Nyungwe Weekend

     Well, when you last left me, I was having a pretty terrible week. I am glad to report that the weekend was much nicer, though didn't exactly go as planned. First thing Friday morning I received a text from my dear friend back home, Marcus, asking me if I had really not received my care package from him yet. Well this got me excited because I hadn't checked out post box yet but now I had reason too! I told him I would check before I left town for the weekend but I was very doubtful it would be here after only two weeks. We were headed to Nyungwe National Forest and we were seriously excited.
     Anyway, off to work we went where Julie and the other nurses and I had a meeting with our Director of Nursing, Naasson. Naasson is a very sweet, educated man. He was finally able to sit with us and discuss the hospital goals for this year. It was very helpful and I was so glad to see that many of the ICU specific goals I had already figured out from my nurses and head of department matched his. After our meeting, Julie and I walked home to pack. Vanessa was able to wrap up her duties earlier than she originally planned and by 1 pm we were on the road!

Roomate selfie to start the trip!

First stop, the post office, where indeed I had a package slip awaiting me in the box! And what a package it was... Marcus, knowing me so well, sent a request for me to send him a gazelle in exchange for my English Breakfast tea, Walkers shortbread cookies, Swedish Fish, and Ghiradelli's dark chocolate with salted caramel centers. I'm not sure if I can live up to the request for a gazelle, but Vanessa, Julie, and I certainly made short work of the candy (this may have contributed to a little car sickness later) and I have enjoyed my tea every morning thus far this week. It was a heavenly surprise for all of us and a fabulous way to start our weekend getaway.

 

Terraced hillsides

     Nyungwe is a 2-3 hour drive from Butare depending on the road work within the park. Our final destination was the Nyungwe Forest Lodge on the far western side of the park, which is a five star lodge with a spa. We were dying for comfortable mattresses (not sure if I've mentioned that the mattresses are rather hard here), a variety of food, a little spa treatment, and some good hikes. The forest itself is absolutely gorgeous. It's a jungle, not a forest and it was pretty odd to see so many trees. As previously noted Rwanda is so fertile that the majority of land is farmland. They have terraced all the hillsides to enable for more cultivation, so to see the jungle spring up before us was surprising and lovely.

Country hillsides

     When we arrived at the lodge, we had just missed the afternoon rains. They greeted us at the car, offered us hot towels and a fresh passion fruit juice spritzer and offered us all a seat in the plush lobby area. They then brought us our registration and our keys and showed us our little "pod" of rooms where we were going to stay. See below for details... it was LOVELY and I confirmed that I really will have no problem sleeping on a soft mattress after adjusting to my hard one.

Our pod of rooms

Private forest facing deck where I observed multiple monkeys

We settled and met back at the lodge for a real drink and sat next to the heated infinity edge pool. Life was looking much better and relaxing after the week at the hospital. The hotel staff seemed well versed in the wazunga staff of CHUB and were more than happy to comply with anything we needed. It was fabulous.

However, our exciting weekend took a turn Saturday morning just after breakfast. We were advised to do the waterfall hike that other staff members have done. We were very excited because we assumed with the pouring rain we had gotten the night before, the waterfall would be spectacular... unfortunately, we never saw the waterfall because Julie decided to meet the deck up close and personal. The deck in our pod of rooms was slick from a morning dew/night rains and she slipped dashing back to her room for her glasses and went down hard. She has broken a rib and has been on home rest this week the pain has been so bad. we offered to come home, but she made a valid point that her bed was much more comfortable and she could curl up and watch a movie or too. It ended up been a rather rainy weekend anyway, so Vanessa and I enjoyed some tea in the main lodge by the fires and did some work.

     While it wasn't planned, the weekend was still relaxing and beautiful and we will certainly be back for a little pampering when our stress level reaches the maximum. We can always hike next time and do the canopy walk that everyone talks about. It is getting late here and honestly there isn't much else to say other than we enjoyed our quiet time, great food, and a soothing massage. Look forward to going back when our patient is healed!

Lesson Learn: Don't get hung up on what you have planned... it's bound to change without warning.

P.S.- Thank you to all the emails, text messages, FaceTime, calls, and Facebook love I received after my rough week. It was very much appreciated. I am so grateful to have such an incredible support system. Thank you.