Leisure
SURPRISING MEMORIES
YOU WILL TAKE FROM
By Manu Gome
V
ery often, the things you remember
as you leave a new place are very
different from what you expected
when you first arrived. Visitors often
come for the ‘big things’, what makes
news outside. When they leave, they have
fond memories of the ‘small’ things. The
common, everyday things.
So you came to Rwanda with (for most
people at least) only a couple of things
in mind: Mountain Gorillas and the 1994
Genocide against the Tutsi.
But when you eventually leave, what
things will stick with you?
The Eye Magazine brings you a list of
seven little, everyday things that you will
probably remember every time you think
of the Land of a Thousand Hills:
1.
Brochette: This is a must-have
offering for any visitor to Rwanda.
Brochette is basically a skewer
on which chunks of meat
(beef, goat or fish) ,
separated with onions
or green pepper are
roasted. What makes
it special is the unique
flavouring that gives it
a distinctive taste. If you
are lucky to get really good,
soft, juicy brochette (try it out
54
www.theeye.co.rw
at Hotel des Mille Collines, Chez Lando,
Chapter One bar, among many others),
you will find yourself wondering how you
got by without it in the past.
2.
Taxi-moto: Move over, taxi cab;
move over, public van. You are no
match for the ‘moto’. Motos are the sleek
commercial transport motorbikes that
will shuttle you from one end of Kigali to
the next in a matter of minutes. Because
most visitors to Rwanda don’t have cars of
their own, motos are the easiest and most
convenient way to get around. If you stay
more than a couple of days in Rwanda,
you
will most likely use a
moto; and you will
not forget the
experience.
3.
The BIG
beers: Most
Rwandans have
no
idea why the size of
the typical beer bottle in Rwanda is so
fascinating for foreigners. Truth
is, odds are that five in six
vistors to Rwanda have
only encountered the
33cl (small) or 50cl
(standard) beer bottles
that are the norm
almost everywhere else.
No wonder the 65cl and