Shout outs! Thanks for the reassuring words Lisa, Drew, we are excited to bring you all here as well. It will be great. Melissa, we knew some and didn't know some. We did not know tonsils was an elective surgery!
Wardrobe Update-We're on day two of our second set of pants. We did get some laundry done so our wardrobe will be more versatile as we finish off this adventure.
Ever have one of those days that is extremely busy but at the end you feel like you have accomplished nothing? This was our day.
We woke up early at the Isimbi (If you call not sleeping really much because of mosquitos, mosque call and busy working noises...) and quickly made our way to the Hotel Milles Collines (Hotel Rwanda. BTW-Our check-in early for free breakfast scheme was sniffed out pretty quickly). Last year we stayed here at the end of the trip as well. Purely for the historical significance of the site. The hotel has an excellent view of the hills surrounding Kigali and was at one time the tallest building in Kigali. It has since been dwarfed by bank buildings and the Serena Hotel (See last year's post about meeting Senator Dave Durenberger).
The room we were origninally assigned was not overlooking the pool. We switched to pool side and are now happy.
Last night, we were finally able to make an appointment with Mr. Charles Murigande, former Minister of Foreign Relations for Rwanda. He is now a special advisor to the Prime Minister. Mr. Murigande has been very busy the last couple of days as Rwanda has hosted the East African Economic Conference.
It was very good of him to work us into his schedule (It would be like meeting Condy!).
We met Mr. Murigande in the lobby of the Milles Collines and went to the pool. He and James ordered African tea and Dave ordered coffee. It was good that it took a long time for the beverages to arrive as it was clear that Mr. Murigande was meeting us as a favor. We exchanged pleasentries about his country and how much we loved Rwandas people. The conversation was marked with several periods of uncomfortable silence.
We finally had to talk about the weather (Can you believe we went to the weather after only 15 minutes!!).
Mr. Murigande was a very nice man but very quiet and probably pretty uninterested in us. But really, why would he be? (We had clean pants on so it could not have been the smell, right?!)
We do seriously want to thank Senator Durenberger for arranging this meeting. It was great for us even though it was not so great for Mr. Murigande.
After our meeting we quickly hopped motos and made our way to the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Last summer when we visited there were just over 280,000 victims of the Genocide buried in mass graves on the hill below the memorial building. As of now, there are close to 300,000 victims buried there. We filmed the outside of the memorial but we were unable to take pictures inside. Next year this memorial will be a great first stop for a good history of Rwanda leading to the Genocide.
There were several survivors and families of victims visiting the memorial today. One woman entered the building and started to sob uncontrollably while her family helped her up the stairs into the section of the memorial that honors the lives of the children lost during the Genocide. Unfortunatley, this is something that is probably not an uncommon occurrence at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.
(For a more detailed description of the Kigali Genocide Memorial, you can look at our entries from last year).
We made our way from the memorial to our favorite Italian restaurant, the O Sole Luna for a pizza and refreshments. It had been a long day already. We enjoyed our lunch and quickly continued with our day (Meaning off to the Centre Marembo which is just a short 5 minute walk from OSL).
Once there we were greeted by some of the boys who rely on CM for their schooling and other needs (Centre Marembo provides housing and school for 33 street boys and other services for another 66 or so). It was just a short time that we waited (and hugged many kids we remembered from last year) before Nicole (and her American friend Emily from VA), Nicollette and Santi joined us. Santi and Nicolette were the first 2 people we met in Rwanda last year and the first ones to bring us to have brochettes.
It was very good to see them.
As we were saying goodbyes and gathering up 2 duffles bags we needed to bring back to the states, Kuntz started to scream very loudly (uncomfortably loud actually). Cave looked over and Kuntz had reached to pick up his backpack that he had laid on the side of a wicker chair and rammed a sliver the size of a stake you would kill a vampire with under one of his fingernails! Ack!
Kuntz excused himself to go vomit (he was now sweating like a large man in a sweater in July and was the color of snow-in January).
We tried to get the stake out with a forecepts and alcohol wipes but to no avail.
At this point Kuntz just wanted to go to our hotel. Santi (who BTW is the worst driver in all of Rwanda er, wait, maybe the world) offered us a ride.
Now, for a very long reason Kuntz had told Santi we were still in the Isimbi Hotel. So we had ato fib (Children, fibbing is wrong. Do as I say not as I do!) and say we were meeting someone at the MC.
Once in our room, Kuntz used a nail clipper to cut down his nail to expose the stake. With a huge pull and a yelp, the stake was out! (Kathy, I made Dave keep it to show you but that may make his check on too heavy. We will see).
Well, I must say that Kuntz rebounded rather nicely and we were on motos down to the handicraft cooperative within a few minutes.
After about 2 hours of shopping (BTW-When a large bus of Muzungu missionairies from south Georgia, USA shows up, prices go up for everyone!). After a good time practicing our Kinyarwanda and learning new phrases (Thanks Francine and Deo for taking all of our shopping money-"good price for you because it is a Sunday") we took a cab back to the MC (we had 2 large duffle bags full of gifts that our kids won't like anyway).
The Euro Futbol championships are tonight in about an hour so we plan on eating by the pool at the Milles Collines, having a Fanta and a snack and enjoying the match (and some good people watching).
We will sign off tomorrow. We anticipate a full 12+hours of free breakfast buffet overlooking Kigali, wearing pants by the pool, the best cheese burger in Rwanda, reading, napping and reflecting a great trip.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Amahoro!
Kuntz and Cave
Wardrobe Update-We're on day two of our second set of pants. We did get some laundry done so our wardrobe will be more versatile as we finish off this adventure.
Ever have one of those days that is extremely busy but at the end you feel like you have accomplished nothing? This was our day.
We woke up early at the Isimbi (If you call not sleeping really much because of mosquitos, mosque call and busy working noises...) and quickly made our way to the Hotel Milles Collines (Hotel Rwanda. BTW-Our check-in early for free breakfast scheme was sniffed out pretty quickly). Last year we stayed here at the end of the trip as well. Purely for the historical significance of the site. The hotel has an excellent view of the hills surrounding Kigali and was at one time the tallest building in Kigali. It has since been dwarfed by bank buildings and the Serena Hotel (See last year's post about meeting Senator Dave Durenberger).
The room we were origninally assigned was not overlooking the pool. We switched to pool side and are now happy.
Last night, we were finally able to make an appointment with Mr. Charles Murigande, former Minister of Foreign Relations for Rwanda. He is now a special advisor to the Prime Minister. Mr. Murigande has been very busy the last couple of days as Rwanda has hosted the East African Economic Conference.
It was very good of him to work us into his schedule (It would be like meeting Condy!).
We met Mr. Murigande in the lobby of the Milles Collines and went to the pool. He and James ordered African tea and Dave ordered coffee. It was good that it took a long time for the beverages to arrive as it was clear that Mr. Murigande was meeting us as a favor. We exchanged pleasentries about his country and how much we loved Rwandas people. The conversation was marked with several periods of uncomfortable silence.
We finally had to talk about the weather (Can you believe we went to the weather after only 15 minutes!!).
Mr. Murigande was a very nice man but very quiet and probably pretty uninterested in us. But really, why would he be? (We had clean pants on so it could not have been the smell, right?!)
We do seriously want to thank Senator Durenberger for arranging this meeting. It was great for us even though it was not so great for Mr. Murigande.
After our meeting we quickly hopped motos and made our way to the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Last summer when we visited there were just over 280,000 victims of the Genocide buried in mass graves on the hill below the memorial building. As of now, there are close to 300,000 victims buried there. We filmed the outside of the memorial but we were unable to take pictures inside. Next year this memorial will be a great first stop for a good history of Rwanda leading to the Genocide.
There were several survivors and families of victims visiting the memorial today. One woman entered the building and started to sob uncontrollably while her family helped her up the stairs into the section of the memorial that honors the lives of the children lost during the Genocide. Unfortunatley, this is something that is probably not an uncommon occurrence at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.
(For a more detailed description of the Kigali Genocide Memorial, you can look at our entries from last year).
We made our way from the memorial to our favorite Italian restaurant, the O Sole Luna for a pizza and refreshments. It had been a long day already. We enjoyed our lunch and quickly continued with our day (Meaning off to the Centre Marembo which is just a short 5 minute walk from OSL).
Once there we were greeted by some of the boys who rely on CM for their schooling and other needs (Centre Marembo provides housing and school for 33 street boys and other services for another 66 or so). It was just a short time that we waited (and hugged many kids we remembered from last year) before Nicole (and her American friend Emily from VA), Nicollette and Santi joined us. Santi and Nicolette were the first 2 people we met in Rwanda last year and the first ones to bring us to have brochettes.
It was very good to see them.
As we were saying goodbyes and gathering up 2 duffles bags we needed to bring back to the states, Kuntz started to scream very loudly (uncomfortably loud actually). Cave looked over and Kuntz had reached to pick up his backpack that he had laid on the side of a wicker chair and rammed a sliver the size of a stake you would kill a vampire with under one of his fingernails! Ack!
Kuntz excused himself to go vomit (he was now sweating like a large man in a sweater in July and was the color of snow-in January).
We tried to get the stake out with a forecepts and alcohol wipes but to no avail.
At this point Kuntz just wanted to go to our hotel. Santi (who BTW is the worst driver in all of Rwanda er, wait, maybe the world) offered us a ride.
Now, for a very long reason Kuntz had told Santi we were still in the Isimbi Hotel. So we had ato fib (Children, fibbing is wrong. Do as I say not as I do!) and say we were meeting someone at the MC.
Once in our room, Kuntz used a nail clipper to cut down his nail to expose the stake. With a huge pull and a yelp, the stake was out! (Kathy, I made Dave keep it to show you but that may make his check on too heavy. We will see).
Well, I must say that Kuntz rebounded rather nicely and we were on motos down to the handicraft cooperative within a few minutes.
After about 2 hours of shopping (BTW-When a large bus of Muzungu missionairies from south Georgia, USA shows up, prices go up for everyone!). After a good time practicing our Kinyarwanda and learning new phrases (Thanks Francine and Deo for taking all of our shopping money-"good price for you because it is a Sunday") we took a cab back to the MC (we had 2 large duffle bags full of gifts that our kids won't like anyway).
The Euro Futbol championships are tonight in about an hour so we plan on eating by the pool at the Milles Collines, having a Fanta and a snack and enjoying the match (and some good people watching).
We will sign off tomorrow. We anticipate a full 12+hours of free breakfast buffet overlooking Kigali, wearing pants by the pool, the best cheese burger in Rwanda, reading, napping and reflecting a great trip.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Amahoro!
Kuntz and Cave
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