Happy New Year!

Lake Muhazi

Paula did indeed come to Kigali. She had to go to the airport as her bags got lost in transit coming back from Ireland, where she went home for Christmas.

She found the bag (weighing an utter ton - carrying teacher resource books donated by a friend!) and came to mine.

The original plan was to hook-up with any other volunteers still about in Kigali and go out for the night, which is what we discussed before she went away. However, most of the other vols had gone up to Gisenyi or back to the UK. Only Joanne and Morley were still about, and their daughters were over so they probably wanted some time alone.

In a burst of sudden decisiveness (rare here), we hailed a cab back to Gahini. A cab from here to there cost us FRW 25,000 (£25), which is a lot of money but not between two of us on our Christmas money. It's about an hour and a half away: East to Kayonza, then North. Paula lives there with a French Canadian couple, Ghislain and Ginette.

It was real luxury to travel in such style, and to get a lift up the massive hill to her house. Martine was also staying over. I hadn't seen her in a while, so it was a lovely evening. We all went down to Jambo Beach with Paula's next door neighbour, Caesar, at about nine and hooked up with Geert, another volunteer, and his wife Els, who is out for the holidays.

It was rather quiet for New Year, but there were enough people to make the dance floor look busy. There were some Indian guys who work in Kigali as IT technicians, and a few locals. I didn't actually drink that much, but had a good time. Got back about 2am and flopped into bed.

Woke up lazily-late the next day for breakfast - which is always good there - then went back down the hill with Paula to Seeds of Peace for a New Year's day swim in Lake Muhazi (not sure if that's how you spell it). Seeds of Peace is an interesting place. It's Christian, set up by the Bishop, and there's a load of luxury holiday bungalows there, really nice ones. Gheet and Els were staying in one. The food there is apparently better than Jambo Beach, but they don't serve alcohol, so most muzungus go next door :op

After swimming, we went to Jambo to meet Gheet and Els for lunch. We had brochettes on the grass - there were loads of people there. Halfway through our meal two massive speedboats went past, flanked by military boats with mounted machine guns. In the first one the President stood waving to us all! He has a place on the lake shore further up. It was an impressive sight :)

So, Paul Kagame and the British Ambassador - seen 'em both now, might as well go home ;)

After that, Paula and I went back to Seeds of Peace to meet Ghislain, Ginette and Martine. The Bishop of the diocese was leaving to go to America, and having a big bash. We felt a bit guilty as we turned up at the end of the service, just in time for food - a huge melange! Even though we'd just eaten, we reasoned it would look ruder not to have anything! So I stuffed myself. I just took a little of each thing, but that soon piled up to be a lot of food in total :op

On our way out, a local friend of Paula’s pulled us aside to take photographs of us with his children. That was weird for Paula, but doubly weird for me as I don't even know him! We did this in the Mwami Hut. Mwami is the word for King, and it's a traditionally built house for a king: round, thatched, and partitioned inside with woven reed rugs, and a huge double ('king sized') bed. Completely beautiful.

Seeds of Peace Mwami Hut

Utterly stuffed, we eventually headed back up to the house. I was quite impressively sun burned by this point! Was a bit dismayed as I'd made a real effort to stay in the shade, but the sun was very hot. However, Paula wasn't as burnt. Later, I came to the conclusion that it might be a doxy reaction as the malaria prophylactics can sometimes make you hyper-sensitive to the sun.

Paula and I went out again later to her local shops, to buy food. We've decided to go to Akagera National Park tomorrow with Gheet and Els. Her local shops are amazing - you walk down this long dirt track, past real rural houses and crop plantations. It's just a handful of shops and a bar. Incredibly sparse supplies, but a real taste of rural Rwanda. She often comes to Kigali for brown bread and cheese, which you can't get there. The shops are literally tables in houses, with a handful of vegetables on. I did, however, find a parasol, which I've seen Rwandese ladies carrying around Kigali, but hadn't managed to find on sale. I bought a really pretty one to take back with me.