These Boots were made for Walking

Day 7 and we are blessed with a day off, it would be inappropriate to ask our partners to transport us on a Sunday and so we have enjoyed a relaxing day in Kigali.

There is an English service at St Etienne’s Cathedral at 8.15am. We are staying in their guest house, so after a breakfast of samosa, boiled egg and fruit, we wandered over to the Cathedral and joined the worship, a little late, although as church filled up slowly during the first half hour we realised we were actually relatively early!!

It was a lovely start to the day with the main reading taken from Matthew 11 v 20-30 and a sermon on sanctification and making conscious changes in your life as you walk the Christian journey.  We were a little disappointed that the music has moved from traditional to electronic, it was not melodious, their voices are so beautiful but sadly drowned out but the electronics.

A leisurely coffee after the service, then as it was a lovely day we decided on a walk.  With a vague recollection of the way to the craft village, we set off. The main road winds its way down the hillside, but it is a long way round, impressed to see the steep murram tracks leading through the houses have been concreted, we decided to be adventurous and take the short cuts.

Arriving safely back on the main road we headed off in what we hoped was the general direction.  Some areas we recognised, but so much has changed, roundabouts and new roads have sprung up, new buildings, even a sports centre, proudly boasting a swimming pool which was being well used by the more affluent Rwandans, sadly, the children standing on the pavement watching enviously on will probably never set foot in such an establishment.

Eventually we reached the craft village and had a wander around. Determined not to buy anything until we have rid ourselves of the tennis balls we disappointed the many stallholders with apologies that we were not buying anything today, but may return later in the month, although if we do, we will not be paying the muzungu prices they hope for!!!

As it was still relatively early, we wandered on, remembering finding a very high-end café with delicious cake on a previous visit, we wondered if we could find it again.

Eventually, 6 km later, and after an off-road detour through the flood plain construction site, we arrived.

The cafe was just as we had remembered, including the enormous slices of cake for the equivalent of £2.50 each.

Two bottles of water, two slices of cake and four iced coffee’s (2 each) later, we thought we had better attempt to find our way back.

We needed to get back before dark, it gets dark suddenly around 6.30pm and walking in the dark poses some hazards, not least the large holes which dot the pavements.

Surprisingly, we did not get lost, Google maps helps but it doesn’t like it when we go off-piste!!  The short cuts felt a lot longer coming back, probably because they were all uphill, and we had eaten a lot of cake!!

Deciding we had no room for dinner we stopped at our favourite fast food stand, the lovely young man, Dominic, welcomed us like long lost friends, not batting an eyelid when Carmen couldn’t sort out the many zeros on the currency and tried to give him the equivalent of £3 instead of 30p. He received a little extra for his honesty and with samosas and mandazi safely in our hands we headed ‘home’.

Today we enjoyed the modern Rwanda, one many Rwandans will never enjoy.  

We have walked 10k, and we are sure it was mostly uphill!!! God willing, we will sleep well tonight.