After 3 flight changes, a 10 hour layover in London, and some pretty bad flight movies, we finally made it to Kigali! We were bewildered when we landed and saw a grand total of 1 other plane in the entire airport, and 2 ground personnel that doubled as baggage handlers. Kigali is definitely small and sleepy, a far cry from the big brash African cities of the likes of Johannesburg and Nairobi.
The drive from the airport showed a city with endless rolling hills (the country's nickname is "A Land of a Thousand Hills"), busy yet orderly traffic, and startlingly clean streets. The air is crisp and easy to breathe, and the hills will only become more beautiful and lush once the rainy season begins.
We made it to our home for the next month - Hotel des Milles Collines (made famous by the movie Hotel Rwanda). It's a stunning hotel, but oddly, has no plaque or memorial to signify the events that took place here 16 years ago. It's surreal to sit by the pool in a hammock and imagine that this was where terrified guests washed their clothes and drank the water while the genocide raged outside the hotel grounds.
To celebrate our first night back in Africa, we thought it only fitting to dine at the best Indian restaurant in town -Khana Khazana. We see ourselves frequenting this place often, and are crossing our fingers that we'll be moving into the house available down the street! [Special note to our Dads, the first two songs we heard that night at dinner were 'Seasons in the Sun' (Megha's Dad's favorite song) and 'Please Forgive Me' (Sushant's Dad's all time favorite) - made us miss our families a little more]
We've been spending the past few days getting our life in order - opening an account at the Bank of Kigali, shopping for basic supplies at the local Nakumatt (Africa's closest thing to a Walmart... run by a Patel, of course!), and house hunting.
Today we embraced our Indian-ness again by heading to the Indian Independence Day Celebrations with the Indian Association of Rwanda (we're proud card-carrying members now!). The grounds were surrounded by Indian and Rwandan flags and pennants, and signs commemorating India's 64th year of independence and Paul Kagame's resounding victory in the recent Rwandan elections.
All in all, it's been an exciting and upbeat introduction to this charming city that is now our home!
