Presbyterians, water parasites, and hot spring puddles

A few weeks ago, a few of my friends and I traveled up to Gisenyi to visit Lake Kivu, a popular weekend spot for East African residents and visitors.

After a 3.5 hour bus ride full of winding roads, steep inclines, and near-death experiences trying to pass slow moving vehicles, we made it to Gisenyi town. Upon leaving our bus, we were immediately accosted by a herd of motos that wanted our business. Unfortunately, none of them were familiar with the place we were staying at, and so it took about 10 minutes (and a phone call) to clarify things. A few hundred meters later (yes, we could have walked), we arrived at the Presbyterian Guesthouse. This guesthouse was chosen, not for its location, but for its price. Since we were all budget travelers, the idea of paying a few dollars for a dorm-style bed was all we needed to agree on making the reservation.

Well, we found our way to Reception, and after overcoming some misunderstandings and language barriers, we deciphered the meaning of what the lady was telling us: there were separate dorm rooms for guys and girls. Well, the married couple in our group did NOT like the idea of that, and neither did I, since the idea of the dorm room sounded fun mainly because we would all be together in the same room. Note to self: Presbyterians have strict, conservative rules. Needless to say, we changed our housing situation and were all much, much happier in the end.

We then made our way to the lake, which, according to multiple people, was only be a 10 minute walk from our guesthouse. I believe it ended up taking about 30 minutes (better late than never!), but our walking was generously rewarded when we found ourselves on the property of The Serena, an up-scale, fancy hotel for people that can afford it. After making ourselves comfortable on their beachfront property, we were told by one of the staff that it would cost us 3,000 RWF ($5) to sit on their lawn chairs - but we could use their pool facilities. In light of the rumors about parasites in the lake (talk about a whole new meaning to SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK), we did not need much convincing.

After splashing around in the pool, playing Bananagrams while waiting for our lunch to arrive, and taking a much needed nap by the lake, we decided to check out the nearby hot springs. We were shockingly disappointed to find that the hot springs were really only a few puddles of boiling water. We were not impressed. Not impressed at all.

We ended the night at the restaurant at Hotel Malahide Paradis. The place had a pretty sweet view of the mountains, fishing boats and some little islands. Unfortunately, the food was a bit overpriced and the rain forced us indoors, but the staff gave us some coals in a bowl to warm our feet, so at the very least it was a nice and toasty little evening.

Overall, I'd say it was a pretty awesome weekend getaway, and all for about 50USD per person. Not bad. Not bad at all.

*I apologize for the scarcity of pictures. Rwanda internet just doesn't want to play nice.

ignornace is bliss?

Generally speaking, most people have positive views on the world and humanity, unless something happens to turn that perspective around. Unfortunately, it doesn't always take something big to cause that change in mentality.

Two days ago, as I was leaving a tutoring session, I felt myself panicking as I realized I did not have my phone in its usual place of residence - my wallet. I figured I had left it at work, and so decided not to "freak out" until the next morning when I could search high and low for it. Well, as you can imagine, I arrived at work the next day and could not find my phone. I made the conclusion that someone must've taken it right off my desk where I had left it.

I shared this theory with my colleague, but she seemed to think that it had been stolen elsewhere (after all, only students come to the office and what student would steal my phone?). I decided to give our little GR family the benefit of the doubt, as I, too, did not want to think poorly of our students.

However, that same night, I went in search of a hard drive that I borrowed from my boyfriend, and could not find it in my room at home. Again, I told myself not to freak out, and that I would come to a conclusion as to whether it was gone after looking in and around the office at work. The next morning, I performed a thorough search of the office. No dice.

So, I can't say that I am mad or surprised that this happened. Living abroad for about 3 years is a long time not to have anything stolen. But, I have to say that I am disappointed in humanity. I am disappointed that even within our close circle of students and staff (and yes, it's possible that it was a complete stranger that just walked in), someone made this poor decision. I'm just very disappointed.

Oh well. I suppose this is humanity we're talking about, and there's not much else I can do but accept what's happened.