Dear Anonymous,

“Life seems to be one long holiday.  Do the Peace Corps work?”

Clearly you have not read my previous blog posts regarding my classroom teaching, involvement in youth camps, grant writing, nutrition outreaches, or work with the Gender and Development Committee.  I don’t write about my everyday tasks at the nursing school (filing papers in student records, typing notes for the principal or setting exams) because it’s just not as interesting as say gorilla tracking.

Peace Corps Volunteers accrue vacation days throughout our service and we are also allowed 2 weekends per month to travel.  I take full advantage of these benefits to see as much of Africa as I can.  I take loads of pictures and have a lot to say about those experiences, so they tend to be my lengthier blog posts.

I felt the need to respond to your comment because my blog does not reflect my daily life.  I just like to write about the exciting parts, i.e. vacations and snakes.

"Pays Des Mille Collines"

"Land of a Thousand Hills."  Rwanda.

My vacation to Rwanda was relatively short but required a lot of traveling.  An 8-hour bus ride to Kampala, a 9-hour bus ride to the southwest border of Uganda, and another 2-hour bus ride through Rwanda to Kigali.  My friends and I spent a day in Kigali, then took another 4-hour bus ride to Gisenyi (in the west) to stay on Lake Kivu.  After a day and a half in Gisenyi, we took the 4-hour ride back to Kigali and then the 11-hour bus to Kampala.  Ugh!

 

Kigali

Rwanda is a beautiful country with green rolling hills everywhere.  Our first stop was Kigali – there’s not a whole lot of activities to do, but plenty of museums and historic sites from the 1994 genocide.  We visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial (which was an intense day) and afterwards decided to get a drink at Hotel de Mille Collines, aka “Hotel Rwanda.”  We spent the day wandering around trying to find restaurants that other PCVs recommended, only to find that they were closed on Mondays.  We settled for delicious Chinese food instead. 

                    

Hotel of a Thousand Hills, aka "Hotel Rwanda"

 

View from our hotel balcony in Gisenyi

I really wanted to spend a day or two near Lake Kivu, so I booked a hotel in Gisenyi (a tourist-y town on the western border).  It turns out our hotel was only 200 meters from the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo – so we had some fun with the border guards.

                   

Tried to sneak across the border . . . but they caught me.  "Ah-ah!  It is forbidden!"

 

View of the Congolese side of Lake Kivu

The next day we ventured out for a hike on the Congo-Nile Trail and found the local hot springs.  We brought our bathing suits, but the water was literally boiling out of the ground and way too hot to tolerate.  (The locals had already taken the sweet spots in the springs.)   *The Nyriagongo Volcano is an active volcano 40km away on the DRC side, so hot springs are common.  After the springs, we wandered around town and stumbled upon a beautiful restaurant called Paradis Malachide.  The service was incredible, as was the food.  Once we left, we discovered that restaurant is highly recommended in all of the guidebooks.  :)  We indulged in some dessert at the fancy hotel, the Serena, and went for a walk on the beach.  It had been raining for almost 24 hours, but cleared up by Wednesday evening.  We were particularly excited because we were told that on a clear night, you can see the red glow of the Nyriagongo volcano.  Sure enough, we walked out onto the streets at night and saw the red glow in the distance.  It was so cool.

 

Katie and me at the hot springs.

 

Dorothy walking around the hot springs.

 

Mass grave with flowers on top.  Burial sites are scattered everywhere across the country - no region was spared in the genocide.

We went back to Kigali for our last day, and made it to the burrito place everyone was talking about.  It was exactly like Chipotle, which is very exciting when you’ve been living in Uganda for 2 years.  Ha ha.

Notable Rwandan Tidbits

Rwanda is directly south of Uganda, yet it’s a different time zone.  (???) There’s a 1-hour difference.

Rwandan people speak French, not English.  Sure there are some who speak English, but for the most part it was a struggle to talk to the local people.  Also, signs and restaurant menus are in French, and local currency is the Franc.

There are no plastic bags in Rwanda.  This may not seem like a big deal, but in Uganda plastic bags are everywhere.  You get used to using them to carry dirty clothes, or shoes, or snacks, etc.  but in Rwanda, no plastic allowed.  Supermarkets and restaurants give out paper bags.

Rwanda is expensive (compared to Uganda).  Food can cost up to 4x as much there, not to mention crafts, transport, hotels, etc.

Rwanda is clean!  There is no trash on the side of the road.  People hold onto their rubbish and throw it away when they reach a bin.  In Uganda, people chuck everything out the window with no regard.  Plastic bottles, food wrappers, everything gets thrown on the roadside.

Development in Rwanda has far surpassed Uganda.  Rwanda has smooth, paved roads (even in the mountains), there are stoplights all over Kigali, and the cars/buses/motorcycles are newer and well maintained.  There are no thatch-roof huts – all houses have tin roofs or clay shingles.  It looks great.

My friend Katie said it perfectly, “Rwanda is almost too nice for Africa.”  :)

Gorillas in the Mist

Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the only places in the world to track mountain gorillas.  Since I live in the area, I had to do it.

Our trek began around 8:00am, but the scouts went out a few hours before us, in order to locate the gorillas families.  My friends and I were doing the "short" trek, which was 3-4 hours.  After one hour of climbing up the mountain, the scouts radioed in that the gorilla family was on the move towards us.  

For first 15 minutes, we struggled to see them because they were hiding in the dense bushes.  But then a few of the younger ones started climbing the trees.

Out of nowhere came the monstrous silverback gorilla.  He walked down the path right in front of me!  I was stunned.

 

 Yes, he was actually that close.

He passed right next to me!!!

Eventually, the rest of gorilla family emerged and we got tons of photos.

Here and There

Here: Kuluva.   

On days without power, I have nothing to do.  So I sit at home and read.  On days with electricity, I go to school and work on databases or teach computing class . . . that is, if the computer room is available.  The school also uses the computer room for meetings, lectures, and interviews for incoming students.  If any of these events are happening, I can’t work . . . and I go home.  It’s been very boring around here for the past few months.

There: Kampala, Vacations and Camp.

There is a new group of trainees arriving in Uganda on April 25^th.  I volunteered to be one of the trainers – and since several of the newbies will be coming to Arua, Peace Corps assigned me to be the Arua Satellite Liaison.  This means that I’ll be assisting in training specific to the Arua group while they’re visiting the area (during the month of May).  I’m really looking forward to having more people around!

This weekend I’ll be speaking with the homestay families about preparing for the volunteers.  Then on Tuesday & Wednesday, there is a workshop in Kampala where all the PCV trainers put together the program for the incoming group.

After the workshop, I’m going on vacation to Rwanda!  I’ve heard that Rwanda is a must-see destination while living in Uganda.  It’s super close and relatively cheap to travel there (by bus).  I’m only going for 5 days (it’s a very small country) – so expect a blog post about it in the next few weeks.

I’ll return to Kuluva for two weeks (after Rwanda) and then . . . I signed up for another Camp GLOW!!!  Yep, one more time.  :)  But this time I applied to be staff and work on logistics to help make sure everything runs smoothly.  I’ve already been a counselor 3 times, and I wanted to try something different.  It’s going to give me a new perspective of camp, which I really wanted before directing Girl Tech.