All good things come to an end

Once again my visit to Rwanda has ended (way too short this time!) In my last few days I was able to shop for souvenirs and say goodbye to many friends.

Mahita and I went to the "Gahaya Links" wharehouse- a company in Rwanda that distributes woven baskets to Macy's. We were able to purchase some of the "extra" merchandise and see some of the newest designs.

This is the owner, Joy. She posed wearing a new proto-type of a woven necklace. It is very pretty and I told her it is sure to be a bestseller (at least I want to buy one when they are ready).
I will miss the beutiful hillside in Rwanda and walking to work in the perfect weather everyday.
I gathered friends and colleagues on Friday night for dinner at the Cactus restaurant which serves my favorite fish brochettes. This has also become a tradition because I had dinner there on my last night during my previous visit to Rwanda.

This is David, a CDC colleague in charge of laboratory technical partnerships and projects.
Many of the usual suspects joined me...Noni, Josh, Kris, Mahita.
As well as my new friends, Morgan and moses.

Cactus is located down the street from a popular ex-pat neighborhood where some of my friends live so they come here regularly. Noni ordered some fried cheese triangles and Josh ate avocado salad (the avocados are huge in Rwanda).
Here is my favorite fish brochette in Kigali (grilled tilapia, onions, tomatoes, rice, and salad).

Others really love the pizza here.
Patrick's cousins Calissa and Moses joined us for dinner.
We went to Legends after dinner and listened to Congolese music.

On Saturday before my flight, Morgan hosted a tacos and margaritas afternoon party. It was a perfect activity before leaving Rwanda. Morgan has been house-sitting for another US Government employee who has been on leave, so she took this opportunity to cook and have people over.
Her house, like most houses in Kigali has a beautiful view of the city.

Morgan even had salt for the glasses. Bueno!


I promised my friend Moses that I would take a picture of these mini-bananas that I packed in my suitcase (even though I don't think I was supposed to bring fruit into the US). We are considering how we might export these bananas in Rwanda; they are sweet and the perfect size. They stayed pretty green in my luggage... maybe it is possible to export them to the US. :)

Good times in Gisenyi

Morgan and I took a "matatu" (swahili word for taxi; refers to public transportation mini-buses in many African countries) to Gisenyi on the shore of Lake Kivu in the West Province of Rwanda, near the border with Goma. The bus is one of the cheapest ways to travel in Rwanda- this trip only cost $5 for the three-hour journey. Gisenyi is near Mount Nyiragongo in Congo which has erupted many times including a very destructive eruption in 2002 and a small eruption most recently in 2007. Some of the highlights of Gisenyi include the Serena Resort hotel on the beach, the Brawilra (only brewery in Rwanda), hot springs, and an orphanage founded by the late Rosalind Carr.

Morgan lived in Gisenyi for 6 months a couple of years ago so it was fun to roam around the city with a semi-local friend!

We took many pictures of the scenery out of the window. The Rwandans on the bus were very friendly. We held babies, practiced speaking Kinyarwanda and french, and laughed at the country music tape the driver played (which of course included Kenny Rogers, The Gambler).

There are signs like this one below in and around the Gisenyi town which indicate the eruption threat level for the volcano. Yellow seemed like a good sign to us, although we couldn't read the information since it is written in Kinyarwanda. We wondered how often someone comes to check and change the flag if necessary?

We stayed at the Hotel Belvedere. It opened in the last few months, and Morgan happened to see it being built when she last visited. It is very nice and we don't think many people know about it yet. It is situated at the top of a hill above Gisenyi, so our weekend involved quite a bit of walking up and down the hill, and one or two interesting moto taxi rides!

Our room cost 45,000 francs for the night (about $90), although we learned there is a cheaper room that costs $50 which has a smaller bathroom but was mysteriously unavailable for our night even though the hotel was mostly empty. We're pretty sure they just wanted to give us the more expensive room! Oh well, live and learn.

We had a pretty fantastic view of the lake from our balcony as well as the upper hills behind the hotel.

Breakfast on the terrace was included with the room. I ordered an omelette, which unfortunately came drenched in butter so I filled up on the delicious tropical fruit and coffee instead!

Almost everyday for breakfast I eat passion fruit, mango, and these sour but yummy tree tomatoes.

As we walked through town we noticed these funny topiaries shaped like the traditional Rwanda baskets.

We met up with Morgan's friend Fred who is so nice and fun.

We spent some time relaxing on the beach at the Serena Hotel.

Morgan discovered floating lava in the lake, which she was glad was not a floating head as she had thought.
We stopped at a small local restaurant and ate goat brochettes (grilled goat and onions on a stick) which were really yummy. Although Morgan mentioned she had once heard a goat being slaughtered here. Luckily that didn't happen today, otherwise I might have become a vegetarian! We also drank the locally brewed Mutzig beer.
We stopped by a small kiosk/store where a friend of Morgan works.

She used to stop here everyday after work to get an informal lesson speaking Kinyarwanda with her friends. They were very happy to see her again, and happy to spend some time teaching me too!


Of course, I couldn't take a weekend trip without buying some more Rwandan and Congolese handicrafts for my growing collection.

Pub adventures and birthday celebrations

I visited my friend Laurie at the British Embassy on Thursday. They know what is most important- they have a pub that is open on Thursdays and run by Embassy staff.
We played a pub game called Toad, where you try to throw coins into a box.
The name of the pub is the Goat & Gorilla.

I also celebrated Laurie's birthday at a local restaurant called Papyrus earlier in the week, and met many of her friends.

Laurie received some fun birthday presents. Including this musical instrument from the Dominican Republic.

I ate pizza de poisson. If you are thinking that fish does not really go on a pizza...you are right. The pizza sauce and crust was great, but the fish was not such a good idea!

And also some pictures from an earlier dinner at another local restaurant called Republica last week...

Rakhee and I (they brought us blankets because it got chilly!)

Marie Claire and I