Bungwe and Back

So day three was another trek up a different mountain. This time to Bungwe in the North of Rwanda right on the border with Uganda. It's a great clinic. There are these wonderful Sisters who run the clinic. They have been here for more than 30 years and are just lovely. This place is about 3 hours outside of Kigali, another hour on good tarmac past people carrying all kinds of things and tea farms in the middle of harvest. Then a quick turn off to a 60 percent grade of rutted dirt. You bounce up and down along steep switchbacks again through stand after stand of banana trees. More children, more neatly kept small cement and dirt houses with terracotta tile roofs and perfectly tended "yards" and fences made from thickly growing tall plants kept trimmed to shoulder height.

Bungwe is a very poor village, like all the others really. While people that had not seen the new auberge (sp?) were getting a tour I took a stroll down the lane.

Word of the lone mzungu woman traveled quickly and I was soon surrounded by all but the youngest children, who tend to be slightly frightened of the colorless skin. All crowded around repeating one of the few words they know in english, photo, photo, photo.

After 10 minutes or so of half words in kinyarwandan and very broken french, I got them to understand that they needed to stand still while I backed up so I could get them all in the shot. This was after backing about 100 meters down the road with them creeping forward with every step I took backward.

Then, it was off to the "restaurant" in town for goat on a stick. I skipped the intestine, and got a good laugh when I explained we called them chitterlings in the states.

All for now. Miss you guys,

K.