Rwanda

IDP Camp - Gulu
Originally uploaded by An Smith

The Boda Boda {1} drivers wear helmets but that's not the most shocking part. They actually require you to wear one as well! The intersections have traffic lights, they work and they are obeyed in an orderly fashion. Traffic (including the matatu's {2}) will actually stop if they see you trying to cross the road and wave you across safely. This includes the times that you aren't standing at one of the numerous 'designated cross walks'. The sewers have grates over them so you don't have panicky thoughts about losing focus and falling three feet head first into an oozy, bubbling, grayish mess of unidentifiable refuse while innocently strolling the streets. Nobody calls out 'mazungu' {3} and when we got off the Matatu from the Uganda border at the bus station not a single person paid attention to us. Nobody wanted to sell us faux watches or stolen sunglasses from their portable shop on a piece of cardboard, nobody tried to convince me I needed a set of encyclopedias for only 10,000 shillings - nobody even tried to pickpocket me!! Even the boda drivers didn't rush us and try and put our bags on their boda first. We had to approach them! Bizarre really. Doesn't sound like Africa does it? Obviously you haven't had the pleasure of visiting Kigali (pronounced Chigali) in Rwanda then.

It's a country where you can ask a question in Swahili and they might surprise you and answer in French (or vice versa). My limited knowledge of both these languages means I can get by quite nicely with this method and it makes things fun because speaking english fluently and without confusion is rather boring (really).

We sat and had dinner last night in the food court at a mall (a mall!!!!) and not one person took notice of us. Nobody stared. Nobody asked me for my email address. Nobody pointed and giggled. In fact, we were the ones gaping and looking rather ridiculous in our grubby backpacker clothes while everyone else was decked out in funky fashion with cool hairstyles (a mix of western, African and Erykah Badu). Might I add that the majority of people here are all over six feet. The men and women here are so tall, Denise actually looks short!

So the first thing you notice when you cross the border from Uganda is the stunning scenery. It's manicured, the roads are paved and there are brick wall things {4} that line the roads (every time we passed a brick wall thing Denise would point, mouth agape like a small child, in absolute amazement). Then there are the people. They are fantastically friendly and go out of there way to help you if you appear even the slightest bit lost or have a question. And the rest.. well, I wrote about it already.

Of course, in many ways Rwanda still has it's challenges like everywhere else we have travelled. We are at the end of the trip so money is getting tight and we are trying to stick to a very small budget (which we know we will blow in Zanzibar at the end..) so we are going a bit cheap on food. Dinner last night (mall food court) was a bun and a smoked sausage from the supermarket. It set us back pennies and was yummers. Today we decided to go with the same scrumptious plan, because it was all we could think about all day. Splurge 0.20cents on an avocado and 0.50cents on a slice of Havarti (!!!!Havarti cheese!!!!) and a jar of English Spicy Mustard and it becomes a gourmet meal that Eric and Berenice would have trouble competing with.

Anyway, we get back to the guest house, order a beer ($1), set up shop at the bar with a plate and a knife and sadly realize that, unlike yesterday, the sausages are raw. Not a problem. We ask the extremely friendly bartender if she can arrange for them to be cooked for us; we'll pay. She nods and disappears with the sausages only to return with the sausages 20 minutes later. Still raw and bone cold. She smiles, places the sausages in front of us and walks away. Who knows what happened to it during the in between but.. we didn't eat it. Cheese and avo it was. And that is when you look at one another and say: "TIA".{5}

So just to keep you up to date, we left Kampala (and the amazing food and drink fest that was Eric and Berenice!!!) and had to go to a place called Lake Bunyoni for 5 days to recover. It is at 2000ft in the mountains, quiet, super cheap, the air is clean and the scenery is priceless. We spent our time swimming (in a freezing cold mountain lake free of belharzia and crocs!) and doing trail runs. We detoxed and I read 4 books because they had a fantastic free library.

Footnotes (not sure this is the correct term):

*First, ignore my inability to reference things properly like a school book or book that feels they are oh so special to do so and felt the need to invent a method to do it formally in a manner that all others should follow. I will not.. besides, I can't figure out the french keyboard to save my life. I decided to reference slangy words cause otherwise my sentences turn into long rambles and I forget what I'm talking about missing the point altogether and then.. well, I just thought this would be easier and more fun.

1. Boda Boda: Motorbikes that you hire to take you (preferably) short distances around town and (preferably) on relatively nicely paved roads. It can be scary at most times.. if not absolutely terrifying. Genuine concern for my knees has never been higher as you whiz through traffic, cut across sidewalks and go the wrong way in traffic all the while balancing both backpacks and praying for a safe journey. It gets you there fast and cheap.
2. Matatu: (known as a dala dala in Tanzania) is a mini bus that fits 12 comfortably but you normally squeeze in 20+ and luggage, chickens, babies on laps, giant bags of maize and a conductor who is in charge of making you pull in your tummy, shove your butt and make more room. You can take them far (if you dare) or on short trips around town and they are the cheapest mode of transport. You sweat profusely for the first hour you wait to leave because they require you to wait inside in the midday heat while ten people stand around, scratch their heads and strategically try and figure out how to get in more stuff and people. Generally you can't move once you get in one but that's okay. It somehow makes the bumps more tolerable. Oh and, as a pedestrian you always (Rwanda as the exception) get the f out of the way and fast.
3. Mazungu: translates from Swahili as European tourist, or white person or foreigner. You basically hear it everywhere you go.. locals (especially children) call you from everywhere waving, running and screaming. It's bizarre but I like it. You feel like a celebrity or royalty (as we all should at some time in our life).
4. Brick Wall Things: are just what they sound like. I'm not sure of there purpose, but they are esthetically pleasing so if that is purely the reason for there existence then I applaud the person who built them. Of course, I am sure there is a practical reason for them that some smart person (or Gabe) will notify me of.
5. TIA - Stands for This is Africa. Made famous by Leonardo in Blood Diamond. It pretty much sums up or solves any really frustrating moment you have here.. you say it, shrug your shoulders, smile and move on with it.

xx