L is for Love

Looking at the calendar I realize that I’ve been living in Guyana for over 16 months. Guyana is no longer an acquaintance, it’s like family, our love will survive anything, it’ll always be a part of me, even when I’m angry with her. And of course, it’s not only out of habit that our love has grown, as you can see from the posts in this blog!

Every day I discover a new love here, something that moves me: the amazing view from the hill, a tiny water frog sitting on the tin of corn (come on, water frogs rock because they eat yucky bugs… and are cute when they don’t panic and jump onto you), my neighbour teaching me to make roti and eddo leaf stew that doesn't "scratch your mouth", the rain that fills the tanks and washes the dust away (the roads too, which is not so good), the amazing and forever changing skies, the slowing down of my hectic lifestyle, and a never ending list…

I was sat here, wondering what Guyanese love about Guyana, so I decided to ask around.

Like me and you are here now, gaffing. I love having the time. Out there you don’t have time, people always working and running.

(Ruth)

Peace. There is no war to go out to.

(Ottis)

  

Everything in general. Freedom in particular.

(Ian)

 

The magnificent sceneries.

(Vernon)

The cultural variety. Women are all so different. (smile)

(Andre)

The rivers, I love all the river life.
(Margaret) 

And last, but not least, my favourite answer and the most passionate one, that you have to read as fast as you can, until you loose your breathe, because Guyana's beauty is precisely that: breathe taking:

The women, cheap food, never ending variety of greens and fruit, parties are the bomb, generosity, one man buying drinks for all his friends, cricket and cricket parties, the variety of food, curries, black pudding, coconut water, the unique expressions, Amerindian tribes, the spectacular Indian weddings, funeral wakes, dominoes, coffee, friends and liquor, US dollar exchanges, new and old cultures, undocumented, boats, 4 wheel bikes, donkey carts, cell phones, satellite phones and bush radios, everybody knows somebody that you know, price of gold, African Kweh kwehs, big noisy sound systems, soca music, reggae music, young women and men contorting their bodies in wild sexual abandon when they dance.

(Nicholas)

Oh Guyana LOVE!

r is for rain

In Guyana, we don’t have four seasons; Life is easier as we have two summers: a wet one and a dry one (officially Rainy season & Dry season). In actual fact, in Mahdia there is never a truly dry season; Even in the dry season it normally rains twice a day, at around 5AM and then at about 5PM, so we can easily rely on the rain water for everything. This is wonderful, because it works like natural AC, bringing temperatures down quite a lot. Especially at night the rainy season can be pretty cool.

When it rains it pours, especially if you are in the rainforest, as the name suggests…

[Extension of RH Hotel, the only one in Mahdia - When it rains, you can't see 2 feet ahead of you]

The energy with which the rain falls here reminds me of the Atlantic Ocean back home on a stormy winter’s day. It is so powerful and godly, making me feel tiny and defenceless and at the same time grateful for the chance to experience such intense beauty.

I love falling asleep to the sound of rain and thunder, as well as the random brightness that illuminates the house when lightning strikes. 

Waking up to the loud thunder is scary and really makes for the perfect cuddle moment.

It has been too much lately and some villages and towns are flooded. Mahdia is on the top of hills, so it’s almost impossible to flood. I heard a theory about this the other day whereby the Patamona tribe (the local tribe) were the weakest, so they always built their houses on high spots, borderingthe savannah and the forest, so that they could easily run and hide away in the lush forest if they were attacked. For that reason, the Patamona are more fortunate when it comes to excessive rain.

I haven’t read the papers yet, but hope the situation doesn’t get too bad and I also hope food is getting to the villages suffering with these floods.

W is for Warning

Inspired by a book I read years ago, by Juan José Millás entitled The Alphabetical Disorder (wildly free translation of El Orden Alfabético), I've decided that this blog will no longer follow the alphabetical order; we’ll follow our heart and talk about what moves us at a given moment. So, eventually the whole alphabet will be here, but till then, each letter shall land here in its own order.
By the way, you should grab yourselves a copy of this creative and surreal world, narrated by a teenager, in a very enticing book.