Long Bus Ride

Saturday, May 7

Rachel suggested we have a 7:00 breakfast so that we could leave early because our bus and twege rides would be long. Another great breakfast. 

Oranges, tree tomatoes (a fruit) and pineapple. 

Spanish omelette inside a Rwandan soft taco shell. 

Ishmael, our taxi driver, came at 8 to pick us up and take us to bus station. He was a good driver and did not overcharge. Some taxi drivers see white foreigners and jack up the price so Rachel has to argue. One driver wanted to charge us $10000 rwf for a ride that had just cost us 5000. His argument was that he had to come from a long way to pick us up. Rachel said, "Not my problem. You take 5000 or nothing." She can be tough with them when she feels they are taking advantage of her. 

Got the 9:00 bus to Musanze which is about 1 1/2-2 hours away. Stopped there but stayed on the same bus to go to Kigali which was another 2 hours. 

View of Kigali as we were coming down the mountain into the valley where the city is. 

It was around 1:00 when we got to Kigali so we continued our eating around the world by going to the Indian restaurant, Khana Khazana. R says it is highly recommended by Trip Advisor. We each ordered a different entree so we could share. Again, too much food. 

Then back to the bus station to catch twege to Kayenzi. People are selling all kinds of things by walking around the buses and tweges. Here is a sight caught outside our bus. 

Since they want to fill a twege before it leaves, they wanted to put us on one that was almost full. We resisted because we didn't want to be in the back or in the jumps seats. The driver or someone made some folks get out of the front seat so that Joe could sit there. K sat between him and driver. R and I got jump seats. Mine was really ok and I seemed to have more room. 

The dirt road portion of the road to Kayenzi seemed smoother this time. Thank goodness. 

For dinner Rachel cooked Akabenzi - pork, green peppers, onions, beets, tomatoes and tomato paste served over French fries. It was good. I have enjoyed eating the Rwandan food. We will try this at home.