Rwanda Update

First off, I'm healthy and happy. I'm still in the capital city of Kigali. Saturday was "community clean-up day" here in Kigali, when everyone helps clean up the trash, trim the trees, cut the grass, fix the roads, etc. This happens every last Saturday of the month. Every single business closes, even informal little shops selling tomatoes, and most people help. The work ends at eleven but everyone just relaxes. What a far cry this is from Kenya.

And I forgot to mention this but my friend Dan reminded me, that they confiscated all my plastic bags at the border. They actually search through everyone's baggage at the border to ensure none enter the country. I lost three. Funny thing is, I hoard them in Kenya because they come in handy for trash, muddy shoes, or just plain transport, so I was pretty annoyed to hand them over. But once you're in the country, you can't find them either. Even a loaf of bread comes in waxy paper instead of plastic. I like this place!

Additionally and pleasantly, it has rained every day I've been here. Most Africans I have met hate rain. They won't leave the house, they'll run inside, they freak out and think they'll die if they get wet. So Alain and his sister hate the rain, but for me, I think it's wonderful! I haven't seen rain in Kisumu in weeks, and the ground looks like it's been years. The goats and sheep are having trouble getting enough food, and now we feed them our mango peels and our kale stems. They're losing weight. And when it doesn't rain in Kisumu, we can't collect rain water and that means more laborous trips to the river. I never realized how incredibly important rain is to people's and animals' survival.

Tomorrow I'll be traveling to Gisenyi, a small town on Lake Kivu. There we'll stay with another friend of Alain's and probably just relax on the lake most days. This is very much a holiday for me; I've been sleeping late every day and taking my time before going anywhere. I'm reading some novels my mom brought me at Christmas and catching up on the news.

I had really wanted to go to a national park, but it's very difficult and quite expensive. First of all, you have to get there somehow, which is many cases means you need a car. Public transportation here isn't as thorough and widespread as it is in Kenya. Once you get there, most parks require a 4x4 vehicle because of large game animals as well as bad roads. And there are park entrance fees, which for the cheapest type of park is still $70. Then most are so far away you need accomodation, which you need to reserve far in advance. It's just a bit too difficult and expensive. The only other alternative would be to do a full-out safari, which again, is expensive.

In the African countries I have traveled to, there isn't the same "nature infrastructure" that is all over the US. In Wisconsin, I can drive out to Devil's Lake in an hour, pay $7 to get into the park, and hike to my heart's content. Here, there is nowhere you can do that. Walking trails are few and far between, and Alain and his family think it's nuts that I'd want to do that. Everyone here says to me, "don't you want to see animals?" And I say, "Trees are nice!" And I'm officially nuts. Most parks, except for two in allllll of Kenya, require a vehicle. And even if you have your own car, you really need a guide or you'd get lost. There aren't maps, or signs. So seeing nature is tough, outside of the frequent farm land that is outside of cities.

But none the less, I'm eating lots of Rwandan food, meeting tons of people, and doing normal errands around the city with a family. That's an amazing experience all in itself.