How I ended up at Serena (Rwanda)

Before I arrived in Kigali, two people had already mentioned to me how clean the city is. Before I get too deep, I need to mention this. So the one bus driver (not the wise old man)says to me, he knows a great hotel that I can stay at when we arrive in Kigali, he seemed like a cool guy so I was like, 'Ok, take me there'. First thing, the hotel was across the road from the bus rank (are you thinking what I'm thinking?), but as he carried my bag and we made our way to the hotel, I was like, maybe it's nice from the inside.

As we arrive, downstairs there's a shebeen kinda setup, now I used to work for SAB and I know that places where people drink from 750ml bottles, aren't even close to being called premium. But still, I'm like, maybe the room will be nice, I can lock myself in until the morning. Oh, I forgot to mention, in Rwanda people only speak French and Swahili, my only connection to English was my dear friend the bus driver.

Back to the hotel, as we make our way up the stairs, we pass this guy and he's like fastening his shirt and the girl is straightening her hair, that's when alarm bells went off in my head, this is one of those hooker places. Before we even made it to the room I told the dude, I'm sorry, I cannot stay here. This guy and I had been chatting for a good 6 hours but he suddenly seemed to not understand me. He's like, it's fine. You've got your own room, your own bathroom and it's not expensive. I'm like: Yeah, but did you see the shebeen downstairs, what if one of these men comes up here and does something to me. I don't even understand the language. The hotel lady, gave me a look, like I was saying her hotel is not good enough or something. I tell my friend, please get me to a cab and they can take me to a good hotel. He looked at me like I was crazy, on some, 'What's wrong with this one' tip.

To make a long story short, we walked back to the bus station, he told the cab driver to take me to see two of the nicer hotels and we said our goodbyes. Cab driver and I tried to communicate but between his English and my French we were not winning, so we ended up just smiling at each other. That's how I ended up at Serena.

Even when we arrived I knew I couldn't afford to stay there, but thoughts of going back to the other place had me thinking, I'll get a second job or a sugar-daddy when I get home, I'm staying right here! I managed to bargain for the cheapest possible room, and actually had the best hotel experience of my whole trip! Serena in Kigali... it's the one!