It’s important to take a break every once and a while. To
completely remove yourself from normal life and rid yourself of routine. It’s
healthy. Yes, it’s important to be productive and active, but there’s a
balance. While some people choose to brake for children, I break for pleasure.
Life here in pleasant Rwanda continues. We've been enjoying
a two and a half week break off of school.
We started our break by going down to Gitarama, a town about an hour
outside of Kigali. There we made a few sound panels for a children’s home,
Urukundo (the Kinyarwanda word for love).
The next day, we traveled a little further south to a town called Butare
to learn a bit more about Rwanda’s history. While there we visited the national
museum and we saw the king’s palace from the early 1900’s. For
those of you who are picturing a beautiful castle, let me put your imagination
on hold. The king’s palace was a one room hut divided into four different
sections. The last king, King Mutara, built a modern-palace that was quite a
leap from the hut used for the past several hundred years. Mutara’s palace was
more like a large house with six or seven individual rooms. Rwanda has quite a
unique history. I won’t go into it all now because some of you were hoping for
a few minutes of leisure reading rather than a history lesson, but I do
encourage you to do a bit of research in your own time.
We stayed in Kigali for one full week, visiting friends and
relaxing at home. Then, on Monday, of
this past week, we packed up the car and headed north to Uganda. It was time to
safari! (Pun intended, for those of you who know Swahili.) We drove eight hours
on a combination of well-paved roads, smooth dirt roads, and roads littered
with potholes. We arrived at Queen
Elizabeth game park and were greeted with one of the most spectacular views our
eyes have beheld thus far. Truly incredible. We went on a game drive (safari) the next day
and saw elephants, water bucks and kobs (native animals), a family of baboons, a family of warthogs (including the little babies) and many,
many birds. In the afternoon we went on a boat safari and saw hippos and water
buffaloes galore, along with a few crocodiles. And for those of you who are
wondering, yes we did see one snake, but it was just a tiny one. Unfortunately
Queen Elizabeth does not have any giraffes or zebras. They do, however, have
lions and leopards, but sadly we never found any. The day after the safaris we
enjoyed a full day at the lodge swimming and relaxing. Then, it was time to begin our journey south.
We drove five hours on the aforementioned roads and arrived at Lake Bunyoni.
Our intent was to spend the night on an island but the rain was relentless and
the air was colder than I’ve ever felt it on this side of the world. So, we canoed
across the lake, in the rain, read books by a fire, and tried to entertain
ourselves. We ended up leaving early the next morning because the weather was
far from agreeable. Back to Kigali we
came. There is something special about
coming back in to Rwanda and Kigali after you’ve been away for a few days. Rwanda is unique. It’s hard to explain, but I
always release a sigh of relief and smile the whole way through the city.
It’s back to school now. The break has been nice, and much
needed. Only five more weeks and then I’ll be a high school graduate! Exciting times ahead, let me tell you. We all move forward one step at a time and
anticipate the future.
And because a picture is worth a thousand words...
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| Working on the sound panels at Urukundo |
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| Such sweet kids! |
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| On the balcony of King Mutara's palace |
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We crossed the border and discovered
an issue with our spare tire so these
guys fixed it for us and we were back
on the road in no time |
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While we were waiting for the tire a guy
walked by selling the biggest bag of
popcorn I've ever seen! |
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| Testing out the water slide |
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| Looking through the hills at Queen Elizabeth |
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| Yes, a double-decker pool! |
