Birthday Retreat, No Surrender!

This has been a year of extremes… I’ve been through the extreme lows & extreme highs. I have cried. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much in my life! But I have also laughed so hard. Sometimes I’ve cried and laughed at the same damn time!
I have hated so much but I have also loved, a lot. I have loved my family & friends fearlessly because at one point, I thought I had lost everything and everyone. I was at my most vulnerable this year yet I’ve never felt so strong; both emotionally & physically.

I’ve learned so much this year – about me, life… How you can be here one moment and the next second, POOF! RIP
I also learned just how hard it is to watch the world go on when it should stop and cry with you. I have learned to be grateful for friends, family – the one we’re born with (not that we have any choice) & the one that we adopt as life goes on. I have learned not to be afraid to ask for things that matter; things like hugs, this trip…

Here I am, burrowed in tons of duvets (it’s a cool night) in a 7 by 7ft bed! What are such huge beds meant for? No, don’t answer that!
I’m spending my birthday weekend at Kyaninga Lodge, a scenic place in the beautiful district of Fort Portal, Uganda. No wonder people that come from here are good looking! One cannot be ugly in such an environment! Eh!

I left Kampala at 7AM, stepped off the bus in Fort Portal at 11.30AM. I was meant to catch a cab that charges about thirty thousand shillings, I was still haggling (second nature) when a boda guy; Thaddeus suggested he could bring me here for only ten thousand! Man, times are hard – any excuse to cut costs. Plus the weather was beautiful, the city magnificent. I really thank God for answering my prayers, for making the day sunny for me.

So I got on to Thaddeus boda boda and he rode at a leisurely pace so I can take Fort Portal in while he told me stories about the city and the village. It was a delightful ride. I got to Kyaninga, not so sure how long the ride was. Quite frankly, I lost track of time… I found the waitress waiting for me with a glass of water melon juice with my name on it! Took it in a few gulps, quite unladylike as it was hot and I love water melon juice!

I checked in, was brought to my cottage. I oohed and aahed. Took photos. Sigh. That moment. I remember that very moment. The warmth in my heart, mentally jumping up and down dying to tell everyone how my cottage is royal! The mosquito net around the bed is bigger than my entire room back home!

Since I left Kampala without breakfast, when lunch came; I devoured everything. When they cleared my plate, another waiter came with what I later found out was the main course! It’s not easy being me. The closest I’ve had a 3 course lunch is when my 2 workmates and I walk into a restaurant and they serve us at once – 3 plates. Needless to say, I left the lunch table feeling like a whale! A very happy whale because the food was amazing!

I took a guided walk around the Crater Lake shortly after. I learnt a lot from the walk. For example; did you know that in birds, the males are more brightly coloured than females. This is simply because, the males are tasked with attracting the females. The direct opposite in humans! Yep. Look at the rooster and the hen.

Have you ever wondered about those nests you find ‘thrown’ down out of the trees? Apparently, when a male bird builds the nest, the female ‘walks’ in to inspect it – if it’s secure, comfortable… If she feels neither, she’ll throw it out of the tree! How cool is that?