At 5 o’clock Wednesday my New Year’s Eve plans were to lay low, have a few celebratory beverages, and continue to nurse a nagging cold that had been bugging me for days. I called up Tristan and asked him his plans, he stated he was thinking of taking a train out of town for some of his time off, something that I immediately realized would be a great adventure. After a couple of phone calls, and some hurried packing, we picked up Victoria and were cruising south on a road trip. No better way to ring in the New Year.

So here is the my own personal forecast for myself in 2009: More Adventure.
Pike Place Market - Seattle Five seconds after NYE marriage proposal - Seattle Astoria Bridge (Over Four Miles Long) - Astoria, OregonFoggy Woods - North Plains, OregonRoad - Lewis and Clark State Park, WashingtonBurnt Paper - Cannon Beach, OregonDog Walker - Cannon Beach, OregonSmall Dog vs. RC Car - Cannon Beach, OregonVictoria & Tristan - Cannon Beach, OregonMan & Dog - Cannon Beach, OregonCannon Beach, OregonCannon Beach, OregonCannon Beach, OregonOcean Ave. - Cannon Beach, OregonTristan - Cannon Beach, Oregon

And here is the great video Tristan did on our trip:

I am finally now back at home sleeping in a nice comfy big bed once again. During my layover in Ottawa on my way back to Vancouver from Boston, I was reading An Imperfect Offering by James Orbinski. Orbinski ran the Medecins Sans Frontieres operation in Rwanda during the genocide in 1994, and the page I was reading was giving an overview about the situation and dealing the UNAMIR at the time. As I am reading the book, who should stroll by but Lieutenant-General Roméo A. Dallaire, (Ret’d), the former commander of UNAMIR in 1994 and author of Shake Hands with the Devil.
It was a very surreal end to an amazing trip, and I was happy to briefly talk to this amazing man who is currently doing work on eliminating the use of child soldiers, among other things.

Me and Roméo Dallaire - Vancouver, BC - Oct 19,2008.

We got to Kibuye and had dinner at a restaurant right on the lake Saturday evening and immediately met Andrew. Andrew told us he was a boat guide, and we negotiated a price for him to take us to Napoleon and Peace Islands the next day. As we were entering his number in our phones, he told us his name was Andrewboat (I’m assuming this is because everyone puts his name into their phone like that.) The name stuck, the other guys and I thought it was hilarious, and he took us around the most beautiful spot I have seen yet in Rwanda. It’s tough to believe there is such a terrible conflict going on in an area of such amazing natural beauty. Hopefully Nkunda and the other guys sort it all out so I can go climb that volcano in Goma next week!

I feel as much as my brain may have developed over my 24 years on this earth (this is debatable), my love for jumping off of docks into the water hasn’t changed one bit. There was another boat nearby, and the driver came up and said “Sir, sorry sorry sorry, but you are soaking our boat.” Haha, I guess my well-crafted and graceful flops into the water had been making quite a splash. He had moved the boat well out of the way for this photo.

I just got back home from a weekend out at Kibuye, on Lake Kivu. It was a great trip out of Kigali, we went to see about a million bats on one island, which was both cool and creepy, and then played volleyball and went swimming on Amahoro (Peace) Island. Kibuye is beautiful and I couldn’t understand why there weren’t more tourists there. I talked to our boat guide, Andrew, and he said a decent-sized island goes for about $20,000 US. Not too shabby for a spot like this….More photos and video tomorrow.

Lama Mugabo is co-founder and executive director of Building Bridges with Rwanda (BBR), the organization I am working with to implement a digital storytelling and photography project, in conjunction with Amani Africa, here in Kigali. He is a good friend and is working on community development initiatives in Rwanda.

My metaphoric photo of the day. We are Building Bridges with Rwanda. Things are happening, and it is exciting to be in such a place where every day there are challenges, setbacks, hope, victory.

I have been importing some of the video I have been shooting in Rwanda. Most of it is footage from the photography project, which I am going to edit into a short film. But I have been taking some fun footage as well, and this definitely falls into that category. I love how Lama casually checks his watch as we are on our way around town. Although I miss my motorcycle, riding around the city on the Motos here is a heck of a lot of fun and much, much cheaper than taking a taxi (when you can find them).

Natty Dread is a musician who has lived in different places all over the world. A Rwandan who grew up in Uganda, he has lived in Jamaica, USA, Germany, Israel, among other places. He is an amazing guy to have a conversation with, and an example of the returning diaspora who are coming back to Rwanda. EDIT: I learned yesterday Bob Marley’s mom was the person who named him Natty.  He told me he knew Bob back in Jamaica, but wow, that is really cool.

Had a day off on Sunday so took a few Motos around town to a peace rally and shot some photos at the same time. Then in the afternoon I played ultimate frisbee with a bunch of ex-pats at the sports centre, god I hate that game.  Back to work today.