The Chicken Shack, Gatumba, Burundi

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With Denise and Jan at our local shop

Arriving back in Bujumbura, we expected to find a place to stay, but the wonderful Natacha offered up her spare bedroom.  How nice is that!!  OK, so accommodation taken care of, now food: a trip back to our pizza place to balance out the recent solid African meals should do it. Stomachs full, we had to purchase a bus ticket for the morning.  All things working out today…. something must go wrong soon.

We had left our bags over the last few days at Michel and Marie-Andree's house, so planned to meet up there, and then take them out for dinner.  All a good plan until the rains came.  And they didn't stop!  Torrential rain fell, and turned the downtown streets into a series of rivers.  We hopped in a taxi, but soon found out that rain in Bujumbura turns all the drivers into complete idiots.  We drove about 50 feet and then were stuck at an intersection where people would just pull in front of each other, not letting anyone cross, creating an absolute logjam.  After realizing that our taxi was not going to move for a long time, we got out into the storm and started walking.  This is when we found out that not 100 feet away, the traffic was non-existent.  But finding another taxi was a chore, as we had to cross the raging torrents of water in the streets.  Eventually, we arrived at their house, but they both had had similar troubles, and were not yet home. 

Dinner at Kanowe

All sorted out finally, and we went to dinner at Michel's great little brochette restaurant, and Natacha and the kids joined us.  It was cool to introduce our new, great friends to each other. As we waited for our food Michel questioned why we were leaving in the morning, as he had some things to take us to on the following day - a holiday.  We explained that we already had tickets for the bus, so it wasn't possible.  Not 10 minutes later, Michel had called his friend, the owner of the bus company, and with our consent (we're flexible and up for anything), had changed our tickets for us!  We certainly found out that Michel is well-known in town, and has plenty of friends!!  The food at Kanowe was delicious as per last time, and we all went away very satisfied, but also looking forward to Friday's events!!

The following morning, as we were sorting out clothes for the laundry, I noticed I was missing a pair of shorts, then one, two and even three shirts!!  Very confused, because I usually don't lose anything, we started the search.  We checked with all the places we had been recently, and then narrowed it back to our hotel prior to leaving for Ijenda. In true Michel style, he volunteered that if I didn't find them there, then he would call the owner of the hotel - his friend of course - haha!!  So, a quick mission back to Saga Residence.  So, let's back up: at Saga there had been two guys working there - one named Londros spoke Kirundi and French, and we always dealt with him.  But, when we arrived, it was just the other man, who spoke only Kirundi.  Very disappointed that we wouldn't be able to get answers from him, he came out from behind the bar. It was then that we both noticed that I had a shirt JUST LIKE HIS!!!  Too funny! I guess he had found the clothes in the room, and since nobody had claimed them, decided they were his.  He eagerly gave the items back, as I think he was expecting trouble, but I was just happy to have my clothes back, even if one had some true African body odour about it!!  If he hadn't been wearing my shirt, then we might never have got the clothes back - pretty funny!!

The Dance Shack

Michel was excited to take us to Gatumba, to visit a place he called very bluntly, the Chicken Shack.  He did keep harping on the fact that it was literally just a SHACK.  As we are game for anything, and love the local experience, how bad could it be?! Well, we arrived in a field, with a bunch of falling over lean-to's, as a couple of locals chased after the truck, grabbing plastic chairs and pointing us in the direction of their shack.  It was pretty interesting, as they threw down some straw mats on to the soggy ground (from the morning rains), and then we waited. We got some music going and had a fun dance party for a while with  many of the locals watching us and some kids joining in.  Michel likes this place because it is pretty much the freshest chicken you can get.  We ordered three chickens for the 8 of us, and I'm sure the guys went off, killed the birds, then BBQ'd them up.  About an hour later, they returned with a feast - the chicken of course, cooked onions, fried bananas, and ugali.  Can't get much fresher than that!

Marie-Andree ready to devour the chicken

Afterwards we walked around the area, meeting a few of the locals and getting views of the mountains in the Democratic Republic of Congo, only a few short kilometres away.  It's weird to think we are so close to the Congo.  Unfortunately, I had a flip-flop blow out, and had to struggle back to the 'shack' through some muddy areas, where all the animals graze, and…..

By the time we returned to the city, it was almost time to get ready for our next social engagement.  Michel and Marie-Andree had invited us to join them at their friend's party.  After attempting to repair my shoe, Michel ended up giving me a pair of nice Reef flip-flops, that he said he would never wear - brand new - how nice is that! It would be very hard for me to find any decent replacements in Africa!!

Lunch at the Chicken Shack

On the way to the party, we visited Michel's parents' house to drop off Samuel for the night, and a special surprise.  We were given some banana beer to try.  Both of us really enjoyed both the sweet stuff, and then the more bitter 'adult' stuff.  It was quite a different flavour, but a fruity type of beer.

We were in for some more treats that night, as at the party, his friend Elois was serving up Jello shooters all night - NICE!!!  Also, Elois was a chef and the food was something different - fajitas, with cheese, guacamole, and skewers of meat for the filling.  What a sumptuous treat! The party was a going-away party for wife Nina, who was taking a job in Liberia for a year or so.  Elois had a couple of other surprises for her, including a some live music from what we are

Local Music and Instruments at the Party

told is the best band in Burundi - called Lion Story.  It was funny actually, as we had already met the lead singer of the band, Ahmadee, at a cafe in town on our second day in Burundi.  So, we actually knew somebody at the party in Burundi!  We love having a social life again.  The other music at the party was a duo with local instruments made like a bow with 3 gourds and a couple of batons to hit the string.  They were playing off each other in quite a comical way, singing along.  It seemed to get funnier the drunker they got!

We really enjoyed our time in Bujumbura, as we had made some great friends who'd taken us under their wing.  So, it was with disappointment and sadness that we made our way to the bus for our trip 'upcountry' as they call it, to a little town in the north called Kirundo near the Rwandan border.  Thanks Michel, Marie-Andree, Natacha, and of course, the kids!!   *Stub