“Rubavu Life”

As I earlier told you, we got encamped at the Musanto Hotel, just a short distance from the Tamu Tamu (Sweetness) beach. My goodness, that beach is really frequented and it is really noisy! Just after settling in, we just wanted to pay a visit to the place that makes many of our lives tick and sometimes to stop ticking altogether. Your guess is as good as mine, the one and only BRALIRWA, a.k.a. Brasserie! This time round, Rubavu has roads as good as those in Kigali; it is just like driving on a Black Carpet! Many of us have enjoyed the taste of PRIMUS, MUTZIG and ARMSTEL but never bothered to even pay homage to the people and place that makes those lovely parts of our blood stream to flow like the waters of Kivu. We were not ready to betray this near to “holy land”. I just cannot resist imagining our Lord visiting Rubavu and he is told that, “Oga, we have run out of palm wine”! He would simply point at the Kivu waters and all would quench their thirst right from Rubavu, via Karongi to Rusizi of course not forgetting the downstream Bujumbura! Just as they say, “if wishes were horses, beggars would ride”, let us stop wishing and turn to the realities. We set off for the Brasserie that lies about six or so kilometres away from the town centre. We arrived at the plant only to be told that, visits were only possible during normal working days; what a let-down, didn’t these people know that we were “VIPs” in as far as their profits were concerned? Let me hope their bosses will read and style up; as the English saying goes, “a customer is a King”! All the same, we did not despair, were not ready to allow anything or anybody to get into the way of our happiness and so, we decide to visit the nearby Palm Beach! Much as it may look so quiet when compared to the noisy beaches around town, it is an ideal hide out. Not any Tom, Dick or Harry could easily come here! You need to have an assured form of transport lest you are left stranded on a “desert island” as there virtually no Taxi Motos nearby! This place is really serene, just the water, the birds singing and the right number of revellers safely scattered in the main Bar, the Gardens and the Beach. We really had a very nice treat here, drinks were flowing quite smoothly, and the edibles were incredibly nice. We stayed put until the early hours of the evening (about two hours or so to midnight). We even had a dinner around a fire lit in an opening scooped out of the floor of the Bar building. The fire was made from firewood! We had had enough of this place, we need to relocate to a place nearer to our place of abode and hence. With less and less blood in our alcohol, it was wise to drive when the driving was still safer lest the “huhamu” (blow in) boys caught up with us. Incidentally, I have not seen these guys on our roads for long! They used to terrorise me with their antics! Thanks to the “Bad flu” (read bird flu), they had temporarily their notorious gadgets had been “banished” from use; I suppose someone may have seen the light and decided to do away with them altogether! All in all, we had a bash that we are not gona forget very soon! We partied till the wee hours of the evening or is it night! By the time we reached the Hotel rooms, the night was wearing fast away and we wondered why we had parted with all that cash and yet we were barely going to sleep in the rooms! mfashumwana@fastmail.fm