Yesterday (Sunday) we took our day trip to Lake Amazi. It was supposed to be an hour outside of Kigali, and supposedly had a nice restaurant/bar/monkeys in cages. The Crockett's and Urquhart's (business partners) were coming as well. We left the city and once we passed the flower farm (about 20 minutes outside) we were officially into the unknown. Fortunately, the road was paved and the scenery was, of course, beautiful. The hills were all terraced with farms. There were cows everywhere and a ton of different birds. I know I haven't mentioned it, but Rwanda is actually quite a spot for bird watching - not something I am into, but there's a couple die hards in our group, so many "exotic" birds were pointed out along way. These are probably the same birds that start chirping outside my window at 4am with the most ridiculous, non-bird-like sounds (the ones I would like to use a shotgun on).

After driving an hour and a half, someone realized we had no idea where we were going. We pulled over in a village, and Carter Crockett went to ask for directions. Needless to say, the second he was out of the car he was surrounded by about 40 Rwandese. Communication was poor at best, but eventually one guy told him he would "finish his lunch and take us there." He then proceeded to get into the Crockett's car, and led us back about 20 minutes the way we came. He then got out of the car and pointed down a long dirt road. Apparently, the lake was that way. At this point we were all pretty expectant (i.e. cranky).

It had just rained, so the road were incredibly muddy, and we went slipping and sliding through the mud. We also had the spare tire on the car because the original had gone flat earlier in the week, so there was quite a level of anxiety in the car. About another half hour ("it's very, very close" the guy told us - of course, something is close if it only takes you a day to walk to) and we spotted a swamp. The anxiety continued to rise as we hoped the lake was not a swamp. Fortunately, our two hour trek paid off, and pretty soon we saw this.

We found a "Resort/Camping Ground" and promptly pulled over... calling it a resort is definitely pushing it. It had a little covered picnic area, a bathroom, and Primus for sale (the local beer). There were some kids in the lake, bailing water out of a boat. Dano paid them 50 cents to row him across the river and back. I wanted to go too but thought it would be too much weight for this way-too-shoddy wooden boat that already had six inches of water in it.

We decided to go further down the lake, hoping there would be a bigger resort. Sadly, the Urquhart's battery had died. Someone ran back to the bar and asked the guys for spark plugs. Rather, everyone tried to say spark plus in Kinyarwanda, French, English, hand motions, pictures ... they didn't seem to get it. Finally they disappear and come back with a piece of covered wire and a knife. They then cut off some of the plastic and unraveled the three wires. Needless to say everyone (in our group) was a little fearful of the sketch, live, naked wire. One guy wound the wire around the little bolt in the cars that you attach spark plugs to, and motioned to start the car. The guys were very scared to do so - it was pretty funny. I think Greg thought he was going to die for sure. Carter very slowly and as if not wanting to commit, started his car. Nothing happened. Greg took his turn then, and nothing happened. At least everyone was alive. We waited about ten minutes for it to charge, tried again, and it worked. A dance of joy followed.

Soon enough we came to a much bigger restaurant, and enjoyed sitting on a dock bar and eating french fries. It was worth it in the end, I think. The ride home was just short of an hour, and we went to Flamingo for dinner, which seems to be our family spot on Sundays. The girls love telling everyone that they are Chinese, and did we know we are eating in a Chinese restaurant?