Slight addition to Day One!

I appreciate that apologies of any sort are futile and thus I shall proceed without any further apologies etc as they are tiring, even to my ears. I have no excuse, although I think Mshairi's confession post may shed some light.

Where was I? Ah, the drive up to the Gorilla's Nest. We had done the square manyattas and the surprising lack of plastic bags. We drove into a town just before Ruhengeri and I had to stop to get a sim card. I have decided that objects rather than pictures will act as the milestones in this phase of my journey through life. So I started collecting sim cards - sad, I know and appreciate the sentiment should it cross your mind - but I can boast to be the owner of lots of colourful little pay as you go phone chips that I will possibly never use again but which look great in the little tiger print wallet purchased for them. Hee hee hee! Not much has changed guys. This was an experience - the buying of the sim card as opposed to the wallet (although that was an interesting little scenario as I explained to the vendor in "Mutush" (1) what I needed it for) Anyway, Bob the Boss was in a strange mood and all grumpy, so I left him in the car and swang my slowly becoming 'small' behind across the street. The tiny boy behind the little kiosk gave me a smile divinely inspired. From molar to molar, and without the brown tinge that characterises a large part of the Tanzanian population. I could not help but instantly fall in love. Apparently he over charged me - I don't care. In the words of Ed - slightly modified and totally plagiarised - "Men, they do strange things to us women!" The excitement of being in possession of a canary yellow sim card, emblazoned with MTN in blue was almost too much to bear. So dear little boy - Jean Antoine to those in the know - offered to place it into my phone and show me what to do. And a woman is supposed to reject such a request, especially asked so sweetly in halting English, mixed with Swahilli and a soupcon of Kinyarwanda. So I let him do his thing. In the mean time, I discovered that Kyuks (2) would fit right in here. Man, I understood Kinyarwanda. I could have a conversation with the boy - me in Kyuk, him in Kinyarwanda (SLOW Kinyarwanda!) and hey presto we were in communication lala land! Ali the Bear had to literally pull me away! Probably the best thing for I was about to be charged with child abduction.

So back in vehicle we went, to join Bob the Boss. Initially I thought, grumpy old man. Then we turned the corner and I was awestruck. Infront of me were three mountains - part of the Virunga chain of volcanoes which stretch from Uganda, through Congo (DRC) and across to the Northern part of Rwanda. Apparently they are a part of the Rift Valley - well that was news to me as was the fact that Rwanda has 28 lakes of significant size (whatever that means!)....AND it was at these mountains that the film Congo was set.... but I digress. One I named "The Saint" - not in homage to Val Kilmer but more due to the halo that sat above, catching the reflections of the setting sun, glowing golden right in front of me. The second - and I apologize to all who may find this offensive - but like boobs. Honest! Perky little 20 something breasts - before the 30's decide that they should begin to lead diverging lives. I digress I am sorry - but it made me smile - for they too were bathed in golden sunlight. And no, my mind was not in any gutter at the time. The third was your good old fashioned mountain. Straight up and down, slight pyramid like structure with a peaked top. I cannot explain the beauty at that moment - suffice to say.... I went silent - which I think amused Ali, for I had not shut up the whole way up.

Upon arrival at the Gorilla's Nest, anyone would have thought I had some variation of the African ant in my knickers. I was itching to get out of the car. Which was a BAD idea. The idea of a climate controlled car is brilliant - but give a girl some warning - it was F&*K^%g FREEZING! AND I left my fur coat. Small piece of advice I have to keep repeating to myself- just because it is Africa does not mean it is warm! I have become "jungufied" (3) people! But the trees! Ohhh the trees! This was more dramatic and infinitely more beautiful than anything I had ever seen. They just rose up and up and up and if I did not know different, I would swear Jack must have lived somewhere in the vicinity - for whatever his beanstalk was having , it was in the soil here too! These trees just went on forever. A kind of eerie yet solitary beauty for they stood slightly apart from each other to better display their elegance, but also seemed lonely somehow. Maybe just me.


I get to the check in desk and the manager is a Kyuk! I almost died. So are practically half his staff. And those who are not, speak Kyuk! Yani, even to the depths of the Rwandese mountains, the Kikuyu will find a way there - AND teach the local population their language. Hee hee hee! AND they had sold my room. I was not happy, but decided that it was too cute a place to make too much of a ruckus (the jungu side of me winning over the Kenyan) and so seated myself at the bar and ordered the customary g&t.

Small description of lodge - open square garden, with large gorilla statute in the middle sitting amongst an impressive collection of different ferns. Paving led you to the 13 cottages that sat at the edges of the garden. Once you go through the garden, a little wooden - kind of Chinese looking - brigde takes you over a small river and through part of the forest with the elegant trees. This is lit by lanterns all the way to another set of cottages and the training/conference facilities. A golf course was in the process of being constructed at this time so the view tended to be JBC's and other unidentifiable digging machinery. Apparently they had began to build a sauna/steam room but changed their minds thinking a golf course would be more lucrative - the bastards. Luckily for me and the oestrogen that flows through my veins, one of the conference attendees gave me his room and went to sleep in one of the adjacent hotels - not as nice and so I was not persuading him any different! Rooms were in these gorgeous little stone cottages, with humungous double beds. Showers needed some work for you only got 10 minutes of hot water but that was alright. Dinner was at 7 - food was awful- and I was ready for bed by 9pm. Country air - bliss!!!!!!

Discussions with Bob were, to say the very least, interesting. Discovered he is a very very complicated creature. And that is being generous. But at least after feeding, he was more jovial and liberal with his communication skills. After a couple of drinks, I came to the conclusion that I actually like my boss and on that note, considering myself cured of any bouts of insensitivity that I could have been harbouring, I decided, sod "gender sensitivity" - I am going to explore this country. And on that very adventurous thought, curled up, wearing almost everything I had packed - incidentally for summer weather - and went to sleep.

(1) Market that sells second hand goods.
(2) The Kikuyu tribe in Kenya - we tend to think we ar the best thing since....well creation!
(3) Like a white person - 'jungu' being the noun.