Psalm 28:7: That time we got kicked off the mutatu...

Well, things have been a little slow in Africa since classes have wound down. Slow like going to a coffee shop with couches and all falling asleep there. On the 13th, we presented our group projects for Pastor Anastase's Peacebuilding class, which marked the end of that class. The next time we had a class was the 21st, when we presented our NGO's for our Development class with Dwight, which was also the end of that class. So basically, school has not really been a thing for a while... (Don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm learning lots and getting good grades! :] ) So, since we've had like, a million free days in the past two weeks, we've kind of worked through all of our normal Kigali activites. So this Saturday, Madi told everyone that she wanted to go on a hike at Mount Kigali, which was only 2 mutatu rides away. She had very little details, but on what would otherwise be a lazy Saturday, it sounded like a great idea. So after lunch, Madi, Aleaha, Kassi, Stephanie, Meagan, and I suited up and headed off for our hike!
Everything is always an adventure in Africa, but I really think this one might be the craziest, and yet most hilarious one we've had so far (although, there was that one time Kassi got the volleyball stuck in the tree at the Mamba club and Ross tried throwing up a water bottle to get it down until the workers took over by throwing sticks and baseball sized rocks...). We started off by going to our typical mutatu stop, where any good adventure should start, and getting on a mutatu for Nyabugogo, which is the big bus station which has mutuatus and buses that go to more places than the ones you can catch where we live. The ride there was funny- the conductors of the buses are very competitive about getting passengers, and so when we pulled up to stop with another mutatu and there were people there, our conductor and the other one had quite the competition. We didn't end up getting the passengers on our bus, because the other conductor slammed our door shut as he led the people to his bus. It was a great bonding moment as the whole bus laughed at the situation. When we got to the station, all we knew is that we wanted to catch a mutatu to Nyamirambo, and as we looked around, we quickly realize that it wouldn't at all be easy to find that bus in the giant mass of buses and people. Thankfully, a man came up to us asking where we wanted to go, led us right to the mutatu we wanted (which we would have neverrrr found), and shook our hands and wished us a good journey. Thus begins our second mutatu ride. The rough thing about this one was that we didn't exactly know where we were going... our plan was to get off after the mosque and stadium, but we never really saw those. So we were driving and driving and eventually all the other passengers got off and it was just the 6 of us. The guys seemed very confused by us, so I tried "We want to go to Mount Kigali" to which I got "I don't speak any english." Darn. A few minutes later they pulled over and kicked us out, even though Kassi tried "NO, just a little more, we want to go there!" while pointing to a mosque ahead, but alas, they kicked us off. But hey, we rode a long ways for our 200 francs!
This is where our journey begins on foot. We walked towards the mosque, and then saw three roads we could follow. Problem. Thankfully, we found this guy that spoke English, and headed the way he pointed us. Eventually we were getting nowhere, so we started on a "path" through this little neighborhood and around houses. The houses are so close together and we didn't know where to go at paths kept ending, and so we were joking about ending up in someone's kitchen awkwardly. Then we got pointed to a real road, walked uphill for like 20 minutes, and then decided to go up another neighborhood towards a mountain. People were coming out to see us (including a man without a shirt yelling yaway! which the children thought was hilarious) and when they realized we were extremely aimless, they started leading us up paths. I was surprised throughout the entire day with how helpful everyone was. Whenever we looked a little lost, or just a little white, people were more than willing to go out of their way to help us. I feel like that's not really something you find back home. Eventually we picked up a few kids, who asked if we wanted to go to the forest, to which we responded YES, and they led us there. On the walk, we ended up attracting at least 20 African children and one small African puppy. They led us up this straight up path of dirt and rocks, which was so exhausting. The little kids were like running laps around us- climbing trees while we rested and doing the hike in bare feet or rubber flip flops. At one point, Kassi and I were so tired and held out our hands and said HELP! and two boys pulled us up a bit of the walk. Again, so helpful- and a nice tow truck! The views were beautiful- I obviously attached pictures at the bottom. After two hours of walking, we finally made it to a dirt road and started heading back into neighborhoods. We found the stadium, quickly grabbed a mutatu to the bus station, and a nice man there helped us find our Kimironko mutatu. We got home to a delicious meal by Aidah after a long day of walking, speaking three languages, waving to and shaking hands with adorable children saying "Muzungu! Muzungu, how are you?," riding mutatus, spending only 750 francs, and seeing even more of beautiful Rwanda. Another great adventure here.
Tomorrow morning we're off to visit Uganda for a few days! Can't wait- I'm sure you'll all hear about it friday in a new blog post! Here's some pictures: