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

Virunga Lodge near Ruhengeri

Marie Claire, Rahkee, Enoch, David and I went on a road trip on Saturday to Ruhengeri (Musanze). David drove us 94 kilometers north of Kigali (2 hour drive) close to the border of both Uganda and the Congo. The town is situated near two lakes and the Volcanoes National Park (where the gorilla trekking takes place).

Driving outside of Kigali, on windy roads, navigating the thousands of hills is truly stunning.

We traveled to Virunga Lodge (an eco lodge). After traveling for 2 hours on the main road, there is a dirt road turn-off which takes another 30 minutes to navigate mostly up steep hills. This lodge is located on a 2,175 meter hilltop which overlooks two lakes and has incredible views of the Volcanoes. These are stairs leading up to the highest part of the hilltop where they said small planes and helicopters land can land if guests arrive in private aircraft. The landing strip looked awfully small- even if I had a private helicopter, I am not sure I would want to land here!

Here is a photo of the lodge at the top of the hill. There are 8 "chalets" each facing different sides of the hill. This lodge is very expensive ($500 per night) not because it is luxurious, but instead because the focus is eco-friendly for those organic chic travellers!

It was a very hazy day, so unfortunately the view of the tops of the volcanoes was limited.
Here is a view from the other side facing Lake Burera.
And yet another view from another side of the hill facing Lake Ruhondo.


The entire lodge is surrounded by a veranda so you can sit and enjoy whichever view you like best.

We were able to go inside one of the chalets. This is the shower which has a bag of water overhead, heated by the solar power.
These are biodegradable toilets which have signs posted nearby with instructions on how and when to use the sand/ash. I won't go into the detail, but it is an interesting system!

We enjoyed a yummy (although pricey!) lunch on the veranda. Most of us ordered fish or goat. I was glad they had enough food for us because the location is very remote and if the lodge had been full of guests that day they may not have had enough for "extra" visitors!


There was a pretty mix of clouds and sun as we hiked around.

David works at the CDC as a laboratory program manager, MC is also on the CDC team, and Enoch is a Professor at the Kigali Health Institute. Rahkee (not pictured below) is a visiting physician from Baltimore providing technical assistance to avian/flu and malaria programs.

Fourth of July in Kigali

On Friday the US Embassy hosted their Fourth of July picnic. There were over 300 people there. It is always surprising how many Americans are in-country here. There were some tourist groups, some here doing development work, and many people working in NGO's.

The party was catered with hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, sodas, and beer.


There was volleyball, and a tug of war tournament.

I found the Indiana flag again this year! :)