Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Thursday

Hello All,

Today is going to be probably a pretty short entry as not much has happened. We have all just been sitting in front of our laptops all day long trying to get all our work done for our showcase we will be giving at UWEC the last night of the handshake.

Lucy and I finished writing up are reports on all the places we have visited and got most of them up on the web today. Don’t forget to check them all out under the research tab at www.primatehandshake.org

Lucy and I decided we should create a powerpoint to show during the showcase since everyone else has cool videos and games to show we wanted to be able to show something. Anyways, so the majority of the afternoon that is what I have been working on.

It’s quite cold here today, overcast and lots of thunder but luckily just a little bit of a sprinkle. SO nice to hear the thunder though, I find it so relaxing.
Friday

Last night we had another pop quiz, this time from the group that won the last pop quiz, Luce, Nicola S., Gaynor, and Jonathan. I am very glad to report my team won this week time. It was Kate, Bethan, Eileen, and I and we all brought our skills to the table. Jonathan came up with quite a number of bizarre and trick questions, but I was on to him so luckily we managed the win.

Our last day at Kibale Forest National Park was spent working away in our outdoor office looking out onto our view of a Crater Lake. This morning a few of us commented on how we hadn’t experience a proper African downpour, but by mid-afternoon that all changed.

We worked all morning long, listening to distant thunder while the sun was shining down on us. After lunch of leftover soup with extremely crunchy peas from last night’s meal we started back at work for about an hour before the rain came. It started off with just a little spring but quickly turned into a true downpour, and not only was it a downpour it was a sideways downpour. We thought we would be safe under our roofed outdoor workspace but were quickly proved wrong, leaving us all scrambling to protect all of our very expensive equipment we had laying about. I unfortunately used my hoodie and rain coat as covers for the many miscellaneous laptops laying on the table, only to hear that Jess’s and I’s rain cover on our tent had come off and that we had to run out in the rain to try and fix it. Jess and I ran out quickly and tried to get it covered back up but it was all pretty much drenched already. We quickly ran back to the workspace completely drenched and freezing. Luckily, Conor gave me his hoodie while Jess was given someone’s dry rain coat. It was all quite exciting even though it wasn’t the best timing to take a break since this is our last full day to complete all of our projects.

They are trying to get the fire back up so we can have dinner, but they have been working on it for quite a few hours so I am guessing we will all be going to the restaurant for dinner as cooking on a open fire (once you actually you get the fire going) takes ages.

SATURDAY

Today was such a long but very uneventful day. We woke up at 6 and took down our tents and packed up the truck before having what I would consider the worst porridge of all time. We tried to leave by 7:30 but that of course didn’t happen. We probably left more like 8 or 8:30 and headed to Fort Portal before making the long trip back to UWEC in Entebbe.

We stopped in Fort Portal so everyone could take money out of the atm and to stock up on snacks at the market for our long drive. The morning part of the drive was extremely quite as pretty much everyone had their ipods on and passed out on top of each other on the seats.

For lunch, we stopped randomly on the side of the road so we could prepare a meal. As usual, children came out of nowhere and literally watched us the entire time...unpacking the food from the truck, cutting up the food, serving the food, eating the food, cleaning the dishes, packing up the truck, driving away. I know we are white and all but I can’t imagine what the fascination is to stand there and watch us for about 45 minutes straight.

Soon after we got back on the road we started to get closer and closer to a very dark and ominous cloud. We pulled over and put down the sides of the truck so we would hopefully stay dry. Soon after that the rain began and the wind really picked up. The wind actually ripped the plastic tarp windows off of the truck causing many of us to get wet. We pulled over and Steve hammered the windows back onto the truck and we sat off again.

It rained probably for the next hour or two of the trip but again most of us were passed out or at least listening to our ipods. As we got closer to Kampala the rain cleared and we all slowly woke up. We stopped at Nakumat (only 24 hour store in Uganda) to have dinner in the food court and to pick up more snacks for the rest of the trip (only til Monday!). I really can’t believe how quickly the 4 weeks have gone, it’s really going to be quite sad Monday night saying good-bye to everyone. Luckily, I won’t be saying good-bye to everyone as a few of us are going to go to Jinji (the source of the Nile) for a day or two afterwards before we have to catch our flights home. Most of the people going to Jinja are going the to go rafting but the rapids are grade 5 here and I have been told by many that it would be way to hard on my neck. That is disappointing but still be fun going and Katie is rafting either so the two of us will hang out.

After Kampala we drove to Entebbe and back to Uganda Wildlife Education Center (UWEC) where we are staying for the last few days. Tomorrow is our end of the month showcase with all the local organizations we have done work for. That is at 4pm so we have to wake up early and work hard all day (before 4) to get everything done in time.

When we got into UWEC we quickly unloaded the truck and moved everything back into the dorms we started in a month ago. A few of us quickly took a shower and was reminded of how painful ice cold showers can be. Anyways, that being said I need to go to sleep as I am also cook group tomorrow so I have to wake up earlier than everyone else.

NIGHT!