Kaylie's First Guest Post!

In our three years together, David and I have travelled a good bit: We’ve taken trips to Phoenix, Chicago, Park City, the Bahamas, Mexico, and I’m sure there are others I’m forgetting.  We’ve been very lucky to have the opportunity to travel so much, and I’m so excited to add a few more countries to the list of places we’ve been together.  I plan to share my experiences of our time in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as my month-long trip to Guyana.  I hope that my blog posts will provide a distinctive but similarly entertaining perspective from David's.

Trinidad & Tobago

Disclaimer: We took pictures on David’s camera and forgot to transfer them to my computer before parting, so I don’t have pictures yet to go along with this post, I will make sure to post lots of pictures from both trips when I get back in January.

For those of you who don’t know, Trinidad & Tobago is one country with two islands—Trinidad is the more industrial island, and is the Caribbean hub for business.  Tobago, on the other hand, is for tourists and is the island on which we spent most of our time. 

David and I met up at the airport in Trinidad and proceeded to take a quick 20-minute flight to Tobago.  They run these flights many times per day, as a lot of people commute between Islands for work.  We stayed at a place called the “Hummingbird Tobago Hotel,” which was more of a hostel than a hotel, but had an air conditioning unit and hot water, so it was all we really needed.  It was also a 15-minute walk from the Buccoo Bay (a main tourist area), so it was really nice being so close to everything. 

Unlike most other trips we’ve taken, we had absolutely nothing planned ahead of time beyond flights and hotel accommodations for our vacation in Trinidad & Tobago.  We spent most of our first day walking around town and along the beach.  In the beginning, we were in the super touristy area, and we really couldn’t walk more than 20 feet without someone stopping us to ask if we wanted to go snorkeling or on rum punch tour on a glass bottom boat.  But once we got far enough away, we were able to take are shoes off and just walk along beautiful beach without any disturbances.

On day two went to check out Fort King George in Scarborough.  The fort was on the very top of a huge hill that overlooked the entire island—the views were absolutely breathtaking.  This area also included an old penitentiary, hospital, and graveyard.  Most of the buildings date back to the British occupation in the 1800s.  Pretty cool. 

Our third day was by far my favorite.  We decided to rent a car and drive around the island (the island is small enough that we were easily able to drive around the perimeter in a half-day.)  The people in Tobago drive on the left side of the road and the driver’s seat is on the right side of the car—this took a bit of getting used to, bit it was kind of fun.  We only had a couple of instances where I had to nicely (but quickly) remind David which lane in which he should be driving in order to avoid oncoming traffic.  Driving around the island was great—most of the trip we had the jungle directly to our left and the ocean directly to our right, so either way we looked, it was absolutely stunning. 

We didn’t stop too many times, but our main destination was the Argyle waterfall.   The area is not set up very well for tourists, and all visitors are required to have a guide to take them up so they don’t get lost.  Brian, our tour guide, took us on a hike that was awesome, but was much more intense than either of us had expected.  It was definitely not tourist-friendly; as we were using our hands to rock climb up the side of the waterfall a good bit of the time.  It is activities like this that make me grateful that I have the opportunity to travel while I’m still young enough to boulder up the side of a mountain.  After the waterfalls, we stopped by “Sunday School” which is basically a street fair with tents of people selling Caribbean BBQ, lots of music, and dancing.

All in all, our alternative Thanksgiving/Birthday/Hanukkah vacation was a great introduction to the Caribbean.  Now I’m hungry for more time there—fortunately, just two short weeks later, I’m on my way to Guyana (well, I will be after my 10 hour layover at JFK) J

I look forward to updating you all on our coming adventures in Guyana over the next month!

Festival of Lights

I’m sure many of you reading the title of this post, in conjunction of its timing are assuming that it’s about Channukah and how I'm going to celebrate here in Guyana. Well no. Despite Channukah starting this week, this post is actually about the other “festival of lights.”

On the weekend of November 3^rd I went back to my first host family that I spent training with, since they're Hindu, to celebrate Diwali with them. Diwali (also spelled Deepavali) is a Hindu holiday, similar in a sense to other “winter time” holidays (i.e. Channukah and Christmas). In fact when a neighbor walked by as we were cooking outside my host dad told his neighbor that “… today [Diwali] is my Christmas.” To me it seemed like a fusion of Channukah and Thanksgiving. The entire day we spent at home cooking and hanging out which really reminded me of Thanksgiving; spending all day long cooking a big dinner and spending time together waiting for the big meal. All the food was prepared inside in the kitchen and cooked outside on the fireside. One major difference between Diwali and Thanksgiving is that everything we cooked for dinner we weren’t allowed to even taste. Everything had to be prepared using only sight and smell to determine if it was seasoned correctly. Which was pretty darn impressive since we were making A LOT of food and using A LOT of seasoning in all of the dishes (imagine doing that for Thanksgiving?!). I'm still not exactly sure why this was; I was told it has something to do with the religious aspect of the holiday, something about not being allowed to be the first to eat as the first piece of all the different foods had to be sacrificed to the specific deity that the holiday focused around. We also weren’t allowed to eat until after 6pm.

This I really didn’t question too much as I assumed (similar to Judaism) that it had to do with waiting until sunset. But I decided to ask my host sister why we wait until 6pm. Why not sunset? Why not until X amount of stars in the sky? Was 6 a symbolic number in Hinduism? She shrugged her shoulders and told me that this was a question for “the old people.” Damn. There must really be a deep mystical reason for waiting until 6pm that not even my host sister knows. So I went back outside to ask my host dad why we had to wait until 6pm to eat. And to my surprise, he shrugged his shoulders and said “tradition!” which I couldn’t help but laugh. At least I got an answer.

The biggest similarity between Diwali and Channukah is the lighting of diyas, hence why Diwali is called the “festival of lights.” They’re little clay dishes filled with ghee and a cotton wick to make a small lamp. Since I had only lit candles in my channukeahs before I never really saw how an oil lamp was made (ironic since that is the original channukeah). It’s super easy; just lay the cotton wick at the bottom of the dish and take a big spoonful of ghee (or coconut oil) and place it in on top of the wick and rub the wick sticking out with the ghee/oil and light. There’s no set number of diyas that people light (unlike Channukah). Normally families lay hundreds of diyas all around their house, yards, and balcony’s and leave them lit all night long. However my host dad’s uncle died a month or so ago and in Hinduism a sign of morning is not to light diyas or do much celebrating for one year (pretty similar to Judaism) after a death in the family. So we only lit 3; one on the gate to the house, one on the balcony outside, and one on the family’s altar alongside the sacrificial plate of sweet meats to the deities.

For Diwali we can’t eat any meat, just “sweet meats” and vegetarian foods. For dinner we cooked the famed 7 curry that we eat with our hands out of a giant leaf. Each of the 7 curries is prepared separately and spiced just a little differently. The curries are: dal (split peas), catahar/”old cloth,” balanje (eggplant) and edoe, bagee (greens like spinach), pumpkin and aloo (potato), channah (chick peas), and achar (mango relish). In the leaf goes a big mound of rice and bit of each of the 7 curries to make one big serving. I started to eat each of the curries separately to taste them all, but then I looked over and saw all my host sisters had mixed all the curries and rice together and just ate everything at once. So I followed suit. It was good, really really good. And the best part about eating with my hands is that there really is no graceful way of doing it. I thought I looked like a slob making a mess shoveling food in my mouth, but when I looked around I was pretty on par with my family so I felt a lot better about my abilities. After the 7 curry came the “sweet meats” which was just what they call different desserts: parasat (something like halvah, its roasted flour with ghee and coconut milk), vermicelli (something like kugel), coconut stuffed empanada like things, mini doughnut bites, and this type of cookie made by just mixing condensed milk with powdered milk. We made plenty of food to share out to neighbors who would come by to try the sweet meats and the “VIP neighbors” and friends would also get a leaf stuffed with 7 curry. The leaf makes it really easy to transport; a container and plate all-in-one.

Then after we ate plenty of 7 curry and a few sweet meats me and my host sisters, dressed in their sari’s, walked around the community to go look at the other houses to show me what it looks like when people lay out hundreds of diyas. It’s really a pretty sight to see all these small oil lamps laid out everywhere giving a warm glow to the entire home. Although I’m not too sure how people walk around their yards without knocking any diyas over as they're all about a foot apart from one another. Throughout the neighborhood people were playing with sparklers and lighting off fireworks and firecrackers. I’m sure there’s some religious reason as to why everyone lights off fireworks, but I didn’t ask about that; only if I could set off a big one.

It was really nice to spend time with this family again and a blast to celebrate Diwali with them. I’m really excited to do it again next year, if anything to have some more 7 curry!

And for the rest of you, enjoy your “festival of lights,” happy Channukah!

A Diya

The leaf used as a plate for 7 curry

My host sister and me in their saris

7 curry: (clockwise from "12") catahar/”old cloth,”   bagee, balanje and edoe, mango achar, pumpkin and aloo, and chana; dal is underneath everything

Eating with our hands

The "sweet meats"

All the curries

Lighting sparklers

Less Rice, More Stew!

Alright I know it’s been a bit since my last post, another one is currently in the works. But I couldn’t help but quickly share about what happened this morning.

Last night I found out that there was going to be a walk this morning for diabetes awareness. Since I had no plans why not get up and go? So at 5:45am this morning I left my house to walk to the meeting spot for the walk. Mind you, I had little to no expectations for this event; I figured it'd just be interesting to see what happens. At 6am when I reached the meeting spot I was one of three or four other people there. But that’s pretty on time. The event was supposed to start at 6am so I figured wait another hour or so and it’ll eventually start (I may be one of the only Jews in Guyana, but the entire country runs on JST). When the dozen or so people finally showed up a little after 7am, we sauntered through the center of town to the secondary school where we finished at the pavilion.

What I thought was interesting were all the differences and similarities between diabetes walks in the states and the one here today. The people that came today were wearing the same type of clothes I’d expect at a North Shore diabetes walk: everyone in spandex leggings and T shirts with the Sketchers workout sneakers. The funny part to me was that the path of our “walk” was just a quick stroll through the center of town where we pass through a dozen times a day, why the need to “dress up” and put on special shoes I’ll never know but it was still funny. I guess it was just because it was a “walk.” And where stateside walks are more slow jogs or a brisk stroll we just slowly made our way through the streets of my village shouting slogans. The mood was more like a protest rather than a “walk.” My favorite thing shouted by far was, “less rice more stew!” Imagine anyone at JDRF doing that? And I guess the other big difference is most diabetes walks stateside focus more on type 1. The focus here was type 2; since almost every diabetic in Guyana has type 2 (probably because the national food is sugar). All in all it was a fun way to start my day. I’m still shocked that there was a walk to raise awareness about diabetes, but I guess it’s a good kind of shock as the community is becoming more and more aware of the need to address diet and exercise here in Guyana.

Camp GLOW 2013

Here's a video that another PCV put together highlighting camp this year. Enjoy!

Camp G.L.O.W. Guyana - 2013! from Matthew Cusimano on Vimeo.

A Day in My Life

A day in THIS guy's life

Around 7am my alarm goes off. And by “alarm” I mean the family of birds living in the circuit breaker box above my head, start chirping. And those birds are pretty accurate, after a few more mornings of checking the time they start chirping I may not use my “real” alarm clock any more. As I lay in bed for a few minutes before I get up I hear my host sister yell, “Makayla! Get up, it’s time for school!” as she tries to get her daughter up for primary school (something I really haven’t heard before, I always got up on time to get to school as a child, my parents never had this problem with me; my two brothers on the other hand…). Since the inside walls to my home only reach up about a two feet past the height of the door all the rooms are open up top so I can easily hear what’s going on in the entire house from my room. By this time my host mom has already gotten up and cooked lunch for the day as well as prepared tea (what Guyanese call breakfast). Even before this time my host brother has been up, fed the pigs, fed the chickens, let the yard fowls out, had tea, and left for work.

My real life cuckoo clock

Tocino and Jamón

Yard fowl

90 hens a layin...

I get up and put on a pair of shorts and walk outside to the pit latrine out back passing Diamond our dog, the two twin cats that hang around the yard, and maybe a fowl or two, with the sun already shining hot on my back. Afterwards I get dressed and ready for work. Tea varies from morning to morning but today it’s a cup of plantain porridge. I mix in a spoonful of powdered milk and a tiny bit of raw Demerara sugar (absolutely the best sugar I’ve ever tasted, beats anything from Mauritius, it’s more than just sweet it has a lot of flavor; you can eat it straight like candy). I grab a hunk of cassava bread (what I envision sailors’ hard tack to be like), dunk it in the porridge, and walk out back and stand on the top step overlooking the whole garden trying to mute my smile so I can at least finish my breakfast. Other mornings it might be a cup of tea (which really means any hot drink like tea (bag), instant coffee, Milo, Ovaltine (I still hear kids screaming “more Ovaltine please!” in my head), or milk (powdered)) which I drink with cold water instead because I try and hold off sweating for at least another half hour), bake (like a savory doughnut), eggs, fried plantains, other types of porridge (plantain, barley, corn, oat, or wheat),  or fresh baked bread with a little peanut butter or homemade guava jam. Then I fill my water bottle (from my PC approved water filter), take my malaria pill (if it’s a Thursday), and pack up my lunch into a compartmental thermos to carry to work. Then it’s down the stairs passing Diamond with a quick “oh don’t you get up just for me,” and I’m off walking to work.

The view off the back porch

Diamond our "guard" dog

New house for 2 years?

It’s about a 15 minute leisurely walk in the hot Guyanese sun (most Guyanese (though it’s really women, I think it’s a gender thing) walk with an umbrella year round to give some shade from the sun and if it’s raining then they’re covered too) to the hospital, on the way saying “good morning” to everyone I pass on the road. Then a few hours at the health center (located in the hospital) of weighing babies, watching kids scream their lungs out getting a vaccine, or talking with pregnant mothers about breastfeeding. Then comes lunchtime.

So excited to make choka out of this balanje

Today I’m having rice with pumpkin stew and a piece of fried fish. Lunch is always a base of rice with other types of stews: burnt sugar chicken, balanje, fish, macaroni and cheese, liver, dal, etc. but ALWAYS with rice. Then after a little bit more at the health center I begin my walk home. I stop and gaff (creolese for chat) with other staff at the hospital as I make my way to the entrance and head home. Another 15 minute easy going walk through the market and back home, the “good morning” changing to “good afternoon,” taking my shoes off and changing into shorts as fast as I can.

The view coming home

My new hangout

I cool off and relax in the hammock or stroll through the garden/farm. Here’s a list of everything I could think of that’s here though I know I’m missing more: mangos, plantains, coconuts, 2 types of bananas (I didn’t know that there were “types” of bananas until I came to Guyana), pine (pineapples), guavas, pawpaw (papaya), cherries, five fingers (star fruit?), pumpkin, squash, cassava, 3 types of peppers (hot), callaloo, carila (bitter melon?), balanje (eggplant), ochro (okra), bora, pear (avocado), thyme, yard fowls running around, 90+ chickens (the eggs should start in December), 8 pigs, and plenty of plants around like aloe, and a bunch more that I have no idea what they are but look nice.

I'm lovin this house

The Garden

More veggies

Plantains in the backyard

Peppers!

Mmmmm coconuts

Then around 5pm I breeze out (creolese for “taking a stroll”) around town for a bit stretching my legs and relaxing my mind from the day; normally I walk for an hour or so. When I come home it’s about time to get dinner started so I help out in the kitchen with anything from chopping vegetables, stirring a pot, to rolling out dough. Tonight is chowmein with chicken. Other nights it’s sausage (hot dog) and eggs, liver, cook-up (it’s like rice and beans with coconut milk and often with a type of meat), fried rice, soup, dried food (a provision stew), bake, etc. and almost always with a cup of hot “tea.” 

One of my neighbors "breezin out"

Host niece and neighbor kids

Want this as your shower view?

Afterwards I hang out with Makayla helping with her “take away cards” (subtraction flash cards), play guitar on the front veranda (balcony), or gaff in the kitchen or on the back step with my host mom, brother, and sister until it’s time to get ready for bed. This is BY FAR my favorite time of the day. I wrap up in my towel and walk outside to the washroom (shower stall), and bucket bathe under the banana trees with the moon and stars for light. With the exception of the bucket part, I can just imagine people stateside willing to pay big bucks for this shower/view while on vacation at a remote tropical resort. By this time it’s finally cooled off outside and the water is so refreshing, definitely a great end to my day. I walk back upstairs grab my toothbrush and brush my teeth off the back step. Then I head into my room, set up my fan (which I recently bought, a great decision), and crawl underneath my mosquito net where I’ll read a book (off the kindle I got from PC) with my headlamp for light. When I either get to a good stopping point or become too tired I roll over and head off to dream land. Although there has been a surge in demon possessions recently amongst the secondary students and the exorcisms (prayer sessions as they say) are being done at the church across from my house so it’s definitely been an experience listening to the blood curling screams as I try and fall asleep. They blast gospel music from a huge speaker system to try and mask the noise, so I really end up falling asleep to a mixture of screams, people shouting prayers, and recorded gospel; it’s great. And that’s just a typical day in my life, and I LOVE IT!