Easter Monday Adventure

Rock, David, John Travis

What a view...thank you God

Young boys carrying sugar cane to sell

Papyrus swamp

The Guys

Easter Monday is a national holiday in Uganda and notably observed because it is largely Christian culture here. Easter Monday extends the Holy week events of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. But today generally tends to be another family day or a day of rest and recuperation from the week’s events.
I and the boys decided to see something of the area around Masaka and go walking/hiking to an area called Gayza and the mountain that Backpackers Hostel sits on. We walked along the road headed to Rakai District or the Road to Tanzania as the locals call it. As we walked down the road, we were surrounded on either side of the road by papyrus and swamp land. It was actually pretty despite being swamp land. There were many types of birds, butterflies, and babbling streams of water. We walked for quite a while and hadn’t seen the sign for Backpackers Hostel, so I told Rock that I think we were lost. He insisted we were on the right track, so I stayed with it. Of course it was our adventure day, so why not go with it.
We reached a T-road that headed up the mountain, which we thought was our destination, so we started hiking up it. It was a nice hike with such an amazing view of the papyrus swamps below and the rolling hills of Masaka in the foreground! Thank you Lord for your wondrous beauty!!
It started to rain on us a bit but it was ok because it cooled us down. We forged on down the dirt road, walking by village houses, and lots of little children running out to the edge of the road, yelling, “Hi Muzungo”. I’m always surprised that there are pine trees in Uganda. The smell of the rain, the pine trees, the earth and the flowers all combine into an amazing fragrance that will stick with me forever.
You know, Rock did well with his directions, because we ended up at the Backpacker’s Hostel. The rain had stopped and we did to for a rest, and water. We also ran into my housemate, Liz, so we had a chat as we sat in the garden. It was a great time! It was soon time to head back down the mountain, on the other side this time, hehe. We arrived back in Masaka town about an hour later. Our adventure was complete! What a great day! Thanks Lord!