WHO cleared us of Ebola- you may now enter Rwanda 10/17/18

Yesterday we chilled at the lake. We took a tour of the lake. Actually, I should say we made a donation to elders with dementia and it included a motor boat lake tour (this lake is 2 miles deep!). Not much to see, 27 islands, some with locals farming, other with places to stay and a ninja warrior course. Another island we did some bird watching. One island is where they put pregnant girls for punishment back in the day (very very small island of just weeds). Another island is where they kept the lepers also back in the day. That took the first part of the morning. A quick walk around the "town" to check out our departure options since we declined a $200 private car ride (and the $400 private tour to Rwanda). The "tour" guide laughed when we said that was too much and we were going to take buses and taxis. Go ahead and laugh dude, we aren't paying.

It started to rain in the afternoon like it usually does. Time for some beer and wifi, well at least they had beer. I guess the weather hit the wifi again because it didn't work for shit. So much for planning the next leg of our trip. We ate some more crawdads, mine was cooked in garlic and Andy's was with thousand island on big 'ol avocados, and battled the wifi while it rained. Whatever, time for bed at 7pm. It rained hard which was incredibly relaxing in the tent. Our small feather blanket was getting harder to share between us (it's really meant for one person).

Up early to get out of here. We walked out of the Overland Resort and it's overpriced instant coffee to the boda bodas. Can you handle it? Andy asked? I guess we'll see. We placed our large backpacks on the motorcycles' handlebars and we sat in the back with our small backpacks on. Alright let's go! We had a short uphill and the rest was downhill which was much better. I looked away when we'd come to a hole in the road since I tend to lean on a motorcycle which is a big no-no. 15 later we were safely back in Kabale. Good thing we confirmed the 10k shilling price tag before we got on (always confirm the price first). The French dude who did not pre-agree had to argue with his driver since his driver was trying to charge him more than the "price he knew it cost". Good luck with that.

We were bombarded like always and we OKd a driver to take us to the border for 90k shilling ($24). We were planning on taking a taxi (small bus) but we didn't see any around and we just wanted to be on our way. The dude was trying to upsell us to take us into Rwanda but we weren't buying the high price tag so he dropped us off at the border after the 2 hour car ride.

The border was easy, not a lot of traffic at 10am on a Wednesday. Uganda could care less about us leaving. The WHO checked our temperatures for Ebola (yay no Ebola!), the police checked our bags (lightly), we passed several police officers who checked our passports, and we left the British colonized Uganda (where they drive on the left side and have the 3 rectangle pronged plugs) and enter French colonized Rwanda (drive on the right, 2 circle pronged plugs). The road between the countries had the country name on the left/right side so you were reminded which was correct when you crossed with your car.

We were going to take the local bus to Kinigi but we didn't see any and another dude talked us into a 20 Francs ($20) car ride. It actually turned out to be a good thing. The night's rain had washed mud into the street so no cars were passing. Our driving "negotiated" with the police to let us through. Boom! In 45 min we were in Ruhengeri. We started to get out of the car, the driver said no, no! I'll take you. Not for your price you won't. We negotiated 10 Francs to Kinigi. He dropped us off at a hotel we weren't going to stay at. Not a problem, $2 for a great latte and cappuccino with cookies! Yay Rwanda!

I called The Peakspot where I found a great place to camp. How do we get to you? Take the motorcycles. OK! We jumped on the motorcycles again, this time the heavy bags were on our backs (a very good ab workout), but we had helmets. :) The ride to the hotel was cray! Lots of rocks, Andy was riding the motorcycle like a bull. We finally made it around 11:30 (Rwanda is an hour behind). Just when we were about to get a drink, we heard a huge thunder from the dark clouds so we put up the tent very quickly. Not soon after it started hailing and raining super heavy, mud was flowing down the sidewalk.

The hotel is very beautiful. It's in the Volcanoes National Park and overlooks the town and the large mountains on the other side of the valley. Just beyond those mountains are the DRC. Rangers walk these roads to protect the gorilas day and night (and therefore tourists). All houses have power, the infrastructure is much better, more paved roads, wifi that works, cookies with your freshly brewed cheap coffee. Yay Rwanda!

I had some delicious fish for lunch and Andy had the fried chicken with carrot soup and lots of bread. We first sat on the patio to watch it rain, they brought us warm wool blankets. Then they started a fire inside the dining room for our lunch and where we relaxed the rest of the day. Love it! (Can you tell I'm happy to be in Rwanda)?

Don't get me wrong, I really liked Uganda. Once I recovered from the food poisoning (I blame myself), I started to enjoy the luscious country again. Yes, half the country had low talkers and it's incredibly annoying, but the other half wants to talk to you at a reasonable decimal. The country is very pretty. It has a bit to go in the tourism world- you can't charge tourist high prices for shitty coffee and $5 juices in shitty traps when it cost significantly less for locals. The people are friendly and I hope they can recover more of their animal population since the only reason most people will travel here will be the animals and gorillas, and Biwindi is a distant land for a one day tour.

Tonight we sleep in the tent. The hotel will give us extra blankets and a warm water bottle because it gets cold and we already shipped our sleeping bags home. Tomorrow am we get up early for the Golden Monkey trek!