More photos online

Hi All, I'm obviosly not a blogger because this is sooo disorganized. I will try to add a few more stories later to fill in the gaps, but for now. A complete set of photos and videos is avaialable at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/maggieallio/RwandaSlideshow?feat=email#

Thanks again for all of your support and interest in our trip!!!!!

Ethiopia-our layover in Addis Ababa

 

 

 

 

What we ate

Gorillas in the Nest

Kigli Sights

Family Time

Mini Update

Muraho Everyone!!

Amakuru? (What's the news?) We are back in Kigali after a week on the road. I will fill this in with more detail on each adventure as soon as we hit US soil, along with some much awaited photos and videos, but for now, I just wanted to let you know where we were and why we couldn't post.

Monday, a few of us drove to the Northwestern corner of Rwanda to Volcanoes National Park. We were lucky to arrive before dark and before the fog set in blocking the view of the volcanoes. I fell in love with Sabino, which means tooth, and this mountain does look like a jagged tooth. Sabino is also the name of the family of Gorillas we got to see the following day. We have some great video footage of the gorillas as we got to climb into their nest and follow them to three locations, getting as close as a few feet. Our guide François was great and the gorillas knew him very well. I still think he was half man-half gorilla as he spoke their language and ate their food. Plus he had no problem climbing the muddy slopes in the high altitude, but that may be just because we were fat Americans ;-) It was totally worth the money and the hike!

Tuesday night we visited an orphanage near Gisenyi started by an American woman that lived on a plantation there most of her whole life. We stayed in Gisenyi and spend the next day eating fish in "paradise" along Lake Kivu. (See the map-it separates DR Congo and Rwanda). We even saw a big rally/celebration for the return of some Rwandan rebels that had surrendered in the Congo. Lots of soldiers!

We came back on Wed. night and left early Thursday morning for Uganda. We stayed in Kampala for 3 nights so that we had two days, one on the Nile River and one on Lake Victoria. I'll tell the story of how me taking photos of the dam that separates Lake Victoria and the Nile River almost landed me in Ugandan prison. Luckily, Rockko was there to "diffuse the situation."

So we are back in Kigali to pick up our suites we had tailored and to do last minute shopping of handicrafts. Tonight we are celebrating moi anniversaire by cooking an American meal of Cheeseburgers and guacamole!

Tomorrow, visiting more family and the genocide memorial. We fly out of Kigali on Thursday and will get into Dullus sometime on Firday. I hope to post more details, edit for spelling and grammer (sorry i'm always in a hurry) and post photos!! So check back on the weekend.

It's been an amazing trip. Thanks for all of your support and interest!

Love you,
Maggie

Day 9 - Cow Kings and War Kings

Today we got up at 6AM, but did not leave the house until our usual 10/11 AM timeframe. The side window in the mini-van had broken overnight and Nkusi actually went to a glass shop in the morning to get a new one installed because the weather forecast had called for rain. He did not want us to get wet. Good guy.

We booked our mountain gorilla trek for Tuesday the 24th at ORTPN (Office Rwandais du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux) headquarters in Kigali. We then picked a few things in Kigali shops and hit the road for Nyanza, the former capital of Rwanda. For the admission price of 1000FRW (about $2), we had a tour guide who answered all of our questions and showed us around the re-created Royal compound made entirely from trees, straw, and reeds.

Prior to the establishment of Nyanza as the permanent home of the King or "Mwami", there were 50 to 60 separate royal residences spread out across the entire country. The last king built a stone palace atop a nearby hill, but he died before moving in and the building is now a museum.

We learned a lot about the history and culture of Rwanda, but the most interesting was that the king often had many sons (as he had many wives). The sons by the queen were favored for the crown, but each son would specialize in different types of skills and learning. One would be a war king and selected to be king if Rwanda wanted to expand it's empire. One would be a cow king, and would be selected if there was a need to grow the wealth (historically measured in cows) within the kingdom. There were other kinds of kings to like one to grow arts and culture, but these non-war kings could only defend their country if attacked, and could not travel beyond the nearest rivers.

Just before the Belgians arrived in Rwanda after World War I, a war king had expanded the empire to all of current day Rwanda, eastern DRC and southern Uganda, so his son who succeeded them was a cow king. This cycle helped stabilize the kingdom and economy. We compared it to the American cycle of 8 yrs. of Democrats and then swinging back to 8 yrs. of Republicans to keep policies rather centrist. I asked the tour guide if he thought things would be different today if a war king had been in power when the Belgians arrived instead of a cow king. He said that "yes, things would be very different."

The West has a great influence here still in Rwanda. Everyone strives to be "modern" and "American" and "Western". Last time we posted, the guy sitting next to us was studying a Beyoncé video to learn the words and dance moves. All the schools are starting to focus on teaching English instead of French. There are currently great tensions between the Rwandan government and the French, who are being blamed for their alleged involvement with the genocide of 1994. If fact, we saw an entire gov. agency dedicated to investigating the involvement of France in the genocide. If you know the French, the greatest way to insult them is to insult their language. Plus, Rwanda can not economically afford to fight back in any other way.

Most educated people speak 3 languages, Kinyarwanda, French, and English. The older people know French better and the youngest people know English better. Now in schools instead of teaching 8 hrs. of French and 2 hrs. of English per week, they have switched the emphasis and changed the textbooks to English. This has made it easier for me, but I'm still trying to brush up on my pathetic French and learn vocabulary in Kinyarwanda.

On that note- Murabeho (good bye) and à bientôt (until later)!

Day 5- Returning to our Roots by Irene

Today we went to visit Dad's family in Kayenzi, formerly in the Prefecture of Gitarama, now in South Province. The drive was about 2 hours, the latter part of which was on an unpaved country road (very bumpy).
Dad was born and raised here and most of his family still lives here, on the same hill.
We stopped by the Catholic Church where our parents were married so many years ago.
It is a simple concrete structure, painted green and white on the exterior. The benches inside are also very rudimentary, low to the ground and with no back support. There was a country wedding taking place this same day, with the reception in a building adjacent to the church.
After taking a look at the church, we drove a little further to the top of the hill and got out of the minivan. This was the farthest that a car could go, from here on it would be on foot to go down the hill. We first went to visit our great uncle, our cousins' grandfather, who lives halfway down the hill. The path going down the hill, though well traveled, was tortuous and one had to watch one's step in order not to fall and roll all the way down the hill, lol. There were a few houses that we passed along the way, as well as coffee plants and other vegetable and fruit trees. As most of Rwanda's hillsides, this one was also covered with many banana trees. Each family usually grows their own, around their little farm.
When we arrived at Grandpa's house ( I will call him Grandpa, because in Rwandan tradition he would be called Grandpa to me and my siblings, even though he technically is our Great Uncle), many other family members had also traveled to meet and greet us. Keep in mind that we had not seen all of them in about 20 years. It was so wonderful seeing everyone and their spouses and offspring...there were uncles and aunts, and tons of cousins. Two rounds of introductions were made, introducing the guests (us) to the family and introducing all the family members to us. As always, this was done in a mixture of Kinyarwanda and French, with an English translation for Maggie from one of us.
As is customary when one has a guest in Rwanda, soft drinks and grilled peanuts were offered.
At the conclusion of the visit, we all went outside of the house to take family pictures in the daylight. The house has no electricity.
I was surprised to hear that Grandpa, who is 86 years old, lives here all alone, and takes care of his one cow with hardly any help from anybody (though he has plenty of visitors daily). He is still very alert and sprightly still.
When it was time to go visit the next relative, our Dad's youngest brother who lives near the top of the hill, Grandpa was the first one up the hill, while the rest of us were huffing and puffing and taking breaks every five minutes. It was really kind of pathetic, lol.

After we visited our uncle, his wife and three daughters, and fed his cows and goats (Christian loves doing this!), we prepared to go back to Kigali. As we were leaving, Grandpa was looking for Maggie to tell her goodbye and he said: " wa munyarwandakazi ari he"? Which translates as "where is that Rwandan woman"? We all started laughing, because that was such an honor that he was bestowing upon Maggie, having accepted her as one of his family members. Then he asked me if I was married, and when I responded no, he promised if I return he would find me a suitable man.

This was a very good day. Everyone was overjoyed at reconnecting after so many years...the only things that marred the day's happiness was the absence of Charlotte (my sister) and Dad, who could not make it this trip. We also acutely felt the absence of m my Grandfather (Dad's Dad) who passed away a few years ago but whose house is still standing but now empty...
But seeing all the other family members alive and doing well more than made up for the other absences.

Day 2- Day at the Farm (from Guest Blogger Irene Rwakazina)

Today we went to visit the Rwakazina family farm (a banana and coffee plantation) in Gahanga. Gahanga is part of Kigali City, though it is rural. It was about 1 hour drive from the city center. The farm was bought 35 years ago, but none of the family ever lived on it. A landkeeper was hired who lives on the property, manages it and takes care of the livestock. A rudimentary little house was built on the property for the him to live in. On the land are banana trees, orange trees, cassava trees, coffee trees/beans, sweet potatoes, and beans. There might be others but I can't remember right now. When the Rwakazinas lived in the country, they never bought beans or bananas from the market, because they grew their own on this land. The surplus was sold. There are also two female cows ("inka") and one calf, one pig ("ingurube") and two adult goats ("ihene") and one little goat. The farm definitely has that "animal" smell.

The first thing we noticed as soon as we pulled up to the property in our minivan was one of the adult goats that was tethered to a tree while it was grazing. Somehow it had run circles around the tree, probably searching for better grass to eat, and the string attaching it to the tree had gotten shorter and shorter as it wound around the tree. It probably was only a matter of time until it choked itself, poor little goat. We tried to help it, but it was so scared of it that it would run away as soon as we approached. So Christian and Placide (the youngest of the Rwakazina cousins), decided to chase it in the opposite direction from which the string was tied to the tree. It worked. As soon as they approached, the goat started running and within 3 or 4 circles it was free again! Later on, we saw a baby goat nursing from its mother. Christian tried to grab the little goat for a picture, but it was so skittish! He finally caught it and we took some cute pictures. We'll share later. Another highlight was feeding the long-horned Inka and seeing charcoal being made on the neighbor's field. And just observing the beauty of this property and no matter where you look you see rolling hills covered with terrace farming.

There are so many other experiences from the farm to tell, but no time to tell everything. More to come...

Day 3&4-Monkey Mania

Days 3 and 4 were a road trip to the southwest of Rwanda. The first day we drove to to the City of Huye (formerly Butare) in South Province and visited the National Museum were we learned about the traditional cultures and walked through a reconstructed traditional house made of straw mats with a thatched roof. We had a picnic of fresh avocado sandwiches and mangoes in the parking lot of the museum. People in Rwanda do not really go out to restaurants. When Rwandans visit with friends and family it's usually an invitation to come to one another's homes. This is much easier than in the US, of course, because 1- neighbors live only blocks away from each other and 2-every house we have been to so far has at least 3 house helpers who cook and clean and even open the gate when we roll in at midnight. The restaurants are mostly for tourists and offer mostly international food in Kigali (Italian, Indian, Thai, etc).

After visiting the National Museum, we drove to the town of Nyamagabe near Gikongoro and stayed at the Golden Monkey Hotel. The next morning, we woke up early for tea and bread and headed off to Nyungwe National Park in West Province. The park is a stone's throw from Lake Kivu, the largest lake in the country. It is also at the border with DR Congo and Burundi, each only a few mountains away. Picture 15 of us bumping along for hours at a time. You can't drive fast because event the main roads that are paved are swarming with people along side the road carrying water or goods on their head and other vehicles pass you on the left and right at the same time. We are lucky that Nkusi, the son-in-law of our host family, has a business where he buys and sells cars once they are fixed up, so he has a few minibuses in which we have been traveling each day. He also took a vacation to be our driver and visit the country with us. Nkusi is what I call "The Man": he is super classy and anticipates our every need (as do the whole family), I guess he learned it while working at the Milles Colline Hotel when he was young. You may recognize that name because it where Hotel Rwanda took place.

We arrived at the park in mid-morning but it took about another hour's drive to get to the reception area where most of the hikes and tours start. Along the way we saw a lot of military men guarding the road since the forest is on the border of Burundi and the DR Congo, as I wrote (I'm actually getting used to seeing men with big guns slung over a shoulder-one thing the movies prepared me for traveling to Africa). We arrived too late in the day to do the chimpanzee trekking, but we did get to go see the Colobus Monkeys. We hired a guide and he took us to the largest group/family of Colobus Monkeys in the world. I have some videos of them jumping from tree to tree and I will attach here later. The Colobus Monkeys are black and white and pretty big. They were high up, but we got to see them close with my binoculars, especially the baby monkeys! I was glad I came prepared with my "adventure gear." I left my hiking boots at home because all the other women were wearing sandals and skirts, but they can climb the hills better than me in my American sneakers (I'm blaming it on the altitude ;-) We also saw a lot of plants as you would expect in an equatorial rainforest. Because of the large size of our group (15), however, we didn't get to learn much about those plants, but it was fun and we took about a million photos. Tracy: Christian, Rockko and I all took photos of many exotic plants for you!!

Sorry for not posting often. I will do the best I can to keep you updated...

Where in the world is Rwanda?

Rwanda is located in eastern Central Africa.

South of Uganda, west of Tanzania, north of Burundi, and east of of DR Congo.


Our flight on Feb. 7th will stop in Rome and then we have a 24 hr. layover in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia (yay-good food!).

I think we are scheduled to arrive in Rwanda by Feb. 10th.

We will be staying in Kigali, the capital in the very center of the country. Hopefully we will be able to do many day trips and see the countryside.

I'll keep you posted!!!

A sneak preview

Trip Planning

Just setting this site up so that I keep everyone updated on this once in a lifetime opportunity. I have never done a blog, in fact I've always hated the word blog...but it seems the best way for me to share my experience with you. As much as I'll be thinking of each of you while I am there, I want to spend my time taking it all in, and not writing individual notes....so stay tuned.

First up, starting a new job, finding a place to live, and moving (nothing major or anything). I hope we can get it all in time before we leave. For now Happy Holidays and I hope 2009 is exciting for all of us!!