Bats, boats, and hiking

We’ve just arrived back at our home away from home, Azizi Life, and are spending our last night here. It is bittersweet. The past two days were spent in the city of Kibuye, in Rwanda’s Western Province. We stayed on Lake Kivu, a large lake that shares a border with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The first day at Lake Kivu, we went boating. We visited an island in Lake Kivu called “Bat Island”, home to thousands of fruit bats. After returning to our boat, we got caught in a lighting storm and got absolutely drenched with rain. The boat moved at a snail’s pace, but we stayed calm and made it back to shore. As we arrived at shore, the boat ran out of fuel.  

After that, we celebrated our safe return with lunch, and then returned to our hotel where we spent quality time together and getting to know our translator for Kibuye and new friend, Joseph. Then today we hiked around the Lake Kivu area.

We met some locals and eventually found our way to the Cormoran Lodge where we sat by the water, ate lunch, and went swimming. Then we hiked back through the forest and found our van and drove back to Gitarama, in the Southern Province, from Kibuye. Tomorrow we are returning to the capital city of Kigali to visit Hope Shines and the Rwandan Genocide Memorial.

-Zane Rerek

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The Most Beautiful Place on Earth

530am- rise and shine! The bright Panamanian sun greeted us as we made our way to the Panamá Canal Railway, orignially built in 1847 before the beginning of the construction of the canal. Today, it is a tourist train that takes passengers on an hour ride from the city to the town of Colón (like cologne, not the Body organ). Doris told us about the history of the city of Colón, how it used to be an important place for sailors to stop, but it has since declined in economic state and safety. We could see remnants of the beautiful buildings that have now fallen into disrepair. It is termed "the forgotten city" and it reminded me a lot of the forgotten áreas in América where people are left to fend for themselves And in turn, safety and architecture decline dramatically. We could definitely see the beauty in the city, and all the potential for growth in this place.
We then went to Portobelo, meaning beautiful port, a main port in colonial times and was an integral part of the Spanish colonies. This port was attacked 7 times by pirates and invaders, so there are a lot of forts and ruins still standing today in this little fishing town. One thing we learned about colonial Portobelo is that the town would be dead throughout the year, but came to life the few weeks of the year the Spaniards came to port to trade goods. We could see the same pattern today, as it was pretty calm and dead when we were there, but it comes to life during Carnivale. We also spent time in the Catholic church with Jesús Negró, a statue of Jesús made of wood that has turned dark brown over time, and has be come an integral part of this town's beliefs. It is interesting how certain customs can continue over centuries of people going before us.
We ate at a seaside restaurant, where we ate seafood (a bunch of people had an entire fish!) and then we took a swim in the Carribean sea. Wow! The water is so warm and clear, and we were surrounded by the most beautiful hills and horizon scenery I have ever experienced. I spent a lot of time floating and admiring the creation around us- the most beautiful place on earth!
To top it off this amazing day, we met our new friends from Hernán's bday party, and boarded the evening city sightseeing bus tour, complete with música and refreshments. The city lit up is so beautiful! :)

Love, Jordan and Team Panama

Quote: "It is not the size of the plaintain, it's how you cook it" -Jake Curtis

Work Hard Play Hard

Monday evening showed us what a real Panamanian celebración is like! We met the entire Navarro family at their house, ate great food, drank delicious juice concoctions, and made lots of new friends. Blanca and Doris arranged for a mariachi band to come play for Hernan's birthday, and it ended up being the same guys we met at the tv station earlier that day (we had all been on RPE tv that day!). All the ladies swooned when Hernancito danced with his abuela... So Markus showed off with an impromptu slow dance with Mary Bruce- so sweet!
Tuesday was el día de ocupados, where we took a tour of the hospital Punta Pacífica, a Johns Hopkins medical center in downtown Panamá city. It has 74 beds, And was completely state of the art with new technologies And suites of familias. It was gorgeous! One thing they talked about was the increase in medical tourism, because of the great healthcare people can get at half the price (like 5000 for a baby delivery as opposed to 30000 for the same thing in the usa).
We spent the afternoon at La Prensa newspaper, the largest company in print communications in Panamá. They have a bunch of different papers and magazines on just about every topic under the sun. They showed us the warehouse where they print the publications- it looked just like the door factory in Monsters Inc!
Many of us had out first experience with Peruvian food at dinner tonight, family Style with lots of sea food, rice, And of course plantainas! I did not always know what I was eating, but it was tasty!
All of us have been saying we do not want to leave, so it is good to know we could all have jobs if decide not to come home.. ;)

Love, Jordan and Team Panama

Quote: "That was way funnier than it should have been." -Brittany Wilson

So you think you can dance...Rwanda style

Today was yet another incredible in Rwanda. We woke up to a delicious breakfast of French toast bake, syrup and literally the most amazing mango I’ve ever had. Literally, I don’t think I can eat fruit in America any more because we have been so spoiled with fresh fruit here!! Anyway, after breakfast we all got ready and headed off with our beyond AMAZING host, Tom, to visit a pottery studio in Gatagara and the King’s Palace in Nyanza. 

The pottery studio was a great experience to say the least. We got a tour from some of the workers of the studio; they showed us how they store the natural clay and how they add lime/sand to make the actual pottery clay. Then we got to go into the actual shop and see one of the men create a vase on the pottery wheel.  As Kara said “I didn’t know Hogwarts was in Rwanda” because it literally seemed like magic was at work when he was creating the vase. He then offered for one of us to try creating something on the wheel and Pavoua jumped at the opportunity. We all got a good laugh out of her first couple of attempts but in the end her piece turned into a beautiful candleholder. Before leaving we were able to shop in their little store and we all just wanted to bring everything home, it was all so beautiful!! 

We were then off to the King’s Palace where we learned about the history of Rwanda. Seeing how the royalty of Rwanda used to live was a really interesting experience and we all learned a lot. Then we came back to the Azizi life guesthouse filled with artisan representatives ready to sell the products their villages had created. We didn’t have much time to spend with them at first as they were busy selling and we had to get ready to learn some traditional Rwandan dancing. The dancers definitely made the dancing look way to easy. 

After many patient minutes with us though we finally picked up the basics and were able to put on a show for them, our hosts and some of the artisans resting in the shade of the garden. While we definitely were not as graceful as them, it was nice to see everyone having so much fun. It was one of those moments when the language barrier was lifted between our two cultures and everyone could just laugh together. That is one of the most beautiful things I’ve loved experiencing on this trip, amoung many many many other things. Even though most of the Rwandan’s we have met don’t speak English and none of us speak Kinya Rwandan, it is almost like we don’t even need language to communicate because we kind of create our own language with each other. Even today Amy was able to communicate with one of the artisans and the both of us ended up buying a pair of earrings that she had made. Everyone we have met is so open and welcoming and wants to learn so much from us but there is no way that can possibly happen because we are definitely learning so much more from them.

- Sarah Wohld

Bridges to History

We began our day with a drive to the Rila Monastery. There are no words that can describe the beauty of this located at the base of the Rila Mountains. This Monastery houses Monks who have sworn away a civilized life for one of solitude. A beautiful tower originally made in the 14th century resides over the yard and the museum, in which there was a beautiful, hand made cross that was intricately carved. This specific piece of art was made from one piece of wood that took over a dozen years to make before the artist went blind.


Later in the day, we met some Bulgarian counterparts from the American University in Bulgaria. Dinner and great conversation with faculty, staff, and students. People around the table instantly engaged in conversations with their foreign counterparts

Thursday we traveled to Bansko a historic resort town.


Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria. It is an ancient city and we saw Roman coliseum ruins and an old Roman theater.

This trip has been a whirlwind experience of immersion into an entirely different culture. Every way we turn we have been seeing sights that made us want to linger a little longer. But never have I wanted to sit and just watch the world pass by as much as I did on the top of the hill, overlooking the sunset and Roman Ruins in Plovdiv.


Dinner was interesting. There were Blah and Lamb Brains. When in Bulgaria?!!!

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