Nelda, Kristi and Amy--Back for More!

They're back!!!  These 3 musketeers fell in love with Rwanda 

when they visited last summer so they came back to enjoy the people and the country again... And we're glad they did! 

They look terrific after such a long flight!

One of the things they wanted to do upon their
return was visit the rain forest, Nyungwe!
So, after church, lunch at Heaven, a local restaurant and a relaxing day we got up on Monday and headed southwest!

This lumber mill isn't far from the forest..
but it is on the edge of the refugee camp.

This is a very large camp!

This was our driver, Sylve.  I called him Sly! 

From the terraced farming to the ...

luscious tea fields.... We knew we were getting closer.

But on the way before the entrance.. i stopped to take a picture of Patrick's house... He is a little boy we sponsor.  We called out his name but he didn't hear us.  His house was across a steep valley.

But then we got to the entrance...

And we had a lot of folks greet us!
 This little one with wood to cook dinner on--
on her head, of course.

And all of these smilin' faces... to say hello... Well,
 the 2 in the back look a little suspicious of us.

But not these guys.... they just come marching right toward us.
We got back in the car and then stepped out carefully
to get a couple of shots.

This is the first shot of the canopy once you enter the forest.
But it was really hazy today so not the best picture.


Then we had to complete the awful drive into and through the forest.  There is one stretch of road that is just so rough and winding.. but then it gets better toward the end...about 1/2 hour
before you reach the Lodge.

We finally got there.. greeted by the staff with hot towels for us to refresh our faces and hands. After some delicious
homemade passion fruit juice we were taken to our rooms.

We opened the curtains that led out to our small veranda
and look who was waiting for us.  

"Uh-oh...they've seen us now!"
Can't believe they both have their mouths covered.  

 Aren't they cute?  They are "Golden Monkeys".

Nelda peeking in through the bath room... shutters!

Then at 5pm it was back to the lodge for Tea Time...
Not just any ordinary time, though because this young
man taught us all about how tea is processed. 

We tried the best and the worst, called 'dust'... 

All the tea was steeping over candles...

Once it was done we enjoyed it with some
small cookies and peanuts! 

This was wonderful every afternoon.... to just sit back and relax.  

And of course, in the evening.... our waiter set us right ahead of the fireplace and then he kept the blaze going all evening.

Our waiter was gracious enough to
take a picture of us all together.

A great dinner followed with lots of
fun conversation and laughter.

Then it was back to our rooms.
But on the way the crystal clear sky
was brimming with stars.....
in a different sky from that in the States!

Simply beautiful..

A great way to start our time in Nyungwe!

love,
margie

Welcome New Japanese Ambassador!

The Japanese Embassy had a party for the new 

Ambassador Ogawa and his wife,  Junko.  

I have had the privilege of getting to know this sweet woman

through AIC, of course. 

So, one month ago to the day, June 27th... they hosted a party

in honor of the presentation of Ambassador Ogawa's Credentials.  

This is also one of the times when Bruce
has had occasion to befriend the Ambassador
so we were honored to be invited to this
special evening. 

The Ambassador giving his speech.

Flanked by the Rwandan and Japanese Flags.

Caught Junko after her husband's speech and 
everyone is now relaxed and having an enjoyable time!

AIC friends, were there, of course..   

Bea and Mitra enjoying the evening together. 

 All of these young folks are working here in Kigali.

Barbara and Wolfgang were leaving but paused for
this great picture.  Barbara was our AIC president
last year and is also one of our aerobic instructors.
They are here with the German Embassy.

 This is Mary and she recently moved here from Nigeria.  She is in our Bible Study group. We also attend the same church and she and her husband used to live down the street but they moved recently. 

 Mary's husband, Philip... on the right, is the Ambassador for the new Nigerian Embassy that is now right down the street from us.. They kept the house as the Embassy but moved their residence  closer to downtown. 

And the man on the left,  is the Ambassador from Somalia. 
I'm so sorry I don't remember his name
We were just introduced to him tonight by Philip and Mary.


The food was delicious and the evening was delightful.


Whenever we leave these events we are reminded of 
how fortunate we are to be meeting
such wonderful people from around the world. 

Sometimes we wonder why we are invited to 
these great events.... because we have nothing to do 
with all the "official" capacities of being here, as others do.

But none-the-less it was an honor to be with these great
folks this evening.  I am looking forward to getting
to know Junko even better over the time we both have here.

Welcome, Ambassador Ogawa and Junko! 

We're glad you are here with us in Rwanda
and we trust your time in Kigali will be wonderful 
and rewarding for you.

love,
margie

Napoleon Island and the BATS!

THIS IS NAPOLEON ISLAND!   CAN YOU IMAGINE WHY THEY NAMED IT THIS? 

YES... BECAUSE IT LOOKS JUST LIKE HIS HAT!   HAT RHYMES WITH BAT AND THAT IS WHAT 
THIS ISLAND IS FULL OF.

We took a boat across the lake to see this place.  This has been something Bruce has wanted to do since he heard about the place and that is one reason
why we came here to stay. 

It's a large lake and even with the hazy conditions it oozes beauty with the rolling Rwandan hills off its shores.

It took awhile to get across to the island and when we did we felt like Tom and Huck.... Our driver just pulled up to this tree.... tucked us in up to the rocks and we jumped onto the island.  

What happened next I didn't understand until later....  There were a few young boys standing near this spot and I wondered why they were there... Did they live out here on this
scruffy island?  Our guide must have read my mind...
He said - "They're the cowboys!"  To which we just laughed and went on following him up the side of the mountain. 

This wasn't his first trip to this island... For 3 generations
his family has run this boat taxi/tour to reach the the islands.  
By the way, there are several islands as you can see from the pictures.  We only had time to explore this one.  
It was quite windy! 

Thus creating a GREAT hair day! 
Bruce always looks so good.

Looking back to see how far we had come.  You can
only see the vague light blue outline of the hills 
we had come from.

These two guys passed us by on the boat... They were paddling standing up on something that looked like a surfboard but it was a lot lighter.  But in this picture
they were down on their knees.
It took them 6 hours to get across the lake....

Back on the island, we are making our way up the hill
to find the bats and suddenly they showed up. 

Our guide was making all kinds of noise to wake them since
they were asleep.. After all, they usually only come out at night. 

These were not like out little bats...
Some of them had wingspans of 2'- 3'.

They were flying everywhere around us.
The guide asked if he could take the camera and go get some video of them down further into the bush area.

I really didn't want to give it to him...but finally decided to
and I'm so glad I did.

Of course, i cannot get the videos to download... i really don't
understand the problem.  I've tried all the suggestions from google but to no avail. 

So, this is what they looked like hanging...

 I think their heads look like dogs...
check out the top right side of this picture.

And again here....I think a baby is tucked in the one on the right.

The island was literally crawling with bats.
Bats clawing for a place to "hang out".

And the sky was full of them each time our guide would whistle
an alert sound.

     We'll see if they work... They load and say proceeding to finish... and then nothing.

What do you think?    I think this must be a Mama in progress....

The guide even caught this Albino bat.

 Our last picture of them... and yes, it was quite a sight but a bit
creepy with these guys flying all around.   They apparently are a kind of fruit bat and they have settled here because there are so many fruit trees on the island...
and also a lot of cows!


The whole time we heard the bats screaching we were
also hearing cows mooing... Strange combo... But as we were walking back down the mountain we saw our first one. 

 Getting a drink from the lake...

I "mooed" at him and he looked up!  As we
continued down the path we discovered there
were cows all around us with big horns.

 But they knew our guide would feed them guava.

He explained to us that the cows SWAM to the island and will SWIM back at some point.
They were brought here by the Cow-Boys!
The boys who take care of the cows on the island--
thus the cowboys! 

Then we took turns feeding these almost tame cows.

"Wait, where are you going.... I want more!"

That's better!  Bruce just couldn't get over the cows swimming so far across this lake.. and yes... it is pretty astonishing.

By this time.... our guy at the water's edge had made his way up to see us, too.

 I loved this cow... He seemed to have so much character and wisdom about him.... 

Even gentle eyes for a guy with such huge horns.

 All things rise to the sky.. the horns and the hills!

Here, our guide gave him a lemon..  He licked and licked and licked and licked.... The video is cute...

All the other cows came over  for juice, too.

This "little" one looked like she was "with cow". 

She got in on the action, too! 

Time to get back into the boat but first it
had to be pulled back in...

.

 Lifting the 'anchor'! 

Bringing it back to the rocks.

On our way back to the mainland...
Napoleon in the distance now. 

This was our driver/captain's number so that when we come
back we can call him..  He had this written on the top of the boat.
Clever!

Lake Kivu is large and at this point a bit choppy. 

But our little inlet was fairly calm all the time.

This picture really give you the feel of just how high our
place was from the water.  The beach looks so small...
It seems so out of proportion.  

Love this shot of our boat now docked land side.

The rest of the day we chilled in the sun...
Guess that is an oxymoron.

But it was a very relaxing day.
Tomorrow we head back to reality but these last few days
have been very very nice.

There could only be two other things that
would make this day perfect.

A brilliant sunset....

and a full moon!

And the Lord provided both!!

love,
margie