The luggage arrived, eventually, after a holiday alone in Nairobi. So I'm back in business.
Lately I've been working in the North West of the Country near the border with the demoocratic republic of Congo - and close to the Gorillas in the Mist. I intend to visit the Gorillas later this month with Mrs Jiffler.
Food in the field is pretty uninspiring. The district i am working in is very fertile, and there are tomatoes, cabbages, carrots, potatoes, green peppers, red onions, and sorghum (used in brewing in the same way as barley) in season. Unfortunately these ingredients don't seem to find their way to the guest houses and restaurants in the area - but on the back of lorries heading for the markets of Kigali and Butare. My diet during the week consists of Chips, rice, chapathi, occasional beans, omelettes, and goat brochettes. I did have a vegetable curry last week, but it was literally a vegetable, a cauliflower as a matter of fact. I was not a good person to share a confined space with the following day.
The Hotel I eat in while in the field has something called 'Humbugger' on the menu. I haven't dared to try it...
Kigali at the weekend offers more options. A few of us went to an Italian place called Sole Luna in the part of town where all the wazungu live. They had a proper pizza oven, and brought (relatively) marvellous pizzas to our table. My Quattro Formaggi was great - a real cheese feast - with proper gorgonzola too. I shall be returning...
Food aside, I'm getting into Rwanda now - making friends and learning some of the language. If I was here longer I would probably try to take some French-Kinyarwanda lessons to try to improve in both languages. I think I could happily stay here until Christmas or even longer, especially with Mrs Jiffler coming out soon until end of October. I'm still planning to return at end of August, but workwise things are a bit tense at the moment and I'm looking for other opportunities - who knows, there might be some out here.
