A good night's sleep and we've now been collected by out driver Lieven for a week-long trip around Rwanda.
We're starting by heading north towards the mighty Virunga mountains which border Uganda (in fact we saw a road sign for the border 35km away) and overnighting in Musanze (until recently "Ruhengeri" - confusingly road signs and maps still use both names... hence having a driver!). Having said that, we're finding getting around and making ourselves understood very easy. Lieven tells us he learned lessons at school in English (though mysteriously his French is probably better). I think having him is going to be a God-send - as well as driving (so that we can look out of the window), he's full of interesting little observations and stories about Rwanda and his childhood (today he told us about the "The One Cow Per Family" initiative launched by President Kagame - and sure enough : http://www.unicef.org/equity/index_65274.html)
The countryside north is unendingly hilly; bicycles tortuously wind their way up and down (we even saw one optimistic chancer cadging a tow from a lorry - only problem was that the lorry was going so slowly that the cyclist still had to pedal to stay upright!). Other locals were all very friendly
We'd forgotten just how red the African earth is - and, despite the "short rains" of the early autumn being late, the hills are bright green.
Impressively, not only do the Rwandans plant and work on the slopes, they also create terraces, looking a little like rice crops.
And finally then to Musanze. We made new friends in the market, where a lot of industrious work goes on, and a lot of chatter. Lieven tells us that, as well as bananas, the region is famous for potatoes...
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