The Rwandan Episodes: 5 1/2

Subject: Whereupon I forget the good stuff

Ah wait, more scooter hijinks!

The people of Kigali have this sixth sense for what I believe to be the motorcades. More serious than an ambulance or fire truck's precedence, EVERY SINGLE vehicle stops, gets off the road, and waits in anticipation for no less than several minutes for the parade of 10+ black SUV's to speed by. I, knowing nothing and not having evolved this sixth sense, cluelessly bumbled onto the road wondering briefly why all the drivers were being total lazy bastards. And then.... the sirens, the shouting, the guys hanging out of the windows of the SUV looking none too happy. I freaked, scooted clumsily off the road and then caught a glimpse of a laughing man who was one of those hanging out the windows and holding a red sign reading "police!" A few seconds after the caravan passed by, motos and pedestrians reanimated and, as I've started to become accustomed, laughed at me and chided me to get a move on. Emburrasin'.

Oh then there was the "Car-free" day I stumbled upon on Sunday. I once again clumsily scooted. And was shooed off the roads again. Rwanda is the healthiest police state in the world. Those AK-47's will MAKE YOU do your civic duty and be healthy goddammit. And they all seem to like it. Car free days are joined with Umuganda, or the day when everything closes and people do community service. I mean EVERYONE. If you are caught on the street without a machete or a broom or holding a tool of making-the-city-a-better-place off you get hauled to jail. Some un-civic individuals (I was in Congo, but you better believe that would have been me) hide in their houses and eat left-over ramen. New York is more third world than Rwanda that's for sure-- no stinking trash or bodily fluids lining these eucalyptus smelling streets. 

Alright, I'm done!