White Water Rafting on The Nile

1) Can you believe its May 1st?!?!

2) In total exaggeration---- I am thankful to be alive to see this 1st day of May!!!

Yesterday, my team and I drug ourselves out of bed between 5:30 and 6am to begin our trek down to the Nile River to WHITE WATER RAFT!!!! Oh my.... if you know me, you know A) I always enjoy a little adventure but B) I am in total agreement with the philisophy that, "too much of a good thing is bad."

We signed up for an all day trip to raft down the Nile. 12 rapids with a lunch break halfway, rapids ranging from grade 3 to grade 5. 4 of these rapids were grade 5. Just to highlight a couple, we rafted down a waterfall and a rapid called, "the bad place" (you'll hear more about that one later.)

As we set out in the morning, we noticed rain clouds, but thought "surely it won't rain on us........". I was seriously underestimating the rainy season here in Uganda! As fate would have it, within an hour we found ourselves rafting the Nile in the middle of a thunderstorm! I felt like I was in a movie!!!!!!!!! We continued down the river in the storm .......did I mention I was holding a metal paddle (just want you to make sure you get the full effect here!) ...until we arrived at our lunch destination. I was so proud of our rafting team!!! We swept through all the morning rapids without falling out or flipping! =)

When lunch came, we climbed slippery steps up to a tin roof with a large picnic table underneath. It was actually a nice spread! Sandwiches, potato salad (hadn't seen that yet here), and fruit. Freezing cold, eating, and thinking about how much I was loving this!!!!!!! I even remember telling Sarah how I would definetely want to do this again!!!!!! (amazing how quickly those feelings can change.....)

So, with a smile on our faces and rain jackets thankfully now on our backs..... we headed out for the afternoon. The afternoon went well.......much slower than the morning...... until the last rapid. The second to last rapid, we did flip though. Thanks to our guide! He was a little overconfident in our rafts ability to withstand the water of the last rapid. He thought we'd safely make it through..... and felt it was his job to make sure we flipped atleast once! I am now saying that I am very thankful we flipped on this rapid because atleast when it happened for real I was a little more prepared.

So...... now we're at the last rapid of the day..... "The Bad Place." The Bad Place has forever engrained my feelings about Grade 5 rapids. Maybe I'll change my mind later, but for now.... I confidently say I will not feel a need to experience this type of adventure or adrenaline again. As Jake said, we each have our own story to tell of what happened. For me..... well, lets just say I never knew I could go that long without taking a breath. It was the craziest feeling...... like calm chaos. I think I was keeping my composure pretty well....... however, at some point---you just become disoriented. Suddenly, when I came up to gasp for air, I realized how far from the main rapid I had gotten.... ..yet I was still caught in something and coming up with barely enough time to gasp for air. It was at this moment that I hit panic mode..... My arms started trying to get someone's attention....as if I thought that no one saw me way down there.....

Thankfully, within 10 seconds of hitting panic mode and seriously thinking, "this is it for me... I was sure done. Atleast my last breath was taken doing something awesome on the Nile Rivier..... " the safety kayak arrived to save me. I really actually feel sorry for the guy. I can't even imagine how big my eyes were or what I sounded like gasping for air. Actually...now the thought of what that poor guy was thinking makes me laugh out loud! But..I was so thankful to see him!!

All in all, the trip was awesome! We had a lot of fun with our team and I created some lasting memories!! I'm so glad that I went!!!! =) I wouldn't trade that trip for anything. However, if you ever ask me to raft the Nile River with you again...please don't be offended if my answer is no. Its definetely an experience but I no longer feel a need to defy those powerful walls of water.

Thank you Nile for an amazing time and great memories! I had you beat until The Bad Place. But, I think you won yesterday.

And.....on a side note, I know there are some of you that aren't believing me. That's why we got a DVD of the entire trip! =) Maybe soon I can post clip for you. It will be pretty hilarious to see how long we ACTUALLY were under the water compared to how it felt!

Thankfully, these next 3 weeks will be spent with those precious kids in Kawuku and all of the wonderful people I have come to love here.