Around Musanze Town

I'm madly in love with Musanze, the district in which I live. On clear days, I can see five volcanoes from my house. The weather is temperate year-round, and the town has a perfect mixture of "rustic charm" and modern conveniences (hotel wireless, for instance).

I've been itching to wander around snapping pics with my digital slr for ages, but I didn't feel comfortable taking pics of the townspeople. Eventually, my friend Pascal and I took a Saturday afternoon off to stroll about snapping pics. As I suspected, reactions to a muzungu (white person, rich person) photographing the poor inhabitants of the town was not readily accepted. People shied away from me and my camera before I even lifted the camera from where it hung around my neck.

Then Pascal had an idea.

He took my camera in hand and began photographing people right and left, with nary a complaint. The following are some of the pics that survived the transfer from my broken laptop:

Pascal

A girl on the road with a load to tote

Gathering firewood to cook the day's meals

Those are enormous bags of potatoes on their heads

Transporting plantains to market

Musanze foot traffic

Ah, the ol' wheel and stick!

Classic.