Weekend in Gitarama

Saturday morning Christine and I are to head to Gitarama for April birthday. The plan is to take a bus that will leave Kibungo at 11 but of course when Christine is assured that there is a 10 o’clock bus from Nyakarambi, she finds out that “yes” meant “no” and to hope on a dreadful local bus. We eventually got some food and crowded into a dreadfully sized express bus heading for Kigali. We arrived in the rain and had exactly one hour to head to T-2000 (affectionately – and politically incorrectly - known as the Chinese shop) to buy Karen a blanket. It’s cold in Gits! We have success and catch the bus for the south ride into Muhanga District. I find it funny everytime I go there because my second offer was to be in Gitarama. It’s a big city of 100,000 and after Kibungo, feels big. We arrive and now need to find motos to take us to Shoygwe where Melanie and Karen and waiting with dinner ready. We head back into town for the party and this means walking to the village near Shoygwe to find motos. Along the way we catch up with a family walking with a cow, calf and a goat. The young boy was whipping the calf to keep it going straight and the calf was head butting the goat. I think the goat thought he was a cow…..Motos into town and we give common Rwandan directions of “[insert suburb name here] near [insert landmark here]” which, in this case was something like “Gahogo near the antennae”. After a wrong turn we arrived and saw a few other muzungus headed to the party too. The theme was “Bad Taste” but I forgot and so didn’t have a market special dress to wear. Everyone else was dressed in their finest Golden Girls era clothing. I suppose it’s just impossible for me to have bad taste, that’s all! Chatted with some volunteers who just returned from Zanzibar so I could get the low down on where to do and what to do. Watch a few people do back flips. Was forced to dance to eighties music by April. All in all, good fun. I realize that I took no pictures but if you are wondering, I’m sure there is a Bea Arthur website you could find to give you and idea of the attire. Sunday we left early so we could stop in Kigali for a few essentials. In my case this mean drain cleaner and bread. Came home to power and water. Had a hot bucket shower. Waited for Dorothy to arrive who is staying here for a few days because she is working in my district for a few days. Had a chat with my family and then, off to bed. Ahhhhh……