Kigali to Rwamagana - Day 319

Date: July 3rd, 2010
Distance: (Travel by bus.)
Country: Rwanda
Song of the Day: Polar Opposites - Modest Mouse

In the morning I woke up and Albert showed me around the city a bit. I was also looking for some new biking gloves to replace the ones I have lost. We ended up over at the used clothing market. They didn't have any biking gloves, but they did (for some bizarre reason) have weight lifting gloves. Similar functions between the two, as both are meant for holding onto bars. I had to do some bargaining, but eventually I got a new pair.

From there Albert and I took a mutatu back to Andrew's house. This is probably as good a place to talk about the mutatus here. These are public transport, like gele-geles or tro-tros that I have been used to. They are just Mazda or Toyota mini-buses that they cram 20+ people into. Most are white with a yellow stripe along the side. A few have great custom paint jobs. Unlike Senegal where the gele-geles were painted in bright colors and patterns, the ones here are decorated with a kind of theme. My favorite was the "Prison Break" mutatu. A close second was the Spiderman one. They are mostly about American hip-hop stars, though. Like "Chris Brawn(sic)" or "Rick Ross", which they pronounce "Lick Loss".

That brings me to another topic here. The sound of an "L" and "R" are interchangable here. So Kigali is often said as "Kigari" or even "Chigari". Apparently this makes TV or radio discussions of the upcoming elections quite amusing.

From Kigali I took a bus out to Rwamagana. I know I could have biked it, but I wanted to give my legs a rest. Plus I would have had to bike back as well to head to Burundi. It made more sense to take a bus. I left my bike at Andrew's house and headed out.

In Rwamagana, I met up with Trude again. She had invited me to a goat roast for the 4th. Before that she, and a few others, were staying at their friend Jenny's house in Rwamagana. When I got there, they hadn't quite finished off the mozzarella sticks. They were also working on a fruit salad that turned out great, and some home-made marshmallows that didn't. Still the food was good. We played some cards in the evening, and had a really good time.

-Dravis