The Whirlwind

A Baby Bush Cow- Tapir wandered into my yard!!  They are endangered!

 

Smallest plan I've ever been on!

Please forgive me but I am just coming to.  My room is strewn with clothes, thermometer strips, and milk soiled towels.  My arms and legs are speckled with red dots from the ravenous Cabora flies of the Irmatan river that separates Guyana and Brazil.  It wasn’t even Cabora season when we went down there.  Looking in the mirror I realize the sun has bleached my hair due to hiking for miles through different Amerindian villages in mountainous savannah and lush rain forests.  Within only a month’s time, a whirlwind of awe, wonder, fever, fatigue, inspiration, and sadness came barreling through my first floor flat in Guyana and carried me to places I could not have ever imagined going to.  Maybe it’s the malaria meds, but I’ve still got this slightly dizzy crazed feeling going on.  Oh and of course pictures, but they really only capture a minute amount of beauty that I was able to see with my own eyes.  Don’t you wish you could take pictures sometimes, simply by blinking your eyes?   

Traditional Amerindian house on the Amakaruru river

Swimming at the ladning

View of Venezuela from Guyana

  I started off with a trip to Region 1 to the village of Wauna.  I boarded the smallest plane I had ever flown in and prayed, practically willed the propellers to carry me safely to my destination.  Within an hour’s travel over bright green tree tops, we landed just over a flock of Scarlet Ibis.  I thought to myself, “Welcome to Jurassic Park.”    Wuana is located in the Northwest portion of Guyana, very close to Venezuela.  It is a small village, but it has a lot of character.  I was fortunate enough to help do some filming and training in bakery that was just opened by the local women’s group of the village.  My friend, another PC volunteer, helped to ensure the bakery would be completed.  It was a very charming building with bright colors and wafting aromas of fresh baked goods.  Although the bakery had just opened, the women had a hard time keeping their delicious items on the shelf.  It was very inspiring to meet the women who had worked so hard to make their dream of a bakery a reality.  The volunteer in Wauna was quite the host.  We took a day long trek into the rain forest, complete with a boat ride on a dugout canoe deep into the jungle to the Amakaruru river, the one that separates Guyana and Venezuela.  You would almost expect to see jaguars and monkeys hiding amongst the leaves.  We didn’t see any but I am certain they were there.  We also climbed to the top of this small mountain where we could see for miles and miles.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  The next day we went to the village of two other volunteers where we ate some delicious food and swam at the landing with many adorable children.  Our final stop on the last day of the visit was to the infamous jumping tree.  It is a large tree that has branches that hang at least 20 ft above the water.  As much as I wanted to be able to, I just couldn’t climb up and jump.  It looked like fun, just not my kind of fun.  I was sad to leave Wauna but I was so happy I had the opportunity to go and visit.  It really was what I had pictured Guyana to be in my mind; quaint villages nestled deep within lush rainforests.  

Bamboo Landing

 

I returned back to my site, but not for long.  My good friend Tara told me she had booked her ticket and would be here in a week’s time.  I didn’t know where exactly to take her.  There are many interesting places to travel to, but we could only really pick one.  Luckily I was able to get a hold of a really remote volunteer in a village called Kato, very far Southwest in Guyana near the Brazilian boarder.  After already having a great experience in a remote site, I knew it would be an adventure going out to Kato.

Making home made bricks out of clay mud

Football Field

Village of Kato

Our expectations were beyond blown out of the water.  Kato was absolutely beautiful and entirely different from any location I have ever been in Guyana.  The terrain was mountainous savannah and it was much cooler than my site on the coast.  The people made their houses out of mud bricks, wood, and thatched roofs.  We went on some very long hikes to areas with waterfalls and vast rivers.  We also went to sit and chat with several friends of the volunteer, in which it is traditional to drink a bowl of Casseri (sp?).  Casseri is made from cassava and it is boiled and chewed and fermented into a drink.  It kind of tastes a bit like yogurt.  I learned that people chewed the cassava in their mouths for the drink about half way through my second bowl.  I wished I had learned that much later on, but sometimes you have to just go with things. It was actually pretty good, especially if you didn’t think too hard about its creation process.  The only problem is that it is really filling and people tend to give you larger bowls if they want you to stick around for a while.  We had some pretty big bowls! 
Everyone was extremely friendly and welcoming. One night when we were traveling back from another village far away, we all busted out into song and sang for most of the way home under the stars.  It was just one of those moments where you couldn’t help but grin.

Pet Bird

 

Guyana Savannah out in Kato

Both Tara and I were so sad to leave in the end and sort of hoped the weather would be too bad for our plane to fly out to get us.  Unfortunately, it came and dropped us off in Mahdia a large mining town.  We had a 5 hour layover there and both Tara and I had become ill.  We must have been a sight lying on the airport (warehouse really) floor bundled up in jackets, long pants, and socks because of fever chills.  This was in a very humid, tropical area mind you.  I really just wanted to get home at that point but even as we landed back in Georgetown, we still had a two hour car ride to endure.  

Mash round 2!

Before we left for Kato, I found out my cat had kittens in my clean clothes closet.  I wasn’t too happy about their location so I moved them into a box and we left mama and babies snuggled together.  When we came back, mama cat was nowhere to be found and the week old kittens were mewing.  Thus began the saga of the dead mama cat and trying to care for her infant kittens.  My fever also shot up to 103 so I was trying to feed kittens, help tutor a student, and still try to be a good host.  I was feeling very downtrodden at this unfortunate welcome back to site.   Luckily, my fever broke and Tara and I were able to go celebrate Mashramani in Georgetown. Mash is kind of like Mardi Gras with floats and people in costumes.  We had a great time but Mash also meant that Tara was leaving.  We said goodbye and I went back to my site to care for the remaining kittens.  I tried very hard with them, but in the end none of them survived.  I was sad about them, Tara leaving, and the stone cold sober shock from adventure high.

Tara and I

So here I find myself sitting in the aftermath of a tremendous whirlwind wondering what exactly just happened.  I still have all of my limbs, my head is still on as straight as it was before, and I’m trying to process all that I have seen and done.  These past few weeks have been amazing, some ups and downs, but amazing nonetheless.  Now who wants to come and visit next? ;-)

-KB




Watch this jungle boat ride!