Family Visit
Hello!!! This is the first, and probably only guest post on my blog. Hope you enjoy a different perspective!
Hello readers! Sydney requested that we, Taylor and Jordan, write a post in order to give some insight into our Rwandan experience.
We spent 2 weeks traveling across this amazing country and were able to see so much of it in such a short time. We got a more localized experience thanks to our tour guides Sydney and Angelo. Because of them we got a more in-depth experience of the country and saw things that very few tourists would normally see, and thanks to them, we also felt that we were constantly learning about the place as we were traveling through it. I think that everyone in our family will agree that it was one of our most memorable family trips to date.
Although the entirety of the trip will be remembered fondly, the two most special experiences for us were the safari and the privilege of spending time in Sydney’s village. Lets start with the safari. It was a bucket list item for many of us, and it certainly lived up to the hype, despite the car trouble. We were able to see a large number of zebras, impalas, antelope and multiple species of monkeys as well as some more rare sights including elephants, giraffes, hippos and 2 LIONS, which was certainly the highlight. Seeing animals of this caliber in their natural environment was certainly a sight to behold and at times seemed almost surreal. We’ve included a few of the best photos from the safari below.
At another national park, Volcano National Park, which is home to a number of species of monkeys, we had another incredible experience seeing the Golden Monkeys. After a short hike, guides brought us into an area of bamboo where we were literally amongst a large group of the monkeys as they swung from the branches and ate and played as we observed. Incredible!
As we arrived in Sydney’s village, after driving on dirt roads that had been muddied by a recent rainstorm for miles and miles, the residents greeted us so warmly. Kids chased our car as soon as they saw us and when we emerged we were immediately surrounded by screaming kids wanting to say hello and give us big hugs. We felt like celebrities. Later we took a walk through the village followed by an entourage of Sydney’s students and other residents of the village.
The kids were always trying to hold our hands and test out their English vocabulary they had learned in school. We were invited to dinner at the home of Sydney’s co-teacher, Celestine, and were treated to a delicious local meal of stew, rice and beans and chatted about her upcoming move to the United States. We were entertained by her daughter Briella aka the cutest child of all time.
While in Sydney’s village we also prepared a meal to be shared by all of the teachers at Sydney’s school. We wanted to prepare American food so we made hot dogs, mac and cheese and vegetables which all seems to be a big hit amongst the teachers, the pickles, not so much of a hit.
The entire time that we were the village we were just in awe of Sydney and the new lifestyle that she has adopted. Every aspect of her life is more difficult, from walking nearly an hour to the nearest town to buy food, to fetching water from the well, to cooking a simple meal to doing laundry, and she has adapted herself to thrive in her new environment. We pictured ourselves in her shoes and imagined the intense feelings of isolation and fear being the only outsider in such a rural, tight-knit village like this one and we all decided that we wouldn’t be able to do it. It takes a special person. But it seemed to us that the village had welcomed her and now treat and respect her as one of their own.
We are extremely grateful for Sydney for showing us around her new home! She planned every aspect of the trip for us and it couldn’t have been better. Other highlights included a coffee tour at a local plantation, a hike through the rainforest and across a suspension bridge, a tour of the national genocide memorial, a relaxing couple of days on the shore of Lake Kivu, surprisingly good Chinese food, multiple trips to the market to get clothes made in Kigali, long, beautiful drives through the Land of 1000 Hills, intense games of Yahtzee, and WAY too many potatoes.
