Dad’s Visit

Although it was only 9:30 in the morning, it was already getting hot. My dad and I stepped out of our taxi at Nyabugogo Bus Park and started looking for the bus that would take us to visit my host family in Kamonyi. Soon we found it- a Toyota mini-bus of the kind that is ubiquitous in East Africa. The car, a bit smaller than an old Volkswagen bus, was outfitted with five rows of seats, each row seating 4 people. The bus was already half full when we arrived, and we were asked to get in to the back row.

Now, I was a bit worried about this. In kinyarwanda these buses are called “twegerane” which literally means “let’s squish,” and both my dad and I are pretty tall. I’d been traveling this way for close to two years, and had learned to deal with traveling in the vehicular equivalent of a twister board, but I wasn’t sure how well Dad was going to handle it. With no other option, though, we grinned and stuffed ourselves into the last row. Within a few minutes of boarding, Dad was handed a baby to hold while another passenger got on, the bus filled up, and we were on our way.

The bus took us down the main road for a ways before turning off onto a dirt road. We made it to my host family’s house without any problems, and were welcomed warmly. Things hadn’t changed much since I was a trainee there, although the house has since gotten electricity, and the family even has a TV and DVD player now. The family was all happy and healthy, and very glad to meet Dad. We had a nice meal and exchanged some small gifts- Dad was presented with a leather cowboy hat (a few sizes too small) like the ones old Rwandan men like to wear and are often given as presents at weddings. We gave Papa and Mama Peace a book of pictures of Arizona and the kids a set of dominos and go-fish cards. We all talked for a while (mostly me talking with the family and occasionally remembering to translate what was happening for Dad) and then went to greet the neighbors.

Everyone was very happy to meet my father and had essentially the same reactions upon meeting him. “You have a beautiful dad!” “Your Dad is big!” “He is strong!” “He is still a young man!” These reactions turned out to be predictive of what we would hear for the remainder of the trip, to the point where it became kind of a running joke. After saying hello to most of the immediate neighbors, we caught a ride to the main road and continued on to Butare.

The next day we took it easy in the morning before moving on to my site. That afternoon, my community English students wanted to come to meet my dad, so when we got home I put a pot of water on the charcoal stove to make tea for all of us. To my surprise, my students came not only with a crate of Fanta for us to share, but with other gifts to give to Dad. It was a lovely gesture, especially since many of my students are farmers or watchmen and do not make much money. We shared the fanta and talked for a while before everyone went home.

We spent the following day walking around my site, to the nearby tea factory, into the forest a little ways, and of course meeting more people in my community. Unfortunately we didn’t have long to spend at site because we had passes to visit the gorillas in Volcanoes National Park on Wednesday and had to spend the day before traveling.

When we arrived in Musanze (the big town near the volcanoes) we got a taxi to Kinigi, the village just at the base of the mountains near the national park. We stayed in a lovely place called the Kinigi Guest House which is run through a local women’s cooperative. The place was quiet, with great views and a short walk from park headquarters. In the evening, the staff built a fire in the lounge and we sat and talked with some other guests who were going to see the gorillas in the morning. I realized at this point that we had been so busy for the last few days, I hadn’t even thought much about the gorillas at all. At that point, I was too tired to get excited about it, and we called an early night since we would have to be at headquarters by 7 am.

At HQ in the morning, I got us signed up to see the Amahoro group, the largest group of gorillas habituated for tourist viewing. Dad was a bit worried about the altitude- a typical gorilla trek can include climbing from 7000 to 10000 ft and may take anywhere from an hour to half a day- so we were lucky that our group was last sighted not too far from the trail head. After meeting the other visitors in our group and getting an introduction from our guide, Eugene, we drove up to the trail head and got ready to go. It was a hot day with few clouds, and our path was almost entirely up hill, but other than taking a few water breaks on the way up the altitude didn’t seem to bother people too much.

After an hour and a half, Eugene told us to take off our bags because the gorillas were close now. We all thought this meant another 10-15 minutes of walking, but as we entered a tunnel in a nearby bamboo grove, we were stopped by the guide who pointed at the ground in front of us. I didn’t see anything, but everyone else started to get excited. Then off to the left I saw a young gorilla lying on its back totally disinterested in us. The undergrowth was thick, and the porter who was with us started hacking a path directly over the resting gorilla. Still no response; these were clearly VERY habituated gorillas. We cut a path another few feet and came face to face with a group of 5-6 female gorillas and their young. Everyone immediately crowded around and started snapping pictures, myself included, although because my camera is ancient and the foliage was thick, I didn’t get many good photos.

Mostly I was content to sit on a branch watching the gorillas. As I was sitting there, a silverback came out of the undergrowth walking right towards me! I wasn’t sure what I should do- I couldn’t really move out of the way without knocking people over, and in fact we were now surrounded by gorillas on every side. So I just held very still, and the silverback turned to sit a few feet in front of me, nonchalantly scratching his scalp. Soon, though, our time was up, and it was off back down the trail.

After we reached the bottom, we got a ride back to the hotel to clean up and then went into town for a pizza at Volcana Lounge (highly recommended, if you’re ever in Musanze). It was about 2 o’clock, and it had been an excellent day. The next day we went to Gisenyi and hung out by the lake all day so we could decompress a bit before heading back to Kigali for Dad’s flight to Kenya on Saturday morning.

The week was really packed, but we managed to see a lot of Rwanda in a short time, and I’m happy my Dad got to meet so many of the people who have been important to me in my life here in Rwanda. I hope that I didn’t overload him unfamiliar experiences (although I expect at some points I did.) Many of my friends have gone home to visit the US during their Peace Corps service, but I have been very happy to host my parents and sister here in Rwanda. Although a week isn’t enough time to completely understand what life is like here, it is much better than phone conversations and emails, and I am glad that my family has had a chance to get a glimpse of my life in Rwanda.