Planes, buses and motorcycles….

Arrived safely in Kigali where Victor, Ralf and Ralf’s girlfriend, Sylvie, were waiting for me.  Ralf is a German ex-pat working with the Rwandan Development Board and also volunteering his help with the orchard project at the orphanage.  Cristina Marie, a grad student from Canada who will be at the orphanage for three months, was also on my flight and she soon joined us.  Ralf was kind enough to put us all up for the night after a nice dinner overlooking the city.  The rooster waking us up at 4:00 was a bit unexpected but no complaints.

After breakfast at Ralf’s we headed downtown to exchange some cash, pick up a local phone and PC Internet modem (they were out of stock) plus Victor had other errands.  We had one last cold beverage at the Hotel Mille Collines, aka Hotel Rwanda, (Victor informed us that there is no refrigeration at the orphanage) and then we were off to find a bus to Kibuye.

There is a reason that Rwanda is called the land of a Thousand Hills and they are magical.   The three hour mini-bus ride was relatively uneventful but a bit difficult to nap with the windy roads and constant swaying.   

At Kibuye we hired motorcycle taxis to take us the rest of the way--one for each of us and one for our luggage.  An hour and half on the equivalent of a rutted jeep road through the hills on a small motorcycle was an experience.  But the view was beautiful as the road bordered Lake Kivu for most of the way and was spotted with banana trees, the occasional goat, and many smiling, waving, African children. 

We arrived at the orphanage at dusk and so couldn’t get much of a feel for the place.  The kids were crazy to see Victor as he had been gone for six weeks.  We settled into the guest house and then had dinner (outside of course) with the Engineers without Borders group from the University of Colorado (Ankit, Andy, Sonia, and Steve) as well as a Emmanuel, a German high school grad spending a few months here before University and Janick and Biata, a Polish couple spending a six month sabbatical AND their honeymoon volunteering at the orphanage.  One of the joys of traveling for me is the opportunity to meet such a wide range of people (Heidi--this reminded me a bit of the dining table at Chapunga).  

The guest house is lovely with a comfortable common room and two guest bedrooms in addition to Victor’s room.  There is no electricity but it does have a shower that is solar heated and if you catch it at the right time of the day and it has been sunny, it may be warm.  The latrine is dry composted and has some odor challenges but overall not bad at all. 

My wish for a reliable Internet connection has not come true so not sure when I will actually get this posted--probably just one of many things that I have to get used to.   But all is good and I am adjusting to a much, much slower pace—which is saying a lot coming from an unemployed person. 

Thursday was slow day as Victor was busy getting settled after being away and there were a lot of demands on his time, not to mention the need to entertain a group of volunteers from Centura Health that were performing orthopedic surgery up the road at Mugonero Hospital.  The children’s choir sang and danced and the Centura folks and I the kids were fascinated by my iPhone camera.  At one point, one of the boys ran off with it to capture the action and had he actually known how to take pictures with it I’m sure I would have a 100 more on my camera as he was trying like crazy.   

Friday I helped the EWB folks measure water flow on the nearby stream for a potential hydro-power project.  Ok, so my ‘help’ consisted of running the stopwatch but hey, I was there for them in spirit and I did make the hike.  We then headed down to Lake Kivu to look at the property they are looking to purchase for the Birambye Eco-lodge.  Beautiful spot in a secluded little bay.  I think there will be some challenges as the only way there is by boat or an hour hike from the main (I use that term loosely) road, but not necessarily a show stopper.  I have to constantly remind myself that this is Africa and that something like carrying supplies for a mile or so on a rocky trail is probably not that big of deal. 

I don’t plan on posting a day by day account of my activities but thought the first days would paint somewhat of a picture of what life is going to be like.  The EWB group leaves in the morning and I’m not sure if new guests will be arriving for the weekend or not.  I think that Cristina and I will not get Victor’s full attention until Sunday which is fine as we can hit the ground running—I guess that really doesn’t happen here so maybe hit the ground strolling--on Monday.