A Field Trip

This is the "mid-term" break for all the students here at the training program.  Which means, us instructors still have work to do, but the students were free to have a bit of rest and refreshment.  Someone organized a little trip away for us, which was fabulous!  Mid-morning, 14 of us piled into the mini-bus and the Pro-Box car, and off we went, cruising down the super highway.  



I know, it's an amazing highway, eh?  It had 8 lanes in most places - 3 in each direction, then 2 "auxilliary" roads for entering and leaving the highway in most places.  There were lines painted on the road, and proper dividing medians.  I couldn't believe the quality of the highway.  And then there were the speed bumps.  Yes, there were speed bumps all the way, in the middle of the highway.  So you'd be cruising along at a normal high way sort of speed... and then suddenly see all the brake lights in front of you, where people were slowing down for the speed bumps!  Very, very odd.

But we made it to our destination in about 1 1/2 hours - the Fabulous 14 Falls.  To get there, we had to drive through the town of Thika, of the famous "Flame Trees of Thika" fame.  We saw two flame trees, which, granted were quite impressive, with bright red flowers that look like, well, flames.   But they were always on the wrong side of the road, or in inconvenient spots to stop... so no photos.

The 14 Falls park was good fun.  We all piled out of our vehicles, and the paparazzi showed up.  Well, that is, all the cameras that everyone had, came out of the pockets. It was quite something to see how many cameras there were, and everyone wanted photos with everyone else!   We spent most of the day taking pictures and posing for pictures, and wondering which camera to look into.

But we all had a great time, and it was quite a picturesque spot.

  

The weather was lovely - a bit overcast, with the sun peeking out every now and again.  Definitely not too hot, but certainly warm enough that the spray from the water fall felt cool and refreshing!

We climbed down the bank of the river to the bottom of the falls, where... we took more pictures! 

After taking bunches of photos, we all piled into some rather rickety looking boats to cross the river to the little rocky island.

The boat guys then pulled the boat across the river using a rope that was suspended between the shore and the island.  It was a bit dodgy... but there were three of us in our boat of 8 who could swim (and we were all sitting together on the back bench)... but alas, you gotta live on the wild side sometimes, isn't it?

We made it safely to the other side, and had a great time jumping over the rocks and... taking more pictures!

 Of course, no trip out with a bunch of Bible Translators would be complete without a choir performance of good old "Hallelujahs"!  Here, the Ugandans, led by choir master, Jackson (who is more of a DJ than a Bible Translator) let 'er rip.

All that scrambling over rocks and smiling purty for the camera sure made a girl hungry.  So, piling back in the boats, we scampered up to the car to collect our picnic, which the Conference centre had kindly packed up for us. 

Spreading out the blankets, one of my African colleagues was all, "What are those blankets for?!"  He couldn't figure out these crazy white folks, spreading out a blanket to sit on.  Someone else said, "Oooh, an old fashioned picnic, like the movies!"  

All in all, it was a fantastic day out at the fabulous 14 Falls.  Now it's off to fellowship with friends over the football finals...