Thought Patterns
by Emanuel
February 19, 2008 at 01:43
filed under travel
Helicopters are flying over the city this morning as today is W’s visit to Kigali but it will be a short one. He meets with the President, visits the Kigali Memorial and is back out. No US President in office has ever spent a night in Rwanda as no hotel here can satisfy the security requirements, although Clinton has stayed here after he left office. Indeed, his foundation is very active in Rwanda.
I thought I’d post some lighter content although I have a lot on my mind that I would like to share. I’ve done and seen so much and have had the chance to post about only a small portion of my trip in Rwanda so far but I’ll use this post to share some random information encountered & events experienced during my trip.
On the road to Butare, I saw a G-Unit Saloon (for real!)
Taxi-bikes are everywhere in the small villages, and similarly to the moto-taxis in the city, they drive like crazy. On the bus back to Kigali from the north of the country, we were following a taxi-bike, with a passenger on the back seat, going at least 60 kph. These guys go fast on sketchy bikes. I unfortunately got to witness a crash as a fellow walking 3 feet ahead of me got clipped by a speeding bike going downhill. The guy was sent flying and the bike, with its two passengers, crashed hard. One of the passenger opened his hand pretty badly and we gave him the little medical supply we had with us at the time.
Being very close to the equator, the sun & the moon are quite different in their positions and in their patterns. I got to see an almost full moon high up in the afternoon sky on a clear blue sky background, lightly veiled by some white clouds. It was a fantastic sight.
Marylène taught me the meaning of ‘Ndagukunda’, which means ‘I love you’ in the local tongue.
As we were driving south in Bugesera, we were very close to a pretty severe car crash as a foolish old lady looked only one way before crossing and jumped in front of Jean-Claude’s vehicle. We swerved hard into the other lane, with incoming traffic in the form of a bus facing us, and then managed to swerve back into our lane. I’m still not sure how JC’s old car managed to stay on the road but we were shook for a long minute…Rwanda’s speed limit used to be 80kph but the they had too many casualties so it is now 60kph on national roads and 40kph when going through villages. It’s still dangerous…
Foot traffic on the major roads in the provinces is very intense. It looks like paved roads are used 90% for walking and 10% for vehicle traffic. Little kids play on the road, villagers bring their goods for selling at the market (mostly women carrying everything on their heads), youngsters travel to/from school, everyone and anyone carries their container of choice filled with the water supplies for the day, etc…The horn on every vehicle must get changed numerous times throughout the life of each one of them as they’re laying it on all the time to get people out of the way.
I got to travel in the small taxi-bus transports, where you only depart from the terminal when they fill it up with 18 passengers + the driver. Squeeze in! It’s a though decision to go for the seats in the back that get thrown around a bunch or the first row (our choice) where the heat of the engine, straight on your cramped feet, would be warm enough to prepare some tea. Not too comfortable but a luxury compared to walking long distances in the hot sun.
Only a few more days left in this beautiful country and I’m already sad at the thought of leaving. I will be back one day.
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Hélène Allard
ouf ! les taxis !!!! choc culturel amusant Je peux si bien imaginer!!!!! Bonne fin de voyage et bon retour Tu madrecita
Louis Pare
Je suis ton periple avec beaucoup de fascination.
Quelle aventure!
Marie-Hélène
J’ai hâte de lire la suite… Bon retour – MH