This one time, I swam to Brazil

For serious, I actually swam across a river that separates Guyana and Brazil. Now I can officially say that I've been to Brazil. How did I come to encounter such a river, you may ask? Well, as you may remember from my last posting, I spent a week with a serving volunteer in Region 9 of Guyana, which is the southwestern most section of the country. The land changes from coastal jungle to flatland savanna with gorgeous mountains encircling the villages. The volunteer I stayed with has a house in the city of Lethem, right on the border, however, we spent most of our time out in the bush. No joke, I slept in a mud hut in a hammock. It was better than whatever arbitrary holiday you deem to be your favorite. Speaking of holidays, Guyana has 13 national holidays. I kid you not. Thirteen days a year, nobody goes to work. Mostly they're religious holidays. For example, two weeks ago was Mashramani. It's a word from the native people of Guyana that means "celebration after a great harvest." Now, it hasn't rained here since November, so the harvest really hasn't even happened yet. But the Guyanese didn't seem to think that was reason enough to forgo their inebriated adventures. Then, the following Saturday, it was a Muslim holiday celebrating the birth of the prophet mohammed. I was unaware that Muslim holidays are all based around lunar cycles. Egg on my face. But I digress.

Region 9 is truly something to behold. I much prefer it to the coastal areas of the country. It's the first place I've been here that I actually feel an attachment to. I also prefer the small AmerIndian (native) communities to the cities. The pace of life is much slower, the people are incredibly friendly, and thatched roof mud huts are more than a little endearing. I rode for two hours in a range rover to this village, bouncing and bumping all the way. When I got there, I oversaw the construction of a well. Apparently they assume that white people coming into the village know everything. I reassured them that my knowledge is severely lacking in many places, however, if they could provide the legos, I could totally build a scale model.

My second day there, I watched a farmer named Rudy get some fresh milk, to which he then offered, and I happily accepted. Milk straight from the teat is, shall I say, titillating? Anyway, his wife, Lucy, continued cooking and made me breakfast. So to even out the deal, I rode one of the guy's horses out to his farm at the base of the mountains and helped him out for the day. That night, we were going to kill a chicken for dinner. But Lucy had bought a rooster especially for us to eat. So when the rooster was caught, Lucy proceeded to kill it...With its own feather. I'm completely serious. I have pictures. She pulled one of the wing feathers, tilted its head forward, and poked to base of the feather into the brain. It. Was. Crazy. And he was indeed, quite delicious. Not to mention that fruit trees are EVERYWHERE. And they bear fruit constantly, because the weather allows it. So we picked young coconuts, sliced them open with a machete, and drank fresh coconut water mixed with fresh lime juice. Simply amazing.

Needless to say, I much prefer living in the remote setting. I'll know my final site placement on Friday, so I can give at least a general description of where I'll be and my living situation and so on and so forth.

As of Sunday, I'll have been here for one month. Only 25 more to go!

One love,
Tony