Spring Breekend!!!

So, spring break doesn’t actually exist here. You have no idea how jealous I am of those of you who actually had it. We don’t have any scheduled breaks here, so two Fridays ago, we made our own. After work, we all packed up our bags and headed to the beach!! Katy and Ben caught an early bus, while Alissa and I caught a bus Friday night. Tameshia flew out the next day :P Alissa and I met in the Nyabugogo bus park and we’re lucky to catch the last bus to Gisenyi that night! The bus park is immensely crowded and busy. There were beggars, hockers, vendors, mtn guys, people trying to get you on their buses, motos, storefronts, and an endless maze of buses. The bus ride took about 3 hours, and it was dark the entire way, so we couldn’t see a thing. We got to Gisenyi and took motos almost all the way to our hotel as the drivers clearly had no idea where they were going even though they said they did. We got to one hotel and asked for directions, though they had no idea where our hotel was either. Disappointed, we went back out to our motos, tried to explain to them that no, we were not going to Bethany guest house in Kibuye. We were staying here in Gisenyi. Then out of nowhere, the Americans arrived! As Alissa put it, clearly Americans are saviors. They gave us skittles, showed us the glow of the volcano in the distance, and walked us to our hotel. Paying the motos was fun as well. As usually happens when you’re talking to moto drivers, a whole swarm of them descended on us. By the time we had to pay them, we had forgotten which ones had driven us, and they were all asking for money! We just gave it to our best guess knowing that they knew the truth and they could fight over it themselves.

The next day was beach day! We had a great breakfast, met up with Tameshia, and headed down to Lake Kivu!! Of course getting pictures with the “DRC border in .3 Km” sign in good tourist fashion :P We first walked out on a jetty of rocks that was really pretty and just enjoyed the lake! It was huge! Not quite as big as America’s great lakes, but much bigger than any other lake I’ve seen. Next, we walked down the road toward the Serena Hotel—this super fancy hotel that had a gorgeous pool and a private beach. This would probably be a good time to mention that this trip was for Ben’s birthday and was largely subsidized by his parents. Alissa and I went for a dip in the lake (not sure if we were supposed to do that or not, but oh well) and then came back onshore to relax :) Somewhere between the high elevation, the lake reflection, and the equatorial sun, I was burned in no time. Almost two weeks later, I’m still peeling. The food there was ridiculously expensive and not that great, but oh well. Vacation. It was also fairly awkward that our beach was almost entirely made up of white people while the beach a little further down was entirely made up of black people with a rope and a guard separating the two. That was pretty awkward, and I was fairly uncomfortable being at such a nice hotel, but I guess it was only for one day? Whatever helps me sleep at night :/ Anyway, once we got bored, we walked down the road into town to go to the market. We had heard it was a lot bigger and more interesting, but it turned out to be fairly run of the mill. It was still interesting though. Between dresses, skirts, and a hijab (for me :P), we made out pretty well. We ended up walking back to our hotel in the rain and only after the hour plus trek did we find out that town and the market were only a 15 minute walk from our hotel. We took the extremely long way. But we finished off the night with some amazing pizza and a good night’s sleep on the most comfortable beds!

The next morning, we headed back to the lake, but this time, we wanted to find a boat that could take us out for a ride. We found some local fishermen and paid them about 10,000 francs to take us out around this little island and to go see the hot springs! The area is fairly volcanic with a few volcanoes in the area and…some sort of gas trapped at the bottom of the lake. The hot springs were awesome. We felt super touristy as we drove up while people were bathing and just hanging out. But some other muzungus were there right before us, so I’m guessing they’re used to it. And the water was piping hot! If I could bathe there every day, I totally would. After the boat ride, we stopped by this one restaurant where you could pick out your own fish from a lady selling it on the street and have the restaurant cook it for you. I opted out of this one, of course, and instead feasted on chips (fries), primus, and sugar cane (which made my jaw ache! You have to peel away the bark with your teeth and break off chunks of super fibrous pulp to chew and suck the juice out of. Tough work for some sugar water! But it was good). We nearly missed the bus again in the afternoon. Apparently Sunday evening is rush hour for people heading back into Kigali. But we made it back just fine and got to enjoy some beautiful scenery along the way!