Gisenyi & Rubona

I wanted to get the most out of my weekend in Gisenyi. Time goes fast and so do my little excursions. Gisenyi has got a lovely waterfront that leads all the way to the Congolese border up north, less than 2,5km away. Going 5km back south over the hills, there’s the pleasant town of Rubona, known for the Bralirwa national brewery.

Walk this way
On Friday I wanted to visit the Bralirwa brewery that brews the popular Primus beer. I was very curious to find out whether or not it had anything to do with the Belgian Primus beer, who’s brewery is very near my hometown. I decided it wouldn’t be bad for me to walk the 5km uphill to the small town, but halfway up rain started pooring down. What would normally take about a good hour, took me almost two hours as I had to find shelter at some point, but the trip is worthwile the effort. By the time I reached my destination I was soaked and cold so went to the lovely Paradis Malahide for a nice cup of warm tea and well deserved lunch.

I sat down in the garden on wooden benches under an umbrella made out of dried bananaleaves. The views over the lake are breathttaking and one could sit there the entire day, staring at the water, the mountains, the fishing boats and the planes landing and taking off from Goma airport (Congo). I had a local ‘fish & chips’ plate, served on wooden plates with wooden cutlery. Soon after, the sun came out and my clothes dried up in no time. When I finally enjoyed that cup of tea, my new friends Patrick and Erin showed up as well. They’d come straight from the clinic and we sat there practically until sunset, laughing and joking around.

Sunset at the beach
On my way back I quickly checked out the brewery, but was told to come back on Monday. Enjoying the sunset on the back of a motobike (I started loving these things!) I headed back to Gisenyi where I watched the last evening sun going under. What a view! A place where there couldn’t be more lack of sustainable tourism is the massive Serena hotel. One of Rwanda’s most expensive places, but a Kenyan chain. The one in Kigali charges 400USD per night for a suite, according to my travel guide. I decided to have a look around, have a drink and get out of there as I wasn’t planning on filling their pockets. I must’ve come in at the right time cause while I was enjoying a European-priced glass of white wine, a group of Intore (pronounce /eenoree/) dancers came out singing, dancing and drumming their way around the terrace by the pool. Harsh to say, but that’s what you’ve got to do in these kind of places: have one drink, enjoy the show, and then leave and go have food at a local restaurant.

The show was fab and left to Al Shaida for Patrick’s goodbye drinks as he was leaving the next day. On my way up I found myself minutes later in a pitch dark deserted area in town due to a general powercut. Luckily, I always carry a headlight, so I caught the attention of a motobike driver and drove to the pub. The evening passed, I missed my curfew and was invited to spend the night at the guesthouse where I became Charlotte’s roommate for the night. Fun and games!

Bye bye
On Saturday morning, Katie – the lady who does everything around the guesthouse – made us a wonderful breakfast and we all chilled out a bit. While Charlotte took on of the biggest challenges overhere – going to the bank – Patrick had to pack and say some last goodbyes at the clinic. I joined him, even if it was only to enjoy another ride on the back of a moto. We stayed for exact 30 seconds before returning to the guesthouse. It was too emotional, which I can understand if you’ve lived on a high for months, heard the most remarkable stories, seen misery and devastating cases… it cannot be anything else but emotional, knowing you’re going back to a clean and safe place.

After a quick lunch we waved Patrick goodbye at the busstop and headed to the internetcafé before making our final stop at the White Rock restaurant where we enjoyed another perfect sunset. We sat there, taking it all in and Charlotte, Erin and I had a great time together, talking about everyday life in New Zealand, England and Belgium.

Congo
On Sunday morning, Charlotte and Erin wanted to walk to Congo, or at least, the border, thinking it would take about an hour to get there. I think it didn’t even take us 15 minutes before we reached the officials guarding the border. One would expect a wall with a big gate, barbwire, fences, heavily armed security guards or officials, signposts and all that, but it’s a rather simple transit area. Pictures are of course not allowed so we headed back and ended up sheltering from unexpected rain in the Green Gardens bar. We do sound lazy, don’t we, drinking cups of tea and coffee the whole time, sitting around, watching the lake. But we were all fully aware of that, just enjoying our very last day at the lakeside.

Sometimes I need some time to stare in the far distance, thinking about nothing in particular, but reflecting on things. Charlotte and Erin were off to the orphanage and I stayed at the beach. Not to get a tan, but to sit and take it all in. The Serena hotel offers a private beach but I definitely didn’t want to go there. Many local people were actually doing the same thing and moms would sit there while their children played in the water. At some point, I did get all the attention and people would come and stand around me, practically standing on my towel, doing nothing else but staring. A few of them did ask me something, which I couldn’t understand, but instead of leaving, they just stood there. I felt pretty uncomfortable with five people around me and I got up only to put my towel down again a few meters away from them. Apart from the children, they got the message, but then others would come up to me again.

It was soon time to leave so I went back to the hostel and packed my bags. Later that evening, Charlotte, Erin and I met up again at White Rock to enjoy our very last sunset all together. It was a perfect goodbye in perfect company with perfect food. What more could one ask!

Brewery part 2
On Monday morning, after being awake since 4am, I left to Rubona, to get the information I wanted from the brewery and the gas project. The tourism office had told me the week before to just go there and ask about it. When I got there the second time, the guard told me to come back on Thursday. I replied that his colleague had told me on Friday to come back on Monday. He just laughed at me face and walked away. I was very upset – and soaked once again due to the heavy rainfall – that I had to go and cool off (or warm up for that matter) at the Paradis Malahide. A good excuse to see the place one last time and time to come up with an alternative idea as to how to get the information I wanted. On my way back, I decided to take my pictures already and then ring them up from Kigali.

At the gate I bumped into two other tourists who had the same encounter with this guard, only he had told them to come back on Tuesday. They seemed to be very disappointed as well and we decided to try one more last time all together. I confronted the guard with his unreliable inconsistent information and told him I was a journalist who was going to write about the brewery and his product, but was now forced to write something else as they clearly weren’t interested in getting a good tourism activity up and running which would actually bring in some money. He said they had many jourrnalists coming around and they should join the tourists on Thursdays for a visit.

When I asked to talk to his manager, this last one came up with a story about how we’d have to go back to Kigali, write the board a letter and wait for authorization which would take about a week. I said tourists travel around the country, they don’t write letters as they show up and want to see things or never come back. He didn’t care. From what I’ve heard from others, they pretend do organize official visits, but they tell everyone a different story. ‘Come back tomorrow, come back next week, come back on this day’. No matter when you show up, they’ll always come up with something. What a pity, cause I only wanted to know whether or not it’s got anything to do with our Belgian Primus!

Back to Kigali
Charlotte, Erin and I took the bus back to Kigali. Erin, a twenty six-year old ‘kiwi’ is leaving on this super cool adventurous safari from Kenya all the way down to South-Africa. I’ve read about these kind of cross countries before, but never met anyone who’d actually done one. I can’t wait to hear her stories in a few months time! Charlotte was heading back to pick up her best friend Sue from the airport. She’s been one of the volunteers as well, but sadly lost her father last week and headed back to Australia. We were all surprised to hear she was actually coming back, but knowing how devoted these two wonderful ladies are, I thought it was very brave of her to continue her travel. The two of them are heading to Kenya next month, to do some more aidwork at a local orphanage.

Charlotte’s become my mom around here, always worrying about my safety, always caring about how I’m doing or helping out with my stuff. She’s one of the loveliest people I’ve ever met and I really hope to stay in touch whenever she’s back in Manchester and I’m in Belgium. It would make an aweful good excuse to visit the UK once again. After the four-hour bustrip, she helped me carry one of the boxes all the way to my hostel, bless her! We had a nice cup of coffee, said our final goodbyes to Erin and went to a lovely Indian place to have dinner. The two of us could be chatting all night long, for weeks or even months. We got along very well and I will miss her around. But, no worries, in two weeks time Sue, Charlotte and I are going to see the gorilla’s together!

Time for a cup of tea and some lunch. Lots of planning to do for the next couple of days as Thursday is the official start of the Genocide Memorial week which should be interesting.

Friday April 1st – Tuesday April 5th, Kigali 23 degrees


Note: I have updated my post on the orphanage. Anyone interested is invited to go and read it once again.