Bus to Butare

I was slow to wake up this morning, but I got up and made it into town and to the bus station by 9 am.  I was able to finally, after asking a policeman, find the bus to Butare, the former colonial capital in the southwest part of the country.   Butare has recently undergone a name change to Huye, but everyone still calls it Huye.

A bus ticket only cost 2,200 francs, which is about 5 bucks.  I got to enjoy my views of the countryside, and I sat next to a boy who was between 12-14 years old.  He liked to sing along with the songs on the radio, albeit quietly.  Then he fell asleep with his head drifting occasionally to my shoulder, only to wake up somewhere later down the road and decide to do a little dance to the music for a while before chilling out again...or wait, no, actually, I just got off the bus.

2.5 hours after leaving Kigali, I arrived in Butare.  Besides having the national museum, it is also the educational center of Rwanda.  The medical school, university, and some other schools are located there.  I walked around for a bit, but then went to the national museum.  

In case you've been reading my blog, and haven't figured this out, I'm a big nerd, and I love museums.  So, I spent 99% of my time in Butare in the museum.

In the museum, they have some exhibits showing the natural history as well as the political history of Rwanda.  The coolest part is the section where you walk in and there is a hut in the middle of the room.  You can't go inside (that would be really awesome), but there are some diagrams showing what the inside looked like and what the different rooms functioned as.  

Then there was a ton of stuff on the pottery, weaving, music, dance, etc. of Rwanda.  It reaffirmed for me that if this whole "becoming a doctor" thing doesn't work out, that I should definitely become an anthropologist.  I love this sort of stuff.   

I have to say, I don't think the museum was big enough.  It was only 6 rooms, and I feel like Rwanda's history is a little more extensive than 6 rooms.  

Also, a random thunderstorm (the first one in days, which makes me think that it's truly beginning to be the dry season) came up while I was in the museum, which caused the power to go out.  It kept flickering on and off the entire time I was there.  Thankfully, the museum had enough windows to provide ample light despite the power shortage.  

I then left the museum, and I took another very long bus ride home.  However, I am quite thankful that the Butare-Kigali road has no potholes, as compared to the Kigali Ruhengeri road where it is practically NOTHING but potholes.  

I made it all the way back home, and I met Rebecca at Mawuena's house, and then we walked together to meet Mawuena and Kate at the MTN center, the same place where on my first day I got my phone and my groceries.  There's a Bourbon Coffee there, which is Rwanda's version of Starbucks.  It's a trendy place with free wireless, good coffee, and good food.  It's also the only place where you can trust the ice in the drinks.  They can be a little pricey by Rwandan standards but I can't complain when it offers internet that is fast enough to upload photos on Facebook!

Also, tomorrow, I fly out at 8:45 pm, and I won't be back in Arkansas until 9:55 pm on Friday night.  I do have a 7 hour layover at Chicago-O'Hare, but I'm hoping that American Airlines will be willing to put me on an earlier flight.  If not, expect me to do a lot of blog editing and hopefully picture posting.  It's also a good thing that I'm reading War and Peace...

If I don't post tomorrow, it's because I was too busy packing.  Expect to hear from me in O'Hare, unless American is super sweet and gets me out of there much earlier than expected.