Driving lessons

I drove myself home from Kigali today for the first time! I dropped Mike off at the airport and navigated my way through downtown Kigali, then drove the 2 hours up and down the mountains home to Ruhengeri. Last week I drove to and from Kigali with a guy from Ruhengeri who knew his way around the city, and he taught me all the road courtesy signals:

• When you come up behind a huge, smelly truck spewing black smoke and doing about 2mph up a steep, windy mountain road, you obviously want to pass him. So you turn on your left turn signal and wait until you can sorta see around him. He will turn on his left signal if somebody is coming the other way, meaning DON'T PASS. He will turn on his right signal if the coast is clear (as far as he can see), meaning GIVE IT A TRY...
• If you are in a long line of cars following said smelly, slow truck, you can pass the one in front of you IF they don't have their left turn signal on. If they do have it on, you have to wait your turn.
• If you are going slower than the person behind you, let them know if somebody is coming or not (using the signaling above) and let them pass you.
  
• If you see someone coming toward you and they flash their lights, look at the driver because if there are police ahead he will point his index finger to the ground. If there are no police he will point to the sky. And you should do the same courtesy.
• When you approach a motor bike you should honk once or twice to let them know you are coming up behind them. (Not as much honking as the Dominican Republic, but it came pretty naturally to me!)
  

So this evening I got to use all these rules (although I sort of forgot about the police one - I was too busy with all the others). I left Kigali about 5pm and it was still light. As I drove up the mountain it was beautiful. I was stupidly excited about driving home all by myself in my big Toyota Land Cruiser with MGVP on the side - gray haired independent mzungu woman driving in the mountains of Rwanda. People were walking home and everyone looked pretty happy. I wanted to pick people up and give them rides, but we are not allowed. The air was cool and the trees were swaying in the breeze. As it got close to dusk (ALWAYS 6pm here) I flashed back to camp - driving on a windy (although not in the mountains..) forest lined road at dusk, feeling good. Felt like coming back from a day off - I just missed my Minne Wonka girlfriends! Then it got really dark really fast, and it was hard to see everyone on the side of the road, and the pot holes came up too quickly, and the oncoming trucks had their lights on bright so it was hard to see. The last 45 minutes were slightly more tense, but I made it! And I have to say that overall, driving in Rwanda is MUCH less tension producing than driving in the Dominican Republic. Jennifer, you know specifically which night drive I am referring to!

So I made it home, and can now check off one more from my list of firsts!

They say you've "gone native" if you do three things while in a foreign country:
Walk at night. Check.
Drive by yourself. Check.
Drink the tap water. Not happening.