My Peace Corps service in Guyana is finally coming to a close. After two incredible years I’ll be moving back to The States in August. Right now I’m going to the health clinic, school is finishing up, I recently finished a recycled tire bike rack project with the health club, and teaching computer classes might still be happening (we’ll see jus now). And right before I leave at the end of July will be another Camp G.L.O.W.
I thought as a (probably) last blog post to conclude with, I’d put together a list of my top ten things I’ll miss most about Guyana and to balance it out, the ten things I definitely won’t miss about Guyana. I’ve been putting this list together over the past couple of weeks as I’ve been reflecting on my time here; it’s in no particular order as that was too difficult to do. So here it is.
Top 10 Things I’ll Miss Most About Guyana
#1 Minibus Rides
This is the quintessential form of transportation here. It’s crazy, hectic, and I love it. Picture a 15 passenger van painted in vibrant colors on the inside and out, overcrowded to 20 or more people, soca music blasting, speeding into the opposite traffic lane with near head on collisions a normal thing, and violent start and stops whenever someone wants out or someone to pick up. Every time I ride one I can’t help but smile to myself as the wind blows in my face. This is the true way to see the county.
#2 Snackette Foods
Try getting a filling meal in The States for ~$2, it just won’t happen. Snackette food is one of my favorite indulgences whenever I travel out of site. It’s super cheap (most things sell for ~$120; $1USD is roughly $200GYD), homemade, quick easy street food. Of course I’m partial to Ramesh (the stand in the Linden market) as I think he makes the best in the whole country, but honestly I’m happy with snackette standseverywhere. Here’s a basic list and description of what I’d find at a typical stand, I’m sure I’m forgetting a few too. Note* A) I can’t spell to begin with B) due to the creolese, there’s no standard spelling for most of these.
Fresh juice (fruit, [sugar] cane, or peanut punch (peanut flavored milk))
Egg ball (hardboiled egg covered in mashed cassava and deep fried)
Cheese roll (a pastry-hot pocket filled with cheese and mustard)
Pine tart (a pineapple hamantaschen see http://dmedansky.blogspot.com/2014/03/no-poppy-seeds-or-prunes-little-known.html?m=1 for the true history of this food)
Channah (seasoned garbanzo beans)
Salara (imagine a cinnamon roll with coconut instead ofcinnamon)
Pinwheel (imagine a cinnamon roll with ground beef, ketchup, and cheese instead of cinnamon)
Cheese flap (a soft dough half-moon filled with cheese)
Cream horn (a croissant filled with a buttery cheesy mixture)
Puri and fish cake (puri: roti (think tortilla) filled with ground dal (split peas), fish cake: a crab cake consistency of rehydrated salt fish; the puri is wrapped around the fish cake)
Chiney cake (a bean paste filled pastry)
Coconut bun (a sweet drop biscuit with coconut husk in the mixture)
Cheese straw (a cheese infused dough baked hard into strips)
Plantain/cassava chips (ripe or green plantain or cassava fried into chips; great with mango sour and pepper!)
Sausage roll (pigs in a blanket)
Black cake (a super dense, rum soaked, fermented fruit, andcinnamon/nutmeg filled cake; a little goes a long way)
Chester cake (black cake inside of a pie crust; best idea ever?)
Polouri (mini fried (savory) dough balls with ground dal in the mixture, best with mango sour and pepper)
Baigonee (fried polouri batter covered eggplant slices)
Chicken foot (very different from feet! a savory dough baked hard into strips, note* no actual chicken involved)
Metai (a sweet cousin to chicken foot)
Sugar cake (a macaroon)
Hot dog (a cold sausage (chicken hot dog), butter, mayo, ketchup, mustard, shredded cheese, and shredded carrot)
Burger (a homemade veggie patty, so much better than the frozen crap)
Macaroni (a square of baked mac ‘n’ cheese)
Pizza (ketchup (as the sauce), shredded sausage (chicken hot dog), shredded cheese, shredded carrot, canned corn, more ketchup; a 4 year old American’s dream)
Pine slice (pineapple cake filled with pineapple jam in the middle)
Pine top (pineapple cake with pineapple jam on top)
#3 My Family
I’ve loved living with a host family both during training as well as during my service. In addition for someone to show me how to wash clothes by hand, cook Guyanese food, and introduce me to the community, I’ve loved spending time gaffing (talking) in the afternoons, playing games, celebrating holidays, and just being included as a member of the family. They're probably my #1 thing I’ll miss most.
#4 Reading In a Hammock
Besides all the books I’ve read in school, I haven’t read a book “for fun” since the 8th grade. Since then I’ve put together a list of books to “read when I retire.” Well it turns out that I’ve made quite a dent on that list since I’ve come to Guyana (in large part thanks to a kindle I got in training), and read a few more that weren’t on the list. But my favorite part of reading here has to be in a hammock. There’s one hung under our house, so in the afternoon it’s a cool place to relax and read for a few hours before the sun sets and I’m off for a walk around my community.
#5 Things Happening “Jus Now”
The pace of life here is more than just slower than The States. Things happen at an altogether different timeline. Jus now, meaning anytime between right this second to anytime in the future (or the past depending on the context it’s used), is a common phrase here and probably something I’ll never drop as I think it’s more truthful than saying “5 minutes” to do something well over 5 minutes. It’s quite refreshing having a slower and looser time schedule to live by. Work starts at 9 but it’s raining? I’ll get there jus now. Need to write a blog post? I’ll do it jusnow. Things (almost) always get done so it’s a nice change to live/work in an environment that is a bit more relaxed and allowing of personal freedom with time.
#6 Haircuts by Julius
The most expensive haircuts I’ve ever had are here in Guyana, I pay $700 each time, and I love it. I take a leisurely stroll down to the neighborhood barber, Julius, who I’ve gotten to know over the past two years living in my community. I’ve never had a personal barber before, in The States I’d get my haircut by whoever’s working that day. Here I have a personal connection with him. He doesn’t have to ask how I’d like my hair cut, because he already knows, it’s “the usual.” But I’m also a bit of a thrill seeker. Even though I know it’s coming, my pulse quickens every time he takes a fresh razorblade to line up the edges of my head by hand, or uses the same razor and a comb and rips it across my head a few times as the finishing touches. And I’m still amazed that I’ve never been cut during a shave. He’ll just take a razor blade, and with no cream, shaves me completely by hand, kind of like a straight razor shave, but he’s holding onto the actual blade, no handle.
#7 School Biscuits
The Ministry of Education provides boxes and boxes of these special biscuits to all primary schools in the country to provide every student with a snack. If a child’s family can’t afford food, at least they can have this snack at school. Never the less, there is always a surplus left over at each term and it is illegal to sell the biscuits, so they’re given away in bags to the students to take home to their families. I love them! “Biscuits” in Guyana really mean cookies. And these biscuits are the perfect balance between sweet and a little salty, I could eat a box of them and never weary.
#8 Everyone Knowing Everyone
One of the things I love most about living in a small community like this is how everybody knows everybody. It’s so nice to be taking a walk and have people just strike up a conversation. Need something? Oh yea, Auntie So and So can help you. It’s definitely something that I think is lost in most of America that we don’t even know our neighbors. Here you can hear peoplecalling one another from their homes asking to borrow anything from a cutlass (machete) to a plate of food for lunch. This is something that I’ll definitely try and bring back with me. No, not walking around with a cutlass, but getting to know my neighbors better and trying to build up a community wherever I may be living.
#9 SO MANY HOLIDAYS
Guyana recognizes all Christian, Hindu, and Muslim holidays IN ADDITION to all of the national holidays. And on top of that, Sundays are recognized a holiday in themselves, and no two holidays can occur on the same day. So if a holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is also considered a holiday. And on all holidays everything is closed. No school, no work, EVERYONE gets a day off to relax. With 17 holidays (excluding Sundays), June is the saddest month here as (normally) the only month with no holidays.
#10 Pouring Rain on the Zinc Roof
There is nothing better than lying in bed listening to the pouring rain, and it rains A LOT in Guyana, pound the zinc (tin) roof on the houses here. It’s so peaceful to fall asleep to, and makes it really hard to want to get up in the mornings when it’s raining. When it’s raining I could lie in bed all day just listening (and reading a book).
Top 10 Things I Won’t Miss About Guyana
#1 Minibus Rides
Yes, also number one. Sometimes they drive me nuts. Being packed in like cattle believe it or not isn’t the most pleasant thing in the world. Especially when I’m sitting on a crack wedged between five other people in my row, suffocating as the window is closed because the lady next to it doesn’t want to mess up her new weave. Believe it or not, I know the fare I should pay and don’t enjoy being ripped off by touts thinking I’m a tourist. I don’t particularly like waiting two hours for the bus to fill up before it leaves because there is no organized system in filling busses (like a logical first bus in fills up and leaves, then the next, etc.). Or screaming and banging on the roof to get the attention of the driver over the blaring music as he blows past where I’d like to get off. Oh and the constant fear of that head on collision as the bus careens into oncoming traffic to get past the car in front of it.
#2 The Unrelenting Heat
Kaylie once tried to convince me that it was more hot in Arizona than it was in Guyana. Looking online at weatherchannel.com I could see how she was mistaken. However, Arizona is always in a perfect climate controlled 72 degrees, rain or shine. Here, there is no such thing as air conditioning. My only option to getting out of the blazing sun is to step into the breezeless shade of 96 degrees. I wake up sweating and go to bed sweating, my clothes constantly soaked through. And there’s no escaping it.
#3 Random Blackouts of Current, Data, and Water
This was to be expected living in a developing country, yet no less annoying. There’s no telling when there will be a power outage or for how long it will last; sometimes a few minutes, sometimes a few days. I’m able to email, post this blog, and message through WhatsApp because Digicel, one of the phone companies here offers a data plan (today, unlike when I first came to country, almost everyone has a smart phone; how rapidly change happens!). Yet, despite paying a monthly fee the data will drop all the time, often for an entire day, and of course I’m not reimbursed for the time that the data cuts. Those two I could live with, they’re super annoying, but I could manage. Water I cannot. In my community water is pumped to the houses connected to the main line; however it does not always run. We, and most others, keep a rain tank to A) fill with collected rain water B) fill when the water is running for the few hours a day to use during the rest of the day when the water does not run. It is common (for a number of reasons) for the water to not run at all, sometimes for days at a time. This is something I’ll always remember, and definitely place a higher value on water. Physically having no water is kind of a scary thing especially living in a place so hot. Besides not having water to bathe, wash dishes, wash clothes, not having it to cook or drink is prettyscary. It’s been interesting seeing stories on CNN about a drought in California, even though water still runs when the tap is turned on, while myself not having water for a few days; it definitely puts it into perspective, and I dare an American to live without water for 2 days. It will be most life changing. I’m glad to be going back to an efficient running water system.
#4 No Customer Service
Despite Guyanese being super friendly and courteous in almost every situation, the anomaly occurs for business. Customer service is nonexistent in the business setting. Go to a restaurant and it’s as if the customer is inconveniencing the server by having to take an order. Have a problem with a product, don’t even bother calling the customer service number as they’ll have to “call you back,” and don’t. Need to buy something at a shop? The shopkeeper has to get up and walk the 3 feet to pick it up; it’s a lot of work. I’ve been trying to ship something back to TheStates for no less than one year now. And it is a huge pain. A colleague put it best when he said, “they make it hard for you to take your money;” so true. Not that people are rude, because they’re not. Just the notion of trying to make a sale doesn’t seem to be a clear concept, and frankly super frustrating.
#5 Mosquitos
Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya (which I got), they swarm 24/7. Need I say more?
#6 Things Happening “Jus Now”
The major downside of the “jus now” pace of life is it can be super frustrating to finish (or even start) projects or plan anything. A great idea even with community support may not get off the ground just because of the pace and lifestyle here. Forexample: the teachers in the secondary school put together a talent show fundraiser for the school. They planned it for a weeknight and set the time for 7pm, which seemed prettynormal. Families didn’t start coming to the event until half past 9! When my host sister got married, they had to plan the wedding for a solid 4 hours before they actually wanted the wedding because they had to factor in when they assumed (correctly) when people would arrive. There’s fashionably late, and then there’s Guyana Standard Time.
#7 Short Shelf Life
Things just go bad real quick here. Within a month of arriving to country I had to throw away a pair of sandals I brought because the entire foot bed was covered in mold. Electronics stop working unexpectedly (the 4 and 5 keys on my keyboard stopped working months after arriving in Guyana), everything metal rusts, and mold grows rampant everywhere. This is to be expected living in the tropics, but annoying none the less.
#8 Bauxite Everywhere
I live in the Bauxite mining capital of the country. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s the base substance to make aluminum, butbauxite itself is a red dirt. That red dirt gets everywhere. Nothing white actually stays white. Drying clothes hanging on the line get a red tint from the dust in the air. It’s caked in my toenails (despite cleaning). When leaving (or coming to) my site my skin and hair get covered in a sticky red film. I’m sure despite my best intentions it will follow me back to The States.
#9 Unnecessary Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy is everywhere, I get it. But it seems like Guyana got hit with the bureaucracy stick pretty hard. There is just an overabundance of unnecessary red tape that hinders day to day interactions, and sadly I think the development of the country as a whole. Trying to pick something up at the post office is a great example: when a package arrives (after it’s rerouted from Africa, because let’s be honest it got sent there first) I get mailed a letter that a package has arrived and is awaiting me in Linden (~4 hours away from where I live). I then take that slip to the post office and sign off some form acknowledging that there is a package for me (showing all kinds of ID). I then come back either Monday or Wednesday between 11-12 to pick up the package (because the mail fairy sprinkles magic dust so all packages disappear except during those two times). I thenbargain with the Package Gatekeeper to pay an appropriateamount to pick up the package with the fee going to “customs” (Note* there are no standard rates for what a package will cost to pick up, because that would make too much sense, also this is where some might call “corruption and bribery” take place). But that is all assuming that A) I can get to the post office at the correct times that it’s open B) the right people are working (If the package person isn’t working even at the posted hours I’m out of luck) C) I have enough money to cover the mystery fee. Also mind you what I wrote for #4, the whole time I’m inconveniencing the workers at the post office. I’ll give a large cash prize for someone to explain why I can’t just pick up the package all at one time and cut out all the middle stuff?
#10 Witchcraft and Chain Messages
This I'm sure stems from Guyana being a particularly religious society, but there is such a real fear/obsession with witchcraft/the occult/devil worshiping/etc. This takes the form of listening to exorcisms in the church behind my house as I try and sleep at night, tall tales (that are believed as truth) being told by coworkers, rules being set up in school forbidding playing of certain games, and chain messages being blasted through BBM and WhatsApp warning people to watch out for 666 floating in their porridge or whatever the latest story/warning is. The chain messages remind me of crazy chain emails being spread in the 90’s (or does this still go on?). I don’t mean to knock people’sbeliefs, but this obsession drives me nuts, because I can see that it’s all rubbish; and I’m often flabbergasted when people I know buy into it, or worse spread it.
All in all, I’m really going to miss this place, people, culture, and many memories. I’m looking forward to returning years from now to see how the place has changed and to catch up with old friends.
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