22nd of February, 2018.
Hitchhiking in Rwanda: Butare
It’s been a long time since I walked for over an hour. The King’s Palace Museum is not far from the road to Butare, but caring so much wait, it takes so long…
After just a few minutes waiting, Didier Mahayo picks me up. He is going to Butare so he drops me in front of the Ethnographic Museum. It is a quick ride but I appreciate the conversation and the time with him. Thank you my friend for your help!
The museum looks huge from outside. Actually, there is this kind of “garden” which ended being a small forest, which looks so great! But the outside view look way better than what it is inside. Do not misunderstand me, it is quite a historical place inside but the fancy facade just do not fit.
If have I paid for the visit? Nope! I talked to them and while they were waiting for the supervisor, a group of tourist came and they simply thought it would be better just let me go. So I got in!
I like it! There is a lot of information about Rwanda. I honestly just do not understand the location: in the middle of nowhere. No, I do not think it should be in Kigali. People probably would never there. But perhaps in a town somewhere, even in the outskirts of it. It should be an interest place to visit when you arrive somewhere, and not in the middle of your travel.
When I was leaving Butare, I decide to cook my lunch (green beans and carrots plus some oat flakes) in a hidden place. In the middle of the cooking the gas finishes! That is OK because I have another one brand new, right? Bang! Wrong! Guess what? The gas I bought from my enchanted Fatima, in her hard ware shop, called Pyramide, it is not compatible with my camping stove. How could I be so stupid?
Well, I eat the food anyway, plus an orange. Then I walk just a bit more until a gas station and try to leave the empty recipient over there. Unfortunately, the workers cannot speak much English, so I think they cannot understand that I simply want to drop off this recipient in an appropriate place, instead of a regular rubbish bin. The good thing is that after a few minutes, one of the girls attendant come to me with the manager and once I explained to him, he understood and kept the recipient with him.
Many people keep coming to me and asking me what I am doing.
After something like twenty minutes a local stops. He is going to his home town, just after Nyungwe Forest National Park, so he can drop me there.
He helps to run an Institution which help kids and take some volunteers. Unfortunately, they only take people from the Peace Corps and something like that, so the volunteers can stay for around a year.
I wonder if they would let me go inside the Park for free. Because the man driving me worked there for a while, a few years back, he assure me they would not. But I had to ask. He drove me to the entrance and while he goes to talk with old friends, I try to get my information. Sadly, the guy say no. There is not a supervisor with whom I could talk about it, but the guards are nice in explaining to me why and even giving me other options. When we are leaving the place, I see some beautiful monkeys, but I was in the phone with Divine so I could not take a picture. Shame.
I decide not take any more risks and just make camping somewhere outside the Park, leaving to Kibuye next morning.
You know what? Sometimes I cannot decide if asking for information about a place to stay is a good alternative. Maybe I should just walk around and find something. You never know what can happen. What happened to me? I will tell you in the next post.
10 Years Around the World 