I was so excited for the visit of my friend Elana. She’s the one that I backpacked through Europe 5 years ago. We decided to have a tour of the western part of Rwanda. We started our journey. I was excited to be traveling again with Elana and for her to meet 2 of the girls in my family. We boarded the bus for our 3 hour journey to Gisenyi which is a town on Lake Kivu. It also borders Congo. We arrived, checked into our hostel, and then headed to visit one of my girls. It was such a great visit. Elana got a more real insight into the village. The girl that we visited has such a beautiful smile and a strong faith that will take her far in life. It was wonderful to meet her family. I heard so much about them. The next day was election day in Rwanda. I heard many ideas about what the day might bring…but if someone hadn’t told me, you would never have known. We took the morning slow and then headed to enjoy some sun at Lake Kivu. In the late afternoon, we took a bus to the brewery close by but unfortunately, you can only get a tour on Thursday. We found a place close by to eat fish and enjoy a beer. We also went to the nearby fancy hotel. We walked in just as they had a traditional dance performance.
We found out at about 5 in the morning that Paul Kagame won a second term as president of Rwanda. There was lots of celebrating and loud drums in the street. I was not sure what this day would bring for us. We were headed to visit another girl in my family. The counselor in my family came to visit her last vacation and the only thing that she could say about the experience is…it’s soooo far. We left at 6:30 to begin the adventure to the unknown. It took a 2hr 30min bus ride over rough tertian and through large tea plantations and then a 1hr 15min moto ride to finally reach her house. It was such a relief then we finally saw her. What a wonderful visit we had. We ate so many tree tomatoes. The visit made the craziness to get there so worth it! We headed back to Gisenyi and then hopped on a bus for another hour and arrived in Ruhengari just as it was getting dark. He had another adventure planned for the next day.
The next day we got up early to hike Bisoke, one of the volcanoes in Volcano National Park. This is the same area where people go to see the gorillas…we were hoping to see them but didn’t get lucky. We met 3 British kids in a gap year between high school and university that we spent the day with. The hike was great. It was challenging and we had a slow and steady pace to help get us to the top. As we got closer to the top, we entered a cloud…you could not see very far. There was a crater lake at the top of the volcano that was freezing. I was only brave enough to give my pinky a little swim. There were some Russians on our trip that were determined to go for a swim but the Rwandan army and our guide was keeping a close watch. Going down was much easier on the breathing but I also find it more difficult. We encountered a chameleon on our way down. It’s not a gorilla but still exciting for us.
The next day Elana headed back to Kigali and I visited the last girl from my family on the list! Her visit also consisted of a long moto ride but a great visit. She had 2 homes that we bounced back and forth from to visit everyone in her family. Later that night, I went to a friend’s home to celebrate the birthday of 4 friends. What a fun end to a great week!
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