Mon Oct 12 - Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in Gisenyi.

The three hour drive is absolutely beautiful.  Vertical farms, fields at a greater than 45 degree angle to the ground, climbing one after another high up on a mountain.  Every bit of arable land is utilized.  Alongside the road are rock faces which remind us of the Canadian shield, the rockies.

View from the bus on the road to Gisenyi

The potholes begin to appear in the road - we have a good driver, but only discover how VERY good until the trip home in the dark later that evening.

We come across a fuel tanker truck tipped half on its side in the ditch, leaning against the hill by the road.  The axle looks broken.  As we pass I look back to see a group of people on the other side of the road, and a rope.  They are going to pull the truck out.  When we come back that evening, it is gone.

Everywhere you see Rwandans walking, some carrying items on their heads, on their shoulders, some pushing large bundles on their bicycles, and all going uphill.  We are heading to the Volcanic region; with active Volcano's around it, and at 4862 feet, Gisenyi sits at a high altitude in Rwanda on the shores of Lake Kivu. 

We are two hours into our journey when the ground changes from red earth to black earth.  Soon, the ground also begins to sparkle.  There is some mineral in the earth which catches the light and makes it dance.  The homes begin to look more prosperous, more tin roofs, 2 sheep and 2 goats in a yard instead of a single goat.  We see crops of tea growing by the side of the road as we near Lake Kivu.

We come around a corner and begin to descend.  Stretching away below us is Lake Kivu, vast and grey-blue.  On a curve of the lake there is a shining city - we ask our driver about it.  It is Goma, in the DRC.
Again, a land of contrasts - one of the poorest regions, devastated by a conflict with more casualties, it is said, than WWII, sparkles from afar like an Emerald City, a place of magic and promise.

We arrive in Gisenyi and pile out of our bus.  We leave the Hotel Serena's manicured grounds & beaches, walk the dusty streets to find the 'Bikini Tam Tam' - beach-side cabana's.  We sit under a cabana, order a beer and toast to a Happy Thanksgiving.  We swim.  We relax. 

Rick takes a photo of a local chappy in front of the Tam Tam

Mother & Puppies sleeping on the beach at Tam Tam

Solitude and the sound of waves at Gisenyi

Ross, Rebecca & Guillaume decide to walk across the border into Goma in the DRC.  The remainder of the group split off and begin climbing towards the market.  As we arrive at the market, one of the Volcano's above us begins to smoke.  In front of it, the Mosque is silhouetted against its darkness.  We enter a dark, covered market and find rows and rows of beautiful cloth.  Belts, pants, t-shirts - all embossed with the name or the face of Barack Obama. 

After the market we find a small establishment run by "Charles" where we can eat & rest.  Lunch is the simplest buffet we have yet had in Rwanda - rice & beans, made that morning.  There are fried smelts which Jeanie & Gord try.  This simple food is enough.  The covered huts, with doorways of bamboo, shelter us from the sun and open through to other areas.  One of our neighbors asks Gord for advice in meeting Canadian girls and they have a long conversation, in French & English.  Charles grows his own lettuce and tomatoes in potato sacks along the walls, and Rick convinces him to make us a salad.  We have not had any fresh lettuce since we've been here.  Charles is enchanted with Jeanie, and she goes with him to help prepare the salad.  It is served with sliced onion, lime, vinegar and salt.  It is delicious.

Meanwhile, Ross & gang are being chased out of Goma by an angry mob.


Ross & gang call us once they return to Rwanda and make their way to the market.  We have found our driver who is also in the market with the bus - a boon, since I am fading and not relishing a walk down to the Serena Hotel.  We take them to the market and an older man, with a Rwandan string instrument which looks like a cross between a zither and a Korean Haegeum, begins to serenade Ross.  The market sellers gather around, they are smiling, giggling, elbowing one another, enjoying this local man and his bold serenade. Ross is smiling ear to ear.

When Ross gives him one American dollar, the crowd is impressed and a great sound of release goes up into the air around Ross - applause, laughter. I slip back through the crowd.  This was an honest busk, a good & savvy busk on the street, but seeing how much a dollar means to this performer and the community, I am uncomfortable.  Uncomfortable with my own privilege.

Eventually, we say goodbye to Charles and his oasis of an establishment.  Pictures are taken.  There is the sense that friends have been made, that Rick Banville (who connected the most with Charles over his lettuce garden) could return and find this sense of community again with these people.   It is a sense of community we have in the Theatre back home, but I wonder how I could ever find this warmth and interest in exchange at first visit to a restaurant on King Street. We pile into the bus and begin the ride home in the rising dusk.

It is a dark, and extremely bumpy ride home.  One cow is almost hit and a shriek goes up from the side of the road.  Several goats almost meet the same fate.  Drivers in Rwanda will pass on the curve on what we would call a double-line stretch of road.  The giant holes in the road are swerved and missed without losing much speed whenever it is possible to do so.  Most of us sleep, but our sound technician, Tyler, rides shotgun beside the driver.

"How is it up there, Tyler?" someone asks at about the 2 hour point into the journey.

He looks back, pauses for effect, and answers, "Terrifying."

We are back late at 9 pm, but we meet the rest of the cast just getting started at a nearby Indian Restaurant which comes highly recommended, "Khazana".  It is our Thanksgiving dinner together & it is worth the wait.Stunning world-class cuisine in a beautiful atmostphere.


What a wonderful Thanksgiving.



Post by Tara