A weekend at Lake Kivu

Friday night at the Rubengera compound was Alaskan night. One of the expats is from Sitka, Alaska and she had just returned from vacation at home bringing with her ten pounds of fish, shrimp and four cans of smoked salmon. We were definitely in for a feast tonight's celebration of Alaska Day.

1. Alaska Day marks the anniversary of the formal transfer of the territory from Russia to the United States and the raising of the United States flag at Sitka on October 18, 1867. It is usually celebrated on October 18 each year.

 The drink of the evening was White Russians curtesy of Randy, which kept him very busy mixing drinks all evening.  After filling our bellies with bread and salmon dip, ( I could have licked the bowl clean, however refrained and someone else did), and seafood it was time for games.

The first test was to walk the log. Now normally this would seem fairly simple, however there was a complicated twist to this log walk. The coordinator had found a 25 foot long log and trimmed it of all branches and bark, then the log was greased with cooking oil. That is were the real challenge came to play. Members of the team took of their shoes and socks and attempted to walk the log. Not only was normal balancing a component of the task, the oil made the log extremely slippery and participants struggled to stay on for even 2 feet. As people slipped and fell it was apparent it would only be a matter of time before someone fell and seriously hurt themselves, but fortunately no one did. After numerous attempts by lots of people, one individual finally mastered approximately 8 feet and was declared the winner. 

Next we were treated to a play focused on a reenactment of the sale of Alaska from the Russians to the United States. I am sure that other than the consumption of a lot of vodka and that the sale was actually transacted very little else in the play was anywhere near accurate. We laughed our heads off as the four actors attempted to teach us about the history of Alaska.

Now that we had seen the play it was time to test our knowledge of Alaskan facts and trivia. Turns out my one trip to Alaska was of little help. Divided into three teams the questions started to roll. Even with some good guessing our team managed to come last. Lol. Who knew that Alaska was sold for 2 cents/acre or the name for Alaskan boots? Apparently mukluks isn't  right. The prize for the winning team was of course bragging rights, which we definitely heard.

For some members of the team is was time to head off to their individual homes, for others it was time to dance and party. We stayed for a short time and then called our taxi driver to take us down to Kibiriz House. It was a fun night with tonnes of laughs. Just not sure I am ready to dance and drink all night anymore. Plus we were spared the terrible hangovers some of the others sported the next morning.

One of the expats rents a gorgeous house at Lake Kivu, Kibuye, Rwanda and graciously offered to let us use it for the weekend. Having been to Comoran Lodge which is right next door on Wednesday afternoon I knew the location was beautiful and would provide a relaxing atmosphere for Randy to rest.

With the generous offer from our friends we offered to look after their dog for the weekend. Buster turned out to be the best behaved dog ever, who stayed by our side and never barked the whole time.

Arriving at the house we were totally impressed. The yard and lake were absolutely breathtaking and the house was almost exactly what we would like in our dream home. The livingroom and master bedroom are on the main floor looking out over the property and lake. The second floor is an open loft looking over the living room and out over the lake. Simple, cozy and comfortable. 

The back of the house features a huge deck with an amazing, open turret fireplace on the side.

We spent the afternoon walking down to the lake, exploring the property and relaxing on the deck. At least until the thunderstorm started. As the rains started to pour down and the thunder cracked through the sky, we headed indoors with Buster cowering under our feet afraid of the thunder.

After a filling dinner of spaghetti, we couldn't think of anything better than to sit on the deck with a nice fire to warm our souls. But where would we find wood? Then Randy found the owners instructions indicating if we went up to the gate of the compound and ask the attendant (for a few francs),

someone would come light a fire for us. So with flashlight in hand I wandered up the path looking for the attendant. Remembering that everyone in Rwanda speaks French and mine isn't that great Randy suggested I take a pack of matches with me. It turned out to be a good idea. After a bit of sign language and an attempt at saying "feu, si vous plat" I lite a match and literally the light went on for all of us. Three young men said "oui" and raced off to get wood.  A few minutes later they were back with several long logs, a box of matches and a machete. Back at our house one young man climbed into the fireplace, a second chopped the wood and the third "supervised".  Before long they had a roaring fire going, we would enjoy for the rest of the evening. We probably overpaid but the whole experience and evening by the fire was more than worth it.