Top 10 Non-Spiritual Highlights from Rwanda

I know this is long...but it's a countdown...so it only gets better...just be patient. I haven't had an actual post in a long time...I'm making up for lost time!

#10: Rwandanas
Rwandanas are tiny little bananas that are grown in Rwanda. They are 1/2 as big as normal bananas, but like the tiny country they come from, they pack twice as much flavor.

#9 Leaving Kaleigh and Chase in London
Ok...this was more like a low-light.

#8. Rwandan Indian Food
Very unexpected...but the best food we had the whole trip...and very pricey. I think the grand total for our meal was over 300,000 Rwandan Franks!


#7 Hippo's Mom
On our safari, the hippos were boring and just sat in the water completely submerged. A song was written about this:
Hippo's Mom does not got it going on
She's stupid and fat, and I really don't like her.
Hippo can't you see, you do no tricks for me.
I know I am not wrong,
Cuz I hate Hippo and his mom
Do do do do do
do do do do do
Lyrics: Jade and Emily
Music: Fountains of Wayne


#6 Paul Revere
Hayden and Landon made up a traditional folk song, that I actually thought was a real children's song that I just never learned. I actually got a little skeptical when the last verse was about Nicolas Cage...but still thought it was real for a while. Landon will you please post the lyrics to this beauty? I won't be able to remember them all.

#5. Agachupa!!! (African Fly Killings)
The flies in Rwanda are HUGE, and nasty and evil. They bite...well they bit me twice and I don't think anyone else...just my luck. Don't get bitten by mosquitos, but I do become the only one bitten by crazy Rwandan mutant flies. Anyway, we had more fun killing these flies, that we deemed "Lazarus Flies" because they kept coming back to life, than we did seeing animals on the safari. Oh and agachupa is Kinyarwandan for water bottle (our weapon of choice)


#4 Rabbit Butt Hair
Ok...another low-light. A few of the days we were served rabbit for our meals. Not the best. Especially because apparently it's very difficult to remove all the hair from the rabbit before cooking and serving it. One lunch, Kelsey was served rabbit with a whole lot of butt hair still attached. Yum!

#3 Bat Island
Coolest place ever. We took a boat out into Lake Kivu and stopped at an uninhabited island. Here the driver revved the engine and, I'm not kidding you, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of bats came flying out of the trees! It was intense. Then we got off the boat and attempted to climb to the summit of the island. Some made it too the top. I did not. :( I would provide pictures from the summit but I didn't make it up there. Maybe Jared could provide those pictures. *Ahem. :)




#2 Chelsea Cat Girl
Ok...honestly...I think that this might have been the hardest I've laughed...ever. Chase had his ipod, and on the last night we were in Rwanda, Emily and Jade made me listen to the vocal stylings of Chelsea Cat Girl. Chelsea Cat Girl is a girl who went to Chase's middle school who used to wear cat-ears to school. It gets better. One day she passed out a CD to everyone in school entitles, "The greatest CD ever created". This CD contained original tracks by Chelsea that she made on Garageband. Sheer Genius! With lyrics like,
"Oh scat, sixty-three, I knew this was gonna be evil."
"You stink! You stink! You smell like farts! La da da da da. You smell like scat, because you are, a beg fat FORTY_FIVE!"
"dig your tunna dig dig ya tunna dig ya tunna dig dig ya tunna"
"a ram sam sam sam a ram sam sam gooly gooly gooly gooly gooly ram sam sam a roffy a roffy gooly gooly gooly gooly gooly ram sam sam"
Seriously guys...she's incredible. I laughed so hard I was crying...and I don't mean like shed a tear...I mean I was SOBBING I was laughing so hard. I think I woke up the entire Iris Guesthouse. Incredible. I'm going to work on somehow getting the songs from Chase and then to you...because I know typing the lyrics does nothing to bring justice to the genius that is Chelsea Cat Girl!

#1: Baboon Attack
The #1 non-spiritual highlight from Rwanda is when I was attacked by a baboon. Yes, that's right...attacked. Now Chelsea Cat girl was the hardest I laughed but watching me be attacked by a baboon was probably the moment when everyone else laughed the hardest. On our safari, we saw lots of baboons. Then we pulled up to a little fishing hub where there was a big ol' fatty baboon just sitting there. Our guide said he was used to people because they fed him. I asked him if I could pet him. I swear to you he said Yes. But just as I reached out to pet him and made contact with the fur on his head, he turned around at lightning speed, lunged at me with his mouth open, grabbed my sweatshirt and tried to pull me down. I screamed...obviously and ran on the other side of the van. Luckily he felt he had made his point and left me alone after that. Scariest/funniest thing ever. Here's some pictures of the evil evil creature.