Heaven Indeed

Thurs. July 9:

The second day in Kigali was utterly relaxing.  Heaven indeed.  About 8 years ago I read a book by the famous travel book writer Rick Steeves which said, “Tell yourself you’re coming back.  There is no way you can do everything and see everything on your adventure abroad. With this mentality you can make plans to see what you can fit in without over-stressing your body, mind and spirit all the while feeling confident that if the opportunity presents itself and interest remains, you can visit again.” (This might not be verbatim but it certainly grasps the essense of his message.)  So I am liberated  Heaven indeed.

When we planned our outing to Rwanda, we hoped our tour guides/friends would be a good help in making our dreams come alive while providing the necessary insight to the praciticalities of our plans.  So after traveling all over the city of Kigali the first day, but more intensely visiting worlds that cut deep to the heart, we slept in.  I have many friends and myself included who believe sleeping is for home, no one needs to go across the world to sleep. But in the midst of 5 weeks on the road in Africa, I rationalized it in my head, and made myself relax at least until 8am. Heaven indeed.

The lazy morning allowed us to read a little, catch up on writing in journals, watching the news, and showering!  Wathcing the news is rather interesting since Rwanda has one station for the entire nation.  The station seems to be pretty objective and broadcasts news from the BBC and other stations in 3 languages- English, French, and Kinyaranda.  I learned about the G8 summit to make a proposal for about climate control and that Google launched an OS that revivals Windows.  It will be interesting to see how that plays out when I get home.

Eventually, we left to buy bus tickets back to Kampala, search for African crafts and garb including soccer jerseys, and visit Honoline at work. We were successful on all of our in town shopping apart from the jerseys (there’s no Rwanda team) so we rested at Heaven, restaurant and bar.  Being the friends of the office manager helped us a great deal with FREE WIRELESS internet and a few sodas.  I don’t know that I’ve ever spent so much looking at pictures on Facebook or writing emails, but diving into a technological oasis wwas  refreshing.  Heaven indeed.

I went for a quick walk around the neighborhood.  There’s something to be said about posh in a developing country.  Posh equals really tall walls with an elegant gate.  But there we were as Heaven was about 7 blokcs from the famous Milles Collines Hotel from Hotel Rwanda and another half mile from the president’s house.  I walked along the smoothly paved streets and even sidewalks (the first I’ve seen since being in Africa) and took pictures.  As I passed a construction site of a high rise building, a few workers on break who sat up on the scaffolding shouted down to me.  I was alone on the street, but the word Muzungu concluded that I was the object of their catcalls.  Playing off as if I spoke French as they spoke English or American as they parlayed me, I trotted on.  The promonade took me in several directions so I found some joy in finding my way back by the floral landmarks.  I can’t say that such landmarks could be used anywhere for a majority of the year except for places of such agreeable climates. Heaven indeed.

Dinner time came just in time, and the wait was worth every bite.  Since we were in international diplomat neighborhood, Heaven served a variety of familiar foods such as chicken and mashed potatoes, ravioli, salad, and fish.  Heaven indeed.  The atmosphere reminded me a great deal of the lodge restaurants of national parks, with candle light, comfy seats, a great view, and blankets since the temperature dropped a bit.  We treated our hosts to an elegant meal, especially in comparison to the granola bars or rice and beans Jami and I have consumed more regularly.  After pork chops and mashed potatoes, we finished the meal and lovely evening with a brownie and ice cream.  Heaven indeed.

Despite sleeping in, a departure time of 4:50am and filling meal sent me quickly to sweet dreams.  The day was like Christmas or vacation or a dream.  Or heaven.  Heaven indeed.