laura was saying earlier, it's shocking how the weeks have gone by - next week we will be going on our midterm retreat, and my program will be halfway done! I wanted to chronicle all the best things about Uganda (so far...).

1. Friendly people
2. Awesome weather and amazing, lush scenery
3. Boda boda rides!
4. Tea time + dubbed over Spanish soap operas = supreme happiness
5. Coming home to your host family and being tackled by your host brothers/sisters
6. Fresh fruit and vegetables - avocados, mangos, bananas, pineapples, passionfruits...
7. Organic/nonprocessed food in general
8. Street food! Chapati, rolex, samosas, pancakes...
9. Sodas. A Stoney (spicy ginger ale) a day makes a happy Mallory.
10. Awesome FSD interns
11. Being so close to the Nile makes for great scenery and tourism opportunities!
12. Our favorite hostel, Backpackers, has an awesome crowd of 20-somethings from the U.S. or the U.K. on weekends.
13. Beer. Big beers. Good beers. My favorite is the Nile Special.
14. Blue Band. It's this margarine spread from Unilever and it's sooooo good.
15. Ugandan friends calling you to update them on where they are and what they're doing.
16. Obama-fever. There are Obama tote bags, hair salons, belt buckles...
17. National football matches! Vuvuzelas, anyone?
18. Copies of your favorite movies and TV shows before they're even in the stores in the US....
19. The Ugandan ice cream truck
20. Chickens, goats, and cows running all over the place. I think I just really like farm animals...
21. The markets in Bugembe and Jinja. So lively and so much good food.
22. The touristy shops selling traditional crafts. It's all I can do to keep from buying them all!
23. Ugandan fabrics. I bought a purse in Kampala that's made out of traditional Ugandan fabric, and it's my favorite thing.

I lied and went over my list! Definitely more good things to come, so I'll just keep this running for now.