Kigali after dark....

Little did we know, Kigali is a party town! The last thing we expected when we arrived in Rwanda was to have an active social life outside volunteering and networking with other organizations. While enjoying a smoothie at a cafe our first week here, we met another American guy who works for Red Cross studying rainfall and predicting floods in Africa. After talking for a while, he mentioned he would be in the city on the weekend and would we like to go out for some drinks. Of course Amy and I agreed (I mean, it's pretty hot here, and one can get very thirsty). We met him and a few other Americans who work with him in a small village outside Kigali at a bar called Papyrus. After requesting three different bottles of white wine off the menu, none of which were in stock, we ordered a Rose. The waiter brought it out, and it was warm. Not room temperature, or slightly chilled, but warm. Luckily, the owner happened to walk by, and spoke excellent English, and grabbed the bottle and said, "Come on, this needs to be chilled!" So after getting a wine cooler, ice, and some nice conversation, our first night out in Rwanda was becoming pretty eventful. After a couple glasses of wine, we hit the dance floor where we boogied to mainly American pop, rap, and r & b music, and occasionally something local or latin. We struck up multiple conversations with some local guys, and by the end of the night had arranged to have every meal for the next day paid for! Sweet! We met a guy named Titi (the now infamous "Mr. Wrigley") who works for Wrigley chewing gum, who (while trying to explain his job) listed every flavor of Wrigley chewing gum to Amy. After a second wind, we decided to head to another bar for a night cap before heading home in the wee hours. The moto drivers took us to this bar that was in a residential part of town, and seemed to be in the middle of no where. Although we were the only muzungu's (foreigners or white people) there, they played great dance music and the beer was ice cold. Going out in Kigali, we got to see the more affluent young people in Rwanda, living a seemingly successful, western lifestyle. We have also been "networking" with other volunteers in the area after trading stories about our experiences so far.
So in the spirit of going out...lets discuss spirits. Our 'on a budget' choice for drinks has been a number of the local beers, the cheapest of which is Primus at about $1 US dollar each. It tasted pretty close to a Budweiser, so we've been pretty satisfied with that. There are a number of others such as Mutzig, Skol, and of course Turbo King. There is also of course normal spirits such as vodka, whiskey, rum, and a home-brewed gin from Uganda called Uganda Waragi. We also saw wine being poured out of a bag at the bar, so definitely opted for beer instead.
This weekend we met up with some guys who work at the U.S. Embassy and were treated to some first-class transport when they picked us up in a white suburban (probably the nicest car I've seen in Rwanda, thanks U.S.A.). We went out to the usual hangout, Papyrus, where we met more volunteers. Amy and I found it really nice to talk with like-minded people who are passionate about helping out over here. Of course the dancing, drinks, and crazy moto rides make for a memorable night too :)
xo Cait