The phrase “rise and shine” was the furthest thing from my mind when I woke up for day 2 in Gashora. I spent the night flicking ants, swatting mosquitoes and refusing to call the sack of rocks I placed my head on a pillow. I was happy to get out of bed altogether when my alarm went off at 6:30. Just like dinner, Café de Nyamata doesn’t have breakfast. So we had to head to our favorite Nyamata dining experience across the street. For breakfast we had one egg and some coffee.
Even though we ordered the simplest breakfast possible, it still took a really long time to make and arrive, so we were running behind by the time we finished. We headed back to the hotel and we put our gear in the truck and were on our way. Except the truck wouldn’t start. Or it would, but if I would touch the gas it would kill the engine. Right as we were struggling with it, Evanitie called to see where we were and we asked her what the deal was. She said we had to open up the carburetor and let some air in to get the engine going. Hilarious image? These three muzungus trying to figure out what a carburetor is.
Kara moonlights as a mechanic
We decided to just let it run and slowly try to give it gas. That worked, so even later than being late from breakfast, we were driving back to Gashora. When we pulled up nobody was at the co-op and everyone was already on their way to the lake. Today we were filming them extracting and drying the hyacinth. So Eugene showed up to take us there with a few of the women, and I opted to climb in the back so that Eugene could drive. He scoffed at the idea and said muzungus don’t ride in the back, and I responded that I wasn’t a muzungu. He laughed and got in the driver’s seat.
It was about a 20-30 minute, 10+ kilometer drive to the lake. But the women walk it. As we were driving, we passed many of them on their way and would stop and pick them up. By the time we drove up to the lake, the back of the truck was full. We all piled out and I filmed them working for about an hour. I got some excellent footage and both Kara and I got awesome photos. Something about Africa (the light? the people?) is just so photogenic. And I know what I’m shooting is doing absolutely no justice to what it actually looks like. From there we all drove back to the co-op where I filmed and Lama interviewed Evanitie. I had accidentally forgot my headphones back at the hotel (and I was furious with myself for doing so) so I could not hear the audio. I watched the levels but I’m so worried about how the audio turned out. I guess we could always reshoot but man that’s sloppy, especially for something as stupid as forgetting headphones!
I had digested that single egg and was hungry again by the time I stood up from breakfast. Now it was late in the afternoon and we were all exceptionally hungry. I must admit, my overuse of the word “starving” has been curtailed significantly since arriving here, as a fun fact. But anyway, we had to wait for a bus to take us to Nyamata so we went to a restaurant from lunch. It was a small, quaint place and Eugene and Evanitie joined us. We talked some business but mostly they told us stories that exemplified the harsh life that a lot of people know in places like Gashora. Some of it literally was unbelievable, and almost makes you enraged on the spot to hear about such injustice.
The bus stopped by the restaurant conveniently enough and we worked out a deal. They were going all the way to Kigali and so they said they would stop at our hotel and let us pick up our bags and then take us all the way. They said they were leaving right away so we hurried to finish our food and drinks and then when we were ready to go, we realized the driver had ordered food so we were back to being in no hurry whatsoever. The drive was interesting. I was sitting beside a solider holding an AK-47 between his knees. Not quite the same bus experience as in Canada. I was also exhausted and kept falling asleep sitting up and practically sleeping on the guy beside me. Kara snapped a camera phone picture of it that woke me up, as well as the sound of everyone in the van laughing at me. We had to pay for two extra seats to fit all our luggage into the vehicle, and I rode in the back with it to Kigali.
Freddy picked us up from the bus stop and said he was going to treat us to dinner because he had big news. After he had dropped us off in Gashora yesterday, he went straight to a meeting where he ended up landing a major contract, so he felt like we gave him luck and wanted to celebrate with us. Who are we to refuse the unending kindness of Freddy? So we went to Stipp Hotel and it was quite fancy. There was a pool with a water fall that you could swim right up to the bar in and there were under water stools. We ordered appetizers, wine, nice meals, incredible dessert, it was fantastic. It’s just totally something else to go from staying in Nyamata and Gashora to dining at a restaurant like Stipp. It’s like two different worlds or something, and the regular traversing we are doing between the two isn’t easy to adjust to. Interestingly enough we talked about it, Kara commented that Freddy liked to live like royalty, and he said “You know guys, I really think I deserve it.” I couldn’t agree more, and I’ll have much more to say on the topic tomorrow. But I do need to further stress the quality of our dinner and time there – I’ve rarely eaten that well in Canada, or anywhere I’ve ever been. It was extremely classy and everything about it was made so much better by the two days prior in Gashora. Freddy says he’s sick of us always thanking him, but I am always extremely grateful for his heartfelt gestures and tonight is no exception.
We stayed at the restaurant until it was good and late, and afterwards Freddy drove us back to the hotel so we could get some sleep before another am appointment the next day.
