The Incentive We Needed

Having a houseguest has made us think outside the box for the past couple of weeks. Instead of our normal ho-hum routine we have tried to spice it up a bit and give Tatyana a taste of Rwanda. Last Friday we skipped naptime for O (ohhh horrors for us sleep-nazi’s) and headed South to the town of Butare. If you “trip-advisor” Butare, you won’t find much listed. The National University of Rwanda is there and the only ice cream shop in the country and that single fact alone was enough to get us in the car. I had heard from colleagues that there was a pottery and tin co-operative someplace down there as well. So we drove down and referencing our brandt tour book of Rwanda were able to find the pottery shop! I absolutely never thought we would find it…we turned right at a blue sign off the main road and kept driving down a dirt path until we came to the end of the road and then, after asking a bunch of giggling school kids which fork in the road to take, we found it. All the potters were finished for the night but we got to check out their wares and make a couple of purchases. We had a quiet night at a rat-trap motel with a rousing game of scrabble, fish brochettes and Eric’s special mixed drinks. The next morning we checked out the University as there were supposed to be a troup of monkeys that hang around the stadium – the monkeys were gone cause there was a bunch of students playing football. We quickly dissed the University and headed off for the all important ice cream shop. YAY! It was a great treat. Then Tatyana and I headed to the National Museum and Eric and O headed around back to play with balls and run around. Interesting displays and beautiful gardens. We started our trip back with a stop at a "tinnery" (is that really even a word?) and spent some minutes among beautiful things.

The pretty things!

I really need to practice my French

So many choices...

The sign for the pottery cooperative

I Scream...You Scream...!

YUM!