Differences in Rwanda from Tanzania and Kenya

I have just returned from an amazing vacation. And to my surprise there are so many differences between Rwanda and Kenya and Tanzania. I had forgotten about all the crazy rules Rwanda has. Street food is not allowed in Rwanda. Seeing street food in Kenya and Tanzania was so cool and it was great to be able to eat cheap quick food. No plastic bags are allowed in Rwanda. I saw plastic bags everywhere in Kenya and Tanzania. Those countries are so dirty and litter is everywhere. In Rwanda you see some trash on the streets but it gets cleaned constantly so it has not been practically hardened onto the streets like it has in Kenya and Tanzania.
There is a huge difference in temperatures. Though I went almost straight east it was so much hotter and so much more humid. It was awful. I honestly don’t know how people can live there in the heat. The first hostel we stayed at in Zanzibar had no air conditioning only a fan. We had to take at least 3 cold showers a day to try and stay sane. When we went to DAR we stayed at my friends, friend’s house. They had air conditioning and we never wanted to leave the house. In fact we did spend one whole day laying around in the cool air conditioning watching movies on the big screen TV. It was great. Luckily also in Mombasa we had air conditioning. But let me just re-emphasize how hot it was and how lucky I am to live in a wonderful climate where I can where sweatshirts, jeans, and scarves. There is never a time of day you would ever where any of these things unless you are in the air conditioning. I don’t understand how it can still be so hot at 11 at night. In Rwanda it gets very cold at night. My house feels like it is air conditioned all the time. It’s great; I love the weather in Rwanda.
In Tanzania and Kenya they speak Swahili but in Rwanda we speak Kinyarwanda. There are only a few similar words. Swahili comes from Arabic, Portuguese, and English whereas Kinyarwanda comes from French. The words that are the same though are pronounced differently because Rwandans mix up the letters L and R. In the word ubugari (which is cassava bread dough) is ubugali in Swahili. I think this is really funny because the word comes from Swahili but someone probably just switched the L to an R. Anyway that is the only example I can think of but there are many words like this.
I think the people in Kenya and Tanzania are very nice and very welcoming compared to Rwandans. I have heard the opposite from other volunteers saying Rwandans are nicer but I disagree. We had many nice experiences, especially in Kenya with people being very helpful and happy. That’s the other thing the second we arrived in Tanzania there was also a way happier atmosphere. I first noticed this at the first restaurant we went to during one of our bus breaks. I don’t know how to describe it but things were different. I don’t know how much of this feeling was in my head but I know it felt very different.
There was a huge difference in customer service. At the restaurants and the hotels we received really welcoming helpful staff. And it all felt really genuine. Customer service skills in Rwanda are terrible. It’s sad but very true. There are almost no tourists in Rwanda so they have no incentive to get better in this area. Kenya and Tanzania receive lots of tourists year round. The only outsiders in Rwanda are expats that live in Rwanda working for NGO’s or volunteers living here from different organizations all over the world. I know some volunteers have decided to have secondary projects working with some of the hospitality schools in their area. Sadly there are no hospitality schools near me or I would be there helping also.
But don’t get me wrong I am so happy to be back in Rwanda. I actually missed it a little. The people here know me and I know the language and know what I’m doing. It was hard in Tanzania and Kenya not knowing the language and not having a guide book or anything. We basically winged our whole trip. It turned out great but Kenya and Tanzania are very dangerous countries in terms of crime and corruption from the police. In fact we visited an art gallery in Mombasa and almost every painting was a modern abstract design relating to the corruption of the police and other high power people.