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!