A walk in Kibungo

Perhaps because I have been too keen to seek the excitement of the big city and have often “escaped” into Kigali, this weekend was my first full weekend in Kibungo.  I have finally had a chance to explore a bit further and think I may have sussed out a suitable running route that takes me around the top of the valley.

The weekend began early on Friday, when I met Jen and Kate – volunteers in Zaza (about an hour away by moto) for drinks in St Joe’s.  We were soon joined by Stella and Denis and by Lynsey – a VSO volunteer from near Butare , who was visiting for the weekend.  We spent a lovely evening chatting and eating and drinking, and then went back to Denis and Stella’s house to watch a couple of episodes of Modern Family.  Then myself, Kate and Jen came back to my house to get some sleep.

We were up early on Saturday and after a lovely breakfast of freshly baked banana pitta bread (my culinary skills are really progressing!), we set off to fetch Lynsey and head to the lorry park in order to get a bus to Rusumo Falls down at the border with Tanzania.  Since my requirements and face are now familiar down at the lorry park, I was immediately asked where I wanted to go.  I was then immediately shown a big bus, which was going to my destination and about to leave.  So, the four of us piled on.  The views along the way were stunning and it was lovely to sit and just gaze out of the window.  Although I started to feel quite lethargic as everyone else on the bus thought it was too cold to have the windows open.  The four of us did not agree but were not in control of any windows!

After about an hour, we arrived at the border, and at the end of the bus route.  So off we got and wandered towards the border crossing.  After a short conversation with the border police, we arranged to leave our green cards with them and then wandered onto the bridge that is the “no-man’s land” between Tanzania and Rwanda.  The waterfall can be viewed only from here.  Since there has been so much rain lately, it looked quite spectacular!

We returned to collect our green cards and stopped for a fanta before we got back on the bus and travelled back to Kibungo.  We then stopped at the local craft co-op and made some purchases and then continued on to the market for provisions.  Everyone then went their separate directions, and I headed home to see how creative I could get with my newly bought ingredients.  I did well.  I made “chapizza” (cross between chapatti and pizza) and some banana and cinnamon samosas.  Very tasty indeed.  I managed all this during an amazing storm which featured a couple of blackouts.

This morning I was up early again and made breakfast and watched some films in bed.  Then I got a text from Stella inviting me for a walk.  I quickly got ready and went to meet them. It was a beautiful morning, but slightly muggy so I took my rain gear.  We wandered along the local tracks which I had not yet discovered and I think these will make excellent off road running routes.  The beauty of this is that they are nicer to run on than the road and a little quieter, but never deserted – this being the most densely populated country in Africa, you are never far from people!  We passed many people who we stopped to greet and saw lots of children – some of whom invited us to take their pictures (a privilege as many Rwandans do not like to have their picture taken).

View behind my house

Sure enough, it eventually started to rain, so we took shelter under the eaves of a house we were passing as the downpour began. Within minutes, we had been invited inside by the family living there.  This gives you a real insight into how many people live here.  There are many people who live in lovely big homes made of bricks and with glass windows and all the mod cons.  This was a small mud brick house.  It was divided in two by a curtain and we stayed on one side of the curtain only.  Here there was a bare mud floor and a bench for three people.  That was the only furniture.  It is amazing to see how people live.  The family were very friendly and due to Denis’s very good language skills, we had a nice chat and I got to take photos of their baby.

Once the rain had passed, we continued on our way.  We were soon joined by a couple of young men – one of whom was a student of Stella’s.  They walked and talked with us for 10minutes until the road forked and they needed to go in a different direction.  As we travelled on, the heavens opened again and we found another house to shelter by.  This time we got talking to some of the residents in neighbouring houses.  It quickly passed and we moved out, picking some lettuces that were growing wild on the way (this had been the home of a previous volunteer and she had left the lettuces behind!).

After several more conversations on the way, we finally arrived home after a lovely walk.  We said our goodbyes and I came home for a nice hot wash and a cup of tea along with some nice fresh lettuce in my salad!  I also had time to experiment with making chocolate chip cookies.  A huge success!  They may be mis-shapen but they certainly taste good.