May 12

Remember how Tyler told us before we came that the inn would “usually”
have electricity? Yeah, this morning was one of those “not” days. We
are running on generators right now, so hopefully that works well
enough to get this email sent off.
Yesterday we had the day off again, so we decided to go to the zoo.
Let me tell ya, it was an ADVENTURE. There was this one part that they
called a “forest walk” where there was a little path through the
forest that brought you around the other side of the animal cages so
you could see them better. Unfortunately, the “forest walk” was
inappropriately named. It should have been called “the gigantic spider
infested walk of death.” We were walking calmly along the path when I
suddenly saw a spider web next to the path in which resided a spider
that was literally the size of my hand. Here is how the conversation
went from there:
Stefanie: (pointing) NNggghhhhhhrrghgh!!!
Everyone else: What?
Stefanie: Nnnnaannnggggggaaaahhhh!!!
Everyone else: What?
Stefanie: SPIDERAAAAHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!
Unfortunately, the hysteria only increased from there. As we traveled
on, it became apparent that this forest belonged to the spiders. They
were EVERYWHERE. Seriously, there were parts of the walk where the
path was bordered with spider webs so thick that they looked like
tulle with hundreds of these giant spiders inside. *shudder* Savannah
and I did not handle it in a calm or rational manner. We were pretty
much screaming our brains out and losing our minds any time our hair
brushed the back of our necks. It was a little absurd, but I also
think it was completely reasonable. We continued on the forest walk
because we figured we were closer to the end than the beginning, but
then we came to a point where the spiders were above the path and we
would have to walk under them to continue. Savannah refused point
blank to go through, and I was right there with her. So we turned
back, mostly running with reckless abandon until we reached safety. I
was feeling creepy crawlies on my legs for the rest of the day.
Then we went to see the monkeys. We were still pretty jumpy, but the
monkeys were adorable. Then, as Karen was leaning next to the fence to
take a picture, the monkey flew at her face. Luckily there was a fence
in between, but if there hadn’t been, the monkey totally would have
killed her. We screamed again. What is it with the Uganda zoo and its
killer animals?
After that we went to see the chimpanzees. Don’t work, none of them
tried to kill us. But they were amazing! We watched them for so long
because they were so fun. One of them was standing next to the edge of
the river holding onto a stick and putting it in the river. He kept
getting longer and longer sticks, but we couldn’t figure out what he
was doing until we realized there was an apple in the water. He was
using the stick to pull the apple towards himself. Eventually he got a
long enough stick and got the apple. Adorable resourceful little
chimpanzee! I loved him.
The zoo was huge so that the animals could have enough room to run
around, so we often had to walk along big paths to get to the next
animal. As we were heading to the giraffes, we realized that on the
path in front of us was a warthog (like Pumba) not in any cage or
anything. We weren’t sure what to do. There was no one around to tell.
We were looking around trying to figure out where the cage it was
supposed to be in was when all of a sudden it noticed us. I know Pumba
isn’t aggressive, but this warthog started charging! We were pretty
far away, but I have no idea how fast they run, so we took off running
as fast as we could away from the pig. We made it about 50 yards
before we felt comfortable stopping and turning around. The pig was
nowhere to be found.
We finally are going back to work today! Yay! Its been nice having
these days off, but I find that I am more likely to be homesick if I’m
not busy.
Miss and love you all!
Love, Stefanie
Oh, P.S. Tyler is alive! He is out of bed and walking around today!