Our rooms at the guesthouse had hot water for showers so we enjoyed showers Thursday morning. Then it was off to breakfast. Took a taxi to a supermarket where most ex-pats shop. Rachel says she rarely shops there because it is too expensive. We exchanged money there. Very good exchange rate - 790 Rwandan frans to the dollar.
Then on to breakfast. Omelets, French fries, fruit tray, coffee, freshly squeezed OJ, bottled water.
Joe wasn't feeling too good so we sent him by taxi back to the guesthouse to sleep. Katherine, Rachel, and I took a city bus to the huge city market outside of town.
We were looking for fabric. As with any market like this, there are hundreds of vendors selling everything - kitchen items, used clothes, food (fresh vegetables, all kinds of different flours, and of course the Rwandan fabric called kitengi). Many of the Peace Corps volunteers go to one young lady to buy their kitengi because she speaks pretty good English. We purchased some fabric to have a blanket made. We left the fabric there to have the blanket made.
Rachel took us to the side of the market to show where the tailoring is done. There were 30 or 40 women and maybe a few men who were sitting behind sewing machines making clothes and all kinds of things. These were not electric sewing machines!
From there we took a taxi to the Peace Corps for Rachel to see the doctor. She has not been feeling very good for about a month and now has a low grade fever so the doctor wanted to see her in person. Just like in the states, we had to wait for him!
The Peace Corps in Rwanda hires 2 full time doctors who are on call 24/7. If you have a problem you call him directly. He dispenses all medications including what you might have been on before Peace Corps. If you are at your site and are too sick to take public transportation to see him, a car is sent for you.
Anyway, he took some blood to have analyzed. He gave her stronger allergy medications.
We took a taxi to St. Paul's where K and I got out, and Rachel went back to the store to buy pillows.
Packed up and went to bus "station" to catch bus to Kayenzi. That was interesting to say the least. These "buses" are 12 passenger vans called "twedge" which means crammed together. We had 18 people and all our luggage in it. Took about 2 hours - half on paved road and half on dirt.
Chesie met K, R, and I as we walked from where we got off the van to her house. I have seen anyone so happy to see us! By the time we arrived at Rachel's house it was dark. As we passed the health center, some of the community heath workers greeted us.
Chesie's and sister greeted us at the house with dinner. We were exhausted but ate some - meat (not sure what it was), French fries, rice, mixture of cabbage, carrots, beans and eggplant along with the best sauce (gravy) ever.
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