this week

yesterday i headed to gisenyi at 530am. we almost missed the bus but thanks to our stunt man driver we stopped the bus at its second stop. when i say stop the bus i mean he drove into the opposite lane and cut off the bus driver-just like on tv. gisenyi is on the west side of rwanda where the volcanoes are located. it is also near the congo border and it is south of where the famous mountain gorillas live. it is a 3hour drive from kigali and the drive is absolutely beautiful. i have been to a few places around the world and i think this has taken over the most beautiful area for me. it was cloudy yesterday but we could still see so much greenery and the hills and valleys are amazing. we could see the volocanos and the mtn and it was surrounded in clouds with just the crater tops sticking out of the clouds...i wasn't able to get any pictures but i am hoping javid or vanessa did. the ride up was sort of emotional for me. there were tons of people walking on the sides of the roads and walking up and down these hills which are the equivalent of a black diamond run at a ski resort. they walk these hills everyday to fetch water or food or anything they may need it is absolutely insane. there were even women walking with 5-7 2x4x10 wood boards on their heads. i can't even carry 2 without having to stop every 10 minutes and these women and children had them on their heads. and the women had babies strapped to their backs...the bus driver on the way there was playing wonder rwandan gospel/inspirational type music. i could pick out words here and there but the voices were beautiful and it made for an emotional goose bumpy ride while watching all the scenery and driving through the hills and mtns. another crazy part of the ride was the pot holes. growing up in mn i thought i knew what potholes were but nope in rwanda they have POTHOLES. and the buses, trucks and semis (yes semi trucks) weave in and out of the roads at 40km per hour. the roads are narrow as it is and there is a drop off on one side but they drive the bus right to the edge or on the wrong side and weave in and out of oncoming traffic. the driving here is really something to appreciate in a weird way. at first it is life and death scary but now i have come to appreciate their skills. i have only seen 3 accidents in almost a month which is a great record considering how they drive here.
once we arrived in gisenyi (myself, vanessa, javid and patty) we were met by our guide and at the moment her name escapes me...conchella i think. we walked to the outdoor market which is very similar to the one here in kigali but bigger and we were able to take some pics. i felt akward taking pics in there so i didn't take many. but hopefully it will at least give you the jist of what the markets are like. the weather was still overcast but temp was comfortable for walking. we then headed to the main border between congo and rwanda. it was a beautiful walk along the lake kivu lake. the housing and resorts along the lake are lovely. there was a huge tree cut down in the road that we had to navigate over and under to get through. the main border was nothing of what i expected. we were not able to take pictures there. but it was clean and quiet. it was basically a dirt road with a guard shack on the left side with a red and white gate arm for vehicles. people crossing by foot walked around the backside of the guard shack and onto the congo immigration office which was maybe 50 feet away. it did look dirtier and more rundown on the congo side but there were also huge beautiful resorts on the lake side. we then drove to the small border of congo and rwanda and that is where i think i have felt the most initimidated here. the dirt road that leads to the small border has quite a few wood furniture shops and men sitting or standing outside making chairs beds, cabinets, etc. then we reach the small border and there are so many people. we get out of the car and it is a mob scene of people wanting to sell stuff. i find some kids and smile at them and they stop for pics. i show them the pics of themselves and they are so incredibly delighted but then i was surrounded by what seemed to 50 people wanting to take a pic with me so i could show them...and not just kids adults were wanting pics which is very rare. the small border is much dirtier and is a smaller red/white gate arm with no guard shack. the gate arm is located on the dirt road and there are no fences to the right or left of it so it is odd to see this gate arm with no other fencing. as we leave we have our windows open and we drive very slow because the dirt road is so bumby and washed away and a little boy maybe 2 years old or so sitting on an old track of some kind waves at us and says bon jour...it was the cutest thing ever. i am a huge sucker for kids that speak french.
the trip continues and we visit tom tom beach and the main beach of gisenyi both beautiful. at tom tom we get to see a babtism of adults. it was great. they sang and danced and sat and swam in the water with white robes on ...beautiful. at the bigger beach there were lots of kids swimming. and yes black people do get their hair wet. there were also tons of huge bats hanging in the trees around the beach...pretty cool. we also drove up the coast line to a resort called pardis motej and it was the most gorgeous place i have seen here...the restaurant floor is made of black sand, the furniture of local bamboo, the landscaping is full of flowers, and the view is relaxing. the little villas are adorable and when i come again i am going to stay there! we weren'
t able to see the mtns while in gisenyi because it was too overcast but i am ok that i saw them on the way up. i sat on the opposite side of the bus going home with the intent of taking pics out hte window of the view but the bus was so packed going to kigali that it was too difficult to take pics. and the ride home was odd. first we had to stop because a gentlemen had a bag of something so stinky. it was rotten fish or rotten meat or something horrid and the bus driver pulled over and put it underneath the bus but the bus smelled the whole ride. we then had to stop one time to check a tire because he hit a pot hole too hard. all the people on the bus where having conversations about us because we could here muzungo everyother word or so. oh and we stopped for a food pick up...which was cool because there was a wedding right there too. at one point we stopped in a place where there was a stand on the side of the road selling banana beer and one lady bought one and the vendor had to run along side the bus to get his money because the lady was taking to long getting her money out of her purse. the trip was well worth the 36us dollars it cost. oh and we hung out at lake kivu serene resort beach for awhile and that resort was gorgeous too. i highly recommend everyone visiting gisenyi area at some point in their lives.
we got home to a wonderful new dinner meal which was mashed potatoes made into these little cake type things with wonderful spices it made me like potatos again...delicious!
one of the babies we saw had strawberry blonde hair and one of the stops on the way back to kigali we saw an albino child. descriptions none of us were expecting to see here in rwanda.
i had also brought tons of stickers to give out to kids but there were so many kids around all the time it was difficult to hand them out so before i left i gave them to javid to hand out. he stayed the night in gisenyi in order to go to congo this morning. vanessa gave out candy which was a huge hit. i wish i had taken pics of the kids first trying the candies but i was always too slow.
the week with my boys was wonderful as always. on friday i taught them how to make friendship bracelets and some were better than other but they all enjoyed it so much that they want to do more. quite a few of the boys are now holding my hand or leaning on me or hugging me or showing some sort of affection to me. it makes me so happy that most of them are now so comfortable with me but i am also struggling with how said it is going to be to leave next week. these boys are the children i never got to have and i love them. and now i am sitting here crying because i really do not want to leave them. i know i will keep in touch with the older ones who have email and they will keep me updated on themselves and the other and i know the new volunteer coming in is here for 3 months and she will be wonderful to my boys and they will become her boys too but still i am having such a toronado of emotions :(
but i am going to see the boys today and teach them baseball, make bracelets and dance. i am going to spend as much extra time as i can with them this week and this up coming weekend.