This past weekend marked my first exploring Kigali. After a long week of seminars, the volunteers and I left the village and headed to Kigali in the afternoon. Because we were with a bunch of staff from the Village, we took the easy route into Kigali, a bus from the Village to Ntunga and then a bus from Ntunga to the Kigali House, totaling about an hour and a half. Both buses were packed to the brim, four rows of at least four people each. Good thing the weather here is never too hot. However the Rwanda travel guide does speak of health damage acquired from long bus rides in Rwanda. A trip to Kigali does not quality as long. So we were safe!
Upon arrival to the Kigali House, we made our beds, unpacked our bags and shared some tea. Barrett, another volunteer, and I walked to the center of town. Only a 10 minute walk and we were already at Nakumatt, one of the main supermarkets. We walked around and bought a few groceries to take back to the Village (yogurt, milk, cheese and peanut butter). After walking around, we headed back to the house to meet up with the rest of the volunteers and walk to New Cactus to grab some food. Mmm mmm mmm Italian food. You can be darn right I got me some spaghetti! I went for the pesto even though I rarely have pesto at home. Not the best but it'll definitely fill my craving for spaghetti for the year. Or at least I hope. I also had some passion fruit juice. So delicious!
Since it was too early to go out at that point, we went back to house and played a fun card game, called Snouts. I'll teach you all when I get home (or when you come visit me:) ). I really like it! First we went Reggae Dancing and then to an outside bar. I finally got to ride a moto (motorcycle) to all these places. It felt so good with the wind hitting me in all directions. Definitely my new favorite form of transportation. At 3 AM we returned to the house and you can be sure that I took a shower after all that dancing!
On Saturday morning, Barrett and I went to the African Bagel Company to meet up with a friend from high school, Aaron. At first totally lost, we made our way to the bagel place. Bagels and donuts galore! We met some Peace Corps volunteers and I ran into someone I went to college with. The restaurant had lots of outside seating so we sat in the sun, relaxing while eating some quality American cuisine. After a few hours, Barrett, Aaron and I moto'ed back to the area near the Kigali House to go to a dollaresque store and grab some Rwandan coffee! It was such a great feeling to be walking around and recognize where I was. Also, that so many stores and restaurants are so close to where I live! We settled down in a coffee shop for a few hours to talk and drink some tasty coffee! French press Rwandan coffee, mmm mmm mmm! To get ourselves moving a bit, Barrett and I walked to the other main supermarket, Simba, to check it out. Both Nakumatt and Simba seem to be great supermarkets. Convenient for me! For the rest of the evening we relaxed at the house, drinking tea, having great discussions and skyping with some friends. We went out to Chinese for dinner and played Bananagrams later in the evening.
Today, a few volunteers and I made some breakfast (eggs, Rwandan donuts, tea, yogurt, bananas, cheese and peanut butter) that was indeed nutritious and delicious! After breakfast we cleaned up and traveled together back to Agahozo. Our journey home was a bit more complicated than it was to Kigali. We moto'ed to a bus stop, couldn't find the bus so we walked to another bus stop, took a bus and lastly moto'ed back to the Village. Now that I know the many steps back to the Village, I feel comfortable doing it again.
All in all a really great weekend! I got to eat some great food that isn't the same rice, beans and potatoes of the Village, meet some fun people that hopefully i'll be able to see again, hung out with some of the volunteers, and got to relax outside the Village. Tomorrow begins another week of intensive seminar. I'm sure it'll be interesting, but iTouch, let our romance be rekindled!
No comments:
Post a Comment