Virunga Mountains and the Volcanoes

So while the rest went on with the work of CMU... I took Ed's family to see the Virunga Mountains. 

             We saw some of them but during the dry season visibility is lower and it is much hazier.... but we had a great day together in the mountains...

          and with the people there.

Sorghum fields along the way.

We're there....

On our way up to the Virunga Mountain Lodge where we are headed for lunch.

 Two adorable little girls saying hi to us...  "Muzungus"

We got to the top of the mountain
and could see the lakes.. but not much of the mountains...
the volcanic ones.

 Oscar, our driver and Ben.

On a clear day from here.. you would see towering volcanoes in the back ground.

Daphne sitting on top of the world in Rwanda.

Sweet picture....sweet girl!

Well, she was on top of the world until our server told us all they had for lunch was drinks.  This lodge is a long way from anything--  in fact our way to find it.. we past it and ended up at the Ugandan border!
If you call ahead and tell them you are coming they will have lunch... but only if you do so.

So we sat and relaxed and Oscar taught us how to eat one of the local weeds that was a lot like celery! 

 Lookin' good, Liora...
Tasting good?  Hmmm.. not so much! 

Wish you could see (and wished we could have, to0) the many hills behind the lakes.

 They took us to see one of the lodge rooms!
Another bathroom facing the outdoors!

Cute little "house" --they were working on one corner of it...

View FROM the bathroom sink!

Indeed beautiful from up here.
Good thing Liora had brought a couple snacks! 

The Eucalyptus trees were so towering.  We were driving to find one of the community villages to see some local handiwork and possible dancers.. but the bridge was out and we couldn't get across so we went another direction.

We took out over the back roads in search of traditional dancers, we had hoped.  We stopped in front of this place and
a man said.. "You want dancers?  COME!"

The minute we stopped the car and parked we had little faces with us.  

And within a few minutes... maybe 5... we had folks gathering to dance.

No drums in this remote village but no problem... If you have a stick and a jerrycan ---the beat goes on!

And they started dancing!  And later the man in orange
played the flute he is holding...It looks like a rawhide bone for a dog.. but it is made from wood... probably bamboo.  It had a rather haunting tone but went well with the drums and the singers. 

The louder the drummer and the dancers got
the more people came.

 The kids got us into the action and we all started making dust!

 You can see that they put out benches for us to
sit on and then covered them with African fabrics..
So thoughtful...You can tell by the pictures that these
villagers had very little.. Yet they were so kind to us.

The crowd from the village grew and grew.....

And grew!  There must have been 50-70 villagers that joined in.

Oscar was pretty tall with these Batwa villagers.
( I think we grew up calling them Pygmies)

But he loved dancing with them, too.

The rhythms were loud and folks were chant-singing, too! 

These 3 didn't know what to make of it all.

 And this lady must have been the matriarch of the village. 

She loved every minute.

Pictures of the crowd.

This child with this itsy baby on her back was amazing.

A common sight here in Rwanda.

More of the crowd as the dancing continues.

         

The videos are so wonderful...I have no idea why they won't translate to the blog...             

They look like they are downloading, act like they have, but you can't open them,

This lady collected our contributions for all the village.  It seemed they only had this one cow.

Ben like the cow, too and wanted his picture with her.

This young man on Liora's right walked back to the car with us.  He spoke English very well and was glad we had stopped.
We left this little village full of joy and wonder and lots
of beats pounding in our heads.  What a great find! 

We weren't very far from where Nelda, Kristi, Amy and Bruce and I had seen some other dancers at the Mountain Gorilla Lodge.  So i suggested we head that direction and maybe find something to eat there for supper.  We got there right at 5 pm and they were just starting...

You can see one of the Volcanoes now in the distance.

Got the Intore hair shot!

They, too, danced and danced!

Joy, Joy, Joy!!  

Liora wasn't shy when they asked her to dance.

She and another guy watching... jumped right in.

Ben finally conceded and joined the fun, too.

 A lot of fun!

Ben becoming an Intore dancer.

Joyful surrender!

The dancers loved Liora! 

Time for the Family Picture!
"Strictly Come Dancing"

We were so glad we went back to see and be with this group.
They simply emitted pure joy!

This was the evening that the CMU Joint Advisory Board
was having their special dinner so we didn't have to be home any set time.  We asked if we could eat at the Lodge and they said they really didn't start serving until 7 but since we hadn't eaten all day they would try to make us something they could cook quickly.  And they did.

We had a great time hearing Oscar's life story while we waited
and talking about the events of the day.  Wow....
What more could you ask for ---if you are coming to see
Rwanda?  It was a very special day for all of us!

It has been so wonderful to have Ed and Liora and kids
here with us.  They are falling in love with Rwanda and its
people, too.  It's a very easy thing to do..

You should come see for yourself..
We guarantee you'll have the same response!

see you soon...
love,
margie