Hand in hand

Today I saw two blokes again, holding hands and walking down the street. Not only are people here much more comfortable with touch when greeting people, they simply hold on to each other so much more often - and for longer - than people where I come from. There's nothing to it over here, when someone gets off a truck, another strikes out their hand to help. When you're riding on the back of a truck (which is one of the things I love almost as much as riding a motorbike taxi), grabbing on to arms or shoulders is encouraged if you want to stay up. The strange thing is it never got seedy when i was in such a situation. In the Metro in Paris or in the London Underground did I feel a wandering hand somewhere on my body more often than here (which was never). So it's not sexual.

My pink-skinned friends and I have adopted this custom with gusto; we're now practising the various handshakes with enthusiasm (and fail miserably in producing the same cool smack with each other's fingers that our Rwandan friends pull off so nonchalantly), and show each other what new greeting technique we've learnt.

But the strangest thing remains the two guys holding hands and walking down the street. Happens all the time, that 2 blokes delicately intertwine their hands and walk on like lovers. I don't think they are (they still shout out the same unconditional marriage proposals when they know they have our attention, though I would flatter myself too much by thinking that this is actually out of genuine interest in my soul), but I don't think my male travel companions will adopt that incarnation of Rwandan warmth.