So Friday was Matt’s birthday, so we (me and the Canadians)
decided to treat him (and ourselves!) to a nice Western-style burger and fries
at a touristy café in town. It was delicious (especially after another week of
rice and beans) and we all polished off our plates. Though we maybe should have
thought about how our stomachs would react after having become so accustomed to
having the same thing every day…we all felt quite sick for a while afterwards!
We did all agree it was worth it though!
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| The enjoyable part of our burger experience! |
Today was a very special day in Rwanda, Kwita Izina, the
annual gorilla-naming ceremony, where all the baby gorillas born during the
year are given names at a huge festival held near the Volcanoes National Park
and lots of government officials, celebrities and other VIPs show up. Since the
gorillas are endangered, and their survival is so important for Rwanda’s
tourism industry (the county’s biggest source of revenue) newborn gorillas that
survive each year are very special and considered a gift to the country. It is
therefore a great honor to get to name one of them, which is usually given to
important people/international celebrities (like the president and his wife
last year…I think Natalie Portman named one, Don Cheadle the guy from Hotel
Rwanda etc.). This year 20 were named, 19 babies and one adult who had moved
over from another group in the Congo.
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| Kids dressed as gorillas! |
I am not sure how, but we managed to get into the VIP section, I think because we were white… we didn’t have tickets (we didn’t know we needed them)…but after some argument in Kinyarwanda the security guards ushered us in. It was quite strange in the VIP enclosure, which was full of foreign press, important-looking people and of course hundreds of wealthy-looking tourists. We felt kind of stupid, but we took advantage of the free food and drink and the great view… we sat on the grass right by the Prime Minister (he wasn’t sitting on the grass)! He gave a long speech that we couldn’t understand…but one of the best part was him getting up to dance, when the traditional dancers came over! The performances were great with mixture of modern and traditional performances with amazing Intore Warrior dancing and African drumming as well as some new Rwandan hip-hop and RnB artists. The naming itself was really nice as well, with each “namer” giving a short speech about who they were and why they had chosen their name. One was a very young girl, who had won a drawing competition and had some trouble reading her speech, which was adorable! The funniest part was the pack of “gorillas” they had crawling across the field to the stage, to represent the babies being names (a bunch of children in black fury gorilla costumes and masks!) They had even been taught to behave like gorillas making screeching noises, banging their chests and rolling about fighting with each other! Obviously the crowd loved it. The ceremony was followed by an insane amount of free food and drink in the buffet tent (in the VIP section). Each of the hundreds of tables had an abundant supply of beer, wine and spirits. I did wonder who exactly was paying for all of it…the whole event must have cost a fortune….and it did feel quite hypocritical. I guess it is a way of giving back to all those who are funding the tourist industry, but I’m sure all that money could have been put to better use. We figured we would take full advantage since we had paid $500 each already for our Gorilla Trek (booked for the end of June!) and this was probably what a large part of all that money goes towards!
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| Traditional Rwandan drumming |
I have been spending all my weekends locally for most of
this month, so I can’t wait to go for another trip…Next weekend we are off to
Butare (a town all the way on the other side of the country). Supposedly there
is an amazing cultural museum there and the reconstructed remains of ancient
palaces! Anyway being here has been interesting as well. Last weekend there was
a big hip-hop concert at the stadium in town. It was part of a tour where a
bunch of Rwandan artists taking part in a big competition and the public can
vote for who they want to win etc. A huge amount of people turned up (young,
old, families, mothers, babies!) It was held at the local stadium, which is
huge so everyone could easily fit in and entry was free. The stage however was
tiny, so we couldn’t see much. The music was not really to my taste…and most of
the music seemed to be lip-synced with lots of aggressive shouting by the
presenters in Kinyarwanda in between songs! A lot of people were drunk (which
is not surprising considering you could buy 2 beers for about 50p!) but not
aggressive. As usual there were many street kids running around, and they
seemed to gather around us and point and stare a bit more than usual. I guess
it was mainly locals and we were the only white people there. I didn’t stay for
long but it was an interesting atmosphere. I have never seen so many families
and young children at a concert…it was more like a village festival (with
beer!) than a hiphop concert!
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| Relaxing at Lake Burera |
Sunday was really nice…it was a beautiful day so Selina and
I decided to go check out Lake Burera, which is about a 40 minute bus ride from
Musanze. The bus ride was interesting, crammed full to the brim as usual,
luckily we had seats…Selina sat next to a woman who was breast-feeding for most
of the journey. Apparently this is a normal public activity here. Breasts are
fine I guess… but a woman should not show her legs! When we reached the town
near the lake, we had to take bike (bicycles) rides for the rest of the journey
down a very bumpy, hilly path! I have taken one once before in Musanze but
never on an unpaved road. I held on for dear life to the sharp edges of the
little square seat I was sitting on, on the back of the old rickety bike, as it
sped down the bumpy road. A few parts were uphill and I did wonder how these
young skinny boys driving these things has enough strength to cycle people up
the hill all day! Anyway it was a fun experience and the view was absolutely
stunning! The lake was beautiful, different to Lake Kivu though…There was no
sandy beach, but a grassy area instead a small café and picnic area. All you
could see all around was the huge green volcanoes surrounding the lake. It was
also pretty isolated and felt very peaceful as there was hardly anyone else
there except a few couples, some men who seemed to be having a business meeting
(!) and young family. I’m not sure why since it was such a beautiful day but we
had a lovely relaxing day just lying on the grass by the lake. Later we ordered
some chips and goat brochettes and didn’t even realize they took over an hour
to arrive…Must be getting used to “African time”!
xx
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