ARRIVING

Welcome to Guyana. Local time is the same as the states, but fluctucates according to the principal of "just now" and the heat. Your bags are somewhere between Philadelphia and Georgetown, we are sure. There is a tropical storm, so Miami airport will be closed, your bags will take a few days. Do not worry, we will call.

Is it odd that I have arrived with so little - no clothes, no supplies, no job, little money, no luggage, no friends, but that I already have so much - an invitation to meet a shellfisherman and his family, information about how the water systems have changed over the past 50 years, two women who would gladly get me anything I needed, a good friend who trusts me with her tears, and who is strong enough to not be dismayed as it became clear that all of my supplies for the next two years might not be coming, ever. No, not odd. Whether Hindu like the couple sharing stories of their children and Guywa company on our layover in Barbados, or Muslim like my good friend Mentour who filled me in on all things Guyanese in the time it took to go from Barbados to Georgetown, or Christian, like sister Admirabilis who met us with a kiss at the airport when we finally came out, God is good, and I have arrived.

OTHER ADVENTURES

Day 1-
Realization that i'm sleeping in a bed with a circular (princess canopy) bugnet, and that there really are 10-15 hungry mosquitoes plastered to the outside when I wake up.
Lunch: Fish (snapper?) with pepper spice made from green mangoes, fried plantains, tasty chicken, rice, gravy, pineapple and custard for dessert and accompanied by passionfruit juice.
5 minute walk around the garden (see guide below) requiring a two hour nap afterwards due to heat and exertion of walking about 100 yards in the baking equatorial sun.
Aerobic video with sister Admi and Lydia (not a sister) - Lydia (all of bout 4'5" and 72 pounds soaking wet) taking it easy on me by giving me the 1 lb. "finger weights", while she worked it OUT with the 2.5 lb. flat weights (that's right, I got my workout butt kicked by an 80 (eighty PLUS, please, 26 days PLUS!) year old lady who is "a little bit diabetic).
Tour of the neighborhood - we live about 3 blocks from a neighborhood of "simple homes". The families who live there are very poor, similar to some of the places I have seen in Ecuador. Goats and cows in the road. Shildren run where they please.
Sisters settled in to watch "The Young and the Restless" in the afternoon (their guilty pleasure, they say) and filled us all in on the characters over supper.
Working on a giant and uncooperative jigsaw puzzle in the parlor.
Watching Seinfeld and Fresh Prince of Bel Air before turning in around 9.

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for:

BUILD YOUR OWN GUYANESE GARDEN
1 - Tin roofing sheets and tin cans for pots and flowerbed boundaries (Nestle KLIM powdered milk and Fernleaf powedered milk cans seem to be favourites, about 2500g size, but also coffee tins and platic household buckets work well)
2 - Fruit trees: cherry, banana (2 types), 5-finger/starfruit, pineapple (a bush, really), passionfruit vines, coconut, cashewfruit, psidium (plum-like? - haven't tried it yet)
3 - Herbs: Thyme (2 varieties) and sage?, chili peppers and tomatoes grow near
4 - 6-8 color varieties of bougainvillea
5 - 3 different types of heliconia
6 - Gardenia-like bushes
7- 10-12 varieties of finches and thumb-sized bees for pollenation

YOU MAY ALSO CHOOSE TO INCLUDE
A nearly life-sized statue of Jesus with outstretched arms, missing thumb and little finger on right hand (optional)
A bright yellow datsun violeta for color contrast
A neighbor with two bright red macaws
A privy in back for the night watchman
A huge brown dog named Bonzo with a fierce bark
two lovely older ladies to give you a tour

AND
an adjoining house with open eaves and windows which allow birds to fly right through (but they don't poop inside - very well-trained), lace curtains everywhere, horns honking on the street occasionally, horse-drawn carts clip-clopping by even more rarely, and the tiniest ants (white-looking) you've ever seen unsuccessfully scouring corners of the kitchen for crumbs

An amazing place, this convent - and I don't even live here. Maisy is psyching us up to learn how to cook "real food" on Monday, so we're resting this weekend to prepare for this all-day cooking extravaganza. I can hardly wait, because Maisy's cooking has been FABULOUS so far ...


Sticky, luggageless and lovin' it -

Kate