This chap was one of probably hundreds of children I encountered who yelled "Muzungu!" as I passed, calling their friends to come get a look. The first 3/4 of our journey up Mt Kigali was through a couple small settlements, sort of the suburbs of Kigali. Children were out everywhere playing with makeshift toys or helping carry water for their families, and all were interested in seeing a white guy. It's my only experience with any form of celebrity, so I enjoyed it; many came up to shake my hand and say 'Good morning' (A few years ago, they would have said 'Bonjour' - some small evidence of Rwanda's transition to Anglophone Africa). A few walked with us for half an hour or so. Some of the toys they've made for themselves are pretty cool, such as this one with stilts:
After the hike, we lunched at Claude's house. He is a student, but he has his own property and has three other young men renting from him. We had lunch of cooked bananas with a tomato sauce, sweet potatoes (the white kind, not the orange kind), beans, and some kind of cooked greens. Very filling fare, all washed down with banana beer. They bought me a bottle of the brew, more for entertainment than anything else; none of them were interested in sharing it. It's not too bad, not very banana-y at all, more like a wine than a beer, but sweet like rum. It's dark brown and pretty strong (13% abv), so I added some water to make it more palatable. While we were eating, Claude's 81 year old grandmother visited from her home up on the mountain, interested in meeting me as well. She vigorously sipped her bottle of banana wine while wondering why I diluted the "medicine" by adding water.
Lunch in Claude's living room:
Claude, Freddy, and Gilbert in front of a traditional mud house somewhere on Mt Kigali:
He's such a cutie! What an interesting experience for you to be in a culture so different from ours. Thanks for sharing it with us - we love reading your blog posts!
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