We were ‘woken’ for breakfast at 05:00 Rwandan time (GMT+1), and had the choice of scrambled egg or omelette. By the time I finished eating, the sun was rising over Africa. I sat and watched The Goonies for the remaining time. I’d seen it many times before, but when it’s possible to watch it, you may as well. Especially when in about a week or so it’d be the 40th anniversary of the film's release.

The first thing I did upon landing in Kigali was to make sure that my eSIM could activate. If it wasn’t going to work, knowing sooner rather than later would be ideal. It worked perfectly! As it turned out, they’re so easy to use and configure.

I spoke to some of the others in the airport, and the immigration was easy. The tourist visa for me was just a free stamp in the passport. The pre-booked taxi then took me to the Grazia Apartments Hotel, where I was able to check in early.

The first thing to do was to get some local currency, and for that I headed out, and found an ATM I’d located on Google Maps previously. It was relatively easy to use - I’d not used an ATM in a different country since my time in Egypt all those years ago. I think what’s good about these is that there’s a door for privacy too.

I had decided to not withdraw as much as I thought I’d need for the trip in one go immediately, and instead got what I’d need until I’d next be in Kigali. The machine gave it all in 5000 RWF notes, and charged 6000 RWF for the withdrawal (about £3). I spotted a bakery and supermarket close to it, so if the one near the hotel was no good next week, that would at least be another option.

When I got back I bumped into one of the founders of Impact Marathons, Matt, and sat talking to him over breakfast. I was then left with enough time for a short nap before I got changed into some running clothes and went for a walk with a few of the others who were heading to the convention centre. I couldn’t stay with them long though.

Before arriving in the country I’d browsed what would be available to do in Kigali in an afternoon for a couple of hours, and had found a lesson in making the local hot sauce. I figured it was a cheap thing to do, and something quite different to anything I’ve done before, so may as well give it a go. This was about a thirty minute walk from the hotel in the direction of the airport to where some small shops were located along the main road. This needed an extra five to ten minutes from where I was, and took me up a steep road. I felt that if I’d stayed on the main road instead of following the map, it would have been easier. I spotted a very modern looking building on the way there, and found this was the Amahoro National Stadium.

I found the meeting point, or at least thought I had. It said house 1 115 KG, which was a courtyard, but one person told me it wasn’t the right place. I stood around waiting for some time, hoping someone would appear, and started to wonder if this lesson was going to happen. Whilst sitting there, the owner of the 1 115 KG came over and asked if he could help. I explained what I was there for, and he told me he was the new owner of the place, and was very friendly, offering to let me sit in his courtyard whilst I figured it out. At this point I felt that the place had probably closed down, and I’d not been notified, just like the Manchester AirBNB recently.

I messaged GetYourGuide to tell them of this, and shortly after I got a WhatsApp message from another company advising that the correct place to be was Borsikas, which was located on the corner - the nextdoor neighbour to the place they’d put in the instructions.

The lesson was with Games, and took place on a table outside the restaurant. He started by showing me some knife skills so I could cut faster, and then started to slice through a type of chilli that’s the same as one known as the Carolina Reaper. Whilst cutting these up, he got me to wear gloves as the capsaicin from them can cause a lot of pain. Even with gloves I’d feel it later as it soaks through even these. The sliced chillies were then put in brine, which was boiled water that had cooled down, and then 3% salt added. This would be left for three days to ferment for the next person, but we carried on with using one that had been prepared earlier.

After draining the brine, fresh mango was cut up and added, and then before continuing he showed me two methods for julienning an onion, and a quick way to dice one. When slicing it should be more of a sliding action too in order to have smoother cuts.

Along with the onion, we added a stock cube, tomato paste, BBQ sauce, ginger, masala, ground black pepper, salt, and some garlic that had been fermented in honey. This was then fried up, and getting above 60°C kills the process that makes it continue getting hotter. It was then blended up, and oil added to create an emulsion.

The sauce was bottled up so I could take some home, and we then tried the sauce on some chicken dumplings.Not realising how hot it would be I smothered it with a thick coat and ate it. It didn’t seem too bad, so I smothered another, but just as I ate it, the heat from the first hit me. The heat from this sauce is a slow heat! The reaction from these was so bad, it made me hiccough, something that hot food has never done to me before. It’s caused by the irritation it can cause to the esophagus.

I ate a couple more after that, but was then done. I’d finished a little later than planned and was going to be late for the planned run at 15:00 so I had to run a little to get back to the hotel in time. I didn’t want to be late considering they’d moved the time of the run so I could be included. I could still feel the hot sauce, and it made running a little uncomfortable.

We were driven over to a running track not too far away and ran along that from the top of the hill to the bottom. I made sure I spoke to everyone during the run, to get to know everyone a little better. The discomfort was gone now, and I made sure I stuck to a very easy pace. I noted that Scott and Dana were both quite speedy, so thought that perhaps they’d be people I’d be running close to on ‘race’ day. I used the time to catch-up with Andy as well, to see what he’d been up to since Jordan. He’d got Sheffield Round coming up, so knew that any running in Rwanda was going to be good training for that. Sheffield is hilly too, albeit, not quite as much as here.

To run back to the hotel we needed to run most of the way back up it, but passed our turning. On the way back down again, Nick B realised that the route on Google didn’t exist due to building works. We took another route back instead, up some steep hills, and eventually I realised we were close to the convention centre, and could easily get back to the hotel for a shower. Showering was when I realised that the capsaicin was making my hands feel like they were on fire - the sort of sensation when you get into a hot shower after being freezing cold.

I met back up with the others at the tables by the pool. I told the others about the chillies and the sauce making process, and Scott decided that for this trip he’d nickname me ‘hot sauce’.

The briefing for the week ahead was in a small meeting room in the corner by the pool, where food would be set-up later. We took away some paperwork to sign, a T-shirt, and a cap. I’d heard the design this year had been done by Nick K’s wife, and was easily the best Impact design yet.

Dinner was then served at 19:30, a Rwandan buffet consisting of rice, roast potatoes, cassava, mashed banana (matoke), a type bean with cabbage, heavily grilled chicken, beef in a sauce, and peanut sauce. I tried a little of everything, and avoided the fresh salads as I’ve always been advised to in places where the water isn’t safe as it’s unknown if the salad will have been washed using tap water.

Eventually it was time to pack for the day ahead, and finally get some actual sleep.