Lake Bunyonyi Getaway

I just came back home from a weekend trip to Lake Bunyonyi in Kabale Uganda.  First of all, you should know that traveling anywhere in Africa is quite the effort, especially when going over a border.  I feel like I can travel anywhere as long as I’m with a group of people… it doesn’t even matter if none of us are knowledgeable of how to get there!  A group of five of us got bus tickets to take us to Kabale.  The bus was great and big and we were in the front seats, which made for a much more enjoyable ride.  It was only 1.5 hours to the border where we had to get out of the bus and go through immigration.  We had to get a stamp to get out of Rwanda and then physically walk across the border to pay for our visa and get a stamp into Uganda.  Then we had to exchange Rwanda Francs for Uganda Shillings, which should’ve been more thought out before we started bargaining with random dudes on the street trying to make a deal.  But, it worked out all right and we hopped back on the bus to get dropped off 5 kilometers down the road to Kabale, just to have to find a taxi to take us to the lake.   After we got to the lake, we took a motorboat to our little resort called Byoona Amagara.  Luxurious.  We stayed in the deluxe geo-dome and it was amazing.

   

It was out in the open, each bed having a mosquito net so we didn’t swallow bugs in the night or get mosquito bites, of course.  As soon as we got there, we all fell asleep and stayed asleep for hours!  After all the traveling and this being our first long weekend in a while, we were totally exhausted.  Even though we were presumably directly on the equator, the weather was quite chilly!  We wore sweatpants with socks majority of the time!  It stormed almost the whole first day, which was fine with us because all we wanted to do was nap and read our books anyway. 

We had an outdoor shower, which if you ask me, was one of the highlights of the accommodations.   It was really awesome to be outside and get to see the spectacular view of the lake while showering.  The first shower I took, it started to get really windy and it seemed I might get a second shower before I finished with my first one!  I hurried to finish up so I could stay warm from the solar powered heated shower!  The second shower wasn’t that dramatic.  I had the sun beaming down on me and it was glorious. 

We took a couple canoes out on the lake for a few hours, which turned into the wind taking us far away from the dock and us paddling against the wind to get back.  The canoes are hollowed out trees basically; pretty vintage :)  My friend, Hannah, and I rowed zigzag back because we had a pretty difficult time steering… we blamed it on the wind, but as much as I hate to admit it, I think we were partly to blame as well. 

This short trip was very much needed after 10 weeks of school slipping out from under us and 8 more to go before Christmas break.  I knew being a first year teacher would be a lot of work and a lot of preparation and a lot of brain power.  After going and going and going, it was nice to get away and spend time focusing on rest and reflecting on how awesome and good God is.  It’s so easy to get zoned in on what I have to get done rather than why I am doing it.  Day in and day out, I’m whipping out lesson plans, grading papers, preparing power points, practicing art projects, etc etc etc.  If I just focus on these things, I’m reminded that I’m really not built to be an art teacher.  I love art and I love kids, but my passion is not for these kids to love art, rather it’s for them to love Jesus.  I’m built to be a minister of the truth, an example of God’s love, an ambassador for Christ.  When I don’t bring that to the forefront of my lesson planning, I get bogged down by details instead of inspired by the real purpose behind it.  I needed this weekend getaway to refresh my perspective and to build my confidence in traveling outside Rwanda!