observing rwanda

ok so apparently none of the computers in this posh internet cafe take usb ports, so i cannot post photos. however, leslie will probably figure out a way because she's just like that, so always check her blog as well (http://www.leslieinuganda.blogspot.com/)


the scenery in rwanda is phenomenal. it is SO different to uganda. uganda is pretty flat and sometimes dry and dirty...whereas rwanda is LUSH like i've never seen, and mountains that are breathtaking. maybe because i haven't seen real mounatins for 2 months. but honestly, we were driving through the parc national de volcans and i couldnt pry my face off the window. also every square inch of land is VERY fertile soil because of the volcanoes, so ever square inch of land is ..agricultured? it looks like a patchwork quilt and all over the mountains as well, which makes for extremely hard farming work i would think. but mind you, these people have endured far more in their lifetime than i will ever come to realize, so pushing a bicycle with 12 jerry cans filled with water up a hill with 8% incline for 10km is nothing.

kigali is an interesting city. we havent explored it too much but there are differences that i wasn't really expecting- small ones, but i think we've been in uganda long enough that we can pick them out quite easily. to the details such as women wear alot more jeans and pants here, and the stndard dress is much more modern. and women and men actualy walk around in public holding hands(you NEVER see that in uganda). the boda boda drivers here actualy wear helmets AND have one for YOU as well!(which kind of grosses me out more than feeling safer, seriously, how many peoples heads have been under that helmet?? HELLOOOOOO LICE!!!). the streets are CLEAN (rwanda has a law of once a month, a saturday morning is designated 'community clean up'. all the stores are closed and everyone..just...cleans. its so bizaare. but awesome. why dont we do that?). the roads here are fantastic compared to uganda. i havent felt carsick once! apparently after the genocide fo 1994 kigali in particular was showered with loads of money to build up the city and economy again and it sure shows. honestly- someone put some money into uganda....it more than needs it. but in turn- we have found rwanda much more pricey than uganda. i guess they need to keep these nice roads nice. and there are NO backpacker hostels. what the??! just hotels, and most of them expencieve. we've found a few that arent too bad and have actualy had some pretty good luck with eric(the man who runs one of the hotels) taking a fancy to leslie and therefore getting us killer deals at a nicer place across the street from his hotel. (i told him she was engaged and back off, but that seems to make him laugh harder. i dont think he understands my pigeon french. good thing leslie is fluent en francais, that has saved our asses many times already)

all in all so far- people are friendly, food is good (mostly the same local food as uganda, minus street vendors here..i think they are illegal, which is too bad for our wallets. and not alot of fruit which surprises me. we are used to eating a whole fresh pineapple every morning. im feeling deprived with just bananas) most people speak french (again, hooray for leslie) or kinyarwanda (whcih we dont have a clue of anything). and a tad of english. today we are checking out the city more or less and meeting up with the guys we met the other day(who have been gorilla trekking in the DR congo..which, btw, the UN has just posted a big fat notice saying DONT GO TO THE DRC RIGHT NOW, so we are hoping they'll come back alive today) and then tomorrow visiting the genocide memorials, churches and the hotel des mille collines..and wednesday we go to the compassion site to meet my girl and her family.

ok...on to gorilla trekking. cept this will be read second, even though i posted it first. grrr. will i ever get the hang of blogging.