Guest Post From My Mom: Arrival in Guyana

After about 24 hours of travel (Chicago to LaGuardia and wait, shuttle to JFK and wait, long and stormy flight to Trinidad and wait), I finally crossed the tarmac at Cheddi Jagan Airport in Guyana to wait some more in the immigration line.

"Where are you staying?"
"I don't know. With my son in a hotel in Georgetown."
"Where does he live in Guyana?"
"I don't know. It's a small village." "What will you be doing here?"
"I don't know. Following him around, I guess. He is in the Peace Corps."

At that, my interrogator gave up and passed me through. Grabbing my bag, I emerged to see David's smiling face. He still gives the best hugs!

"Are you hungry, Mom?" Surprised, I realized I was. The "dinner" on Caribbean Airlines was a distant memory. "Let's go see my sister."

The airport in Timehri is a hopping place even in the wee hours. Music blared from car speakers as we walked around the terminal building to a curry shack where David's host sister works. Dusting flour off her fingers, Sherry hugged me, the traditional Guyanese greeting, and I sat down to a big plate of rice, a bowl of chicken curry and a spoon. "Watch out for the bones," David advised. I was to learn that in Guyanese curries and stews, the chicken is chopped, bones and all, before cooking. The marrow adds flavor and nutrition, but be careful for those bits of broken bone. Sherry then brought me an "egg ball:" a traditional version of Scotch egg with starchy cassava in place of sausage and coated in orange food coloring.

Pleasantly full and fading fast, I followed David to where our driver waited. The route into Georgetown, about 25 miles north, is mostly a two-lane paved road along the Demarara River (which you cannot see at night). We passed the stadium, the Princess Hotel complex, several mandirs (Hindu temples), the El Dorado rum distillery, the Banks brewery, and other industrial and commercial buildings gradually changing to a more grid-like pattern of city streets and sidewalks.

The Status Hotel, on Croal Street in Georgetown's Stabroek section, is where David usually stays while "in town" on Peace Corps business. The night clerk greeted him familiarly and handed him our room key. David flicked on the air conditioning and ceiling fan as I washed and changed. Within minutes, I was fast asleep.

What a Long Strange Trip it's Been

Here I am sitting in the dusty boarder town of Lethem in Guyana waiting for my flight back to Georgetown. It's strange to think that my trip is finally coming to a close and it's back to work just now. 

I ended up having a really nice time in Manaus. My couchsurfing host took me to her favorite bar and I've got to be honest, this place may be one of the best bars I've been to in my life; really a place that epitomizes what's wonderful about life. It was called Bar Caldeira and it's been there since before Guyana became a country. The actual bar is a tiny corner shop with some caricatures along the walls and old black and white checker tile floor. The real "bar" is outside. They've set up maybe two dozen red plastic tables and chairs in the street. Every two hours or so a new band would setup on the sidewalk playing samba and I couldn't tell if there were multiple singers or if just different people from the crowd would come to sing Brazilian tunes. Oh and did I mention none of the musicians/singers were under the age of 60? Maybe it's just me but that really added to the charm of the place. This bar wasn't a place to go to drink/get drunk. It was a place where friends met and to listen to some great old time samba by some of the most passionate old timers in Manaus. Behind the tables and chairs was a line of vendors selling grilled meats on sticks that filled the air with a scent that might just turn a few staunch vegetarians. Having a cold beer outside had the same free feeling as in New Orleans but with less debauchery. When I think of a perfect night from now on this is the memory I'll be going to: an outdoor street party under the stars, a perfect warm night with a cool breeze, an endless supply of cold beer, cheap grilled meats, live music, old couples dancing, with a backdrop of Manaus' Teatro Amazonas (their picturesque opera house built in the rubber boom era as well). 

All in all I had a great time on my adventure; met some kind and generous people, ate some wonderful food, and saw a new part of the world making fantastic new memories. I can't wait to do it again!

My Time in Rio de Banheiro... I Mean Sailing the Amazon

I'm currently swinging in my hammock on a small boat sailing up the Amazon River. Needless to say there is no wifi here so this post will be put up in a few days time. 

Let me start out by saying I had an absolute blast in Belem (after a less than stellar experience at the airport in Cayenne where A) I have an old (though not expired) Brazilian visa so the girl at the ticket counter had a tough time believing it was real B) my passport would not scan at immigration resulting in the most painfully long and nervracking five minutes of my life trying to get the customs official and his boss to let me leave the country C) my blood sugar was super high, and the bathroom in the airport puts a back alley crack whore hangout to shame, so I had to discreetly put in a new infusion set for my insulin pump in a remote corner of the terminal. This was 40 minutes before take off so I thought I had time, but since the three other passengers already boarded the plane (at 2am) everyone was waiting on me; so much for being discreet. Then to top it off the ticket taker/security agent letting people on the plane was not only waiting for me but watching me from across the room, yelling in French to what I'm assuming was something along the lines of "hey mister, everyone has boarded the plane we're just waiting for you," watching me attach a suspicious object to my chest (my insulin pump). Then as I hurried over to the gate she began to ask me about this mystery attachment before letting me on the plane. D) everybody was speaking French. E) I do not speak French. F) in a groggy 2am mindset I realized that oddly enough on my French cheat sheet in my back pocket there was a phrase I tried to memorize figuring I'd never have to use it, "je suis diabétique;" and off i went to board the plane, still not sure if they thought I was a terrorist or not. G) I had more trouble with my visa when I landed in Brazil but thankfully after being passed off to only one other person I was let into the county) my host and his family were so nice. 

One morning when my host, Victor, was out, his dad asked if I've ever had coffee with tapioca (besides the fact that I have recently given up coffee) I said I hadn't and right there he took me out to the corner stand where an old couple made me a fresh cup of coffee and a hot piece of tapioca (it's like cassava bread, or a chewy crepe). I figured that was it and we would stroll back to the apartment. No, he took me to Museu Emílio Goeldi, a zoo in the middle of the city! I'm not the biggest fan of zoos, but it was really nice walking through this rainforrest reserve. If I didn't know that I was in the middle of a big city I would have thought I was deep in the rainforest as the whole zoo is built within a dense patch of trees; it's only when we walked to the edges that I could see tall buildings peeping through the trees. 

Other highlights in Belem included:

Victor's girlfriend taking me through the Mercado Ver-o-Peso, Belem's famous outdoor market where we ended getting açai ice cream (it is now tied with my favorite ice cream; such a rich dark berry flavor with the creaminess of olive oil, but not overly sweet at the same time, I wish I had gotten a double scoop). 

Victor taking me to the best churrascaria I've ever had. Which is kind of unfortunate now, as every other one I'll go to in the future just won't be as good. 

Walking around the old city; going to the gorgeous Teatro da Paz (a theatre built at the height of the rubber boom era) where I was able to take a tour AND sit in on the orchestra practicing! It was such a pleasure to hear live music and the beautiful venue certainly didn't hurt. Seeing both cathedrals in Belem (Catedral da Sé and Basílica de NS de Nazaré), an art museum, and Forte do Castelo with a great view of the market and the city as well as a cool museum inside highlighting a lot of indigenous life/art of the people in the area surrounding Belem. 

And maybe the highlight of them all was spending a night at Amazon Cervejaria, a microbrewery in Belem wining multiple awards for their beers at the Brazilian Beer Festival (which happens to be going on as I speak. It was a tough call to book a flight to the city where the national beer feat is, or to sail the Amazon)! I'll be honest I was expecting the beer to be OK, but beer after beer they were fantastic! Taking traditional styles and brewing them with local fruits and herbs to give them a very localized taste like their açai stout, IPA Cumaru, a lager brewed with Bacuri, or their Red Ale brewed with a ton of local herbs, I have never tasted anything like it! And of course the food; I had a variation on a local dish, pato no tucupi, which was pulled duck filled fried dumplings with a spicy manioc juice sauce. Needless to say that last night in Belem I was in heaven. 

And the next day with the help of Victor's father, I was able to make my boat for Manaus (I'm still not sure if I was scammed or what, but the less-than-official ticket salesman who took cash only ended up sending me to the "wrong docks" where there was no boat. But after some loud and seemingly angry Portuguese, the man who sold my ticket the previous day, showed up a little while later to take me to the "other docks" where a boat was waiting. 

According to his dad, "river travel is only for the adventurous," which I definitely see why now. The docks were slightly on the sketchy side, but that was to be expected, and halfway through my 5 night journey I woke up one morning to find that everyone on the boat had left. And the person sweeping the deck I was on said something in Portuguese that I'm assuming was something along the lines of, "hey aren't you going to Manaus? Well this is the end of the line for this boat, you need to take this other boat, oh wait it's pulling away from the harbor as we speak, never mind just take a taxi to the other side of town to another set of docks and look for this other boat. They're going to Manaus." And it was because of him, that I found myself clinging for dear life on the back of a motorcycle with my big-ass backpacking back pack on being taken to a mystery location that would hopefully work out in my favor. Well, needless to say, I got on, what I'm assuming is, the right boat (even smaller than the first with just two decks for hammocks and the bottom for the engines and kitchen) and am now continuing down the mighty Amazon. Oh did I mention that I've spent the last 48 hours battling a wonderful case of diarrhea? Well yes that definitely has added to the adventure like spirit that Victors dad was talking about. All in all though, this river trip has been pretty nice. I've just been in awe with the scenery as it's constantly changing. 

First off its nothing like the Amazon River Trail game I played on Windows 95, but it's still facinating none the less. Some times the river is so wide and open I can barely see the other side, sometimes it's so narrow that I doubt another boat could pass by, sometimes there are mountains and plains, sometimes thick jungle Forrest, sometimes green pastures with cows and horses roaming, and sometimes rocky cliffs that remind me of river trips in The Dells, all the while it's nice seeing remote houses dotted all along the banks. 

This trip just leaves me wondering which patch of this rainforest is being saved by my various 25¢ donations I made as a child?

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well I'm about 2/3 of the way through my trip (but 1/3 in time) getting ready to fly out of Cayenne, French Guiana to head to Belem, Brazil and man am I having a blast. Besides the horrendous sun burn I got I've had pretty crazy luck with my experiences so far. My hosts in Kourou were absolutely the best, such a nice and welcoming couple, I had a huge smile on my face the minute I met them. They've been so helpful in planning my time in French Guiana going above and beyond what I could have dreamed a host would be like. Cooking homemade meals and sharing drinks (ti'punch a white rum cocktail with sugar/flavored syrup and lime, amazing! I'm bringing a bottle of the rum back to the states) while talking about anything. They're practicing for the TOEFL which I guess is a test to determine if they know English well enough to work in an English speaking country, so they were grateful to have me speak with them, but their English was so good we could talk about anything and did. I was sad to leave them this morning as I hitch hiked to Cayenne, but excited to see what the capital is like. 

In Kourou I was able to get on a tour of the Space Center where they are the headquarters of the European Space Agency launching satellites. They have three types of rockers they send: Vega (small payload), Soyuz (medium size), and Ariane 5 (large payload). And I was able to get to see all three launch sites. It was a fantastic tour with a nice museum at the end. Luckily for me there was a group of Canadians who already arranged a tour so I was able to join them on an English tour. 

The next day I visited the Iles du Salut, specifically Ile Royale, which was the former French prison colony famous for prisoners as Pampillon and Dreyfus. I brought my hammock, food, water, and camped on the island for the night. Which was such a relaxing experience getting to hike around the island all day and when most of the visitors left on the boat back to Kourou, I read by the waterside catching the sunset. Oh and the food I brought was just horrible: a baguette, stinky cheese, terrene of deer, fig compote, and a bottle of bordeaux. Just what the prisoners ate I'm sure. It has been raining a lot lately so if it was raining hard at night I was planning to sleep in the prison, but since the weather was nice I just slept under a shelter by the water; also horrible to fall asleep to. The following morning I awoke by the sounds of people walking about the island and I met a man (from the Holland America cruise ship docked in the harbour) who was doing geocaching so he took me along and I found the two caches on the islands. That was great as I had always wanted to try geocaching, really a lot of fun. I also met a man (also on the cruise) who's daughter was in the Peace Corps! What a strange small world! 

Right now I'm sipping a lambic on the patio overlooking the Place des Palmistes, just people watching as the sun sets. I'll head over to a next restaurant just now, then see if I can find this blues bar that supposedly has the largest supply of beer in Cayenne. That'll be a nice way to spend the next few hours as I kill time before a taxi to the airport for a midnight check in.

Rain in the Rainforest

There I was in the pouring rain with a cutlass in hand cutting away virgin bush with my guide making a fresh path within Brownsburg park to see the famed Leo and Irene vals (waterfalls). When we finally arrived scraped up and bruised from near death attacks by large animals along the way, it seemed like we had encountered the mythical El Dorado. Well in reality I was panting along a well cleared path, with a dozen other Dutch and Belgians all having a jolly good time with the guide speaking Dutch (I was the odd one out speaking only English) while I was dreaming of returning to the bus so I could get some water. But nonetheless I still had a nice time on a real "half day" tour to the interior of Suriname. 

The day before was also very nice. I began my day with some street food for breakfast, I had something that seemed like a bread pudding bar; It was delicious! Then I rented a bicycle and went to the rum factory/museum and had a small private tour of the museum (they only do a factory tour on Tuesdays) and a tasting of some rum. They were nice, but nothing to write home about, I still prefer the Guyanese El Dorado. Then after the tasting I biked out for 5 hours to the other side of the river to visit the old sugar plantation that the Distilery used to use. So in addition to a nice ride through the country side, it was a great experience seeing this particular plantation, marionburg, to see the full process of where the cane came from and to see where it went for processing and to taste the final product. A tiring but very worthwhile day. (I have however officially lost hope in sunscreen and think that it is a money making ploy to sell multiple skin products and nothing more. I don't want to hear any excuses, I had UVA/UVB protection AND I applied it multiple times throughout the day religiously. So I'm not sure why I would hav such a horrible burn? I feel like I burned more because of the cream I was using and may have been better off without it!). 

But alas I have moved on from Dutch Guiana (Suriname) and am now in French Guiana. I arrived yesterday and really had a nice relaxing time. It started pouring just as I left Parimaribo and really hasn't stopped since. My host in Saint Laurent-du-Maroni kindly picked me up at immigration after crossing the river from Suriname by speed boat (also through the pouring rain) and took me to his home. Since it was pouring all day I just relaxed and talked with him and his flatmates all day on their outdoor patio overlooking their gardens. Such a wonderful and relaxing time. 

Today I hitchhiked back to St. Laurent to walk around the town for the morning to see the Camp de la Transportation, an old penal colony in which the entire town was built around, and eating various fresh pastries as I strolled from shop to shop. 

I'm now in Kourou (actually staying at the home of the people that picked me up in st. Laurent while I wait for my couch surfing host to finish work) and tomorrow I'm hoping to visit the space center. 

Au revoir!

A Parbo in Parbo

Well why should my adventure start out without a hitch? Monday morning as I awoke early to head to Georgetown (I was staying by another PCV for the weekend) for Mash (Mashramani), my head was pounding, I had a full body rash, fever, got super dizzy/nauseous/weak when I stood up, and as the minutes progressed my muscles began to hurt more and more (it felt like I lifted a ton of weights in the gym the night before). Now those of you who get email updates from the CDC know that those symptoms are A) pretty generic for most ailments B) also sound pretty darn close to the symptoms for dengue/malaria/chikugunya/ebola. So needless to say my mash took a different turn than planned. I ended up going to the PC office to relax and see the PCMO (peace corps medical officer). Since Monday was a holiday I had to wait until tomorrow to go get blood work taken. So that left me to drink (water) in the office and sleep, while my friends went to "mash up d place." To put this in a context closer to home, imagine you're staying in an office on Royale St. while you're friends go off to Mardi Gras on Bourbon. It was a tough decision to stay in, but I think in the long run it was the right one. As on Wednesday after pleanty of fluids and rest, I was feeling much better and began my trip out to Suriname. 

The only real highlight of the journey to Paramaribo (parbo) was getting to cut the extremely long line at customs after the ferry, saving me about 2 hours of waiting time because I was taking a Bus filled with Guyanese who had already gone through first and didn't want to wait for me. 

After about 12 hours, and a really pretty drive through the Surinamese countryside, I arrived in Parbo and met up with the person that I will be staying with. He's a fun quirky guy, originally from the Philippines  working as a nurse, who is so kind to open his abode to me (and another surfer) and helped to cook dinner that night. 

Later on we met up with a pair of brazilians, Americans, and a Dutchman, and while they had Dutch pancakes (think crepes), I shared a "djogo" of Parbo with my host (a litre bottle of beer). 

Today I explored the city by myself going to the synogogue, the market, Fort Zeelandia, walking through old colonial streets enjoying more beer and street food, and am now sitting in the shade of a benab in the Palmentuin, a densly planted park filled with royal palms, writing this post. So the next time I can get to wifi I can upload this through my phone. 

I've been in Suriname 24 hours now and I already love this trip. It's definitely washing out the bad taste in my mouth from the last time I visited. I'm looking to see if I can rent a bike and visit some old plantations across the river, take a day trip to Brownsberg (a rainforest preserve in the interior), and maybe Shabbat services at shul? We'll see what I get into...

"Donkey-well"

Going On a Trip with My Three Best Friends

Monday the 23th of February is the national holiday of Republic Day, commonly known as “Mash.” Mashramani, an Amerindian word for “celebration after hard work,” celebrates Guyana becoming a Republic and the celebrations are similar to Carnival in most countries in the region.

After a day in town watching the parades, I’ll be heading out on a trip lasting just shy of three weeks. I’ll be going to Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil. Coming with me will be three friends that I haven’t traveled with in quite some time: Me, Myself, and I. The four of us will be doing a bit of Couchsurfing and strolling through each of the countries on a loose itinerary. I’m not sure what my internet access will be like, but if I have the chance I’ll try and post short blog posts updating where I am and what I’ve been up to. I’m getting really excited for this backpacking adventure, and can’t wait to take some great pictures and make some good stories for later.

I’ll finish my trip the day before my COS (Close Of Service) conference, also St. Patrick’s Day! This conference goes over all of the logistics involved with ending my service in Guyana, what to expect in the coming months, and transitioning home. I can’t believe my time here is drying up, it feels like I just stepped off the plane in the pouring rain.

I'll Be Back Jus Now (guest post from Kaylie)

I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that when David found out where he’d be serving for the Peace Corps just over 2 years ago, I had never even heard of Guyana, let alone plan to visit twice in two years.   

It’s weird to think that the next time we go back to visit, David’s 7 year old ‘niece’ will probably have kids of her own.  Hopefully, when we visit in 20 years or so, we’ll see a lot of development throughout the country – hopefully the tourism industry will grow and thrive so people from all over the world can come experience the beauty of the Guyanese rainforest, and maybe the trail to Kwakwani will even be paved – likely reducing the travel time to his village by at least a couple hours (I’m not putting money on that one though)!

We got to travel a good bit this time around.  David took me to Kaieteur Falls, which is arguably Guyana's most famous attraction.  The Guyanese claim that its the largest single drop waterfall in the world.   Regardless of whether or not thats actually true, it is definitely one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  We took a small (13 passenger) plane to get from Georgetown to Kaieteur, and once I got over the fear of crashing, I actually really enjoyed the flight.  The plane flew fairly low, so much of the time we had a really nice view of the country while we were in the air.  

David and I also had the pleasure of visiting Arrowpoint - a small eco resort that is a two hour boat ride down the Demerara River from Georgetown.  It was a very intimate getaway experience.  The only people staying at the resort other than David and I was another couple and the 4 staff people there to help us with whatever we needed.  We spent our time at Arrowpoint enjoying the beautiful scenery, laying in the hammocks, kayaking, hiking, and mountain biking - we even went on a nighttime boat expedition where we saw a cayman (or, as we Americans call it, an alligator) - very cool, but a little scary!

Other than the traveling, I spent the rest of my trip in David's village hanging out with his host family.  It was a really wonderful trip and I can't wait to see whats in store 20 years from now when I visit again!

I've included a bunch of pictures from my time in Guyana – hope you enjoy!

View of Kaietur from the Plane

View of Georgetown from the plane.

    

David's Kaietur Selfie.

They call the water in the Arrowpoint area "Black Water" - supposedly the dark color is from the leeching of tannins from decaying leaves of vegetation.  Between the extremely dark black water and the stillness of the river, there is a mirror-like reflection that is absolutely gorgeous!

The view from David's veranda in Kwakwani.

Taking a stroll through the mines in Kwakwani.

Bush Pool park area in Kwakwani.  

I'm in the Paper!

I was recently interviewed for an article in The Northbrook Tower about my Peace Corps service and it was just published. For those who can sign in to the website here's the LINK

Otherwise here is the article scanned, enjoy!


DOWNLOAD IT HERE!

A Preview of What's to Come

I was just emailed this news article from The New York Times entitled, "A Multiethnic Movement Emerges in Guyana to Counter Politics-as-Usual." It does a good job of highlighting what's been happening in Guyana for the past few months in a very "clean" way, as news here tends to be very emotional and biased (check out Guyana Times www.guyanatimesgy.com, Stabroek News www.stabroeknews.com, Kaieteur News www.kaieteurnewsonline.com, and Guyana Chronicle http://guyanachronicle.com). Essentially the President, Donald Ramotar, suspended Parliment with the opposition party having a majority, and regional and general elections are now scheduled for May 11 (as announced the other day). To give some background to the article you'll read, I live in an area with a majority Afro-Guyanese, so as they say "it'll get hot jus now." In the event that I post later down that I've been evacuated as a precaution from Peace Corps, you'll now know why; that it stems from protests surrounding the elections coming up. 

Here's the article: http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=InCMR7g4BCKC2wiZPkcVUgkKl+VN+6Df&user_id=eab417bf162545d0a97a5d27dbbdc025&email_type=eta&task_id=142196242743779&regi_id=0

Enjoy!

What's my work like now?

It’s been well over a year since I’ve come to Guyana. In fact, I’ll be wrapping up my time here just now. So you may be wondering what I’m doing for work and how I’ve settled into a routine during the back half of my service. Here’s a quick breakdown of my schedule.

Mondays are my catch up day. I’m not teaching today like I was last year, and there’s no clinic on Mondays. So I’ll spend my day doing various things like wash (if I haven’t had the opportunity to do it over the weekend), filling out various reports for PC, and working on various other tasks for the Gender and Development task force/Camp Glow/Volunteer Advisory Council/etc. Then in the afternoon I’ll head over to the secondary school as every Monday (Tuesday and Wednesday) there is the Health Club. It’s a group of about a dozen to two dozen students who meet (three days a week) for about 45 minutes after school. Along with at least one other teacher we’ll do various activities based on what the students are interested in, or ideas that the other teacher and I come up with. In the past, we’ve done anatomy jeopardy, alternatives to sex, the reproductive systems of men/women, and have more planned for the coming term. After the club I’ll come home, fill out a quick report of the club (as it makes my huge trimester reports easier that way) and by the time I finish that, the sun is starting to set so I’ll go on my afternoon walk. Then when I come home I’ll help with dinner, bathe, and get ready for bed, maybe watch an episode of TV on my computer (right now I’m watching season 2 of The Americans), then off to sleep to do it again the next day.

Tuesdays are the infant and child clinic. This clinic focusses on newborns to 5 year olds, making sure they're up to date with all of their vaccines and growing at a healthy weight, helping mothers learn about proper feeding and nutrition (exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months then slowly weaning off, etc.) of their children and so on. I’ll help to weigh and measure the children, prepare the vaccines, and talk with mothers on their initial intake when they first come to clinic. Not that I was looking into pediatrics, but now I know I definitely don’t want to be a pediatrician. After clinic I’ll head over to the secondary school for the second day of the health club, then home for my report, walk, dinner, etc.

Wednesdays are the antenatal clinic. Here pregnant mothers are coming in and we make sure they maintain a healthy pregnancy. I’ll help with weighing and measuring the mothers, check blood pressure and a quick urinalysis, and help out with initial intakes when women first come to clinic. After clinic I’m off to the secondary school for the third and last day of health club for the week, and then home for my report, walk, dinner, etc.

Thursdays are the family planning clinic. Today’s focus is on women (and men) choosing the right form of contraception for them (pills, injectables, IUDs, and condoms). I’ll do their intake, take their weight and blood pressure, set a return date, and keep the clinic records up to date. Today is also the day when newborns come in. So we’ll create their clinic card, do their initial weight, height, physical examination, and give the BCG vaccine. After clinic I’ll come home, relax in the hammock reading a book, go on my walk, dinner, etc.

Fridays I’m at the secondary school. This year I’m not teaching, but co-teaching with another teacher who’s using the HFLE curriculum I developed last year. Another teacher is also teaching HFLE using the curriculum I developed but she’s scheduled to teach when I’m working at the clinic so I follow up with her on Fridays to see how she’s doing and what support I can offer.

Saturdays and Sundays vary depending on what’s going on. If I’m in my village, I may be doing wash, cleaning up my room, relaxing and reading, or working on various other tasks. Though I could easily be out for various things like a Volunteer Advisory Council meeting, Gender and Development task force meeting, various camps or other projects depending on what’s going on in the PC community.

I’m supposed to be starting computer classes here in my village, but I think it’ll be pushed back until after the holidays (which is pretty normal in Guyana). There’s a private school run by one of the churches here. They offer continuous education style classes on various topics for various ages based on what the community needs. About a month or so ago the government (of Guyana) delivered laptops to all the families here under their “One Laptop Per Family” program, which has been great, except most people are using the computers just for movies/music/games. So the Empowerment Center (the name of the private school) wants to offer computer classes offering basic computer skills, along with office skills to teach Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher. They have almost a dozen desktops in their computer lab and people can bring in their new laptops too (whether they have Microsoft Office or not, they can use Open Office, a free version). So we’ll see how that goes; I’m hoping it starts up quickly in the New Year and I could potentially have classes 5-6 days a week. I’d fit it in after the health clubs on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, after clinic on Thursday, and after school on Friday. And all day on Saturday.

That’s just a basic outline of my week, I hope this is a good companion post to my “Day in the life” I wrote last year.

One Big Weekend

The other weekend I was in town at the same time that GuyExpo was going on. This is one event that is talked about all year round as one of the biggest events in Guyana. It is an exposition showcasing all that the country has to offer from local manufactured products, artists, foods (both for commercial production and plenty of snack booths to buy food), rum and beer, electronics, a health fair, native Amerindian tent, children’s games and rides, and more. The mornings are closed to the public for companies to network and place orders (I’m assuming what Costco is like before it opens to the public, where businesses can do their shopping and eat hotdogs without having to listen to screaming children). Then in the afternoon GuyExpo opens for the public with busloads of school children on fieldtrips and anyone else in Georgetown to come and stroll the fairgrounds listening to live broadcasts of local radio stations, and fill their pockets with tons of free handouts from all the booths. Then at night is really just a big party. A stage is set up for local artists to play, the beer and rum flow, plenty of food, adding up to one of Guyana’s biggest “Limes” of the year. It was really nice to be in town for this to see what everyone talks about all year round.

But that’s not all! On that Sunday was the Muslim holiday of Eid-Ul-Adha (which is also a national holiday since Guyana recognizes all Christian/Hindu/Muslim holidays as public holidays; and since each Sunday is already recognized as a national holiday, whenever a holiday falls on a Sunday, Monday is also declared a national holiday). I went and visited my friend on the Essequibo Coast as her host family is Muslim to see what the community does to celebrate; since there aren’t any Muslims (not that I know of) in my community, it’s almost entirely a Christian community.

In the morning we went to the Masjid (Arabic for Mosque I found out) to see them slaughter all their bulls. From what I was told, the holiday commemorates Abraham’s sacrifice of his son Ishmael. Members of the (Muslim) community get together to purchase a bull to sacrifice in honor of this holiday and then share out all the beef to the rest of the community. I asked why they don’t use a ram as in the story and was told that in Guyana it is common to use a bull, one gets more meat for the price of the animal, but other places around the world may use rams or other animals. At this Masjid we saw probably two dozen bulls being slaughtered. It was so impressive to see how quickly all the men worked with the animals. From a live bull to being skinned, quartered, and then cut into smaller pieces took well under a half hour for each animal. When asked if I eat beef, I said of course and the man I was speaking with came back moments later with a bag full of beef for me.

Later we went back to my friend’s house to cook our “steaks” as a late brunch. I have had fresh chicken before, where it was killed, plucked, cut, and cooked immediately, but never beef. All the beef I’ve ever eaten has spent days in refrigerators before I’ve ever consumed it. Never have I eaten beef that came from a living cow/bull less than an hour before eating! Needless to say it was amazing. The pieces we got in our bag were great; we separated the large pieces of beef from the little bit of fat, gristle, and bones, rubbed the meat with different spices we had on hand and put it straight on a tawa (think flat iron) to cook to a nice medium rare. It was really nice to have a steak cooked this way as all the meat I have in Guyana (though absolutely delicious) is finely chopped up with the bones and pressure cooked well above done, before being mixed into various veggie stews or rice. A nice piece of “organic/free-range” beef (and a cold beer) really hit the spot. Though there wasn’t much else to the holiday it was nice to spend the morning at the Masjid as I definitely wouldn’t have had that opportunity to find out what the holiday is about where I live.

But wait, there’s more! Though most people celebrated Yom Kippur the Friday night/Saturday, at the Hebrew Cultural Center in Georgetown, the Israelites celebrated starting Sunday night/Monday to coincide with the exact phase of the moon over Guyana. So since I was in town I was able to visit the HCC on Monday to celebrate Yom Kippur with them. They celebrate in a very similar way as in the states except that most people sleep over starting the night before and stay there until the sun sets the following day, there are no tickets, and there isn’t a fashion show to see who’s wearing what to services. They still fasted and had a similar type service (reading the Torah and various other prayers) although there was no special High Holiday book used with a regimented service; it was more like an expanded Shabbat service with more discussion and sharing. At the concluding announcements they mentioned needing volunteers to help set up for the following holiday “the Festival of Booths” (Sukkot) but alas I would be back in site and not able to return to spend the holiday with them. The big question remains: If I fasted twice (one to coincide with Israel and one with Guyana) do I have to fast next year?

10 Things You May Not Know About Guyana

In a BuzzFeed style post, here’s a list of ten things you might not have known (bonus points if you have) about the country I’m currently serving the Peace Corps in (Notice Jim Jones didn’t make the cut because his famous Kool-Aid recipe is all anybody knows about).

~             1              ~

It’s not Ghana. It’s not Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, or French Guiana. It’s Guyana. Let’s say it together na? Guyana. ‘Guy’ like, “hey David you’re such a cool guy serving in the Peace Corps.” And ‘ana’ like, “hey Ana, have you read David’s new blog post on how to say the country he’s serving in?” Guyana. Good, now that we’ve got that taken care of, let’s look at a map to see where the heck this place is? Guyana, believe it or not, is not even on the same continent as the places I just listed (ok you caught me, French Guiana is), Africa. It’s located in South America in the magical gap in our minds (“The Guianas”) with Venezuela to the west, Suriname to the east, Brazil to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north. So next time you mail ANYTHING to me, make sure in big capital letters you put SOUTH AMERICA under the address; otherwise it WILL end up going to the other PCVs in Ghana or the other African PC posts.

~             2              ~

 

The country changed its name after independence. Guyana used to be called “British Guiana” before its independence on May 26^th 1966. Since independence the country has been Guyana, an Amerindian word for “land of many waters.” Because for many years Guyana was a colony of the Queen, English is the official language of the country, a point of pride for international marketing. But me know why dem bais say duh, dem bannaz speak real brux here, ya understand na?

~             3              ~

The world cup is finally over, with an exciting overtime goal by Germany. So in the spirit of international football, here’s a FIFA fact for you. Guyana has the worst football team in South America. Not surprising when you think of the football countries here, but still, Guyana is the worst (155th place in the world)). Although on the bright side of things they’re only in 11^th place among the Caribbean countries, and Guyana is much more a Caribbean country than it is South American so it’s all good.

~             4              ~

On the upside of sports, Guyana has produced some of the best cricketers in the world. Cricket, after football (thanks to the British Empire) might be the 2^nd most popular sport in the world, and Guyana has supplied some of the best players on the international stage. For you Yankees, cricket is pretty much a combination of running bases with a bat, but don’t tell anyone who knows cricket that, they might get super offended.

~             5              ~

Being a Caribbean country, Guyana shares many of the same aspects as the islands in the surrounding sea like reggae and soca music, a laid back sense of time, and a delicious culinary blend of all the ethnic groups that make the Caribbean their home. In its commitment to the Caribbean, Guyana was one of four founding members of the Caribbean Community or CARICOM. An organization similar to Europe’s EU, CARICOM is a group of various countries in the Caribbean that forms political, economic, and social groups and institutions. And guess where CARICOM is headquartered? You guessed it! Right here in the capital of Georgetown is the CARICOM Secretariat. Now who says we’re not a Caribbean country?

~             6              ~

So you’re tired of The Man taking away more and more holidays that you used to get off of work or school? Well move to Guyana. Here the government recognizes all the holidays of the three main religions in Guyana: Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, on top of secular federal holidays. You’re not Hindu? No problem. Enjoy the day off on Phagwah and cover your friends in dye and colored powder, or just hang out and enjoy the day off. Never been to a mosque or masjid? Don tek stress, enjoy the day off while your friends celebrate any of the “Eid's.” And after all these holidays off, everyone can get together for a “celebration after hard work” for Guyana's Mashramani, celebrating the country becoming a republic.

~             7              ~

Ready for an American female president? Guyana beat Americans to the punch. The 6^th president of Guyana was an American woman, a nice Jewish girl from Chicago in fact. Janet Jagan went to school at Northwestern University where she met a handsome man named Cheddi from Guyana, fell in love, and the rest is history for this First Lady, Prime Minister, and President.

~             8              ~

Forget Niagara, Victoria, or Iguaçu, Guyana’s got the highest single drop waterfall in the world; or something like that. No one is exactly sure why Kaieteur Falls is so awesome, in this country of superlatives, but come see it for yourself! I’m hoping to get to go by the years end.

~             9              ~

We’re gonna rock down to… Guyana? Want to know what song will play when you call me? Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant, who’s a Guyanese. Pretty cool huh? All this time you’ve been listening to this song you never knew he came from Guyana (or knew of Guyana).

~             10           ~

As you know, I live in Guyana. But believe it or not, half of the PCVs in Guyana actually live in Venezuela. Do they have a long commute you might ask? No not at all. Venezuela claims that all the land west of the Essequibo River is part of Venezuela and not Guyana, in an area they call Guayana Esequiba. That is equal to half of the country! I’m sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the majority of the gold and diamond fields in Guyana are located west of the Essequibo, they’re just claiming it for pure historical reasons. So have I been to Venezuela? Well, it depends on who you ask.