The bus out of Mwanza, Tanzania was even more Muppet-like than the one that brought us there from Dar es Salaam. More broken down, more overloaded with cargo and driven with far more wild abandon.

We never saw the driver, sitting in the back with the aisle choked by people and their belongings. But we imagined it must have been Sam Kinneson at the wheel... at the height of his crazed anger. "COME ONNNNNNN! LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!! I HATE YOUUUUUUUU"

"We took off a man still attending to cargo on the roof."
We tore down the disasterous dirt roads at tremendous speeds, stopping for only moments to throw people on or off the bus. While stopped, he'd rev the engine and start to drive off while his assistant was still putting luggage underneath. At one point we took off with a man still attending to cargo on the roof. After intense yelling, Mr. Kinneson reluctantly slowed down long enough for him to climb down via our window.

The other person we imagined at the wheel was a mad, cantankerous Wilford Brimley. Entertaining, but not as illustrative.

"Not when you have Sam Kinneson up front."
In under seven hours we were at the Rwandan border. Lonely Planet says the trip can take twelve. Not when you have Sam Kinneson up front. A lift involving a taxi so over-jammed that Matt sat on my lap brought us to the Rwandan border.

Yes, that Rwanda. 1994... slaughter on an unimaginable, yet intensely personal scale. Nearly a million people in a few months. Not by bombs or gas, but hacked to death one-on-one. We crossed some of the rivers you may remember seeing choked with human bodies on television. All this while western countries shuffled their feet and wondered what they should do. The contrast between the ordinary lives you see and the horror you know happened is too much to get your mind around.

But for the moment, that's history. Rwanda has gotten its act together and is now a rather pleasant place. There's still some danger, but it comes from the civil war just over the border in Congo... and Rwanda's involvement therein.

"There's a wealth and cosmopolitan-ness here."
The capital Kigali is a pleasant place. At a fairly high elevation, it escapes the blistering heat of its neighbors. And, having been partly destroyed in the civil war, is a rather new city. There's a wealth and cosmopolitan-ness here that we haven't seen elsewhere. I don't know enough about Rwanda to say where the money comes from, but the people seem quite well-off. At least many of them.

Another great thing about Rwanda is since it was a Belgian colony, we're back to driving on the proper side of the road. God, if you weren't aware, drives on the right and so should everybody else. The Belgian-ness also brings with it superior food and French. It's amazing, having learned Spanish in Latin America, how easy it now is to learn French. I'd taken some classes in high school, but forgotten most everything. It comes back so quickly when you're immersed.

"Spend an hour hanging out with the great apes."
The few people who come to Rwanda do it for the same reason. The Mountain Gorillas. A park that straddles the border between Rwanda, Uganda and Congo is home to the world's last 320 Mountain Gorillas. For US$250 you can hike into the park and spend an hour hanging out with the great apes. Really expensive on budget travel standards, but everyone who's done it says it's totally worth it.

We're going tomorrow. In Uganda's Gorilla park, there's supposedly a waiting list of weeks or months. In Rwanda, we walked into the office this morning and got permits to see the biggest Gorilla group tomorrow morning. Here's a site about the Gorillas.

"We got billions of humans and 320 Mountian Gorillas."
Since the park is on the border with Congo, the $250 includes a few well-armed guards to be sure the only thing that could maul us is the Gorillas. And I think that's serious. Nobody's ever been hurt by the animals, but I've been told the guards are under orders not to shoot an attacking Gorilla at any cost. We got billions of humans and 320 Mountian Gorillas. I suppose it's logical.

You know the clothes you put in the donation box at church or charities? This is where they end up. All over the third world you see people in discarded American tee shirts. Relay for Life, the South Prarieland Dog Show, Beddingfield Central High School Prom 1994. The strangest things show up on clothing here. Yesterday was the best we've seen yet. Out the window of our minibus on the trip into Kigali we saw a local kid... a black guy, obviously... wearing a shirt with the Confederate flag and the words "Still Flyin'. Ain't Never Comin' Down."