Some pictures

Here are some pictures, I'll add more later.

About to leave

By the end of the day, I'll leave Burundi. So that means I will soon be posting the details of my trip and I will be able to upload pictures. So tomorrow, I will be back in Gatineau and in real life.

5 days...

I can't believe I have only 5 days until I leave Burundi. I know two of them will be spent at the beach, one at the market, one packing and the other, still no clue.

After going to Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania, I'm back in Burundi. The weddings were nice!

Maasai Mara

Arrived to Kenya yesterday. Leaving to Maasai Mara to do a safari!

Kigali airport

FREE WIRELESS INTERNET!!!! And it's fast!

"WE DON'T ALLOW PEOPLE TO STAND"

If you should go to Kigali, I recommend you never go to Rainbow Hotel.

Tomorrow, Rwanda

Tomorrow I am leaving for Rwanda. The 20th is my friend's wedding. Upon arrival, I am scheduled to get a manicure, a pedicure and hair treatment.

I am taking the bus from Bujumbura to Kigali at 7am. Arrival scheduled at 1pm. The price for a one way ticket : 20000 Fbu. I ought not to forget my passport and visa...

Plastic bags are not to enter the Rwandese territory. At the customs, they are going to stop the bus and search it and throw away all plastic bags.

I have been writing over the last few days a long post about Bujumbura but it is difficult to write on a cellphone. I'll post it once it's ready.

Gufungura - to eat

I think I have never eatten so often and so much in my life. In fact, the verb to eat is the first word I learnt upon arrival, it was spoken so often.

When I was in the southern part of Burundi, I have been told that whenever they have guests, announced or not, they have to offer a meal. We went to three different places that day.

First few days in Burundi

I arrived sunday evening at Bujumbura. There is no internet connexion where I am staying and I have no internet connexion on my cellphone yet, so I won't be able to update often. I visited the southern part of the country and I went to Tanganyika lake. The people over there don't get to see white people often so they stare.. my friend told me to stare them down.. it works, but not always, a guy waggled his eyebrows at me.

I'll put more details when I get a computer.

Get set

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go*... There is only a few hours left until I go to the airport. I hope I am not forgetting anything. I am first going to Montreal, then Belgium and finally Burundi!!

* Lyrics from Leaving on a jet plane by John Denver (original) or Chantal Kreviazuk

Ready?

Well, almost! I am nearly done packing, although, it's quite hard finding clothes to wear nowadays...

Things I ought not to forget:

Malaria

I remembered that I didn't speak much about this... It's a parasite transmitted via mosquito bites. Those mosquitoes only go out at night. There are no effective vaccines yet, although medication, like Malarone, can prevent it. It's quite expensive, so it's better to have an health insurance.

Mosquito repellents with DEET work fine and it's also a good idea to sleep with a net around the bed.

Finally, visa for Rwanda

I finally got my visa for Rwanda, although  there was a few bump on the road. So now I have all my visas. I have all the things I need and maybe a bit more. All is left to do is pack!

New kirundi words and expressions

I found a pad where I wrote some interesting expressions last year and the year before that. I also have been adding some word over the last weeks. Kirundi

EDIT : I added some words in Swahili

Vaccines!

Got my vaccines today! Meningitis, Yellow Fever, Polio-Tetanos-Diphteria and Hepatitis A. What's left now, is to take orally the one against Typhoid Fever. I didn't have to take the one against Hepatitis B because it is good for life and I found the proof that I already got it. I also have a prescription for Malarone, a medicine against malaria.

The cost of the vaccines... 440$! Fortunately, I have an insurance that will cover all the cost.

Vaccines appointment

Got my appointment to get the vaccines on July 18th. I saw on internet that I need to get those at least 10 days before departure, so I am fine. The problem is that I need an attestation that I have enough antibodies to not get the vaccine against Hepatitis B... So now I got to go to my doctor and pay to get the attestation so I don't have to pay for the vaccine... Aaaarrrrg!

EDIT: I received a call, my appointment has been moved to July 6th, the doctor won't be at work on the 18th.

Itinerary

I finally have the dates I'll be in Rwanda : August 19th until 23rd.
It looks like it is cheaper when the visa is applied for by internet - 60 USD versus 100 USD. Oh, and the entry point from Burundi to Rwanda when travelling by bus is Kanyaru Haut.

Vaccines

I called Clinique Médicale des Voyageurs to get information : 170 CAD for the Yellow fever shot and 60 CAD for the Hepatitis A one. I checked my level of antibodies against Hepatitis B a few month ago and it's high enough. I'll have to wait to take the shots as I am currently sick. Hopefully it'll be over in a week or so.

Visa!

I just got back from the Embassy of Burundi; I have now my visa. The Chargé d'affaires wanted to meet me (well, it was because my father was her professor) so we could talk a little. Anyway, the people over there are really nice, as all the Burundian I know, of course...

Cellphone

Got my cellphone unlocked yesterday! I thought it would take longer, but it took about 5 minutes. It actually took longer check if it worked (using a SIM card from another carrier) because my phone is a pain in the *ss really frustrating sometimes.

To unlock it, I went to a store. It was about 40 CAD with taxes. There are some websites who can teach you how to do it. It's cheaper, but without any guarantee and I am not fond of giving my credit card number to a company I don't know.

Visas update

I have my appointment to get my visa for Burundi, next week! And my stay will be considered as one month. As for my visa for Rwanda, I will need more information as the length of my stay and the name and address of a person I will be visiting... and this visa will be 100 USD.

Information for the visas and wedding update

Yesterday I began looking how to get the visas to both Burundi and Rwanda. Looks like I won't need one for the last one but for Burundi, it might be expensive... 80 USD for one month and if I stay one month and one day, it's considered as two months. Seems like I'll be spending some delightful time on the phone to get the info.To be continued... On a lighter note, my friend whose wedding I am going asked me to be one of her bridesmaids and invited me to her religious wedding in Tanzania (the wedding in Rwanda is a traditional one).

How it all begun

It all begun on a exam day's eve. A while studying for said exam, a friend taught me a word in kirundi ("Genda" meaning "Go") and said I had good pronunciation. Later, she taught me few more words. On one day, I was pretty bored and thinking why not, I began surfing the web to find new words in kirundi. After that, another friend got me a dictionary so I could continue learning. I began meeting more and more people from Burundi and learning more and more words, until one day, about two years ago, the crazy idea of me travelling over there began to surface up. After a few bumps in the ride, my ticket has been bought, on May 14th. So I am leaving Canada on August 6th, coming back on September 8th and I will spend a few days in Rwanda for a friend's wedding.