Friday, July 28, 2023
We arrived! A little man greeted us at the airport and we got off our small plane. It was us 6 and another couple. On the bus ride from the plane to arrivals he asked how many countries we would be visiting as we could get 1 Visa or an East African Visa for 3 countries. We said 1, and the other couple said nothing. Off the bus and to the customs official who stamped us in, then we learned that countries of the commonwealth didn’t have to pay a Visa. So only the dumb Americans get to pay which is me and the two kids. The old people and Fiona got to enter without paying. We also paid by credit card! Yes! Keep that cash people when u can! I got some kinder beuno chocolates for the kids. By 3 get 20% off no problem. Airport pricing. No worries anything to keep the beasts in line. Off to a little room to wait for our bags and drivers. The other people we came into the airport were dumb. They couldn’t understand what people were saying and didn’t speak up lame. Their car came first so they left.
We had two cars and we hopped in the one with Ivan! He is 25 and has 3 brothers and 2 sisters. One sister was graduating from college today. We asked if we could crash the party since we were is Kilgali. Instead we went to the hotel the filmed Hotel Rwanda. It was the Hotel Des Milles Collines. It really was. There was an ATM in the parking lot too! We had a buffet lunch and I had my first beer, Mützig, which was very tasty. Then finished off Virunga Mist a dark malty thing, and then a very unbeer beer since it was non-alcoholic but was under the beer section. Lame. Then we took a two hour drive to the Bishop House. Up, down, and around slow moving diesel puffers. Only one close call as we wound thru two lane roads with blind corners. We arrive and they give us juice. We are in room 2001, the kids in 2003. The rooms are awesome.
We got down for cocktails and I have more beer. I would link to the beer I had but there is no Internet. I think it was a Virunga Gold and a Primus. They were ok from what remember. Dinner is served at 7pm and I had the full menu; Starter, Soup, Main, and Desert. Greek Salad, Tomato Soup, lentil currie, banana cake. It was all very fancy. Was in bed by 9:50 as I took a shower. It took forever to get hot then it just stayed hot even when I twisted it to half way. Weird. Anywho it was a great shower and I went to bed.
Saturday, July 29, 2023
Wake up call at 5:30, breakfast at 6, and in truck by 6:30 for a 30 minute drive to the Golden monkey trek. We passed the Ellen Degenerous Gorilla location on the way as well as a giant ape statue made of ‘wood’? We went through a metal detector and then sat around until they told us to move to another place. Then Theo came out and gave a talk about golden monkeys. They only live in this one area on this one mountain, and do not live in the tops of the trees as eagles eat them, and the do not go onto the forest floor as dogs will eat them. They only hang out in the middle of the trees. They are fatter then a blue monkey, but are called golden because of their color. Last bathroom stop is here and then get back into the trucks and go up to the start of the hike. There are many, many porters milling around. We leave on thebhike as the old people have to figure out their stretchers. We start hiking and there is no way any grandparent over 73 would be able to hike this trail. It was ok if you are under 60, but at 7000 feet you are huffing and puffing. It was about a 2.5 mile round trip. 1 mile up, .5 of chasing monkeys around a bamboo forest, and a mile back down.
We didn’t go on the extended hike to find monkeys but I think I took 1000 pictures trying to get the right expression. It was wonderful and the king was hooting and peeing. the stretchers were pretty amazing. Lawson got to ride in one about half way down. I carried him on my back for a bit of time too. It was rough for him. Ha.
We stopped on the way down and took an us-ie if front of Ellen Degenerous Gorilla place and then we passed the old people who stopped at a bank. We got back around 11:45 we’re they took our shoes away. Then Lawson put on his swim suit and we had lunch. After lunch and beer (2 new ones) and an excellent lunch. We packed up our room and headed over to the Virunga Lodge about 30 minutes away.
Up a steep bumpy hill to 7000 feet to a place that was build in 2004. The view was incredible but am not sure it was worth leaving the Bishops House – I mean they cleaned our shoes! Also we were 30 minutes closer to the Gorillas?
We went to a dance at 5pm and I danced with the locals. Then after 30 minutes went back to have drinks at the bar. I destroyed Niamh in chess three times which I had a wonderfully strong watermelon martini, a beer, and more beer? Then we had super dinner with risotto as a starter, tomato soup, and I had steak. If I’m going to break my veggie diet I guess I can when on vacation- they did have a veggie option but it was boring and I’ve not had steak in 3+ years so will go back to veggie. Anywho there was a big birthday singing and dancing which was not for Lawson but a guy who had a birthday a few weeks ago. We sat with more people from California which is pretty funny. As most of the 17 people at the table were from California. Then Lawson and Fiona had a sad moment as Lawson didn’t want to do anything and wouldn’t tell us what he wanted to do for the day we see gorillas but he can’t. Talk about piss poor planning. Bah! Fiona feels awful for leaving him, Lawson feels awful since he can’t go they whole situation is compounded since it is literally his birthday on the day we see the gorillas. I get ham and cheese for my snack, and cheddar/salami for the girls. I order a crispy omelette for breakfast and coffee. Our wake up call is at 5am. I take a shower and am in bed by 9:50.
Sunday July 30, 2023
I have a too real dream about peeing and end up making a mess 20 minutes before 5? Too much beer and cocktails? Too excited? Too sad? The kids are grossed out and I say whatever as I clean up and strip the bed after Fiona gets up at 5. I let in Angel who is our butler with coffee. I hang the sheets outside with my very wet PJs as I rinsed them off. I put the laundry outside too. We are off to breakfast by 5:30 where I eat my crispy omelette. Fiona is sad. It is 6am and we go back to the trucks. We are now on our 1 hour drive speeding through town to get to gorillas by 7. It is 6:45 and have no idea now much longer it will take.
We check in at 7:05, get a gorilla speech at 7:30 and then are back in the cars at 8 for a drive up to start our trek from a potato farm. We met our other hiking cohorts, Peggy (from Chicago and mom of Caroline), Caroline (from Santa Barbara and has two sons, 19 and 22), and Blake who is on the same tour with them from North Carolina.
The drive up to the start of the hike was monstrous. All sorts of organs where being moved around in my body from the lurching of the car on one of the worst roads ever driven. We finally go there and started our hike around 8:30 and proceeded to hike through thick jungle that wanted to grab, trip, and poke all sort of different hiking parts of my person e.g all of me. Up, and up we go through narrow little paths and switchbacks. The stretchers took the same narrow paths except for when there was a tree branch they could not go under so they went around with machetes to make their own path. In the potato field the dirt was super fine and dusty, but on the path was super good dirt that was perfect for growing all sorts of things like more jungle.
I’m not sure when probably about half way Alan gave up his stretcher to Peggy so she could bump her head on trees from the stretcher instead of him. We hike up for 2 hours and the call came in that the gorillas were coming to us so we waited. Then people got off their stretchers and we all hiked up anothe 150ish meters and we saw them in trees and behind heavy vegetation. The trackers and guides machete through vegetation so you can get a better camera shot! The gorillas just sit there and are not really bothered by the tourists or guides. I’m not sure what lens to use as there is a gorilla in a tree so I change to the big lens (200-600), but the hacking that just happens the gorilla was 3 feet away so I change back to my wide zoom (24-70) and it is a good thing I did as gorillas started popping out from everywhere. One came by and tugged on Fiona’s tied up shirt around her waist and then came and grabbed my left leg. I can now say I’ve been touched by a gorilla. The entire time the trackers are making guttural sounds to let the gorillas know we are friends.
The dominant silverback makes and appearance and he is huge. His head is massive and he just pokes his head out and peers at us and then slips back into the jungle. We find another silverback who is big and munching away on wood. Fiona has found a one/two year old and proceeds to go nuts taking pictures while I’m going nuts with a giant silverback. I go up and figure out there is a small guy running around. Then we move from small guy to silverback while the 6 adolescents climb trees, and play with each other or pose for pictures? These are my iPhone pictures, but have many more on my camera.
Anywho, it was great as we got to spend an hour with them and the silverback rolled down the hill to signal the hour was up. I think between the three of us we took many pictures. We tipped the trackers 50 bucks (we got 20 from Caroline) as the had to stay with the gorillas, and then proceeded down the mountain. It only took us 45 minutes to get down versus the 2 hours to get up. We flew down following the stretchers. At one point we didn’t know which way to go as the stretchers took a path and we took a path but ended up at the same point. Then we hung out at the potato farm while one of the stretchers went back to get Peggy. Then it was a short walk back to the truckers where I had wine, yeah I tried it, but anothe guide had beer so opened it but then got in the truck to proceed down the worst road in Rwanda. I would guage how bad the road was when my beer started foaming out the top. It foamed quite a bit and could not actually drink it until we hit the brick road. Then off to the Ellen Degenerous Gorilla place where we had lunch at 1:30ish where I had a cold quesadilla with cheese and tomato and a side of fries. We got Ivan his drinks and the who meal was 48000RWF, yes francs people. The exhibit was good. We only hit up one building of the four and didn’t walk the grounds. Instead of fancy buildings I think I would have put the 15 million into putting water on top of every mountain, but I get that they need mountain gorillas to bring in tourists to bring in money. Yeah I can see this place being the Singapore of Africa. They need to figure out the haze problem which I think it from the burning of the fields in Tanzania or Kenya? Im pretty sure it is not from their own coal power plants but what do I know other than it is super hazy. It this place was super clear with blue skies every house should have a fantastic view as Rwanda is known as 1000 hills. We make it back to Virunga Lodge up its not happy road around 4:30 where they take our shoes and give us crocs. I take a shower outdoors, Fiona opts for the indoor shower. We go up for cocktails and Lawson learns the strategy of chess from Babu in the lounge/bar area.
We ate here to celebrate Lawson’s birthday as today is his birthday, eh! How many people can say they have actually had the birthday in Rwanda? Lawson can! Fiona gets the birthday balloon, and Lawson has a juice box poured into a martini glass with an orange wedge on it! Dinner was good as I had butternut soup, Dahl, and finished it with coffee ice cream. I think I need to find a Virunga Gold beer shirt as that is the local beer. Then the singing and dancing started and two cakes arrived. One for Lawson and another for one of three sisters whose birthday is tomorrow. Lawson blows out his candles and we convince him to dance. To his delight they hoist him up to the ceiling, then in a dance circle he proceeds to froggert.
It was a good night and we are in bed by 10.
Monday July 31, 2023
This little bed sucks. Lawson got the nice big bed and I had to share a bed that is just bigger than twin, but not quite a double with Niamh. I get up at six thirty to finish writing yesterday gorilla adventure.
Coffee arrived at 8:30 I got the kids up at 8 to start packing. We finished at 8:55 to head up to breakfast. I had a crispy omelette, toast, two glasses of juice, 4 shots of banana chocolate smoothie, and another cup of coffee! We got robes to take with us, and I asked for more chocolate chip cookies for the kids since they had two each since they were hiding under the mugs. We got 5 mugs this morning? We got clean shoes at 8:45 too. We got to the truck by 10, filled out the guest book, left a tip, and went to our next adventure -> to find a beer shirt. We drive an hour the wrong direction to a tourist trap but no shirt. There were plenty of walking sticks, art, woven baskets, and figurines of gorillas. Fiona picked up 6 yards of fun fabric that she will stick in a closet and forget, and a gorilla figurine for Lawson. Niamh and I walked in a circle too all the little shops. I thought about a walking stick? We saw postcards but didn’t pick up any.
We then arrived at Gorilla Guardians which is a place where former poachers turn into gorilla advocates. We donated 60 dollars and another ten in the donation box to buy a goat for a needy family. They who started it was honored by Obama in 2015 for advocating to turn things around for people. I got to dance again, we saw a wedding reenactment, and Babu and BeBe got to wear their royal garb at the kings house.
I fired a bow and arrow, an old school kind and hit the target both times; I’m so good. We saw how butter was made which is with a gord and two hours of rocking. How millet was milled, smithing, and ended at the gift shop where things were twice the price compared to the tourist trap. Weird but true. Then we took the long boring ride back to Kigali. However, it was as not boring since at every turn you could squash a bicyclist, mow over a moped, or get crushed by the military and their Mercedes trucks. Up, down, and around the mountain until we hit town. It was 6pm and nuts; traffic and people all at the same time. We made it through to the Kigali Serena Hotel. It is super nice here. Why are we leaving at 10pm to the airport to board a plane close to 2am to Türkiye which arrives around 10am on the first of August? The bed and pillows are very nice at this hotel in Rwanda. Anywho it is almost 10 so need to go eh.
We have a ‘snack’ at the Kigali Serena Hotel which is a 500ml beer and a cheese sandwich for me . The cheese sandwich was very good as it was a panini style with no crust. Alan pays for the snacks. Luckily niamh eats the chicken wings that Lawson poked at, everyone else at my basket of fries. We see the sisters from Los Gatos eating which were the same we saw at Virunga Lodge and say hello. We go back to the room and get our stuff at 10pm and go back down to the lobby.
Ivan is waiting for us and he found he a cool gorilla beer shirts straight from the local brewery. Getting into the Rwanda airport was interesting. We had to get out of the car, leave all of our bags on the curb (all of them), go get scanned, and repack the car after the dogs had sniffed away. Then we got dropped off and went to the business line (if you can get business do it) to check our bags. Then through passport control, and then went too early through the second security line to the gate as we had 90 minutes till our plane left. We figured out how to get back into the main section and found the pearl lounge. We all plugged in our devices and turned into zombies. It was 11pm by this time so all the little people and Fiona were zombies from the time not just staring into our devices. At 12:20 they called us to gate 3.
The first time we went through security they took Lawson’s glass water bottle, and the second time too my beer bottle. I asked the security guy to peel off the label which he did no problem. So I got to keep the label and not the reused Heineken bottle. The plane was making a stop in Entebbe Uganda before flying to Türkiye. We sat on the plane while it was being cleaned and other people boarded. I was having a hard time around 4am so took a 30 minute nap and then watched the end of Barry, the last three episodes of Witcher, and a mediocre chess movie called Critical Thinking then we were back at the biggest airport ever. Lawson slept for 7 hours the longest he has ever gone to sleep on a plane, Fiona was out for a good 4 or 5 hours, Niamh was out for a good 2 hours. I had breakfast and the snack. I couldn’t eat the meal so declined it, but could have gotten it I suppose?