Our first weekend in Rwanda finds our team in both touristy and "local" situations. At about 6:30 on Saturday morning, Amanda, Kelly and I set out for our first run of the trip, exiting the guest house from the back to go up the hill to Amahoro Stadium (which took about four minutes). It was a lot of laps (although it could've been more, since we ran around the outside of the stadium rather than inside on the track), but I think we all were grateful to get out and stretch our legs in a gratifying way (not to mention it was probably about 65 degrees and cloudy, wonderful running weather). We were the only women running, although there were many other people there, ranging from casual joggers to athletes, and wore the least amount of clothing than anyone, wearing basketball shorts and t-shirts.
After we returned and relayed details of our endeavor to the rest of our team, it was time for another fruity breakfast, this time consisting of a banana, a bland orange with a green peel and a huge slice of mango. Then the cooks brought us some crepes and Karen got the peanut butter, and suddenly we were in a gourmet restaurant (at least that's how I felt...it's amazing how much you can take peanut butter for granted).
But the blog-worthiness of that breakfast came after the food. I don't know what started the conversation, or how we got to laughing so much at meals yesterday, but I think Alexa's revelation to us that her Chicken Tandoori "hot, posh wrap" from the airplane dinner on Thursday was still in her backpack--in the closet--was probably one of the funniest things about Saturday. Then Karen said she would pay Emily 25 cents to eat it, and everything got that much better (which is especially evident in the video of Emily actually eating it while Karen vehemently denies that she was being serious and says that Emily really shouldn't eat it).
Risky [breakfast] business aside, the day was much more eventful and we covered a lot of ground (more literally than figuratively). After a continuation of our Phase 10 game (which is still not finished, and in which I have somehow ended up in about last or second to last place), we hit the streets again with Bosco and Willy, picked up Dr. Imaculee at a gas station, and drove to the revered orphanage site which we had all been dying to see.
It doesn't look like much, but it's come a long way from the jungle-y plot of land it was before, and the smiles on the faces of the workers told us just how amazing and beautiful and wonderful this project is. Climbing around on top of the building was fun too, but it was walking the grounds that really gave us the eyes to see how much potential the site and even the country has. God is truly working here, and I'm excited to see how He will use our team to bring out that potential.
After everyone had their fill of taking pictures on and around the building, we gathered around a mango tree for a short prayer and set off on our tour, quickly realizing why Karen (and our Rwandan friends) had told us to wear tennis shoes and long pants (advice which I failed to heed to the appropriate extent). The grass on the majority of the grounds was fairly tall and prickly, and the "path" wound around and through myriad crops planted all the way up to the edge of what I like to call the "anti-squatter fence." But after about ten minutes or so of walking, our Rwandan leader literally had to use a machete to whack through all the brush to make a path. It was cool to see all the different types of plants (especially the banana trees, which we discovered can be sliced through like butter, even though the trunks are about 5 inches in diameter), try several of the crops (including but not limited to fresh corn, a small, bitter type of red eggplant, some kind of potato and some beans or ibihyimbo), attempt to assist in the harvest of beans (which I failed miserably at, for whatever reason) and meet with some of the workers, but by the time we resurfaced from the underbrush, several of us were covered in stickers and burrs, Anna getting the worst of it. It was also getting pretty hot outside, so I think most of us were ready to get back in the car and drive with the windows down just to feel the breeze.
It was about 1:30 when we arrived at La Planete for lunch, and although the heat had taken my appetite, an hour-plus-long wait in the shade brought it back--until the food came. I was hungry and I ate, but there was so much food that there wasn't more than an inch or two of free space in any given spot on the table. For nine people, we probably had 20 plates of rice, fried "banana" (which tasted like a potato), a coleslaw like dish, some type of pork or beef in red sauce, shishkabobs, french fries (not in the typical sense, perhaps, but the fried potatoes definitely took up most of the space), cassava, peas and carrots, a giant sponge-looking and -feeling dough ball called ugali, and even more. I really don't even know how we ate as much as we did, but I know I was beyond uncomfortably full after that--and, after almost 2 hours at the restaurant, it was time to walk to the market.
It took about an hour to get there, I think, but according to Karen, we took the long way. The way was hot and dusty, but our slow "Rwandan" pace was actually kind of nice, as it gave us all ample opportunity to take in our surroundings and talk with each other about our experiences thus far. When we arrived at the market, however, most of us found ourselves at least a little overwhelmed--and uncomfortable. Though I was surprised at how well I personally handled the smells of all the decaying organic matter mixed with body odor and generally unidentifiable scents, along with the extremely close quarters and importunate vendors, an hour was absolutely plenty of time to spend in there, and I'm fairly certain we spent at least half an hour longer than that in the roofed market place. Still, I came out with 18,000 FRW (Rwandan francs) or $30 worth of souvenirs, and a better idea of how to haggle better next time.
After we left the market, however, we still had a long walk back to the guest house--longer, most likely, because some of us were under the impression that Bosco was picking us up, and we'd been on our feet all day, some of us in less appropriate shoes than others *cough cough*. We were tired, hot and dirty, but a pit stop at a wedding dress shop brought us some smiles and laughs as Alexa became our team Barbie doll and posed for the camera, rhetorically asking, "Is this not the coolest thing that's ever happened to me?"
Probably around 6 o'clock or so, we finally made it back to the guest house, into the common area...and onto the floor, where we spent most of our time until dinner, which of course came too early and with too much food, even at 7:30. We got to try passion fruit and tree tomatoes though (which Willy and Karen had purchased at the market), and had a rollicking good time making designs in our corn cobs with our teeth, even though we were really too full to eat them.
After dinner and a devotional, it was finally time for bed--not even ten o'clock, but I was finally tired enough to sleep for 7 and a half hours solid.
And now, on to another day :)
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