New Places

Hi Everyone!!!!

Sorry it's been soooooo long since I've written; sometimes it's difficult to find something to write about. Life isn't always exciting and blog worthy. I still find it ironic that I'm writing about my life and people are reading it...but that's just me. Thanks for your support! :0)

Life has slowed down since Dorcas is on break. I'm still in the process of doing some technical writing for Bringing Hope to the Family. It's a slow process.

This last week we took a trip to Rwanda, so I could renew my visa; it was an adventure. Katie, Chris, Kolby, Logan, AJ, Ana and I piled into the Pajero and took off on the adventure.

Me at the equator.

Rwanda is the land of 10,000 hills... literally. All the roads were s-curves up one side of a hill (small mountain) and then s-curves down the other side of the hill; then repeat this for 350 miles...it took us 12 hours...long day in the car.

Me, Katie and Ana in the Pajero.

We were making great time until we stopped at Kibale (a city just north of the Uganda/Rwanda border). Quick service is foreign concept in most restaurants in Uganda...the Little Ritz is no different. It took 2.5 hours to get our food...but in their defense the food was pretty good.

Next stop...the border. 1.5 hours later, 4-5 places to check-in and removal of window tinting and we were across and into Rwanda. Rwanda is a beautiful country, very clean and orderly, but they don't have many tourist attractions other than gorilla trekking and volcanoes. But if you like beautiful scenery then Rwanda will satisfy you. Their terrace farming is amazing; I've never seen anything like it anywhere else in the world.

Kigali, Rwanda in the morning mist.

We stayed in Kigali, the capitol, the first night. The city is built on two hills. It has beautiful views. The next day, we went from Kigali to Gisenyi on Lake Kivu. The drive was beautiful; we passed by the Volcano National Park and saw some smoking volcanoes.

Terracing on the road to Gisenyi.

Bamboo forest and road construction.

Lake Gisenyi is nice. It is a little hazy, but the water is warm; I think it's due to the closeness of the volcanoes. We spent the next day at one of the nice hotels using their pool and private beach. I decided not to swim in the lake...as we were driving to the hotel there were about 10 people bathing in the lake, so I decided swimming in the lake wasn't necessary.

We only spent one day in Gisenyi, then it was back to Uganda. AJ and I ended up getting sick on the day we came back, which made the trip even more memorable. LOL! All in all it was fun exploring a new country, and doing it with great friends made it even better.

I did learn a few things about traveling to and from Rwanda. So if you ever travel between Uganda and Rwanda here are some tips: Rwandans speak French...so learn some French, it is very difficult to exchange Ugandan Shillings in Rwanda...so exchange money before you go, Rwanda is more expensive than Uganda...so plan accordingly, and the biggest thing I learned is when renewing your visa, the Uganda border only accepts US$, not Ugandan Shillings...so make sure you take American money with you, or you'll be taken by a money changer at the border. :0)

We had a good time. I was nice to get away and explore a new place.

Talk to you again soon...I promise. :0) .

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa