Escaped Kigali

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Many thanks to our new friends Joe and Jenny for taking us on a day trip to Butare. Butare is near the Rwanda/Burundi 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 hotel/restaurant that Joe knew about (he works for USAID and has been around many parts of Rwanda for work). The restaurant had exceptionally good French onion soup. On our way back, we found a pottery "factory" which is run by a church and disabled people but it had closed for the day. We were able to take a few pictures of the piles of wood used for the kilns. That is for sure a return trip destination.

While driving we also found out the local driving customs to identify if police have checkpoints. Flash of the lights just means you want to ask something from the approaching driver. It could also mean, watch out I'm coming don't cut in front, or don't pass. Now, once you have the drivers attention sticking your hand out and pointing a finger down means checkpoint coming up. A very fast hand motion means the check point is right around the corner. A thumbs up means no check point in sight. We think, a finger pointed up means check point nearby so start to slow down. Also, while driving, you honk at everything. You honk if you're passing, if somebody is riding a bike in the street, if kids are playing on or near the road, etc. It's not considered rude to use your horn here.

Another thing that the both of us noticed was the prevalence of people all over the country. Coming from Alaska, there's people all over the place. Once you pull off the side of the road, or stop somewhere, people come out of the fields to see the Muzungus. It's really quite odd.

Anyways, Jenn and I stopped off at the local bottler today to pick up some coke-cola (made with sugar cane), sparking mineral water, and Primus(Rwandan beer). Here in Rwanda, you pay a deposit on a case of bottles, and then just pay the cost to refill the bottles. We paid about $30 total for 24 bottles of coke, 24 bottles of mineral water and ~24 bottles of beer.

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Comments

[Dorothy Gray]

Glad you got to escape the city
What a great way to spend the weekend, exploring the environs of Kigali. Thanks for sending the photos and letting us vicariously share your excursion across the countryside. Have fun, you two!