R&R

Three months in to my year here in Kibondo, I had my first week of leave – or, as it’s called around here, “R&R” (rest and relaxation). Typing that out has made me realize for the first time what a redundant term it is. But moving on … for all that this is my third time in Tanzania, neither of the first two trips involved traveling very far outside of Dar es Salaam, let alone outside of the country, so with 9 whole days of freedom and almost as many countries along Tanzania’s borders, I set out to rectify that situation.

The itinerary:

Day 1 (Saturday, September 20): catch a ride to the Rwandan border with IRC (one of their doctors was also setting off on a trip (albeit a much longer one) and the first leg of her trip conveniently coincided with my plans) and make our way over to Kigali

Day 2: bus to Kampala from Kigali

Days 3-4: hang out in Kampala while staying with some fellow PiAf’ers

Days 5-7: trip to Murchinson Falls (boat trip up the Nile to the base of the Falls, hike around the top of the Falls, and game drive around Murchinson Falls Park)

Days 7-8: travel from Kampala to Kigali to Rusumo to Nyakanazi

Day 9: bus from Nyakanazi back to Kibondo

The irony of the whole “rest and relaxation” thing is that getting, well, anywhere, from Kibondo is anything but relaxing. For all that I can see Burundi from here on a clear day – and for all that Rwanda, Uganda, the DRC, Kenya, Zambia, and Malawi aren’t that much farther away – when the roads seem less like roads and more like interminable stretches of moguls on a double black diamond ski slope, traveling even short distances is inevitably slow and unpleasant. In other words, I spent more hours than I care to remember this past week jostling down roads in Tanzania and Uganda. There are paved roads in Tanzania … the majority of them just happen to be located elsewhere, with the notable exception of the (all too short) stretch of road from Nyakanazi to the Rwandan border. I didn’t think it was possible for something as simple as tarmac to make me so incredibly happy, but wow. We hit that pavement, I turned to look at E, saw that my huge grin was mirrored on her face, and we both burst into laughter. Every few minutes after that, one of us would poke the other and whisper something along the lines of “check it out – a curb!” or “a speed limit sign! No way!” or “woah, there’s even a guide rail!” We were still basking in the tarmac-glow when got to the Rwandan border (a good 80 kilometers or so from Nyakanazi) … and as far as simple pleasures go, Rwanda was the gift that kept on giving. Paved road the whole way to Kigali – and not just any old paved road, but a flawlessly paved one … complete with painted lines, pedestrian crossings, and not a single pothole. Not one! And then there were all those other little things that E and I gleefully ogled like country bumpkins: drainage canals running alongside the road! no piles (or even pieces) of garbage lying around! people getting turned away from the minibus because all the seats were already taken! traffic lights! power lines! But more than anything, we were just happy to be sailing along on that wonderfully smooth road :-D

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to spend much time in Kigali as we had to catch an early bus to Kampala the next morning, but perhaps some other time. Rwanda’s a pretty tiny country, so getting to the Ugandan border the next day didn’t take long at all. Driving through southern Uganda felt a little bit like driving through Pennsylvania: the roads aren’t as good as its neighbors, it takes forever, and there isn’t much to see until you get to the city on the far end of it … but as far as 7-8 hour bus rides go, it wasn’t so bad. I spent just enough time in Kampala to remember how annoying traffic is … but not quite enough time to stop thinking that as long as my destination’s the wonderfully well-stocked bookstore in the Garden City Mall, I don’t care how annoying the traffic is! The bookstores aren’t the only things Kampala has going for it … there’s also the cheese, ice cream, round-the-clock power, and three great PiAf fellows to hang out with :-)

(Rounds 2, 3, 4, etc. of the R&R blog updates coming soon …)