Trump Party of 7: Hippo Hunting

Our adoption journey had gotten pretty intense and at times it felt like we were in a movie, so why not throw in some more excitement/stress to the story. Let's just throw in about 7 or 8 hungry, hungry hippos! I can laugh now...ha. We had just arrived in Hawassa, ET, which was an hour away from the orphanage that our children were living at. We were in the van riding most of the day, so some of us wanted to get out and do something before dinner even though we were tired. Our driver got super-excited and told us about Lake Hawassa and that we could take a boat to go see hippos in their natural habitat. I was not so stoked, but hey, how often am I in Africa? I knew I would be glad I went... if I lived through the excursion! Hippos are very aggressive and are regarded as one of the most dangerous in Africa (I didn't know this until after we were riding in the boat)...YIKES! Our hippo guide guaranteed that we would most definitely see some hippos. There were six of us that decided to go, so on with the life jackets and into the rickety, wooden boat. It wasn't the best encouragement to hear the motor not starting up for a few minutes. Then it immediately starting raining, and did I mention that the sun was going down and it would be dark soon? The boat had a few inches of water in the bottom, so our shoes were already soaked and the boat was so uneven that Mark had to sit at the head of the boat to keep it balanced...(sarcasm insert) GREAT CONDITIONS! Then I started freaking out because Mark had our entire lively-hood around his neck... our passports, money, identification etc. I was worried about it getting all wet and ruined or lost! So this girl was just getting all stressed out, with a smile on her face! Our nerves ended up making us so deliriously giggly! We were laughing so hard and it really felt good with all the stress of the adoption. It took a good 20 minutes or so to get to the other side of the lake where the hippos were. The boat driver, A.K.A., hippo-whisperer, got the boat where he wanted it and shut off the stink'n motor!!! We started to see hippo heads poking up out of the water, 1...2...3...I think we counted 7 or 8! So I was handling this situation okay until the Hippo-Whisperer decided to paddle the boat closer and closer to these 2,000 lb. creatures! He even had the audacity to start making hippo calls, that I can't even describe. I tried to get pictures but none of them really turned out because it had just gotten that dark...shocker! I was extremely happy when the motor decided to work so we could get outta dodge! The lake water had gotten a little rougher because of the weather so on the way back the waves were getting us soaked. AHH...memories : ) Now it was off to get something to eat because hippo hunting made us hungry.