Thursday, April 9, 2009

Volcanoes National Park

Gorilla pictures coming up! I have 400 to go through ;)




















My broken tooth !

Just as the rain dried up and I was thinking to myself things could be a lot worse... I crunch down onto a rock hard piece of roadside corn and ccrraaacckkk! A tooth goes and breaks in two... the front of it wiggling away, broken where a filling had covered up an empty root canal. Lucky for me there was no pain, but it was friday afternoon and we reached Kigali just as businesses were shutting down for the weekend.

Calling around everyone they know, we head to the first dentist we pass on the way into Kigali- a local guy with a painted illustration of a crooked toothed man and a sign which read: We Extract Teeth. Lucky for me, we were 10 mins too late. I wish I'd got a better picture (see blurred shop front).

N left for London on Sunday morning after being screwed around on Saturday by Kenya Airways, and I made 2 appointments to see 2 different dentists on Monday. Firstly, I visit the private practice in the MTN shopping centre and can happily report a dentist named Leandre (who has a daughter named Linda) carefully and successfully replicated the piece of tooth that left a gaping hole in my mouth. My backup choice was King Faysal hospital who were busy til the afternoon.




















Ishi who we are staying with shows off using his lovely strong teeth, and Azeza the retriever (always with something hanging out of her mouth) has a lizard dangling from her chops. Everyone in the universe seems to have better teeth than me. And all this sugary african tea from Bourbon isn't helping! Check out the Nyungwe bottle water...

Leaving Nyungwe.

Thurs 2nd and Fri 3rd April: N receives some bad news from home and makes provisions to leave for London. We decide to pack up and accompany her to Kigali on Friday.

I might not get a chance to return to Nyungwe so I try to take in as much of the scenery as I have time for and pack up everything. I might be able to return with J after a week, but plans change day to day. For now, I say my goodbyes to the rainforest.

J is experimenting with pottery effects and just manages to finish decorating the series he recently bought from a local collective. Using slow wood burning, smoking and firing he hopes to achieve different finishes and effects.

Just as we leave, the heavens open and we all get soaked-- except the dogs who are carried to the car under umbrellas!