Two weekends ago, Karen and I traveled to Gisenyi for two days. For those of you who aren't familiar with Rwanda, Gisenyi is a beautiful town next to Lake Kivu. The place is perfect for some R&R.
Since the weather was disappointingly gloomywhen we first arrived, we decided to skip the beach and go to Nyumyumbo (so fun to say!( to visit the factory where they make Primus, the national beer. After haggling with some moto-taxis, we finally found two that would bring us there with a fair, non-muzungu price, only to find the brewery closed for the weekend. Darn. We ended up walking to nearby Maman Chakura for some dinner, where I had the most delicious fish I've ever tasted in Rwanda. For any of you going to Gisenyi, I highly recommend Maman Chakura!
The next morning, we visited the Congo/Rwanda border, but unfortunately we weren't able to cross over to Goma since we left our passports at home. After our brief border visit, we returned to Nyumyumbo again and followed the suggestion of Morgan in Africa to take a boat ride around the area.
What was supposed to be a nice, relaxing ride turned into me and Karen barely staying afloat in a small, hole-y boat in the middle of the lake, ,with two local boys manning the boat! Why two boys? Not for twice the row-power, as Karen and I first assumed. We found out quickly that one boy was for rowing the boat...and the other boy was there to BAIL OUT THE WATER! and at the rate the water was coming in , we weren't sure whether or not we'd be able to get around the island and back before sinking into the schistosomiasis infected lake. Luckly, at the end of the ride, only our feet were wet (can schisto get in through my toes? I know it can't... but I'm still worried) and we were able to take some amazing photos and videos. Why, oh why do Karen and I get oursleves into these crazy situations?
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