http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Rwanda en-us Sun, 08 Nov 09 14:16:46 +0000 Sun, 08 Nov 09 14:16:46 +0000 Who would have thought there could be so much to write about and we haven't even arrived yetAm writing this sitting in the bar at Nairobi airport all flights onwards are either cancelled or delayed so we are 3 hours into a 6 hour wait for our flight to Kigali. The good news is that we have caught up with the advance party Scott aka Ding Dong Jeremy nickname as yet undecided watch this http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/blog-451325.html Here are some details about our relatively mundane Saturday...We started off grocery shopping at Nakumat a Kenyan supermarket chain located in a downtown shopping mall. Upon entering the parking lot you pull up to a parking ticket machine where someone is standing and they push the button for you and then hand write the military time on your ticket. Next you pull into a parking garage which http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-450235.html Welcome to the Cricket Without Boundaries Rwanda team blogI am part of a group of 13 mad volunteers setting off for Rwanda on 6th November on behalf of the Cricket Without Boundaries charity. CWB has three main goalsbullTo spread cricket through coaching children and teaching adults how to coachbullTo link the sport to HIVAIDS awareness and incorporate these messages into coaching sessions. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-449183.html Many thanks to our new friends Joe and Jenny for taking us on a day trip to Butare. Butare is near the RwandaBurundi border and around a 2.5 hour drive from Kigali. We stopped off at the National Museum and a craft store. We had lunch at a hotelrestaurant that Joe knew about he works for USAID and has been around many parts of Rwanda for work. The restaurant had exceptionally good French on http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Sud/Butare/blog-448054.html I saw gorillas today. As close to me from my seat at the bar as the barman is now with the silverback about as far away as the TV on the other side of the bar. And they were the most unfazed wildlife Irsquove ever encountered ignoring us even when the guides spoke in low voices. The youngster nearest me watched me change the battery in my camera at one point but that was one of the very http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-447523.html Last weekend there was a music festival here sponsored by one of the local breweris Mutzig. There was live music actually one of my friends was playing in the band brochettes beef kebab the staple out here and of course unlimited amounts of beer. And all of this for only FR5000 c.67GBP bargain The venue was about 30 mins drive from the city center and they arranged a free shuttle s http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/blog-447294.html Attempt at posting two videos. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-446437.html On Wednesday this week Alex joined the Board of the American Embassy Association of Kigali the group that currently runs the commissary. To buy American products like spaghetti sauce or diet pop the commissary is the only place to go and its conveniently located inside the Embassy.Saturday Alex began a quest for fresh chicken. He met up with some friends and drove all over the city rural ar http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-446110.html Tanzania seems like a million years ago I made friends with an immigration officer and a conservationist for the Jane Goodall Foundation her park was right near by but with exorbitant entry fees and stayed in a guest house populated mainly by congolese refugees. I ate at a restaurant decorated like Mexico for no apparent reason they made no pretense to offering Mexican food. Having been kic http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L--Ouest/Gisenyi/blog-446037.html I've just been fired from blogging. AlexAnyways on Sunday we went to the Artist Village in Kigali. It was an outdoor mall of shops the size of large walkin closets and no indoor lighting. We were immediately taken as suckers and ushered into the nearest shop. Nothing has price tags and we are VERY obviously mozungas foreigners. Quickly we learned that if you pause to look at something an http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-444726.html Some pictures Jenn took around our house.httpwww.facebook.comalbum.phpaid2039673id1142697526l8c7285b4e9Couldn't get them uploaded on this site for right now...Anyways another week down. Hopefully we can post some more pictures and updates soon. Thanks for all the comments http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-443742.html On Friday the Embassy trusted Alex enough to loan him a Land Cruiser so we have wheels for the first time. On Saturday we drove all over the city of Kigali with two couples from Alex's work. We attempted to go to the farmer's market to buy vegetables and crafts but it was closed due to a local election. Instead we came to the shopping mall which is reminiscent of the Blazy Mall in Soldotna whe http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-441995.html We flew into the airport on a Sunday evening. Looking out the window of the plane there were so few lights that it looked more like flying over North Kenai than a city of almost a million people. We walked down the stairs onto the runway and into warm smoky air. Upon entering the airport we were met by a U.S. Embassy employee who led us into a separate room with leather couches while he took car http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-440914.html Yesterday I joined a local gym which is another great example of something that is seemingly insignificant to most of my readers but a fascinating experience in East Africa. Avoiding the usual expat trap I decided to boycott the more expensive Novotel Hotel gym and opt for the real deal local cheap smelly and certainly authentic..grrrr. My gym is part of the national football stadium Amohoro http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/blog-437268.html Yup you guessed it this is the part where I talk about how much I appreciate all of the things I used to take for granted. The concept really hit home when I found myself stuffing my ruck sack with as much French wine and Swiss chocolate as was physically possible at Entebbe international. In fact there was something quite romantic about it akin to the soldier returning to the front line bringi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/blog-434961.html For those of who you may be from the coffee world and reading this here is a little more on the actual work that Irsquom doing here. For those of you who are not well at worst you will be bored by this and at best you may learn a little something. The first project is an analysis of the effectiveness of The Ethiopian Commodities Exchange. The exchange was launched in April of 2008 in an effort http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-433368.html Irsquom shifting the nature of this blog from which is process driven listing the daysweeks activities to one which also documents my thoughts as my journey unfolds....so today a word on being interested. Something I love about being in Africa is just how amazingly inquisitive the people are here. Literally not a day goes by when someone doesnrsquot come up to me and bombard me with the fun http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/blog-432454.html Wednesday quiz night weirdest evening ever. Turned up a couple of other strange expats weird questions terrible food....nuf saidThursday was a pretty interesting evening. I got invited to join a poker school out here with mainly Belgian and French guys. When i did finally make it to the house with the help of a few helpful Rwandees I was quite amazed at how 'the other half' live. The guy http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-432053.html Today was a real eye opener for me and my first ever visit to a dry processing mill...as you can imagine I was in coffee heaven. Today I met with a group called Rwacof which is an exporter owned by a Swiss trading group in Geneva. After a brief meeting with the CEO and head of exports Gabrielle the plant manager gave me a full tour. This was a priceless education for me. I have read tons of books http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/blog-431122.html Yup the title is no metaphor...we did indeed play football wih the PM today.Every Sunday a group of Rwandan business men politicians and general movers and shakers meet for an eleven a side astro football match. They take it pretty seriously full kit coach referee etc and the standard is pretty high. The match is in the second biggest stadium in Kigali which may not be much by international s http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/blog-430531.html