Rules of the Road

When the light is red, it usually means stop. Most of the time. Sometimes it means go. Green almost always means go, except when red means go on the perpendicular road.  White lines in the middle mean several things - You can go on either side,  or straddle the line until someone flashes their lights many times behind you. Lines do not mean anything when turning. Turn as a bunch. If there is room in the stopped traffic in front of you, budge further forward. It is no problem to turn left or right from three lanes over on the opposite side.

If there is a grassy median in the road, you cannot walk on the grass. You also cannot walk barefoot anywhere outside. That is illegal. You cannot walk and eat at the same time. That is thought to be rude. It is noteworthy that picking one's nose during a public conversation is not considered rude or awkward.

If there are trees on the road median, you can't hit a tree with your car. If you do, the fine is one million francs.  That is about 2.5 times the average annual wage.  I believe that the average annual wage is biased.  There are more than a few Rwandans driving fancy vehicles in Kigali that have enough money to hit many trees.  The vast multitude of other Rwandans earn much less than the officially-advertised income of 569USD/yearly.

Here they break rocks for 10 hrs a day for 1000francs. This is less than 2USD/day.

Local coltan mine

If you hit a chicken, you must pay the owner for the chicken. A chicken costs about 4 days of breaking rocks. It is best not to hit anything.

In town, there are many motorcycles. Many, many motorcycles. They are mostly taxis.  Mototaxis are the least expensive and the fastest way to travel in this sprawling and  hilly city.  Everyone has to wear a helmet on a mototaxi. Other than the helmet rule,  there are precious few other rules on a mototaxi. Mototaxis can turn and stop and go anywhere at anytime.  As a mototaxi passenger, you can carry anything you like. Wood, briefcase, a goat, weekly groceries, a fridge, or even a baby.  There are no baby helmets.

"Might is right" on the roads they say. Buses and trucks go where they want, cars move out of their way. Motorcycles - 60-120cc powered "Motos" - must stay out of the way of buses, trucks and cars. If you are on a bicycle or on foot, you must stay out of everyone's way. If you hit a person, and they are still alive, you must take them to hospital, but only after the police have come.  There is no fine. That is what vehicle insurance covers.  It is mostly children that get hit. Mainly by motos. The truck serves into the middle of the road and the car has to move over. Motos often drive on the inside,  just beside the car. When the car moves over, the moto does too. The only place the moto can go is to the side of the road. This is where everyone walks.  Because of this problem, more and more roads in town have sidewalks.

Bikes are a very common form of transport - even on the "ferry"

Throughout this small country however, most roads do still not have sidewalks.

Everynight, all year long, it gets dark quickly at 6:20pm. Streetlights are rare.  You do not put your vehicle lights on until it is truly dark. Dusk and dawn is a dangerous time to walk on the roads. Unfortunately it is also the time when the roads are the most crowded. Everyone uses the roads for transport to home, to work, to school, to the fields, to everywhere.

If you run home from the hospital after a shift, you take side streets and back alleys. You also cut across cornfields and navigate the warren of paths through the ramshackle housing areas. You then run on the cobblestone sidewalks of the leafy embassy streets. It is a great form of transit. Except at high noon during the dry season...and especially at high noon of the dry season after a busy shift where there has been no food or water for 6 hours.  During these times when you feel faint on the road, people will give you warm Fanta to drink and fried balls of flour. They will laugh with you when you try to call home for a pick up and your phone doesn't work. The battery is dead again. The battery has been slowly dying because the charging situations here are harsh. Electricity pounds thru the system at 180-280V. Or it doesn't come at all, or a little bit dimly. The computer shocks you sometimes and other times the ice cubes melt in the freezer. This makes the evening G&T taste less good than usual. Everything works out tho.    Someone lends you a phone. Or finds you a drink. Or fixes almost anything that is broken. There is someone somewhere in this city that will repair your sink, iphone, blender, camera, bookshelf or car door. If you forget your pump on a bike ride and get a flat tire far away from home and far from a paved road, a moto will take you to a the closest bike shop. The most common tool in a bikeshop is a hammer. My carbonfibre Scott mountain bike from Team Rwanda does not need a hammer.

Note the powertool(s) mid-left

It needs a presta tube. There are no presta tubes in this country. "All finished."  To no avail, I have been to many shops and alleys and stalls in town. Rwanda is the second most expensive country in the world (after Antarctica)to ship things to. I will now find someone in a small cubby beneath a  stairwell somewhere downtown to drill the valve hole of my fancy rim wide enough to accommodate the bulky valves of Rwanda.

Before riding, running or working, it is best  to have an omelet at Blues cafe.

This local cafe has great coffee and better food than in The Matrix - it is all the body needs really; local veggies, ham, eggs and french fries all cooked together with a mango on the side. Awesome.

Outside of town, bicycles are the most common form of transport. There are still buses and trucks, and some motos, but most transport is by igare, or bicycle. There are wooden bikes, icugutu, that are made by youngsters with machetes and scrap wood.

They can transport large loads of yams to market. Push up one of the many hills slowly, ride down wildly on the other side!

There are also many Chinese-made bicycles here too. They are locally re-enforced with re-bar segments and fitted with colourful accouterments of blessing and functional transport. Messages about God, football and life are painted on fenders and frames. Ornamental mirrors, plush person-carrying cushions, large vats for milk, baskets for coffee and sturdy racks for 50kg sacs of flour complete the single-speed machine.

Push it up the hill, rip it down the other side. Everyone stays out of their way!






When a bike like this with a 40 kg load of cabbages passes you, stay to the side - dodging rolling cabbages from a burst cabbage-bike sack on a bumpy downhill requires decent bike handling!

A great read on Rwanda's fascinating bike history and Olympic cycling aspirations here can be found in Tim Lewis' book, "Land of Second Chances".

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/11/second-chances-rwanda-cycling-lewis-review

The girls on some local singletrack

On of the many onlookers

The girls are enjoying the riding too. It is hot and  crowded, and the goats and superheros  have to be kept in check, but it is fun and each outing is a true adventure. Every corner and each hill and dale holds a new surprise, sight, smell or situation.

All three girls have impressed with their resilience, their adaptability, and their attitude. School is on and the kids have taken it in. Swimming, math fractions, Tae Kwon Do, pottery, science experiments and playdates are already happening. Football season has started and tennis awaits.  KT has started clinical work at an orphanage http://www.rwandanorphansproject.org/ as well as co-teaching a community medicine course at the medical school.

They are fantastic companions.

 As a family, we are all learning various rules and realities of living in Rwanda.

 It is not always easy, and some days involve more "learning" than others, but the family adventure is truly on.

Thanks for reading.