The day after she arrived we drove 2.5 hours outside Kigali to Ruhengeri to visit the volcanoes and go hiking. Anice was surprised to find this part of Rwanda is pretty cold at night.
I wasted no time getting us started on rounds of playing Bananagrams while waiting long hours for food at restaurants in Rwanda.
At 7A the next morning, we went to the National Parc des Volcanoes for the Golden Monkey hike. It was a rainy morning.
This was my third hike on the volcanoes. I couldn't resist buying the hiking stick I used this time (and another one for Paul!). Hopefully they won't be too hard to carry home in October, maybe they'll come in useful getting through the crowded airports.
It was misty and hazy but still very beautiful around the foothills of the volcano.
We walked through potato fields, and past children and farmers to get to the edge of the forest.
We encountered many unexpected forest inhabitants, aside from the the primates. Like this worm...
And a chameleon.
We had to duck and scramble at times, but overall it was a very pleasant hike to the part of the forest where the monkeys live.
There are around 85 monkeys in this monkey family. They were jumping around the trees and eating alot of leaves while we watched them for an hour.
I was glad to have a good zoom lens on my camera, since they were sitting among the treetops.
They seemed pretty habituated and didn't really notice us.
This is the leader of the group; the oldest male monkey with "golden" fur back.
There were about 10 other hikers in our group, and many of them were chattering in spanish.
After visiting the monkeys, we climbed back over the forest wall which helps keep the monkeys and gorillas from wandering out of the forest.
On the drive back to Kigali we stopped at a roadside kiosk to check out these interesting egg carriers. It's a clever banana leaf carrier that has individually wrapped eggs in banana leaves inside so they don't break. It turns out they hold 30 eggs, which was too many for us to buy.
I tried to pick up a bushel of my favorite mini-bananas but it was heavy.
Simple for this strong guy though!
When we got back to the city, I took Anice to Republika for dinner and introduced her to one of the local beer called Primus.
I had to work three days during Anice's visit, so I hooked her up with my favorite taxi driver Banner to see the sites in Kigali. 
Anice was able to spend a day with Rachel, a Peace Corps volunteer, who supports the community in Kigali. Peace Corps volunteers have much more basic accomodations than the rest of government folks from the US (sometimes no electricity or running water). This is intentional so these volunteers experience life in the community, and are seen as part of the communities they support.
Rachel took Anice to an art studio where she bought some artwork. She had them take the painting off the frame and roll it up for easy packing. This is one of the artists who recently won an international award for his talents. He uses an interesting technique of crumbling up charcoal peices and blending them into his paintings for a sparkly, 3-D finish.
On Thursday we visited my favorite pub, the Goat and Gorilla at the British Embassy.
This time we tried the other local beer, Mutzig.
I was able to introduce Anice to some of my colleagues during her visit.
For her second weekend we drove west to Kibuye. Anice made good use of the drive taking many photos out of the car window.
About two hours outside Kigali we could see the largest lake in Rwanda, Lake Kivu.
Anice marveled at the massive project putting fiber optic cable all over Rwanda. This $49M endeavor is set to be complete in December 2009 so people in villages all along the roads are burying these cables every day. 
I showed Anice many of the things I try to "spot" when driving around Rwanda, including animals like goats and chickens, specific african fabrics, and bags on heads like these women. (I especially like seeing backpacks on heads but it was challenging to capture with the camera).
We stopped at a local market near Kibuye. It was a miniature version of the big Kigali markets. Mostly fruits, veggies, fish, and secondhand clothes and shoes for sale. 
We stopped at a pretty hillside Catholic church.
This time we got the attention of a swarm of children on their way home from school. 
They seemed to enjoy practicing their English.
We stayed at the lakeside Moriah Hills Hotel, just outside of Kibuye town.
They brought us fresh tree-tomato juice to welcome us to our room.
We enjoyed the relaxing and beautiful balcony.
This time I brought Skipbo to play.
The sunset was really pretty.
Impressively the hotel had chocolate ice cream (even if it was a bit freezer burnt).
This is the view of the hotel from the boat we rode the next morning.
Anice got to drive the boat, but initially drove us in circles.
We had the boat captain drop us on Peace Island for an hour.
We hiked around the island for a while.
And enjoyed some swinging.
One of the guides showed us a stuffed animal hide they had caught. He didn't know the English word for it, but Anice thinks it is a mongoose.
We saw a lot of birds on the return boat ride.
When we got back to the hotel, we went to the beach.
I was excited about the kayaks.
I had a quick swim. The hotel owner said the methane levels in the lake prevent any parasites or bacteria from living in it. Of course my CDC colleague said that is rubbish. However, the general thought is because it is a big, deep lake with fast moving water, there isn't much reason for concern.
We rushed back to Kigali that afternoon, trying to make it back to the well-lit roads of the city before it got dark in the rest of the country.
Anice took the opportunity to take more street scene photos.
I was glad to have a good zoom lens on my camera, since they were sitting among the treetops.
They seemed pretty habituated and didn't really notice us.
This is the leader of the group; the oldest male monkey with "golden" fur back.
There were about 10 other hikers in our group, and many of them were chattering in spanish.
After visiting the monkeys, we climbed back over the forest wall which helps keep the monkeys and gorillas from wandering out of the forest.
On the drive back to Kigali we stopped at a roadside kiosk to check out these interesting egg carriers. It's a clever banana leaf carrier that has individually wrapped eggs in banana leaves inside so they don't break. It turns out they hold 30 eggs, which was too many for us to buy.I tried to pick up a bushel of my favorite mini-bananas but it was heavy.Simple for this strong guy though!When we got back to the city, I took Anice to Republika for dinner and introduced her to one of the local beer called Primus.
I had to work three days during Anice's visit, so I hooked her up with my favorite taxi driver Banner to see the sites in Kigali. She did a lot of shopping for crafts and souvenirs.
Another favorite taxi driver, Peter, walked her through the big city market called Kimironko.
Anice was able to spend a day with Rachel, a Peace Corps volunteer, who supports the community in Kigali. Peace Corps volunteers have much more basic accomodations than the rest of government folks from the US (sometimes no electricity or running water). This is intentional so these volunteers experience life in the community, and are seen as part of the communities they support.Rachel took Anice to an art studio where she bought some artwork. She had them take the painting off the frame and roll it up for easy packing. This is one of the artists who recently won an international award for his talents. He uses an interesting technique of crumbling up charcoal peices and blending them into his paintings for a sparkly, 3-D finish.
On Thursday we visited my favorite pub, the Goat and Gorilla at the British Embassy.
This time we tried the other local beer, Mutzig.
I was able to introduce Anice to some of my colleagues during her visit.
For her second weekend we drove west to Kibuye. Anice made good use of the drive taking many photos out of the car window.
About two hours outside Kigali we could see the largest lake in Rwanda, Lake Kivu.
Anice marveled at the massive project putting fiber optic cable all over Rwanda. This $49M endeavor is set to be complete in December 2009 so people in villages all along the roads are burying these cables every day. 
We stopped to take pictures by the lake.
I showed Anice many of the things I try to "spot" when driving around Rwanda, including animals like goats and chickens, specific african fabrics, and bags on heads like these women. (I especially like seeing backpacks on heads but it was challenging to capture with the camera).
We stopped at a local market near Kibuye. It was a miniature version of the big Kigali markets. Mostly fruits, veggies, fish, and secondhand clothes and shoes for sale. We were quite a spectacle in this small town, especially driving this big truck.
We stopped at a pretty hillside Catholic church.
This time we got the attention of a swarm of children on their way home from school. 
They seemed to enjoy practicing their English.
We stayed at the lakeside Moriah Hills Hotel, just outside of Kibuye town.They brought us fresh tree-tomato juice to welcome us to our room.We enjoyed the relaxing and beautiful balcony.
This time I brought Skipbo to play.
The sunset was really pretty.
Impressively the hotel had chocolate ice cream (even if it was a bit freezer burnt).
This is the view of the hotel from the boat we rode the next morning.
Anice got to drive the boat, but initially drove us in circles.
We had the boat captain drop us on Peace Island for an hour.
Amahoro is the Kinyarwanda word for peace. There is a small restaurant and campground on the island. I was impressed at how it is set up for tourism (although a bit shabby buildings) it costs $1 to walk around the island, $2 to picnic, and there are nice flat campsites available for additional cost. We had some trouble identifying how to take a boat here, and there were very few tourists at our hotel or on the island; but I am always impressed if there is a good idea here and something is organized.
We hiked around the island for a while.
And enjoyed some swinging.One of the guides showed us a stuffed animal hide they had caught. He didn't know the English word for it, but Anice thinks it is a mongoose.
We saw a lot of birds on the return boat ride.
When we got back to the hotel, we went to the beach.
I was excited about the kayaks.
I had a quick swim. The hotel owner said the methane levels in the lake prevent any parasites or bacteria from living in it. Of course my CDC colleague said that is rubbish. However, the general thought is because it is a big, deep lake with fast moving water, there isn't much reason for concern.
We rushed back to Kigali that afternoon, trying to make it back to the well-lit roads of the city before it got dark in the rest of the country.
Anice took the opportunity to take more street scene photos.
