Mad matata drivers

Mar 23rd

Pouring with rain all morning and no sign that it would stop. A real shame, because we’d intended to get out and about in Gikongoro and take photos of the town and area. It’s so lovely; beautiful mountain scenery and tea plantations all around. Also, I’d wanted to get a couple of shots of Tiga’s place and garden. Never mind, I’m determined to back another time and just do Gikongoro itself.

Soraya was sleeping in, sp Marisa and I crept around, tidying up and sweeping out the place. Eventually left mid morning, and as luck would have it a matata was waiting at the roundabout, and was going all the way to Kigali (in other words, past my front door)!

However, as we entered Gikongoro the driver was so buy looking for passengers that he didn’t see a woman right in front of us and had to slam on the brakes; he came within a few inches of killing her. Then, in the rain and drizzle in the bus park, he was going up and down, touting for passengers, and reversed right into an elderly blind beggar, sending him flying into the mud. The man got up, and after a couple of minutes they were all laughing about it, but Marisa and I exchanged glances and thought “is this going to be the kind of ride we want down steep mountain roads all the way home?”

Eventually we got going, driving like a maniac through every bend, bumping across potholes. It took barely 20 minutes to reach Butare but at least we hadn’t managed to actually kill ourselves or anyone else.

Next, the driver launched into a kind of duel with another matata, also heading for Kigali. Whoever was in front would pick up all the waiting passengers along the way. For several miles out of Butare the two idiot driver continually tried to overtake each other; we ended up in the slower bus and lost, but not until we’d had a truly hair-raising ride on the wrong side of the road, with not enough time to get back into our lane if a heavy lorry was coming the other way. It was pure luck we got home intact. After some miles, our driver had to concede defeat, and stopped to pick up whichever passengers the other bus had left. We still managed to be jam-packed full by the time we reached home.

Today was Easter Day, and it was the first Easter for many years where I haven’t been to church. Along the road, however, absolutely everyone was trooping out in their Sunday best, and at Ruhango a service had just ended and the roadside was crowded with people. All the men and most of the women were carrying bibles. Between Gikongoro and Butare, where people seem poorer than round here, a far larger proportion of people were barefoot. They had to cross muddy paths and fields to reach the tarmac road to their church; they headed for places where streams passed under the road and were busy washing their feet in the rivers before walking the last section along the black top.

Back home at Gitarama we found there was a big power problem at the flat – the entire building is without electricity and all the meters are blank. Perhaps somebody doing building work nearby has cut through a cable. So we dined on bread and cheese and cold drinks, then Marisa had to get going back home to Nyamata.

By this time I was pretty weary, so I dozed away the afternoon. By now I was stony broke, my phone battery was completely dead so I couldn’t make or receive calls (including Teresa’s weekly call in the evening), and I couldn’t do any work on my laptop. Amazing how bereft that makes you feel!

Meanwhile Geert had texted us to say did we want to come for eats and rinks at the “Petit Jardin” bar. My first reaction was to cry off, but, then, if you just had one drink and ate ibirayi it was a very cheap night out. So went with Tom. Geert has another Dutch friend staying with him, an ICT expert who works in a hospital complex near him. He’s come out to Rwanda for a holiday but is also going to help Geert with an ICT course next week. Only problem is that at Kabgayi they’re also suffering from power cuts, and just imagine trying to run a computer course without electricity……!

Anyway, we ended up with eight muzungus in the bar, dined on brochettes and ibirayi and had a good evening. Back home by soon after eight o’clock. Pitch dark; no iPod to listen to, and still feeling weary from the rest of the weekend, so went to bed early and slep like a log!

Best part of the day – meeting up with everyone from Gitarama in the evening
Worst things about day – no electricity, phone not working, iPod not working, can’t use computer, can’t talk to Teresa, tired, stony broke…….