Arrival at Motel Mont Huye in Butare

We arrive in Butare and our bus bumps down a rutted red-dirt road and into a stone-walled courtyard.

The Motel Mont Huye is a haven, this is immediately clear - there is a hush in the long, narrow courtyard with rooms on either side.  Each room has a small porch screened in by fragrant hedges.  The staff are hanging sheets and towels on the line in the courtyard.

Mosquito nets are hung, then the technical staff bolt into town to find the nearest hardware store for lighting equipment.  They will be building/jury-rigging lights somehow, and they take our fixer Laurette to help.

The rest of us walk up the dirt road and along a bustling main street to the Ibis Hotel for dinner and many bottles of Primus.  We discover that the pasta at the Ibis is the only sure thing on the menu - that and the Primus, of course.

Later, the courtyard is quiet and peaceful, and we begin to know the young girls who staff the hotel's restaurant.  They start work very early, and are still there at 1 am, even if they have a cold.
We are practicing our Kinyarwanda and they are very patient with us. 
Muraho = Hello
Amakuru = How are you?
Ni Meza = I'm fine

Tomorrow we load into the theatre and have our first show in Butare.
For now, we sleep.