We had a 3 hour journey to Ruhengeri. We piled into several Toyota vans that had seen better days. But, surprisingly the brakes were pretty good. This was important because we had an uphill, curvy road to navigate. Now, I'm not normally a backseat driver, but I definitely had my braking foot ready to go. These cars had the steering wheel on the right side of the vehicle. However, we drove in the right hand lane. Interesting. I don't think I ever saw a road bigger than a 2-lane. We shared that 2-lane with traffic heading in the opposite direction, goats, children, and people. Every woman was carrying a bundle of some sort on her head. Some had giant flat bowls overflowing with produce like bananas, lettuce, passion fruit, avocados. Others had overflowing backpacks on their heads. Still others had huge 8 ft. long bunches of branches tied together and on their heads. Others had between 10-20 liter containers of water somehow balanced on their heads. Unbelievable. Most people had plastic sandals on or were barefoot. Dan took a double dose of dramamine and pretty much looked green and dozed and drooled the whole way there. The altitude didn't help his condition very much. Of course, on the way up the mountain, it started to rain. Our van had to pull over to try to roll up the windows. This was a complicated process since none of the windows were on their track. So it was pretty much a lost cause. The rain wasn't terribly cold because of the tropical climate, but our stuff got pretty wet. The windshield kept fogging up because of no defroster. But the view was absolutely beautiful. Waterfalls pouring down the mountain. Green everything. Tons of banana trees. Rows and rows of plowed fields. Steep mountainsides planted with flourishing crops. We finally arrived in Ruhengeri and found our new home for the next week. The EER Guest House. Similar to a hostel. Very simple. The grounds were pretty. Giant mosquito netting over the bed. Tiny restaurant. Smiling, helpful staff. We had a few minutes to rest and recover from the ride before dinner. At dinner we discovered an all new meaning to a high carb diet. Rice. Roasted potatoes. French fries. Sweet Potatoes (white flesh, not as sweet). Boiled bananas. Peas. Sauce with little pieces of meat swimming in it. Little pieces of fried fish. Chicken bones with very little meat. Bananas for dessert. Coca Cola & Fanta. A feast for most Rwandans. Every day we found ourselves to be very thankful for the feast after working in the villages. The time we spent around the tables was enjoyable and encouraging and enlightening. We went to bed early because Sunday was a-comin'. The day when we would meet our Mother Church pastor and Mission Point pastor. The day when the hard work would begin. While Dan prayed for relief from his motion sickness, I prayed for no mosquitoes.
More to come...
