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Guyana’s policy towards the indigenous people that occupy their lands is refreshing. All of the recognized tribes hold rights to their lands, and they work hand in hand with the government to develop the land as the people in the community see fit. They call these indigenous people Amerindians and you see them serving throughout the public strata.

The national government has devoted the month of September towards exposing the culture and heritage of Amerindians. At the end of the month you have Amerindian Heritage Day where the tribes host visitors for a big party.

One of the teachers at my school lives with an Amerindian family in Diamond. They invited me to the village settlement where they grew up.  The day started at 5:30 a.m. as I got myself ready and made the 10 minute trek to the teacher’s household. After a couple hours of waiting (nothing here starts on time) nine of us packed, like sardines, into a small pickup truck. I had the pleasure of sitting in the very back of the truck bed. Though this provided a nice view, any bump on the road caused me to bounce up in the air. Within ten minutes of departure the scene went from scattered houses and business to a vast open view of the Demerara River, and rolling hills. Even though I had read about the diversity of Guyana’s land, the vast forests and savannah’s of Guyana were definitely a sight to see. We continued driving on the Soesdyke-Linden highway for 45 minutes.

The truck then veered off the paved road onto a small path surrounded by trees. The road was fairly bumpy with mounds reaching up to 3 feet high. Sitting in the back of the truck had once again come back to haunt me. I keep emphasizing this point because at the time I am writing this post my whole lower body is sore.  The path was long with many turns that jolted us around like gum balls as we weaved in an out of forests and savannahs. The view was astounding. During the savannahs it reminded me of scenes of African Savannahs as I anticipated elephants and giraffes to come out. That in combination of feeling like I was riding a 4×4 on sand dunes made me smile the whole way there.

An hour and a half of feeling like I was riding a mechanical bull, we finally saw a village. I expected to see tents but I mostly saw spread out cement houses on stilts. We slowly drove through the houses until we came to a fairly big church building. This, I was told, was the township. You could see people setting up their fires and makeshift grills, preparing for the celebration.

The truck stopped and we all struggled to get out and stretch. My lower body was severely aching from being cramped and battered for such a long time. Since we were driving in sand as well, I was covered in soot. So I found a water pipe, washed up and jumped back in the truck. We arrived early enough, so we decided to take a trip down to the nearest creek.

The village lands where Mr. Orlando, the man who lived in Diamond with his family, was approximately 240 square miles. Outside of the township, houses were spread out along paths and creeks. The creek was beautiful with black cold water and great shade. The water is clean (for bathing) but it still looked like a huge hole with slight ripples.

We were hungry so we ate a snack (Guyanese cook-up rice is tasty, especially when you are hungry.) Mr. Orlando and Mr. Patrick, the driver, went to Orlando’s uncle’s house. After a half-hour of waiting, I went out to investigate. When I got to the house, the guys were having some drinks and looking at the latest catch. I saw a small baby jaguar (or some kind wild cat) hung up on a tree. It was skinned and looked ready to cook. I asked the house occupants when they were going to cook the cat. They said they normally sell the meat and the skin. The skin itself sold for $50 US (which is a good amount of money here.) The old man, who I was talking to, quickly pointed to a woman skinning what looked to be a huge rodent. It was a capybara and sold for $4 US a lb. Compared to other meats, the price is incredibly steep, but apparently it is a delicacy. The old man went on to tell me the method behind catching the animal. It is nocturnal and it’s eyes glow in the dark. Once you see it’s eyes, you shine a flashlight into it’s eyes. This stuns the beast. I continued to stare at the animal and the man offered me a drink. It was basically creek water mixed with vodka. The creek water tasted very sweet, and the vodka tasted like vodka.

We then made our way back to the township where the party was starting. They had a small stage set up and people were dancing on it. Mr. Orlando and Mr. Patrick then went off to the side and I followed. They started drinking what looked like pineapple juice. They handed me a cup and I drank some. Immediately the drink stung my tongue and had an incredibly sour aftertaste. The drink was a beer made from a local root called cassava. If you know what yucca is, then this is basically the same thing. The Amerindians survive on cassava. They make bread (read crackers), drinks, and stew from it.

While I was busy analyzing the taste of the beer, I saw a Caucasian male at the stand next to us. His name was Billy and was from Florida. Apparently, he came here 8 years ago on a trip, met his wife (a local), and then moved here. It was fascinating talking to him. I also met some people from England and Scotland who were volunteering in the village.

This is basically what I did for the next five hours. I would meet people; try local food and drink, then meet some more people. The conversation would range from culture, low carbon development strategy (this along with climate change is a hot topic here in Guyana), and international politics.  I met a lot of really intelligent people who live their lives here farming and running the village. All of the food was really good and the drinks were like nothing I’ve ever drank.

We departed the village and had another really exciting ride home. Another part of Amerindian Heritage Day is the national beauty pageant in Georgetown.  A couple of the people in the truck quickly raced to the town’s performing arts theater after the festivities. The size of the theater is similar to Hogg Auditorium (the one next to the Union at UT.)

There were 10 contestants, one from each region. They wore their cultural attire, preformed various acts, and answered questions. I fell asleep a number of times during the event, but the contest had it’s moments. The audience would heckle the contestants when they couldn’t answer a question (like Showtime at the Apollo.)

Things at the school are ok. My students are starting to behave, maybe even realizing the necessity of exercising their brains. I am still really tired every day after school. Thankfully the teacher who has been feeding me since the beginning is still taking care of me. Mrs. Ghir lets me come over whenever I want and eat or play board games with her. All of her kids are working abroad so I like to think I’m giving her and her husband some company.

This past week I got some exciting news about the computer lab I have been working on. Hopefully I can dedicate my next blog post to it.

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