First Dinner Out in Gitarama & The "Scary" Walk Home lol!

Sooo during our first week in Gitarama, Joyce and I decided to go out to eat at the restaurant down the road (about a 10min walk max - right across from UGAMA). Although it gets pitch black dark at 6:30pm here (crazy, I know), we felt as though we had a decent feel for the walk to and from the restaurant and Azizi House - so we attempted it!

Getting to the restaurant was no problem. The staff was very kind and welcoming (as everyone is in Rwanda, especially at restaurants) and we were served a grand meal (a little too grand though, we had to take half of it home for leftovers lol - no biggie!). We both had chicken, Joyce had "Cameroonian Chicken" (white sauce) and I had chicken with a french name that started with a "P" (red sauce), although I obviously can't remember it now. We each received a side plate of beans, baked plantain and peas as well. I also ended the meal with my new found love, "African Tea". The bill came in a cute little wooden box (as many have now - seems to be the common way to serve a bill here, which is nice!). Pics of our meal, my tea and the bill box are below :-)

The whole meal took about 2hrs (as most restaurant meals do here) and then we were ready to head back home. By this point it was completely pitch black outside, and was around 8:30pm or so.... The power had gone out during our dinner (seems to strategically "go out" around 7pm every night here - that is also becoming a trend lol!), but we had completely forgotten since the restaurant generator kicked in 2 minutes after it had gone out - so needless to say, we weren't ready for the completely dark roadway that awaited us - eeep! Joyce and I spent the next HOUR walking around aimlessly like lost muzungu's back and forth down the back road trying to find our way back to Azizi in the pitch dark. We were hopeless lol. Thankfully we had Christi's number and she kindly stayed on the phone with us and guided us back to the house. 

What an adventure! I swore I would never walk at night again, but obviously that was just me being crazy since it was my first time walking at night lol! Since they we have found that the roads are actually completely lit at night (so long as the power is on), and people are very friendly and safe here! In fact, the night we were completely lost walking back from the restaurant, pretty much every person we met along the path tried to help us in any way possible - even if they only spoke Kinyarwanda. One lady who didn't speak any English or French, actually walked with us the whole way until we figured out where we were going lol! So yes, we are in good hands here :-) We have also memorized the path home to Azizi since our spooky walk - so we also don't look like lost/hopeless Muzungu's every time we walk home after 6:30pm now lol!