ON RETREAT IN BARTICA


it is uncanny what a difference a few days in prayer can make.


just before christmas, the 19th-21st of december, eileen and i made our first retreat in guyana to a monastery in bartica. bartica is a bus ride, a boat ride, and a taxi drop away. the first two legs are an hour each (more or less, depending on who is driving), and the taxi ride was maybe 20 minutes. sister julie took us to the port of parika, on the essequibo river, a HUGE river 30 miles across at its confluence with the atlantic ocean. there are 365 islands in the river, "one for each day of the year", as we heard several times (the guyanese are proud of this river - and rightly so). there is an island in the mouth of the river that is the size of the country of barbados.

so, we arrive in parika to catch the 8:00 boat on monday morning, and the wharf felt a lot like the wharves in maine, or even on mackinac island ... there's just something about waterfolk that is consistent around the world. maybe someday i'll be able to articulate it, but right now it's just a feeling about the place and the people. the only difference was maybe the giant loads of fresh fruit (especially bananas) on its way to the markets. they were piled high in the center of small boats - a very different sight. and there were the giant logs all lashed together that are floated down the river to lumber yards near the mouth. and the mansions built on people's private islands. one looked a bit like swiss family robinson from our vantage point in a passing boat.

so we made our way upstream, artfully dodging the opportunity to ride on a boat called "the taliban" (which, i wondered aloud to eileen, would probably have left us on a deserted island somewhere along the way). about halfway there, it began to RAIN. now, i've said that when it rains in guyana, it rains like it means it. this was no exception. fortunately the boatmen are well prepared. there were coated canvas tarps that we spread out over each bench (there were about 5 benches, i think) and we crawled underneath and held them tight to escape the rain. the system worked beautifully, and we stayed warm and dry. the only trick was to know when the rain was really over. you just had to keep peeking.

so we arrived to the bustling town of bartica and got a taxi, who asked if we could make a drop before we headed to the monastery. we said sure, so he stopped by a hotel and disappeared inside. i thought i heard someone shouting, but in guyana, that could have just been a lively political discussion, so i didn't pay it much attention. by the time he came out again, he looked a little upset. "sorry," he said, "but i grabbed the wrong bag at the dock - i'll have to go back for the right one after i drop you." we told him it was no problem to go back now, since whoever was looking for the bag he collected by accident might still be there, fuming. he was grateful that we weren't in a rush, and charged us "the brother's rate" for the trip out (as opposed to the tourist rate).

the monastery is BEAUTIFUL, as you saw above. it is located on the mazaruni river, a tributary of the essequibo, just across from the mazaruni prison compound. there is a lot of attention paid to the gardens, and they do very well, since bartica is the gateway to the interior of guyana, the entrance to the rainforests. and rain it did, for three days straight. we saw glimpses of sun, which made the brothers rejoice because there is no government-supplied electricity out where they are, and they power their monastery with solar power. it was really neat, but we had to be careful with the electricity because of all the rain. so torches (flashlights) it was! (eileen in the library/common room --->)

the brothers, mattias and paschal (and hildebrand, who was away in bartica proper) were so welcoming, friendly and chatty that eileen and i felt right at home. i had been feeling a bit overwhelmed and exhausted in the weeks and days before we left, so i took the liberty of finding an opening prayer that reflected the struggles i was bringing to the retreat, and then sleeping most of the first afternoon. it was delicious to come half-awake to the sound of a heavy rain, then pull the sheets up around my chin and fall asleep again under the pink mosquito netting. the brothers prayed five times a day, beginning at daybreak and ending with vespers at dusk. they sing the psalms (it's called "toning", i learned) - an activity which i very much enjoyed. i never did join them all five times, but usually three times a day.

sister julie joined us that night, and we had opening prayer and discussed a little bit about our awareness of mercy in our lives. i had been feeling disconnected from the mercy mission and mercy values in my daily life, so that night and the next day gave me a very good opportunity to spend some time reflecting on that. with a little concentration, i was able to see it in many places of my life. my challenge now is to be able to see the same thing in the moment, and not only on reflection.

we had great food, good company, and a peaceful, prayerful few days out of georgetown. one of my personal favorite highlights was learning some of brother paschal's songs on tuesday night. he got out his guitar and played two songs about guyanese families that he wrote for world family day earlier this year, and a calypso song with a "budhum, budhum" in each line that told the story of the annunciation. they were really fun. for me, there is nothing touches my soul quite like music. :o)

(<-- L-R: brother mattias, eileen, kate, brother paschal). the trip back was equally eventful. we both had our spines realigned, as we took a later boat and were bounced pretty hard up and down on the waves in the river for the hour ride back to parika. but we treated ourselves to delicious gala apples in the market (probably from the states?) for surviving the ride, and had an uneventful busride home. all in all, an excellent first retreat.