The Rocks

Saturday, April 30

Rachel wanted to take us to the rocks which are about 6 miles away. Joe had used all his energy to go to Kayenzi yesterday so he didn't want to go. 

Chesie went with us and we walked to Kayenzi around 1:00 so we could catch a twege. 

As we arrived in Kayenzi, the twege was leaving so R suggested taking a moto. K had already said she would not ride a motorcycle. But she relented. Four motos. And off we went. 

I'll have to say that I was tight as we rode because I certainly didn't want to fall. The ride was fine. 

The guys drove us very close to the rocks. We walked all around big boulders overlooking a valley. It made me realize that Rwanda is called the land of 1000 hills. They look like mountains because of their height. In Kayenzi we are 5800 feet above sea level. But, there are no rock formations. It's more like grass, plots of crops, and a few trees. But, this place had rocks formations. 

We stopped to rest in what R and Chesie called a refrigerator. In some bigger places like this, there were groups of people praying and singing. 

We walked down a pretty long slope to houses in a little community. As we were going to the little village, we could see a storm coming in. R and Chesie knew a couple there so we stopped in to sit out the rain. They were gracious hosts and provided citrus Fanta, Coke, and water. After probably an hour and no real rain, we walked on into the heart of the village to find motos. They were there. We each got ready to get on a moto when the driver of the one I was going to ride pulled out two empty beer bottles and handed them to someone. R said, "I'll take that one." Guess she figured if they went down she would recover faster then me!

They took us all the way to Chesie's store which is close to the Health Center. R didn't come right away so Chesie called her. The moto broke down so one of the other guys went to pick her up. 

I was totally exhausted when we got back. We talked about not having a real meal. R thought we could order porky from a man down the road. Instead Chesie bought the pork and she and R made dinner. 

This clearly became our favorite Rwandan meal. The pork is fried and added to it was onions, beets, green peppers, tomatoes, and tomato paste. They fried potatoes for French fries (chips they call them). Fries and meat are stirred together. Delicious!!!