We are both so glad we signed up for all of the Women’s Center’s activities and a little bit remorseful that we signed up to climb Mt. Kigali. What were we thinking?? Did we not get enough hiking on Kili? Needless to say, on our walk to the Center, we were not extremely enthusiastic. Besides, the walk to the Center itself is a hike. This could be a very long morning.

Angel is our guide for today. She greets us warmly with walking sticks and extra water before we start on our journey. The first part of this hike involves walking straight uphill, through the neighbourhood, for 1.5 hours, to get to the trailhead. Mt. Kigali is always in our sights and the higher we climb, Mt. Kigali always seems to get bigger and taller. What have we done?

As we approach the trailhead, Angel lets us know that the ‘easy’ part is over. But…we’re already sweating and kind of tired. Nothing to do now but get on with it, I guess! If we were to climb to the top of Mt. Kigali from here, we would climb 400m, however, the very top is off limits because it is a military base, so we’ll ‘only’ climb about 300m. Aw, shucks.

The mountain area is gorgeous, full of cool trees, sisal plants, water breaks and we even ran into a large group of monkeys! We don’t really follow a set path; we are able to go between the trees and head up where our feet take us. It is very organic. We are on the mountain for 1.5 hours, up one side, cut across the ‘almost’ top and then down the other. Not gonna lie, even though it was a nice hike, we were very happy to be near the end. Or so we thought.

We still had 1.5 hours back to the Center. But, because we came off the mountain in a different area, we got to see different things. Angel wanted to show us a different side of Kigali, and brought us off the main street. Behind many of the paved roads are areas where the money hasn’t reached. Dirt roads gutted by crevices, holes and rocks. Locals on the street trying to make money selling their produce, kids running around shoeless, streets just a little less tidy than what we have been seeing. (Running around shoeless used to be the norm, but the government made it a rule that shoes must now be worn in public at all times.)

We didn’t take any pictures here for obvious reasons, however, I wish I could have taken one video of this lady running up and down the street. First, the street was STEEP! Jason and I were very diligently and carefully walking down, scared of tripping and rolling forever. I know we are muzungus, but walking down this street, we were scaredy-cat muzungus wearing grippy hikers and using a walking stick. Second, this lady was wearing tiny flip flops and she ran – not walked fast, RAN down the street. Expertly dodging the tricky bits, feet planted surely on all the other bits. I don’t even think she was looking down, only ahead. Third, we lost sight of her (on a very straight street) until she passed us again running UP the hill. OMG. Incredible.

After 4.5 hours of hiking, we finally made it back to the Center. We were sweaty, hot, tired, worn out, hungry and thirsty. Luckily, our next activity is another cooking class!

At chef’s house, she has so kindly laid out lunch for us! What a surprise and a treat. I wasn’t sure how we were going to wait until after cooking to eat. We had some of the same things that we cooked yesterday, plus a couple of new dishes she made for us. And two ice cold Cokes. Aaaahhhh. We are happy again!

Today we are making Sambusas (which are like samosas) and Chapati bread. This is going to be good. Chef has us prep and chop all the veggies that will be going into the Sambusas, and once again, she is very complimentary on our chopping skills. She was very impressed with our skill in the actual making of the Sambusas. Our dough folding skills are remarkable. Okay, I may have paraphrased a bit. But she was impressed!

The Chapati recipe is very simple, the skill is in rolling out the dough to the proper size and thickness. Then it is on the grilling pan until it is bubbling beautifully and turning a nice brown colour.

Sitting down to eat these was such a treat. Everything was absolutely delicious; we turned into two little piggies as we kept going back for more. The best part? All of the ingredients we need to make these are easily found at home. YES!

A perfect ending to our day. Full bellies and happy hearts.