1 a.m. on Tuesday the 1st of July, six of us found our seats on the most packed out bus, headed to Kigali, Rwanda. The ride there was fairly typical of any bus ride in a developing country-- full seats, people standing in the isle (for 9+ hours), and zero personal space. The drive from SW Uganda and into Kigali was actually worth the trip in itself-- Green, terraced mountains with acres and acres of tea fields in the valleys between... beautiful. Our trip was actually only two days, but it seems like we were there for a week... so here's a quick rundown of both days
Day 1
- arrived in Kigali and checked into the Mille Collines Hotel (the in Hotel Rwanda)
- took about a 3-4mile walk around the city
- had a terrible French/African dinner :)
- hung out at the Mille Collines and listened to live music etc... amazing
Day 2
- visited the Genocide Memorial... very intense... I've journaled a lot about that experience and will hopefully find time to share some reflections
- hung out in Center Town
- found an amazing Mexican food restaurant (one of the few in Africa)
- hung out on the roof of our (gross) hotel [Hotel Kigali... $8 per person, per night... and you get what you pay for).... and this was also a very special moment... looking over the city, and trying to imagine how war torn and horrible things were just 15 years ago... wild.
Anyways, we're back in Kampala for a few days... and had to do some work on our Sudan trip... so we'll be leaving Sunday evening now and returning on Tuesday the 15th...
I might have time to upload some pics/videos later today, but I'm about to pass the computer over to Sam...
So this is it for now -- John