Ants in my Pants

And not only in my pants I can tell you! But let me explain: it has yet again been an eventful few weeks and not only have I been fidgeting about figuratively speaking, I have also been plagued by ants quite literally along the way.


It all began a just over two weeks ago when I headed over to Samira's house in the South again, but this time equipped with a tent and all set for a camping adventure the following day. The first shock came when we attempted a trial tent assembly only to find that Mel's tent was missing the waterproof sheeting - a must in rainy season! Oh well, in our casual way we chose not to be thwarted by this and packed everything ready to go. So the next morning we (Jane, Samira, Mel and I) set off, loaded with pre-prepared sandwiches for lunch and risotto for supper, in her neighbour, South African John's truck for Nyungwe National park - the largest Mountain Forest in Africa no less! And wow is it beautiful, more dramatic hills of course but this time covered in lush green trees rather than rows of crops, very much your ideal jungle-like environment. We drove the long and winding road for quite a while, dodging potholes and oncoming drivers, until we reached the campsite. And here came our second shock, it is quite expensive to visit the park it seems! This we would have known had we prepared better, but fitting with the theme of the trip - we had not! Again, not to be thwarted we decided to get our money's worth and choose the second longest (9km) guided trek and to head home afterwards, thereby avoiding the cost of staying and the inevitable dampness of a waterfilled tent.


And off we set with the rainclouds looming and our questionable fitness straining. But we were in luck, the rain barely touched us and we all managed it without a single injury, up and down the mountains in a tropical dreamland, with monkeys, snakes (it was an Ada as well!), gorgeous waterfalls (perfect for relieving the heat of the walk/climb) and ANTS; lots of evil biting ants which managed to get everywhere before you knew what was happening, sending us all dancing around hitting ourselves in desperate attempts to kill the little mites. But it really was fantastically beautiful and of course incredibly satisfying when we managed it in 4hr30 rather than the estimated 6hrs! As you will see Samira and I were so pleased and so convinced of how sexy we were by the end that we felt called upon to do a special sexy dance in celebration - undeniably hot I am sure you will agree - I am only sorry you cant see that my jeans are tucked into my socks...


After a congratulatory beer we headed home to reheat our risotto and then the next morning I braved the 8hr return journey to Nyagatare - not one I can do every weekend but it had been well worth it. Another busy week at work followed, with the usual cocktail of waiting around, lengthy meetings (through lunch!!!), limited translations and confusions. But it ended well when Ellie came down to plan a training we will be running next week in her town of Kibungo, 3hrs south of here. And then it was off to Kigali for a Halloween party! I managed to throw together a bat outfit (so pleased I brought the wrap-around skirt) and was accompanied by a black cat (Mel), a ghost (Ellie) and the best pumpkin (Hannah B). We did make a scary sight on the dance floor but it was lots of fun despite the confused looks of the Rwandan guests (not sure dressing up is the done thing around here).


The next day we moved into the guest house where we had spent our first week in Rwanda for our second 'in-country training'. It has been a great week of catching up with all of the other volunteers who arrived here at the same time, eating far too much delicious food (just couldn't help myself - I hadn't cooked it or bought it - amazing!) and learning more about the country and how other volunteer placements are going.


And then today I was up early and back to Nyagatare (with all the excitement that comes with 22 people crammed into a 16 seater bus - Mum, Dad, Granny and two kids on my 3 man row!) by 11am almost crawling up the hill to my house under the weight of all the supplies I had brought with me from Kigali. The house was still standing on my return (always good) but then came the ants - it looked as though the bathroom was moving - they were everywhere, very tiny but very busy from the floor to the ceiling. So my afternoon has been spent blasting them with insecticide, sweeping them out and washing the floor. At least now the house is clean and I can head off to the training (in Kibungo) safe in the knowledge that I am ant-less at least for a little while...


PS For those who were looking for my address I have now added it to the bottom of the page x