I got a lift to Cyangugu with the "post-bus"; this one carrying new computers and an engineer for Cyangugu's cyber café. Another passenger was a nun from the Catholic guesthouse; so by the end of the journey I had arranged my accommodation and the next day's unlimited use of a PC. I checked in to "Home St Francis" and put my muddy tropical-rain-forest clothes in to wash. After a shower I tried the number Grace had given me but her uncle said she'd already returned to Nyanza. Oh well, life's like that.

Tue 14 Oct
Cyangugu is a town at the southern end of Lake Kivu. It shares a border crossing with Bukavu in Congo (DRC). From the map I expected a tranquil location with beautiful views, but for me the reality was quite dull. I'd hoped to find an affordable boat-ride up the lake. I'd expected sunsets and terraced bars, waterfront cafés but instead found the town and roads were set back and mostly high above the mostly inaccessible marshy shoreline. The town was functional but nothing special. I spent the day at the internet café and caught up with my diary despite the 3hr power cut during the afternoon (well you've got to eat sometime).

Wed 15 Oct
The best boating option I found was to catch the daily brewery boat at 0400 so I gave it a miss and got the post-bus back up the road (through that beautiful forest once again) almost as far as Kigali. On the way I noticed increasingly a kind of wooden scooter that the locals were using for moving goods. Like a bicycle you push it up hills and freewheel down. It's called an "icugutu" pronounced "ee choo goo too" and is capable of shifting over 100kg. By the roadside there always seemed to be something for sale; a pile of logs, bricks, rocks, or roofing grass. Most rural land had been cultivated. There were smallholdings everywhere, banana plantations and tea estates (with little terracing).

I took another minibus out to Kibuye, about midway up Lake Kivu. I checked into a guesthouse on a wooded promontory with stunning views and excellent swimming. It was much more the lakeside resort I had hoped for.