Unexpected and weird things in equatorial Africa

 Disclaimer:  These are my thoughts and my thoughts alone; none of this is from Peace Corps and does not reflect the thoughts of the organization.  JUST ME!!!!


On Sunday December 19th 2010; a group of us went to one of the National Parks that is found in Rwanda.  The park that we went to was the one in the South of the country called Nyungwe (can't pronounce it? it took me two days to learn it).  This park is home to over 100 species of butterfly, and orchids; Chimpanzees, Collobus Monkeys, Leopards and many more. 

(insert:  this is a rain forest)

When we arrived it was a beautiful day, I was wearing capris, granted I have no other options, my keens and a cute t-shirt.  After a little discussion on price and hikes, half of the group went on a canopy hike while the other half (the one I was in) went on a hike that was supposed to take about 3 hours, and was a little more traditional of a hike.  So we started out and it was wonderful, getting the muscles going, up and down with switch backs and steps carved into the side of the hill.  We were at over 2500 meters so we were looking down at a lot of the rain forest, it was breath taking!  We even got to see some of the mountain monkeys when they said that it was unlikely to see them on this hike, it was so cool to see them in the wild, they were amazing!  About 1/3 of the way into the hike the clouds started to come rolling in.  Now I was well aware of the fact that it rains in the rain forest, so I came prepared with a rain fly for my back pack, two sweatshirts tucked away to keep them dry and a useless raincoat to sit on, during the long bus ride home.  When clouds form in this country, much like Hawaii, it is going to rain, there is no question.  And it is going to rain everyday re-gardless cause that is what happens in the rain forest.  Others, unfortunately, were a little less prepared, but rain never hurt anyone and we were in the middle of a rain forest so we trudged on.  The rain wasn't so bad, in fact in parts it was beautiful, the sun was shinning across a canyon and as you looked out you could see the rain falling on the canopy of trees below us.  It was absolutely beautiful, I would have taken a picture but I ran out of room on my memory card cause I can't find the larger card I have, it is quite possibly somewhere in my parents house, but I digress, the rain wasn't so bad, we were wet, but that is nothing new for us; we were dealing.  Then without warning, something hit my arm and stung.  I was starting to get cold but rain wouldn't sting like this.  At this point we are all looking at the ground and nearly at the same time we all said "Hail?"
Yup, it was hailing on us in the middle of a tropical rain forest.  Our guide up ahead thought that it was snow!  We asked him if this happened often, and he said "No, but it does happen, sometimes"  So here we are, soaking wet getting pegged by hail, and not a short rain/hail storm, this lasted about 45 minutes to an hour.  In fact we cut our hike short cause the trail was getting a little slippery.  I, of course, found out the hard way by slipping and falling!!! Don't freak out I wasn't hurt cause all I landed in was soft mushy mud, that was a blessing, what was not such a blessing was the fact that the mud stayed on me.  Caked on mud, I was covered, I slid about 2 to 3 feet, so from my butt to my knees I was covered in heavy mud.  It was quite comical for everyone else, and yes I did see the humor in the fact that I was soaking wet, freezing cold, being hit with hail, and covered in mud in the middle of a rain forest in Rwanda. It was a good thing that I had put a belt on that morning cause my pants were so heavy that they were sliding off of my hips.  All in all it was a great day, and I got to see my first wildlife of Rwanda, wouldn't trade it for, no not true, if you offered me a hamburger with steak fries seasoned and a milkshake I may have traded for that.....maybe.