POSTCARD from KIGALI

Kimironko Market, Courtesy Graham Holliday, Kigaliwire

The highlight of Teatime at Hotel Gorilla is the Garden. M. Makhene

I'm working through what it is I think of and see when experiencing Kigali. My thought cloud is cotton-stuffed with competing bird chirps--the most impressive urban birdlife I've ever known, and the easy haziness of Rwanda's capital city takes you not by storm, but like a very self-sure, steady ebb. There is no rush here, no cacophonous activity. There is also not stillness. I am awakened Sunday morning by the thump of early morning joggers pounding pavement. There is a sun that is hazy behind rising hills every morning, and there is a city that does not feel like anywhere else I can imagine. I'm still deciding, what is Kigali?