Five Senses Coffee Blog

Africa gets in your blood

Wow, I never realised how disorientating international travel is. Flying through the clouds on a typical plane, with familiar food, seating and inflight entertainment makes you feel like you could be anywhere. It was only in the last five minutes of descent that it started to sink in — I’m far, far away and as soon as I hop off the comfortable Boeing shell, nothing would be familiar.

I touched down in Rwanda late last night and stepping onto African soil for the first time felt quite significant. They say Africa gets in your blood and I’m keen to see what sort of effect it has on me. I met my first Rwandan friend, Diede, on my last flight. He briefly mentioned the genocide which he realises his country is internationally known for, but only to compare it to today’s peace. He explained with pride how far Rwanda has come and what kind of country is has become post genocide. We chatted for the last hour and I’m already thinking about coming back on holidays and spending more time here. I explained I was here for the coffee competition and his eyes lit up, he knew all about it, he said it had been advertised on their national TV channel and radio stations. I asked what they are saying and he replied something about it being a good opportunity for the farmers and Rwandan coffee. All he knew was it was a big deal and we chatted a little about what it was all about.

We drove to the hotel and the air was warm, the speed of the traffic was calm and relaxed and I caught my first glimpse of the reason Rwanda is called the land of a thousand hills. The plan is to look around Kigali tomorrow then head to Rwamagana to set up base for the week of cupping. I’ve already seen a lot of familiar faces from Canada, the UK and the USA and met lots of new people from Japan and Korea. So far, so good … that’s all for now.

Pic from Jen's hotel room in Rwanda