I’ll admit it, I wanted to visit Burundi mostly to check it off my list. I knew very little about this small country other than it had been colonized by the Belgians who played on ethnic divisions between Tutsi and Hutus which resulted in several bloody eras in the nation’s recent history.
I arrived in Bujumbura, the capital and the only city discussed in my guidebook’s meager twelve pages devoted to Burundi. The drive from the Tanzanian border was scenic, taking us along surprisingly well paved roads and passed fishing villages on the coast of Lake Tanganyika for much of the way. Whenever we stopped, a dozen women with platters on their heads materialized out of nowhere. They were selling some sort of food wrapped in banana leaves.
Much of my time in Buj, as locals call it, was spent going to the Rwandan embassy to get a visa. Otherwise, I mostly just wandered around town. There weren’t really any museums or tourist things to do in the capital, but somehow I wasn’t at all bored. I was happy to be able to communicate with people as Burundi is French speaking, an appreciated change from Tanzania, and there was a large enough expat presence that almost no one paid any attention to me as a mzungu.
I ended up really enjoying Buj. The town is like a cross between east Africa (dirt roads, mild chaos, frequent power failures, incredibly worn and frail banknotes) and Europe (plenty of cafes, lots of hustle and bustle activity, waitresses brought the bill at the end of my meal without me having to seek them out). People here were genuinely friendly and I felt safe and welcomed.
My hotel was clean and comfortable, although I’m not sure what was up with the sheets.
I met a friendly Burundian man at breakfast one morning and he invited me to have dinner with him and his wife the following evening. This turned out to be the highlight of my brief stay in Burundi. Oscar and his wife were welcoming and put together a great vegetarian dinner for me, even though vegetarianism is not at all common in their culture.
The following morning, I headed north for Rwanda.
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