Escape to Region 3

After an incident at my site, it was once again deemed unsafe for me to be left completely alone once the campus emptied for the Christmas break, so I was packed up and shipped off, after just barely getting back from the GLOW camp, which had come right on the tails of my dad's visit. No rest for the wicked, right?
Luckily, the only other female volunteer left from my cohort, the wonderful Miss Kirsten, was kind enough to invite me up for the holidays. Two whole weeks with someone I'd barely seen since training!



Her site is gorgeous. From town, you have to take a boat for over an hour down a stunning river through the type of landscape you see on TV when they talk about "untouched jungle." Since I wasn't coming in on the only day the community boat runs, the Toshao (the head of an Amerindian Village) himself came out to fetch me, which was killing two birds with one stone, because usually the first thing you have to do when entering an Amerindian village is be introduced to the Toshao.



I arrived at what looked like a picture village. A sandy beach flowing into the lazy, tea-colored river, a dock jutting out, and quaint buildings dotting the hill in front. Since there's no cell reception, and I'd ended up getting in earlier than expected, Kirsten wasn't there, so I was just pointed in a general direction. When there's only one white person in a village, they're easy to find, because everyone knows who you're talking about (which is both convenient and terrifying.)

I spent two idyllic weeks with my lovely host, and was absolutely charmed by almost everyone in the village. I have rarely met anyone to match the hospitality of the people of Santa Mission.

Kirsten let me tag along to two of her Wildlife Club meetings, which was entertaining. I got a chance to teach a bunch of the kids to make friendship bracelets, which they picked up in no time flat. I still have to send them some more string...





The highlight, at least for me, was that one neighbor of Kirsten's had decided to teach her how to weave mats out of tibisiri palm, and they graciously allowed me to tag along, and taught me as well. Even more kind, they gave me the mats we made at the end, so I could make frames when I got back to Annai and hopefully show some students how to recreate them. We spent several afternoons at the task, with our teacher sometimes laughing (kindly) at our frequent mistakes. The mats I made might not be perfect, but I'll get better!

Kirsten's friends at site were so welcoming. One kept dropping by with food or inviting us over to eat, and at one point even let us attempt palourie making at her house, despite the mess we made of it!




When I was ready to leave at the end of two weeks, so many people stopped by, several with the most gorgeous gifts! There's a stunning craft shop in the village where I spent an ungodly amount of money splurging on handmade gifts to bring home, but the woven fan and the jewelry boxes that were given to me, in addition to those mats, are now some of my most prized possessions.

I can't say enough thanks to Kirsten and her whole village, and I hope I get to go back and visit again before I leave Guyana. It's one of the most pleasant and beautiful places I've been in this country.

GLOW

GLOW = Girls Leading Our World. It was part of the Let Girls Learn global initiative that Michelle Obama championed. Its purpose was to push education and female empowerment for young girls in countries that often sideline them.



Even though the program was ended once the Obamas left office, we managed to get enough funding to put on a GLOW camp this past December; the first ever in Region Nine of Guyana, although the coast has had several over the years.

Gabrielle leading one of the activities

Sixty-four young girls from all over the Region came, including one of my host sisters. The girls were housed in the dorms at the Secondary School in St. Ignatius, where I became sort of the de facto Dorm Mother, which had me running around like a crazy person making sure all the girls were accounted for, comfortable, and even climbing over the walls whenever they locked themselves out. The kids got a huge kick out of me scaling the walls like some sort of gigantic gecko, and I have the sneaking suspicion that some of those "accidental" lock-outs were just their idea of good fun.



Anyways, the girls did sessions on everything from note-taking, to crafts, to sex ed, to sports, to emotional well-being and all sorts of other things. We held a career fair for them, had a little mini-olympics, and of course a talent show.

Crafts

Goofing off

Serious competition going on here

It was amazing to see the difference in these girls in just five days. At the beginning, they each stuck to the same village girls they already knew, were homesick, and couldn't be coerced into saying a word out loud for the most part. By the last night before they went home, they didn't want to leave, they were putting on skits or dance routines with their new friends from every which way in Region Nine, and were yelling at the top of their lungs. The next morning when they all loaded up to go home, they were happy and exhausted, which is exactly what you want at the end of a camp.



Already the girls and parents are asking if there will be another one next year, or if we'll run one for boys. The answer to both is "I don't know, but I sure hope so."

Good times.

Dad visits the Rupununi

When I first told my dad I wanted to join the Peace Corps, I remember my dad's response exactly:
"Well, if you go somewhere I haven't been before, I'll come visit you."
Now, that isn't why I picked Guyana (I picked "send me anywhere") but it worked out in my favor, because although he's been all over South America, he'd never been to Guyana.

His trip started out on the wrong foot, because we got trapped in Georgetown longer than I'd anticipated, and the longer I'm here, the less I like Georgetown, so I didn't want to waste any of his trip there. BUT since we were stuck anyways...

We headed over to the National Park I wrote about in another post, and spent HOURS feeding more than half a dozen manatees (I think at one point there were about nine, though they kept submerging, so it's hard to be sure). Despite the fact that I'd told Dad it was still the dry season, it proceeded to rain for about three days straight, because of course it did.

Next was the real test of adaptability: Dad couldn't get on the flight down to Lethem. That left me with only one option: putting him on that horrible overnight bus. That trail is murder, with potholes big enough to swallow up a herd of goats (probably) and the drivers smash you in with about 600 other people until you can't breathe, and then you stay like that... for anywhere from 13 to 18 hours (just of the drive. that doesn't include the several hours you sit parked so the driver can nap). I couldn't even go with him, because PC won't let volunteers take that bus anymore, because it can be a bit dodgy. So I had to put my dad, on his second day in the country, on that bus by himself, and promise I'd pick him up when he got to the North Rupununi. If he got to the North Rupununi.

He made it out alive, and I was waiting at the other end in Annai, and brought him home to my house. My students were wicked curious about him, and skipped right over to introduce themselves, which was shocking to me, because it took months to get even a "hello" when I got here! Then he proceeded to pass out in my hammock for basically the rest of the day. I can't blame him: that's my favorite thing to do too.




FINALLY we got to the actual plan, which was a trip up (down? Who knows. I'd have to look at a map, and... yeah, I'm not going to do that right now. I should probably know that by now, since I've lived here for almost two years at this point...) the river to an eco lodge in Rewa with two other volunteers (Steven and Thomas). I'd tried to explain the two boys to Dad so he'd know who was coming with us, and his only response was "Will I like them?" *looks at picture* "Probably not." (He did.) Our boat driver bailed on us at the last possible second, but luckily for us, Steven's host dad Eli, who has family in Rewa, agreed to take us. Better yet, when we got there, someone I'd met back when I first came to Region Nine for my site visit turned out to be a tour guide with the lodge, and he remembered me, and so he and Eli took us fishing.

Eli fishing from the boat

Vivien teaching my dad their way of fishing

The piranha Thomas caught

Dad all proud of his killer fish

Piranha

Also an out of season catfish, which Vivien got all excited about.

I took about eight million pictures, mostly from the boat, and the boys had fun fishing. My dad got his wish and caught a piranha, so really, what more could you ask for from a trip to South America?

Vivien caught a crab, covered in tiny baby crabs (look closely) by sticking his hand into crevasses underwater, which is more than a little insane, considering what else is in that water.

This. This is also in that water. That's a "vampire fish"

Lots of these in the water

Awww, look how cute he is

Oh look, there's a bigger one

And another one...

Wait.

Wait, no.

Don't pet the caiman, even if you can reach them.

Not everything wants to eat you though. There were plenty of birds, and even some adorable (and very noisy) Giant River Otters. I took hundreds of pictures, and it will take me FOREVER to go through them all, but I've picked out a few to show off.

Just chillin' on the beach. I like this bird. I feel like we could hang out.

Okay, so I will have to post pictures of the boys later (I know I have them, but I've procrastinated long enough posting this!) So I'll just leave you with this: