Festival fun

Last week was Gitfest, Gitarama’s answer to Glastonbury and all the other summer festivals back home…It was a fun night. Most people had raided the markets for costumes as we’d decided to dress up as either our music idols or any other random type you might find at a festival. So dressed as a tarot card reader (some mini playing cards fashioned as earrings was my poor attempt), I mingled with the likes of David Bowie (Hayley), John Lennon (Tom) and Boy George (Ruairi) to name but a few.

After a few games it was onto Gitarama’s nightlife otherwise known as the Orion Club. It’s also the place to get a sauna and massage so I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised when we arrived there to find Leon Piston II (stage-name I guess)bumping and grinding on stage like a true pro. We were all pretty mesmerised by him and it wasn’t just the fact he was wearing the shortest hot pants I’ve ever seen. No, he was just the most amazing dancer. And a few Mutzigs later me, Charlotte and Hayley (we’re usually so shy) thought we’d join him on stage...A support act if you like. I could make some joke here thinking back to those pants but no I’ll leave it . …Made for some good pics anyway.

The next morning, me Moira, Kerry and Ruairi thought we’d treat ourselves to a ‘nice’ breakfast. Over coffee we’d been fantasising over bacon, sausages, crepes etc and had worked up quite an appetite when we finally got to Hotel Splendide. Looking at the menu we were a little bit excited. They had set menus of different breakfasts, not quite our fantasy ones but they were definitely offering ‘something a bit different’ and woohoo real coffee. Anyway, as is usual here everything is not always what it seems…After many attempts to order some food - any food- we were finally resigned to the fact we would only actually be able to get the usual omelette and a bit of bread. And although the real coffee did exist after a wait of 1hr 45 mins (!), we really didn’t care anymore. The waitress tried her best and it wasn’t her fault but we nearly lost it when she came back to explain that there was no blueband (an industrial type of margarine and available everywhere here…) and then proceeded to bring some once we’d eaten. Aaarrggh! So anyway, it was far from splendid…

The ride home was frustrating to say the least. When you get one of the little buses, you understand that they are going to stop literally EVERYWHERE and this did. But not only did it set down wherever it could get a fare (which is fair enough) it also just randomly stopped just for the sake of it so a trip that should take 2 hours took me 4 and a half. Thank god for ‘Dirty Havana Trilogy’ and a phone call from J which were both welcome distractions from the frustrating journey :0)

House guest
Britney’s leaving soon so she’s just spent a couple of days with me before she heads back to Canada. I met her off the bus in Butare and had a nice lunch before heading back home. She’s just recovered from food poisoning so we had a chilled night in Gik watching the ‘Kite Runner’. A great film although I’m not sure I was totally satisfied at the end, I still had a lot of questions…You’ll have to watch it.