Cold War Part Deux

I just wanted to relate what happened last weekend, as it was one of the most bizarre moments of my life.

Lake Kivu separates most of Rwanda from DR Congo. There are a couple main “resort” towns along the lake, one of them being Gisenyi which we have been to several times, and one is called Kibuye. Marta, my roommate, and I had never been to Kibuye so we decided it was time to go as we are both leaving soon. So Marta organized a weekend adventure for us. And since if one person goes on vacation, we all go, there ended up being 14 of us. One of the guys that went, James, organized a boat ride for us on the lake to visit various islands. The boat was essentially a large covered rowboat, although it did have an outboard motor. It also leaked heavily and had an official bailer. For someone vaguely afraid of drowning, it was not the most comforting site to sit next to the bailer, ankle deep in water. Anyway, we were touring around the lake when we came to a small island and there standing on the beach, was a man with flowing locks wearing nothing but a speedo and waving us down. Turns out the island is populated by a group of ten to twelve Russian men, all middle age, most a little overweight, and most wearing bathing suits that left very little to the imagination. There was also a monkey wearing a diaper. Upon our arrival, there was much merriment among the Russian men and invitations to drink Russian vodka with them. Being the well-mannered people we are, we of course took them up on the invitation, and let me tell you, real Russian vodka is delicious. NOTHING like what you get in the US, although I assume the effect is much the same since after we had all shared the vodka, we took part in “Cold War Part II” which was an extended dive competition between America and Russia. I’m not sure that anyone won. Except maybe the monkey because he kept stealing people’s beers when they weren’t looking. It is amazing how much alcohol a monkey can drink.