Motel Rwanda

We (the two other interns and I) went to Kigali for the weekend. Kigali is the capitol city of Rwanda. We had a great plan for the weekend. Bart and I were going to get our own hotel room, but unlike Katherine, we were going to stay in a “Cheap Place.”

I want to note that a “Cheap Place” in Rwanda is really cheap, like $8 a night. We talked to some people and got a reservation in such a place. We got bus tickets, $3 for a two hour trip, to Kigali. We left here at 5:30pm and arrived at about 8pm or so.

Bart and I immediately got a taxi to our motel so that we could check in. We were excited about our first adventure in Kigali. When we arrived, the motel had lost our reservations, and the rooms were full. Our taxi was gone, we were stuck in a place where nobody spoke English, we didn’t have a place to stay, and it was in a rough neighborhood. I was worried.

We finally found someone who spoke English, and he was a very nice man. He had a scary voice as he sounded like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings (almost looked like him), but he was nice to us. He was always looking for a “Precious Room” for us. He helped us get a taxi. At one point he took us into a potential motel surrounded by bars. After we walked in, we were surrounded by about 8 Rwandans. I was scared. There was Bart, myself, Gollum, and 8 Rwandans looking at us like we were trespassing. They then showed us a room, but the lights didn’t work, so we left. We finally found a place three motels later.

By place, I don’t mean a nice two bed room with a good bathroom; I mean a small twin bed for both me and Bart, tiny bathroom (the water didn’t work), in a neighborhood with some problems. It was called the Vedette or something similar.

The fluorescent light flickered like a strobe light while we checked in. If you’re trying to picture this room, just remember the last scary movie you have seen involving a place where the lights flickered on and off constantly. This was our room.

We left this room to meet with some friends and have dinner. It was a good dinner followed by a nice party at a friend of a friend’s house. The party was nice and I stayed too late, but only because I dreaded the place we would stay after. The inevitable happened, and we did go back there for the night. If there ever was an opportunity to jump two Americans in Africa, it was there on that night in our motel room.

Needless to say, we were not jumped and felt fine the next morning. For those of you concerned about our thoughtless actions, let me just say that Rwanda is one of the safest places I have ever been. Walking in the middle of the night is not dangerous here like in downtown Houston. Police are everywhere here, and their policy is: Shoot first, ask questions later.

We were safe and happy. As for the rest of our time in Kigali, it was wonderful. I would not mind living there in the least. I advise anyone who wants to visit Africa, to make a long stop in Kigali. It is a beautiful city with nice people. Even if you stay in the Verdette!