1000 hills

Kigali is a nice city that seems clean with good infrastructure and less poverty than Kampala. There are some people along the street who are missing legs or have poorly developed limbs who beg in the city center but it doesn’t seem overwhelming. It seems to me that the pleasantness of life here is due to the fact that it is not overly populated; their means and needs match pretty well. Plus, President Kagali is a popular leader who is said to have done more for Africa in the last 10 years than most people have done in the last 100 years.

I like the hills of the city. It creates a sense of closeness with one’s neighbors. Not that we’re not on top of each other but that we can see those who live across the valley. It feels like a big blanket with ripples that hugs the city.

Wed. July 8
For lunch we ate out, the first time since being in Africa. We had sausage and chips which was a nice change. Same starch I guess but in a new and spicy form. It hit the spot and almost put us to sleep on the way home. The taxis and min-buses are packed 4/seat (a seat which is designed for 3) and bit hot and noisy. The taxi guys buy their vans so they can paint them however and play whatever music they would like. Some guys painted snoop dog on the outside while another advertised for Spiderman. We did a fair amount of walking which felt good, especially being on the bus for so long. Kenya should be interesting with all the walking we’ll have to do but I’m looking forward to loosing some of my potato belly.

I showered in a bucket this afternoon. I didn’t really care since after playing soccer, Frisbee and walking in the dirt all day, my feet were atrocious and my grime of two days especially the bus stuck to me. There are certain decisions one has to make with limited water, lots of dirt to be scrubbed and muzungu hair that has to be washed pretty regularly. I decided on what I felt to be a pretty successful execution process of washing and emerged in my towel clean, fresh and happy. Nap time?