After two weeks in Muyenzi, it was certainly time for a
little change of scenery. Enough nights
by the kerosene lantern, brushing our teeth outside spitting down the hole that
leads out of our courtyard, eating rice and vegetables, having limited cell
phone service, enduring heavy rains, and sharing our life stories with no one but
each other…So where’s our destination of choice? Kigali, Rwanda! We left school
an hour early, and had my piki piki driver take us to Rulenge so we could catch
a taxi to Ngara that afternoon. We stayed with Alex and Sue, eagerly
anticipating our adventure for the weekend! We all woke up early and left for
the taxi stand by 7am. By 7:45, a taxi pulled up next to us, asked where we
were going and we hopped in and headed off to Rusumo, the small town on the border
of Rwanda. It only took about an hour to get to Rusumo, with a few stops along
the way to fill up the car. In Rusumo, we had to pass immigration in Tanzania
before walking over the bridge into Rwanda. The bridge passes over Rusumo
Falls, some pretty intense waterfalls. As we continue walking to immigration,
we pass through the long lines of semi trucks waiting to enter and exit the
country. We made it through immigration with no hassles, and were immediately
summoned aboard a bus to Kigali. The bus ride took about 4 and a half hours,
with several stops along the way. But the road was nicely paved, people were
friendly, and everyone had a seat (unlike Tanzanian transport where as many
people as possible are squeezed in). Like Tanzania, Rwanda is a beautiful
country, with rolling hills of banana trees and very green countryside. Along
the main road, many of the shops were built of nice concrete fronts, the homes
seemed well maintained, and the sides of the roads were so clean. It was very
impressive, and unlike other parts of Africa that I’ve seen. I wasn’t sure what
to expect, considering the recent history, but Rwanda is doing very well for
itself.
When we
made it to downtown Kigali, we took a taxi to our hotel and made our way to the
nearest restaurant. Hamburgers, French fries, and a mango smoothie? YES please!
After a delicious meal, we spent time soaking up the internet for the
afternoon, enjoying each other’s company and the presence of wi-fi. We also
ventured into an actual grocery store and you would have thought we’d never
seen one before! A bakery, pasta in different shapes, cereal, olives, cheese,
candy bars, and on and on and on. We walked around in shock for most of the
time, and then picked out a few life essentials, like pasta, olives, cheese,
toothpaste, and baby wipes for our ever-so-dirty feet. It was epic. And much
more expensive than market day in Rulenge; so much for $10 groceries this week…
When it came time for dinner, the
real adventure of Saturday began. Alex
had found a place in the Lonely Planet guidebook that sounded worthwhile, so we
figured we would try it out. According to his map, it was just down the road,
up a hill and to the left…but after walking in circles, we stopped to ask for
directions. Now, the question is what language do we ask in? French? English?
Swahili? Kishubi? We actually aren’t sure what language anyone spoke ever, but
I tried my little bit of French and it didn’t get us far. A little Swahili and
we were able to determine that we should go ask someone else. So we ask someone
else, in multiple languages, and they finally say that they know the
restaurant! But it’s too far to walk, so we’ll have to take piki pikis. Ok, if
you insist... However, all of the piki piki drivers in Kigali had two helmets,
one for themselves and one for the passenger, a bright vest with their
telephone number, and only took one person at a time. (The Muyenzi in us wanted
to fit on one bike, but we had to split lol). So Alex, Marisa and I hopped on
three bikes and took off. I actually
enjoy a good motorcycle ride, believe it or not!
The real excitement begins though,
when our drivers don’t actually know where they are going, and have to stop to
consult with each other, with us, and with passerby’s on the street. Too many
languages, and too many wrong turns for my liking, and after circling the city
at least three times, we told them to take us back to our hotel. After trying
to overcharge us, we paid them for the ride and sadly walked into the hotel and
asked the guy at the desk if he knew the restaurant. He said yes, and that he
would get a taxi for us to take us there. We thanked him, headed to the taxi
and took off…to the exact street we went down multiple times on the piki pikis!
The restaurant was no where to be found, but Marisa was bound and determine to
have a delicious dinner, so we stopped at another hotel on the road and she
went in to ask about the mysterious restaurant. Come to find out, it had moved
to another location nine months earlier, but had previously been on that road.
Ah, no wonder there was such confusion! But it took us asking at least 25
people and at least an hour before we figured this out. Good news, however, is
that there was a couple from New York City at the hotel who quickly befriended
Marisa, Alex and I, and sent us to a great Indian place around the corner. They
had founded a non-profit to train teachers and doctors in English in Rwanda and
previously in Niger. The woman was a third grade teacher in Brooklyn, before
turning to her passion of education and health in Africa. She has written four
children’s books (published by Scholastic?!) and comes to Rwanda three times a
year to train doctors and teachers for their missions in the country. She was
awesome! And told us we were crazy for living in the bush and teaching for the
year. She asked if our mother’s knew what we had gotten ourselves into, and
said that next time she’s in Kigali, we must come visit so she can take us out
to a nice dinner. How sweet! Come February 2 when she’s back in Rwanda, I guarantee
you that we will be in Kigali. It’s crazy and wonderful the people we meet
here!
At this point, we’re all starving,
so we finally exchange information and head to the Indian restaurant. Oh it was
so great! SO so great! There were other wazungus, tourists on holiday, people
working for non-profits, etc, so we didn’t feel so out of place (minus our
Muyenzi outfits that actually aren’t good for anywhere but the village). We
ordered so much delicious food and were actually able to be out after dark, which
was a nice change of pace. Dinner was lovely, and I definitely went to bed
happy, and quite full, that night.
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