September 2, 2015
Week 23: To Gisenyi: down to Lake Kivu
So many people walking! As we ride out of town, hundreds of people are making their way into town, mostly women with bundles on their heads, and children dressed in school uniforms.
We go through towns that have nothing on the streets for sale, only in the shops, no loud music playing, quiet stares at us as we ride through. A few shouts of muzungu or give me money, but much less and an occasional "Bonjour" left over Belgium influence.
No longer are there large groups of men just standing around or large groups of men with motorcycles. On one side of the street are the motortaxi (motorcycle, in Uganda a Boda boda) now regulated by all wearing yellow jackets, helmets for themselves and passengers. The other side, the other mode of transportation, the bicycle with a padded seat over the rear tire and the cyclist wearing a blue jacket. It's amazing to watch how people balance on the back without holding on. The bicycle is also used to transport goods...bricks, charcoal, doors, long boards, rolled sheets of corrugated aluminum. "I thought that guy with the aluminum had a UPS uniform, he had a brown shirt and brown pants" Rachel says. Sometimes the load is pushed up the hill by just one person, other times the load is so heavy it takes two people.
We pass through agricultural area that operate as a co-operative. Today we see produce of carrots, onions and cabbages along with a few tea plantations. Houses are now in the middle of the gardens, the earth is black not red, fences are made out of volcanic black rock not wood.
The road is very nice surface, the shoulder is good but usually people walking makes it less usable needing to weave back and forth. It was a long 30 km climb rewarded with 30 km downhill with not much pedalling. Rwanda is beautiful and is living up to it's reputation as a "country with a 1,000 hills.
Today's ride: 63 km (39 miles)
Total: 6,570 km (4,080 miles)
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