Kibuye

2 weeks ago, I went to Lake Kivu and Kibuye for the weekend. It was a beautiful place!

I went with a group of friends by motorcycle, for which I have my very own PINK helmet. Yes, you read correctly...it is pink. Some call it a Barbie helmet. Well, it sure did draw attention. The entire 2 1/2 hour drive there, I was stared at. As the local people walk alongside the road, they stop and stare when they see us both coming and going. With a big smile on my face (I love riding on a motorcycle! And I love living in Rwanda!), I would return the waves and thumbs up signs of all the little children as they laughed and jumped around when we drove by.

At one point, in part to rest our legs and in part to see a well that Living Water International drilled for a community, we stopped on the side of the road and watched/played soccer with a large group of local children. They loved it - gathered around us, smiling, playing homemade instruments, laughing...

Once arrived, we checked into a hotel where I shared a small room with a friend and then sat in the restaurant to order our food. Restaurant service is very slow (compared to Canadian standards) is Kigali, but extremely slow in smaller villages... it takes hours from the time you sit down: you order drinks and wait for a long while, then order food and wait for a long while, then eat, and finally wait for a long time for the bill. The whole eating out process takes hours from start to finish. But usually the food is worth it :)

In Kibuye, we hired a boat complete with 2 drivers for the day and went out to Bat Island on Lake Kivu. We climbed it in 16 minutes (I won a bet about this, thus the time is important... I said it couldn't be done in 15 minutes or less... and I won a free dinner out :) ). We stopped to take pictures of giant millipedes that littered the hillside (I picked them up, too!) while the guides threw rocks into the trees to startle the bats into putting on a display for us. There were hundreds of them flying overhead! It was pretty amazing, because I loved bats to begin with.
Upon reaching the top, we had a spectacular view and took some group shots (hope to be posted soon). After our descent, we enjoyed another hour or two just swimming in the Lake and praying against being infested with parasites from the water. (So far, so good) :)

Overall, a wonderful weekend with some great people!