At The Nile

08/25/05

A yellow butterfly flits by as I overlook the Nile River, so close to its source, and I am finally awestruck by the beauty of Africa. A bright yellow spider crawled down the bar man\'s head as he talked to me, and I was amazed that he was that much at one with nature. But I pointed it out to him and he kind of freaked and knocked it off and killed it, so I guess not. I need to go take a swim. I hope that this cloud is gone by the time I reach the water.

It\'s perfect. The water was amazing, and it felt so good to submerge. To dive from high places. Into the unknown. When I got to the water, two ladies were dipping their feet in. I asked \"how is it?\" and they said \"don\'t know yet.\" I was standing on a rock above them. I looked over to an African guy sitting to the side. \"Is it deep?\" \"Yes.\" \"Rocks?\" \"No.\" I dove into the Nile. The water was warm. The sun came out from behind its cloud just as I came up to the surface. Perfect. Just perfect. The guy dove into the water and battled the current to reach a rock in the middle. I wasn\'t sure I could, but I tried anyway and made it. He dove off the rock and let the rapid carry him away. I watched and then tried, and it was fun. He left, and the women left, and I stayed in the water for a long time. There was a kayak dock about fifteen feet above the water. I jumped off, feet first, I barely touched bottom. I did some depth tests and then went back up. A deep breath, and I dove. It hurt my head a bit, but I didn\'t care. I dove again and again, each time trying to get farther, to stay suspended in the air for longer. Into the Nile. The sun is set, and the sky\'s color is gone. I am happy. I can hear the Nile roar beneath me.

PS. There are the biggest spiders I\'ve ever seen here. As big as my hand, and black and ugly.

There was an amazing lightening storm tonight. It went on for hours. I left the campground to find something to eat because meals at the restaurant were like $10. I ended up paying $1 for posho and chicken stew. And then lightening storm... it was too bright, and went on for too long. For a minute, I thought something was wrong. I walked down the dirt road in the darkness, just fireflies and the lightening showing me the way. I tripped and fell into a ditch and cut my hand (which nicely matches the gash in my big toe I got in the river.) The lightning was intense. I finally found my way to the \'restaurant\', which was just a Mama over a wood fire. They didn\'t have many choices, but I gratefully took what they had. I ate by the light of a lantern, and of course the incessant lightning. I asked the guy there if the lightening always lasts as long. He said yes, and that next would come the wind and then the rain (and as I write this, drops fall on the tin roof.) It was a party here tonight. I played foosball on the worst table I\'ve ever seen. Dead moths and flies inches thick. Someone spilled beer on it and no one stopped to clean it up. My partner was a brit named Daniel, who wasnÕt particularly good. We won the first game when we played against one of his buddies and a local lady, but lost the next two when she picked her partner. Home field advantage, they really knew how to use those bugs to their benefit. I watched the fire that had been built. Some embers shot up into the sky and I watched one fly high, higher than the others, and I thought \"look how high that ember can fly\" and then one went even higher. I sat in the new rain and I thought. I abandoned the party (it was all drunk tourists there for river rafting anyway.)

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