A picture is worth a thousand words

This text may be brief-- for several reasons:

1. I am using a French keyboard in Kigale, Rwanda so all of the letters are in the wrong spots.

2. I think I have giardiasis, so I might have to run.

3. This is a fast internet connection; so I can finally upload some pictures


So, since the last post, a lot has happened. We left Nungwi and headed down to Stone Town. Stone Town is the hub of Zanzibar-- where all of the trade in slaves, ivory, and spices occurred back in the 19th and early 20th centuries. We spent some time exploring the town before digging into a hostel for the night. Our hostel had a fan, air conditioning, mosquito nets without holes, and a TV. We were definitely spoiled that night, and thus we chose to eschew futher exploration in the historic city in favour of watching a horrible Hallmark movie and two episodes of Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel. While that may seem criminal to some, bear in mind that we have been living in comparative squalour for the past weeks, with showers so cold they would horrify hardened infantrymen, rather sketchy neighbourhoods, and Goldilocks-style extremes in mattress firmness.

The next day, we went on a spice tour. A huge part of Zanzibar's economy was, and to some extent remains, based on the production and export of spices. We visited farms where ginger, cardimon, nutmeg, cloves, and many other spices were grown, and then we were treated to a lunch of coconut-based, well-spiced curry with basmati rice, prepared freshly by local women. In the evening, we went to a restaurant called Mercury's, named after Freddy Mercury (the lead singer of the group Queen) who was born in Stone Town. Fairly inconsequential trivia, but now you know.

We then took the overnight ferry back to Dar Es Salaam (it was half price-- and this way we didn't need to get a room for the night). In Dar, we booked bus tickets to Shinyanga, a city on the other side of Tanzania. We then took a bus to the mall. Yes, Dar Es Salaam has a modern mall, and yes, we're horrible people for spending our time in it. We watched a movie on "the biggest screen in East Africa", and then took a tuk-tuk back to the YMCA, where we spent the night. We were supposed to wake up at 4:30, to be at the bus station for 5:30, but we definitely slept in until 5:30.We stuffed our belongings haphazardly into our bags, ran downstairs, and caught a taxi. Dar Es Salaam has a huge problem with traffic jams, but thankfully at 5:30 in the morning, the roads were fairly clear. There was ridiculous congestion right outside the bus station, so we decided to get out of the cab and make a run for it. As we were unloading our luggage, a man came up to Kyle and tried to sell him bus tickets. Kyle felt the guy go for his wallet, and started the chase when the theif was a mere 6 feet away. He was joined by several other bystanders, and the pickpocket knew his gig was up. He threw the wallet back at Kyle and continued running. Of course, I was in the taxi paying the driver, unaware of everything, so when I got out of the taxi, I was mildly ticked off that Kyle had just up and left all of our stuff on the street. But he came back, we ran for our bus, and managed to make it on.

In East Africa, when they say a bus takes 12 hours, it will really take 18. And thus it did. That, combined with my aforementioned gastric difficulties (beginning to blossom at this stage), provided for an enjoyable ride.

From Shinyanga, we took another 8 hour bus (the next day) to the Rwandan border, and then took a 3 hour shared taxi ride into Kigale. In the taxi, we met a Katelyn Maher, a native of Buffalo, New York, doing a Master's degree in public policy at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. A fluent francophone, she was entering Rwanda in order to administer a poverty survey in and around the Kigale area. I like to think my French is decent, but I am definitely not able to negotiate exchange rates with Katelyn's flair. It definitely did the trick-- we got a solid 545 Rwandan Francs for each of our US dollars.

Rwanda, le Pays de Milles Collines, the land of a thousand hills, is stunning. Kigale is the most pleasant large city we have been in yet (apparently due to post-genocide foreign investment), the people are friendly and helpful, and they don't expect anything in return. One Rwandan student who we met, Gaston, walked with us for half an hour to the Canadian embassy, and wouldn't even take a few hundred francs for a taxi back to his house. He said he needed the exercise.

The next day, I went to the hospital. The night had not been fun-- I had spent nearly as much time with the porcelain as with the cotton. Some tests were performed (the results still pending at the time of writing), but hopefully by tonight I will have some answers as well as some solutions. We did not attend church this morning (I felt far too uncomfortable, and Kyle would have had a fun time with the French and/or Kinyarwandan sermon). But we will definitely do some bible study tonight, eat a light dinner, and hope that tonight's sleep is a little more sound.