Daily Commute

Andrea suggested that I post some pictures of the scenes I see every day on my way to work. So, praying that the moto driver didn't do anything crazy, holding the motorcycle with one hand and my camera in the other, I took some pictures from my commute to work this morning.

It's sort of boring to me, but I guess people have certain expectations of what a morning commute in an African city is like, so here's a little bit of my experience in Rwanda.

This is the street I live on. That trench on the right is typical of the gutters here- they're everywhere, even in poorer areas, and in the hills, even in some of the more remote parts of the country. The soil is pretty poor here, and they prevent the hills from getting saturated and leading to erosion or landslides. Occasionally cars get stuck in them.

On the road heading up towards the city center. This road is fairly new, as you can tell, and the the lanes in the opposite direction are still under construction.

Same road, getting closer to the city. Hopefully this gives you a sense of how hilly it is- the roads go around the hills in spirals with occasional switchbacks. You can see on the left how much dirt had to be removed- and this is getting close to the top, where it levels out a little. They'll eventually cover that bare face with a wall.

The city center. That tall modern looking building is brand new, the first of many such projects that are part of the government's 'Vision 2020' programs. This program involves eminent-domaining all the poor people out of the downtown area and replacing them with big buildings like this one.

The city center. This is the main roundabout in the center of Kigali, and you can see how well it is maintained, with all the grass and bushes. All of it is done by hand, with machetes and clippers. Even the grass. You may be able to see the fountain in the middle, which wasn't on this morning.

Going around the roundabout. In the very center of this picture and to the left is where all of the buses go. I catch my bus home pretty close to the new tower. Further left at the top of the hill is where the Union Trade Center (UTC) is, which is sort of a Western-style shopping mall. Also up there is the Simba grocery store, where I get all of my non-produce foods.

And back down the other side of the hill, to the Muhima district where VFC (Vision Finance Company, the MFI that I'm working at) is. The whole ride is about 10 minutes, and costs me 700 RWF (a little more than a dollar). I usually take the bus home, because that's only 180 RWF, or 30 cents. And it's easier to carry groceries on the bus.