June 20th-21st: Saturday and Sunday
This weekend went on a lovely little holiday to Sipi Falls an area of the country between Karamoja in the north and Mbale farther south. Sipi is located up in the mountains and although it is only a little higher is much cooler and gets far more rain generally than Karamoja. Jim invited the RP team, Dan, Tim, and Emily, two Tricaricos, Emily and Maria, and Johan and me. We also met 4 Canadian medical students there, Mark, Shantil, Kyle, and Rebecca.
Our day started at 5:00 when we woke up, packed (at least all the guys did), and ate breakfast. We all crammed into the back of the mission’s white land cruiser and tried to sleep. Sipi falls consist of three falls. The highest is about 100 to 120 feet. The second is a little larger and the last is the winner falling 90 meters or about 270 feet. Upon arrival we met the Canadians and then set out on our hike to the three falls starting at the end, the top most waterfall. We hiked through banana and coffee fields to reach the top falls were the spray soaked us thoroughly. We then descended to the second falls and jumped in a swimming hole were we found tadpoles, a crab, and a chameleon. At the last waterfall there was the option of repelling off the top and going down right beside the water. Led by our reluctant leader Jim, Kyle, Tim, Dan, Johan, Rebecca, Johan, and I repelled down the side. After that we hiked to some caves that are along the side of the cliff. We clamored to the back of them even though the ceiling varied between 3 and 7 feet and the ground was covered in guano. We say about 15-20 bats, little guys with maybe 8-10 inch wing spans.
That afternoon when we got back from the hike I had the most amazing guacamole of my life. It was made fresh and had tomatoes in it. They served it with “chips”, which looked and tasted a lot like fried, home made, puffy tortillas. We ate dinner at another restaurant owned by two brits. They served delicious pumpkin soup, followed by cottage pie and salad and topped off with this incredible round, crunchy brownie thing covered in dried banana pieces and chocolate sauce. After dinner I drank a cold stoney and we played Dutch blitz for about 2 hours.
On the way to dinner we had to pop the clutch in order to get it running because the battery was dead. Little did we know that that was just the beginning of our troubles. After dinner we were unable to start the car again. Because the lights weren’t working anyway and because it was past midnight we decided it would be easier to simply walk mile and a quarter back to the hotel and return the next morning. I’ve never seen so many stars. A pre dawn hike found Tim, Dan, Johan, Jim, and me back at the hotel were we woke the watchmen after several minutes fruitless yelling and banging on the metal gates. We then proceeded to push the unreasonably heavy car up the hill three times trying unsuccessfully trying to pop the clutch. After eight attempts in 20 minutes and much useless exertion in the wee hours of the day we decided to try one more time before giving in to hopeless despair and depression. As it turned out 9th times the charm and we packed and were on the road again by 7:30. However our tale of woe has not yet reached its end for within two miles of the compound and home the car began to lose speed. With the medal to the floor we coasted to a stop providentially at the beginning of the compound road. We had arrived at 9:50 just in time for the 10 o’clock worship service and the swearing in of a half dozen new members.
That night upon reaching the conclusion that pancakes would lead to my eternal happiness I set out on a quest to track down the dozen ingredients needed to produce the panned cakes. After scrounging up baking powder, butter, and some other ingredients and procuring syrup by inviting the Tricarico kids to eat with us Emily and I proceeded to concoct the delicacies. We fried them up until they were golden brown and delicious (well they weren’t bad).
Warning: Scientific Content Ahead!
For those viewers wondering what all the car trouble was I will now explain. As it turns out the land cruiser is a diesel and has two tanks. The battery died some time during the day probably because Jim left the lights on. Now, because a diesel engine once started can run without a battery we must conclude that the lights didn’t work that night because we popped the clutch instead of jumping the car. Thus the battery never regained a charge. Also due to some mishap (Jim?) we never switched to the second tank so we drained the front one and coasted pristinely to a stop just shy of our destination.
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