Shopping in Burundi can be a very stress-full experience. There is a way to minimize it though, just take the road to Bugarama on your way to the coffee hills and let the vegetables come to you. While it’s not an entirely relaxing experience to have twenty people shouting at your window with their produce (as a crowd gathers to see the “mzungus,” or white people), it sure can be fun! That’s our roadside Burundi bounty above. Not a bad haul, egh?
This is what it looks like when the selling is going one. Coffee Guy loves to barter, so it takes us extra long to get on outta there. He has all the sellers in an uproar by the time we pull away, which brings an even bigger crowd of onlookers. On this trip home from the hills we came back with broccoli, bananas, artichokes, rhubarb, flowers… and we had roasted corn on the cob as a snack on the way. The prices in Bukaye are much lower than in the city of Bujumbura, but this is not shopping for the faint hearted. The sellers are intense and are sometimes practically inside the vehicle, shouting their best prices at us (in French).
As always, our faithful friend Fabrice was along for the day. He was the guy who helped us get our airfreight out of the airport back here. Fabrice has become a part of the woodwork around here (becoming favorite Uncle Fabrice in the process) and now I’m not sure my boys (our their parents) could ever do without him.
Roadside shopping (without the need to even exit the car) has quickly become my favorite way to shop in Burundi.
Pretty great, egh?
Love,
Kristy
Why is it that sometimes the words just won’t come out? Is it because of the trouble that I sometimes have when I try to see past the bridge of my nose? They do say that when your vision is impaired it can effect your speech. For some anyway, obviously not everybody. Or is it because the words get all trapped up in a big cheesecloth in the sky and, even though I can smell them ripening, they just never make it down to me?
Sometimes life throws you a breather, a chance to slow down, a minute to reflect. For the past 6 months we have not taken time to breathe. Our lives have just been steaming forward like a freight train. We’ve been zooming past big change after big change and crisis after crisis at the speed of light.
The lovely people at 
The rooms are spectacular, and sleeping in that beautiful bed was like a dream come true.
The shower and bath WORKED and were beautiful, which Coffee Guy and I marveled at. At one point we stood opening and closing a door with silly grins on our faces. They opened and closed without a “hitch” or a noise. We realized we haven’t opened a door like that in 4 months.
Coffee Guy went on an amazing walk at 4 in the morning to see chimpanzees (err… I thought that was a bit too early to be trekking about in the rainforest looking for primates. Primates scare me just a little. Or a lot. Maybe it’s a lot.).
As a family we went on a canopy tour, which scared this little momma to death at one point. Seeing my children high above the trees, swinging back and forth on a cable system almost gave me a heart attack. But it was a beautiful way to see Rwanda and lake Kivu. I had almost forgotten how much 
The boys loved the rim flow pool and bothering the lodge staff as much as possible.
We had the pleasure of being honored guests at an African tea ceremony held in the lodge. What a beautiful experience.
