The Fun That Was Peace Corps Guyana - Mark's Blog

November Thoughts

2008-11-23T12:34:00.004-04:00

Well, I thought I'd do another post just because it has been so long. Obviously there hasn't been much Peace Corps news now that I'm in Washington DC. Let me just say, though, that DC is crawling with RPCVs. If you ever have that nagging feeling that you are special because you did Peace Corps and you want to get rid of that feeling, come to DC. I'll pretty much guarantee you'll run into a RPCV on the street who can anticipate all your stories. But that's actually okay - it's fun to hear how similar other countries are. And it keeps your ego in check.

Also, I wanted to post because I know it is getting to that time of year when PC sends out invitations for Guyana. And that, of course, leads to googling "Guyana" and finding this blog eventually. If that's you and you feel like trying to find a real live Peace Corps volunteer, I suggest playing on Facebook. There are a number of Peace Corps Guyana Facebook groups there that you can join. I would start by searching for "Guyana RPCVs" - from them you can find lots of good groups or whatever that will let you obsess and ask lots of questions that may or may not be answered. But remember, half the fun of PC is just showing up and going with the flow. I'm not going to say that the ability to do that is necessary, but it sure makes life a whole lot easier down there (anywhere, in fact).

The weather is hovering in the mid-thirties here and my body, after two years near the equator, is not happy. Almost makes me pine for the days of sweating through my shirt just when sitting. Ah... memories. And good luck to those of you about to start the fun down there. Enjoy your last holidays up here for a while.

Life in August

2008-08-06T01:51:00.002-04:00

So I'm sure that everyone is dying to know what I've been up to since I've gotten back home in mid-June, right? I mean, you all must just be breathless - what is Mark doing to give his life meaning now? Has he had a nervous breakdown yet in a grocery store? Or has he alienated all his friends by constantly comparing America to Guyana?

Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, but I haven't been involuntarily locked up for my own mental health or lost too many friends because of constant Guyana yapping. I've actually been pretty much fine since I've come back. Not only that, but I've slipped right back into "normal" American life, for better or worse. Gotta go to the department store to buy something? No problem; I won't freak out. Make a run to Costco? I can handle those massive tubs of mayo just as well now as I did before Peace Corps. I guess what I'm saying is that I haven't had any real re-adjustment issues. And that includes not needing to constantly talk about Guyana. Sometimes I can hear myself start to ramble about life in Guyana if I'm not careful. But I don't have an overwhelming urge to tell everyone I meet on the street what I've been doing for the past two years.

So I'm feeling pretty good. I'm going to grad school this fall, so I've been able to just relax this summer and not worry about getting a job. It's been fantastic. I've seen lots of friends and family. It's great to catch up with people and know that I wasn't completely forgotten. I've also been in touch with my host family in Guyana. They say that the newest Peace Corps volunteers in my old area get asked about me (i.e. "did you know Mark?"). I remember going through that when I first showed up. Everyone assumes that you knew the previous volunteer (and sometimes that you are related to him or her). It can be a bit oppressive at first, because the old volunteer can often seem like they walked on water by the way people can talk about them. Let me assure you, it is not true. But I will admit it is nice to finally be in that position, where I have a bit of a legacy, even if it is small (and exaggerated by most). And I've heard that the greenhouse I helped build is working really well. That's always great to hear - sustainability!

Anyways, life is good. I could turn this blog into what grad school is like, but I think that would a) be boring to everyone and b) be confusing to the people who are looking for stuff on Peace Corps Guyana (all two of them). So I guess I'll just sporadically update this as Guyana or Peace Corps-related things pop up. Until next time....

Back Home

2008-06-15T11:36:00.004-04:00

Well, I'm done. I finished Peace Corps Guyana. And now I'm back home in America. The 25 months I've spent overseas in South America are over. The overriding emotion is relief to be back. When I had come home for a three week vacation about a year ago, my feeling was mostly giddy joy to see home. But now, though I'm really happy to be home, it feels different. I feel pride for what I did in my time in Guyana, relief to have successfully completed it, and nervousness about returning to America. Peace Corps constantly tells us how hard it will be to return home and re-integrate into our old country. And we internalize those warnings so much that I think it could be a self-fulfilling prophesy. I know I will be probably have some issues about being home at some point, but I also know that I am currently in the honeymoon phase, enjoying everything about being home (hot showers!).

So life is good. I'm hanging around home for the next two months or so, seeing friends, and getting ready for grad school that starts this fall. I don't know if I'll keep this blog updated - I imagine people are much less interested in my goings-about America. But I guess as Peace Corps related things pop up in my life, they might make an appearance here.

Ecaudorian Fun

2008-05-12T10:56:00.002-04:00

After two plus years in Guyana, I´m finally seeing some other South American countries. We left Guyana on April 28th, spending almost 24 hours straight traveling to the northeastern part of Panama for a week-long stay in a beach house in Bocas Del Toros. It was fantastic. There were six of us from my Peace Corps group doing this. We lounged around, ate great food, swam in clear blue waters, saw dolphins play, drank great wine, and generally decompressed after Peace Corps. It was exactly what we needed.

Then we spent about two days in Panama City. It´s an interesting city - very big and developed. But not very touristy. We stayed in Old Town, which was still a bit run-down in parts. But the two days were fun. We had to go to the Peace Corps Panama office to pick something up, so we met the Country Director and saw what a much larger operation they run there (Guyana has around 31 volunteers right now, whereas Panama has about 150). We also went to a mall, which gave me a bit of culture shock. At the food court, it took me about fifteen minutes of walking around in circles before I finally decided what to eat. But also did some of the touristy stuff. We went to the Panama Canal, which was cool. Not only did we see a huge tanker go through (very cool), but we also saw the Black Pearl from the movie ¨Pirates of the Caribbean¨go through! Very random. Anyways, Panama was cool.

Then, about four days ago, we flew down to Quito, Ecaudor. Quito is beautiful, set in between mountains at over 9,000 feet. We were definitely feeling the altitude after two years living about five feet below sea level in Guyana. We stayed in Old Town, which was much nicer and safe than the one in Panama City. There were lots of churches, plazas, shops, and people around. After two days of that, we came down here to Baños. Baños is a outdoor mecca, nestled in a green valley with towering mountains on each side. It definitely caters to foreign and Ecuadorian tourists, with lots of places offering biking, climbing, hiking, rafting, jungle tours, and many other adrenaline options. It´s been a lot of fun so far.

Anyways, traveling has been great. We´ve been eating great food, seeing cool places, and soaking up different cultures. I must say, most of us are not thinking too much about Guyana right now. It´s not that we don´t like that place, but right now I think we´re ready for somewhere new. Just a bit of a vacation after Peace Corps and before the re-introduction to America.

Done!

2008-04-26T16:09:00.003-04:00

As of yesterday, I am no longer a Peace Corps Volunteer. I have finished my two years, so I am now a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. All of us who are leaving feel mixed up emotions - pride and a sense of accomplishment, but sadness about leaving a place we called home for two years. It is definitely bitter sweet. But that's okay - overall, I feel pretty proud of myself. I think we all do.

Okay, I wish I could write more, but my time is limited here. I'm about to start a month and half of traveling around Panama, Ecuador, and Colombia with a few other Peace Corps Volunteers from my group. I'll try to write as I travel.

Towards the End

2008-03-07T11:06:00.000-04:00

So my time is winding down. As my host mom now repeatedly reminds me, I can say that I’m leaving “next month.” I should add, this is not a happy thing for her. People are asking me if I’m going to remember them when I go home. When am I going to come back to visit? Why haven’t I found a girl to marry? (That one my co-worker likes to good-naturedly ask me in front of other people. She loves to see my explanations and then accuse me of thinking Guyanese girls are ugly.) So the time is quickly flying by in these last few weeks as I try to wrap up my work and prepare to leave my home for the past two years.

We close our service on Friday April 25th (we being the ten of us left in our group that originally was twenty) and then most of fly out of here the following Monday. As I think I’ve maybe already posted, a group of us are going to travel around Panama, Ecuador, and Columbia for about a month and half before we return to America to begin the reverse-culture-shock fun. I guess that means I need to watch the news to make sure that a war hasn’t broken out between Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela when we’re trying to be tourists in two of those countries. But it should be a nice trip that helps us relax before we return to America.

Returning to America should be interesting. We had a three-day conference on basically that topic a few weeks ago. We went over administrative stuff, health care information, how to apply for jobs, resumes, etc. But one of the most interesting topics was the reverse-culture shock. Basically, we were warned to prepare ourselves to be alienated from America and everyone we know there. Ha! People back home either wouldn’t understand what we had done here or probably wouldn’t have the patience to listen to our blathering about it. Of course, these were generalizations, and we knew that some would care when we get home. But even for them, they would have no context and wouldn’t ever quite be able to understand our time down here. It’s like we Peace Corps Volunteers are in a secret club (Skull and Bones? The Bohemian Club?) that only the initiated can understand. And though we want to talk about it and will try, we shouldn’t have high hopes for the lay people. Now, I don’t want to have a holier than thou attitude here. We also need to realize that we aren’t the amazing world-savers that we sometimes like to believe. Though we’ve done something special things down here, so have a lot of our friends or family members back home in the two years we’re been gone. So one of the things we were advised was, to put it bluntly, “to get over yourselves.” No more big fish in a small pond for us. And that reality check is probably good. Sometimes we do get a big head about how challenging it is down here and how easy people have it in America. It’s true that this is hard a lot of the time for reasons that can only be experienced. But we forget how hard America can be. And we need to remember that so we don’t wallow in self-regard when we’re back, pouting because no one seems interested in how San Francisco is so different from Guyana. No one wants to hear how easy they’ve had it anywhere, whether it be in Guyana seemingly trying to herd cats or in America trying to get a foot in a door that may lead to a career after college.

I guess I’m writing this so as to give people a bit of a heads-up on how most returned Peace Corps Volunteers are when they return. I’m only writing about what I anticipate. But from talking to other returned volunteers, they say that it’s mostly harder than they expected. I mean, who expects returning to your home to be hard? Especially after you’ve been fantasizing about all the great food and opportunities you’ve been missing for the past two years. But it turns out it is. And so please bear with us. Listen an extra minute past the usual ten seconds you usually allot for a topic you have nothing to say about. Indulge our wackiness and comments about all the cereal options in supermarkets. We’ve changed down here after two years. We can’t hide it and will need a bit of patience and help to square the new us with the old home.

Things are back to normal

2008-02-12T16:33:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, I just wanted to let people know that things are pretty much back to normal here in Guyana after the massacre a few weeks ago. For those of you who have family or friends who are Peace Corps volunteers down here, you can rest easy that everyone is safe and back to their sites after a brief relocation to safer areas. Things are pretty much normal, though tensions simmer below the surface. But hey, that's how it always is! Anyways, I hope everyone is well. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry about it. Everything is normal enough now.

The New Year

2008-01-23T12:41:00.000-04:00

I know I haven’t written for a long time. I’m sorry. I’ve been fairly busy as of late. First, the holidays came and went. Without going into too much detail (because I don’t think you want to sit there and read for an hour), I had a great Christmas! Eight of us decided to fly into the interior to spend three days on a part of the border between Guyana and Brazil. We went to Orinduik Falls, which is a beautiful set of cascading waterfalls that you can play in. We brought our own food, went on hikes, and just chilled out. It was a really nice, relaxing holiday.

Then at the end of December after Christmas a former Peace Corps volunteer came back to get married to a girl from his Peace Corps village. A bunch of old volunteers came back for the wedding, which was a blast. It was like the fun times of my first few months of site all over again, except I am now much more comfortable here. So my New Year’s Eve (or Old Year’s Night, as they say here) was a lot of fun with old friends. They stuck around for about a week. So it was a great holiday season!

But now, I’ve had to get back to work. I just started implementing a project that has long been in the planning stages. Working with a local HIV/AIDS organization, we are building a hydroponics greenhouse to grow vegetables that will benefit local orphaned and vulnerable children (OVSs) as well as people living with HIV/AIDS (PLs). Now, I know what you are thinking – isn’t hydroponics the fancy way of growing marijuana indoors? Well, yeah. But, that’s not what we are doing (for some reason, I don’t think President Bush would approve of using his HIV/AIDS money to fund a pot club). Hydroponics is the growing of vegetables without soil. So we are growing them in boxes filled with a mixture of sand and rice husk. This holds the plant and roots in place. Then we feed it a solution mixture that contains all the nutrients it needs. Hydroponics is totally safe and healthy, considering it doesn’t use any hard pesticides or fertilizers. And you can grow a lot of vegetables in small space. In a greenhouse that is 18 feet by 24 feet and has 22 boxes, we will probably be able to grow about 400 vegetables at a time. So it is very efficient.

The second phases of the project include using income generated from the greenhouse to fund small kitchen gardens for families of OVCs and for PLs. These kitchen gardens, in turn, will supply these households with both fresh greens (which is vital for someone who is sick with HIV/AIDS) and a small source of income (something many PLs don’t have). It is a very inventive project. Sadly for me, I can’t take credit for the idea. A former volunteer designed the project but then had to leave suddenly. So I agreed to take on the project and implement it. It’s a great idea and has some higher-ups in the USAID department watching it. If it goes well, they see it as a pilot program that could be reproduced in various other Caribbean countries. So a lot is riding on this project! No pressure.

So that is what is taking up my time. I only have three months left in Guyana. It’s bittersweet. I’m ready to move onto the next phase of life (law school, here I come!), but I’m also sad to say goodbye to Guyana. I’m proud of my achievements, but I’m sad to say goodbye to my family and friends here. It’s a mixed bag of emotions. But I have three months left, and I intend to make the best of them.

Kaieteur Falls Trip

2007-12-07T16:07:00.001-04:00

Last month my mom and aunt came to visit me for a week. It was a great trip – they really got a sense of this place and my experience (at least, as much as one can in a week). They spent the first few days at my site, meeting my family and seeing my work, before we then went into Georgetown for the last few days. They got to meet some of my Peace Corps friends and take us out to the fine dining of Georgetown. But the highlight in many ways was the day trip to Kaieteur Falls.

Kaieteur Falls is THE tourist destination of Guyana. If there is anything to see in this country, it is this waterfall. It is one of the highest single-drop waterfalls in the world, coming in at 741 feet. That makes it five times higher than Niagara Falls. Guyana often promotes it as the highest in the world, but sadly, that’s not true. I believe the highest is actually Angel Falls, which is next door in Venezuela. But that doesn’t take away from its beauty. It’s beautiful! We flew about an hour into the interior to get there in a small nine seat plane. The falls are extremely remote and only get a few thousand visitors a year. So the place is untouched. And you really get to experience the place. Wanna dip your toes in the water? No problem. Wanna hang off the sheer cliffs? Go ahead. There are no walls, fences, guiding rails, or anything to keep you from getting up close… and maybe plunging to your death. It’s actually quite nice – they trust us here not to pitch forward to our deaths while we sightsee.

So anyways, it was a great experience. I was very excited to finally see this place. And I got to take my host mother Deo. She has been absolutely amazing to me down here. I’ve don’t think I can quite express how welcome and loved I have felt in this family. So it was a nice little thing to be able to bring her along. Very few Guyanese have gotten a chance to see Kaieteur Falls because it is relatively expensive to fly there and back.

Here are a bunch of pictures of the trip:

This is Kaieteur Falls. Pretty awesome.

Getting a bit closer to the edge of the falls. Those are my Peace Corps friends Adannaa and Malane. They're pretty cool girls (but what else would we expect?).

So this is Deo and me. She was so nervous to go. She had only been on a plane a few times before in her life. And she rarely leaves her family, so this was a HUGE deal. But she had a great time, so I was glad it all worked out.

Getting right up the Kaieteur edge. It's kinda crazy to hang off a 741 foot drop straight down. The next pic is us on the same ledge. Notice what is (or is not) under us...

Notice that there is nothing below us. Pretty crazy...

Turkey Day

2007-11-25T14:09:00.000-04:00

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! If you didn’t know, Guyana has the largest Thanksgiving celebrations of any country. It’s true! We have parades that rival the Macy’s Day Parade in New York City. We eat huge turkeys, mountains of mashed potatoes, and pounds of stuffing. Candied yams? Of course! Families travel far and wide to see each other. And because families are so large here, at least three or four turkeys are usually cooked for any normal sized family gathering. It’s a magical time of festivities and celebrations!

Well, not quite. Shockingly, Guyana doesn’t celebrate this quintessential American holiday. Who knew? But that doesn’t mean that we Peace Corps Volunteers can’t stuff ourselves silly. One thing you might learn about us is that we take very seriously any opportunity to gather and cook immense amounts of tasty food. We don’t need holidays for this, but when a holiday comes up….? Basically, we go a little crazy. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving, by being on a Thursday, conflicted with my usual work schedule. No amount of logic (“it’s a BIG holiday in America… and I’m American!”) could get me out of work. So I had to settle for a few beers after work with a Peace Corps friend to celebrate. I’m not complaining, but it wasn’t the major celebration I knew I was missing back home. Luckily, we volunteers are not quitters. After a bit of lobbying of our Peace Corps staff, we got a free vacation weekend to come into Georgetown for a volunteer Thanksgiving dinner. So that’s where I am now, waiting to fill my belly with lots of good food.

I’m in charge of mashed potatoes. In honor of my late sister-in-law, who made the most absolutely delicious mashed potatoes of all time, I am trying to make them as creamy (read – unhealthy) as possible. My simple but effective recipe is as follows: boil potatoes (about half a pound per person), mash potatoes while stirring in a brick of cream cheese and a small tub of butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Sounds good, eh? I know that Lottie had a slightly more complex recipe, possibly including cheese, but I’m not sure. All I remember is that they turned out creamy and yellow. So that’s what I’m going for too. All the eight girls in my group who are going to eat these… they aren’t going to complain, right? Thanksgiving isn’t about trying to eat healthy.

Anyways, that’s today. I missed Thanksgiving last year, so I’m excited to spend it with friends. It also coincides with the five-months-to-go mark in my Peace Corps service. That doesn’t sound like a short time until you’ve already spent twenty-one months in country. I actually know it’s going to go by really fast. Not only do I have a gardening project that I need to begin and finish in that time, but I also have to fit in various conferences and vacations (I’ve got about fifteen days of vacation left – use it or lose it!). Add in holidays and knock off that last month because I’ll be wrapping everything up, and I’m practically done! But as Guyanese people say, I’m of two minds about it. On one hand, I’m happy to be close to the end. I’m proud of myself to finish this, which has been hard at times. I also think I’ve done some really good projects and hopefully made a small but discernable difference. On the other hand, this has been a tough year and a half. My group is half of what we started with. Work has sometimes been very slow. And I’m already getting very excited about law school and what comes after Peace Corps. So, much like all my time here, I’m divided about how I feel about this experience.

Anyways, here’s a funny thing that happened last night. A few of us were eating at a local Chinese restaurant. We were sitting outside and finishing off our beers, when a guy approached us. Now, we’re kind of used to people approaching us when we hang in big groups, but usually they tend to be drunk or begging for money (or both). But this guy was completely sober. Much more interestingly, he was holding a door under his arm. He approached us and said, in all seriousness, “you guys wanna buy a door?” We all looked at each other, and my friend Lauren said “no, we don’t need any doors.” The guy nodded and turned around and walked back onto the road, while we all stifled laughs. We spent the next ten minutes trying to figure out where the door was from, if it came with hinges, and what he wanted the money for. It was a pretty funny, and strangely typical, Guyanese experience.

Read This After the Post Before

2007-10-08T10:04:00.000-04:00

I thought I should add a little something to that last post about working with the USNS Comfort doctors and support staff. First off, those military guys and girls were great. They were really nice people. They had been on the ship for the past three months, seeing ten countries already. After Guyana, they were going to finish off in Suriname and then go back home. Though they’d been working hard, they were all, without exception, incredibly professional, efficient, and courteous. Everyone’s bedside manner with the patients was exceptional. One of my very close Guyanese friends stood in line for over six hours to see the doctor. He’s a little bit of an older man and has a back problem – he said he couldn’t remember standing that long in a very long time. Yet, he didn’t complain at all because of the bedside manner of the doctor who saw him. He said some of the nicest and most grateful things I’ve possibly ever heard someone say about a doctor. And after working with those doctors and support staff for three days, I know they deserved every last compliment they got.

Also, and possibly more importantly, I got the pleasure of eating a MRE. For those of you who are not hip to military food, MRE means “Meal Ready to Eat.” It’s the food soldiers eat while out on missions. And in case you don’t know it’s for soldiers, the logo on the front is a silhouette of a soldier with a gun. Classic! Though most might cringe at the thought of eating, say, beef pot roast out of a bag, keep in mind that most of you haven’t been living in Guyana for a year and a half. And as much as I like Guyanese food (especially when made by my host mom), I haven’t been eating much beef pot roast here. So these MREs have individually packaged foods in them – usually the main course, crackers, cheese spread, a cookie, and an energy bar. So you have to heat up the main course. But you don’t need a microwave of anything. Oh no. It’s much more interesting than that. You put the packet of beef pot roast in a larger plastic sleeve. In that plastic bag, there is a chemical packet. Then, in a slightly scary chemical experiment, you pour a bit of water into the bag and the chemical packet heats up really hot to heat your food. Crazy! The thing was actually smoking and too hot to hold within about ten seconds. After about five minutes, it’s ready to eat! Hmmm-hmmm good.

But really, it was pretty good. I mean, like I said, it’s been a little while since I’ve had beef pot roast or beef enchiladas or cheese tortellini. So they tasted amazing to me. All the military guys were laughing because they are so sick of them. But I was as happy as can be. When they were packing up on the third day, they still had a box of 20 MREs. And Hector, our military hook-up for the MREs, asked me if I wanted the whole box. Ah…. yes. So thanks to Hector, I am sharing about 20 different MREs with two other Peace Corps volunteers on the coast, both of whom are not quite as excited about these preservative-laden food packets.

So anyways, it was a lot of fun working with these guys. I think Hector might be reading this post, so thanks a lot for the MREs. Make sure to send me those pictures when you get a chance. And to any other guys or girls of the Comfort, thanks a lot! I had a blast working with you guys. And more importantly, I know how grateful people were on the Essequibo Coast after your visit. You guys really made a difference in three short days. Thanks.

Working with Military Doctors

2007-10-08T09:58:00.000-04:00

So here is an essay I wrote for my Peace Corps boss about a job I did. The essay should be self-explanatory, but basically a US military hospital ship visited Guyana for a week, and I helped out with an outreach team for three days. When reading this, keep in mind my audience was originally my boss and his superiors at Peace Corps Washington DC. Here it goes:

The day started at 5:00 am. I needed to get up early to meet with the three US Embassy staff members in the Anna Regina car-park at 6:00 am. My Peace Corps Project Manager had volunteered me to help with the outreach of the medical team from the USNS Comfort, a military hospital ship that had been touring Central and South America for the past three months. The Comfort doctors and staff were in Guyana for a week, mostly stationed in Georgetown, the capital city. There were also two outreach teams that were going to more rural communities. Luckily for my region, a team was coming to the Essequibo Coast to be stationed at the Charity hospital for three days. Because of the relative remoteness of my area, all the supplies and staff had to be flown in and out by helicopter. This meant that there was to be only a small number of support staff. Hence, Peace Corps Guyana decided to offer my and two other Peace Corps Volunteers’ services to augment the three US Embassy staff to help administer surveys to the patients. What it meant for me at this moment, though, was that I was “enjoying” a bucket bath at 5:00 am.

This morning ritual was essentially repeated for the next three days. I’m not complaining; it was a great experience. Our group of six was tasked with administering surveys to all of the patients: we asked the first part of the three-page surveys while the people were in line and the second part as they exited the hospital. We were gathering basic demographical information as well as information about the quality of care. As simple as it sounded, there were many potential problems. From the beginning, it was clear that we were understaffed for the task. We also needed to figure out the most efficient system to organize the half-completed surveys at the exit, though this system would have to be implemented at the same time we were pulling and finishing the surveys. And these were just the challenges we identified before we got there! This being Peace Corps, more challenges popped up immediately. We only received the surveys halfway through the first day. We ran through the 1,500 surveys by the end of the second day and didn’t receive any more. And we had administered the first part of hundreds of surveys to people on the second day who were told to come back on the third day to actually see the doctors. That left us with hundreds of half-completed surveys that needed to be finished, assuming the people did actually return the final day. Nonetheless, we were able both to complete almost all the surveys and then, in lieu of completing surveys, keep a general count of how many patients saw which specialist. Despite the challenges, we largely met our goals. In other words, it seemed like a typical Peace Corps project!

Of course, our role was solidly secondary to the job of the military doctors, but we did see the results of their efforts. Patients would stand in line for up to six hours, yet they were, without exception, glowingly happy and incredibly grateful to see the doctors. The only negative comments were about the length of the line, though a majority seemed understanding that such an event as American doctors on the Essequibo Coast would result in long lines. People even happily put up with our line to finish the surveys, even though they had seen the doctors, received medicine, and were ready to return home.

It was especially nice to be a Peace Corps Volunteer working on my coast with the doctors. Over the three days, I saw many people whom I recognized from my community. Other people assumed that I was with the military and therefore new to Guyana. It was always fun to tell them that I had actually been living on the Essequibo Coast for the past year and a half. That always resulted in a huge smile and comments about what a great service we were doing, not only with the medical outreach, but also as Peace Corps Volunteers who spent two years in Guyana.

By the end of the third day, we were exhausted. The doctors saw about 2,500 patients over three days and still had to turn away another few hundred for lack of time. Busily working from 7:00 am until 5:00 pm for three days, I almost missed the more laid-back schedule of my local health center. But I was extremely happy that my Project Manager had volunteered me for this job. I had seen, up close, the joy and appreciation of my fellow Essequibo residents to see these American military doctors. And I was grateful to be a small part of it.

The End is (not really) Near

2007-09-16T06:54:00.000-04:00

So I'm in Georgetown this weekend using free internet so I can apply to law school. It's actually pretty exciting to do this - it reminds me how close I am to the next step. Though I'm still enjoying my time down here, I'm realizing how long it's been. Nineteen months! I've still got another seven months to go, but the end is creeping up. And that feels much more real when I'm planning my future.

Anyways, being in Georgetown also let me go to the circus last night. Now, you may be nonplussed by that statement, but I was excited. I had never gone to the circus before (isn't that a form of child abuse? It should be...). But this wasn't any ol' circus. This was the Suarez Circus from Mexico! With seven tigers, a giraffe, and four motorcycles in a steel ball of death! In other words, my first circus experience was a Mexican circus in Guyana. Totally sweet. We had a blast.

Otherwise, life is pretty normal out here. I wish I could write some exotic story that would entertain you guys, but my life is fairly mundane out here. My work projects are coming along and about to get even a little more intense. That, coupled with looming law school applications, has somehow made me feel stressed out, which is a weird feeling down here. I mean, I have lots of down time when I can't get anything done. But when I get access to a computer for a long time or whatever, I suddenly have millions of things to do. These short bursts of work are hard, because then I just think about how I'm not doing those things during my down time. The result has been that I'm realizing that I have limits on what I'm capable of doing down here. And these limits are tied mostly to my lack of resources, not my desire to do things. This can be frustrating. But it's a good lesson to learn.

In other news, my birthday is next Thursday. I'm turning 25, which makes me feel old (ahem, don't laugh) when some of the new Peace Corps volunteers are 21 and just out of college (class of 2007? I was class of 2005! Crazy!). I was a junior in college at age 21, not already graduated and in Peace Corps. Dang, they are getting a jump on life. And I'm old (well, not really).

I'm writing this post at 7am. Have I let you guys know that I'm essentially unable to sleep past 6:30 or 7am every morning? And I'm usually in bed by 9pm? Such is the exciting life of a Peace Corps volunteer. I think that adds to the old man status right now. The mornings are just too hot and bright and loud to sleep in. And the evenings? Well, there's usually nothing to do, so you might as well sleep and get ten hours of rest.

and Well, that's enough of these random ramblings. Shout out to all the parents of Guy19ers who might be reading this. Don't worry, your daughter/son is doing fine. And I can definitely vouch that that is true for those new volunteers on the Essequibo Coast with me - they are great PCVs settling in as well as you can expect. Alrighty, hope everyone is peachy. Later!

I'm Back

2007-07-28T15:53:00.000-04:00

So I apologise for not posting for so long. I guess I was a little busy with being on vacation and everything that came with that. So first off, it was great to see as many people and talk to as many people as I did. It's always nice to see that friends and family haven't forgotten about your existence just because you disappear into a little country in South America for a year and a half. And I'm sorry to everyone I didn't get a chance to see or really talk to. It turns out three weeks is not that long of a time.

But what a three weeks it was! I had a great time being back. Besides the joys of seeing friends a family, it was really nice just to be back in America. I like it down here in Guyana (contrary to what some of you might have heard... from me). But I'm not going to lie - America suits me a little more. I still have my beefs with the country... but not enough that I'm not settling there. And specifically, I mean San Francisco. I love my hometown. I could do a lot worse than putting down the roots in SF. What a great city!

Anyways, you can tell what's on my mind since I've been back. But surprisingly, it wasn't so bad to come back. As a lot of you guys know, two of my best Peace Corps friends who live near me left Guyana in the first week of my vacation. That was really hard to deal with, so I was worried that I would be a mess coming back. But in fact, I was fine coming back. I was almost looking forward to it, though partially in a "let's do this thing/I don't care how challenging this is/let's get it over with" kinda way. Also, there was a lot going on. The newest Peace Corps group swore in a few days ago and then left for their sites. There's going to be two newbies near me, which will be nice. They don't replace my old friends, but I'm happy to have some new people around me, considering I'm the only veteran in my region.

So it's been pretty good being back, considering all that has happened. I'm looking forward to settling in. I feel like I've been socializing for about a month straight now. I know I should complain about that, especially because of all the down time I've had here in Peace Corps. But that's precisely why it's so tiring - I'm used to naps every afternoon! Well, sort of. But I am used to a lot more alone time. After 17 months of being alone a lot, it's almost overwhelming to always be with people, always being engaged in conversation or whatever. So I'll be happy to fall back into my slow pace of life down here. It's strange being a Peace Corps volunteer - you're life becomes a mish-mash of complex emotions and desires that makes sense to us but few others. That's gotta be the main reason why coming back to America is so hard when you've finished your stint with Peace Corps. And why the returned Peace Corps community is so strong.

Anyways, enough blathering. I had a great vacation with you all. I miss you all. I miss my Peace Corps buddies who left too early. But I'm back and happy to be here. Let's do this last nine months.

Why I'm Famous

2007-06-02T10:59:00.000-04:00

So apparently I'm famous. I know this because I've just had about 33 new Peace Corps volunteers fly into the country and tell me. You see, the newest group finally arrived in country after much delay (like, about a year...). They are all fresh-faced and full of energy. It's actually refreshing to see such enthusiasm. But it's also really funny because they know pretty much nothing about this country. Which should be an obvious statement. I didn't know anything about this place either when I showed up. But this results in hilariously random questions. They want to learn so much, but they know nothing so their questions are completely directionless and cover anything from housing to food to work to the heat to the culture to how to travel after Peace Corps (hold on buddy, do your two years first).

So it turned out, though, that almost all of them had tried to do a little research before they came. And a first obvious plan is to Google blogs about Peace Corps Guyana. Lo and behold, this blog pops up first. I'm famous! Or at least with this new group. Apparently almost everyone had read it, sometimes from the first post. So they quickly recognized me - often as the puma guy. I've become famous as "Guyanese Mark."

Anyways, I can't say it was so much an ego boost as much as kinda weird. The digital world colliding with the real world. I guess I always kinda assumed it was just my family, friends, and random people I would never meet. But it didn't occur to me that the new group would find me. Oh well. So welcome to my larger readership (though now they don't need to read this because they can just talk to me. So I guess my readership just dipped by 33 people. Sad).

Riding With Wildlife

2007-06-02T10:57:00.000-04:00

A short story about why I think Guyana is just a hilarious place. It seems like weird stuff like this happens all the time. Anyways, I had to go into Georgetown for my mid-service medical tests last week. The raining season has started up, which means this trip was especially miserable. Usually it takes me around two and half hours, taking cars, mini-buses, and speed boats. So I’m waiting in Supenaam for my speed boat to leave, sitting in the light rain. Finally it fills up with two guys carrying a really big bag. As they sit down right behind me, they inform the passengers that the bag is carrying a bunch of snakes and a caiman (an alligator). Oh.

The boat pulls away and we start our half hour ride across the Essequibo River, winding between the islands and navigating small swells. And the rain has kicked up, which means we all hide behind oversized, rubber sheets. After about fifteen minutes, I hear a commotion behind me. I look back to see a caiman about four feet long halfway out of its rice bag. One of the guys has his foot on the caiman’s head and is yelling at his friend to pick up the rest of the animal. The boat driver has basically stopped the boat and jumped up onto his seat, pulling his bare feel away from the caiman, which is now biting anything it can and holding on. Finally they pull the caiman out of its rice bag and try to tie his snout closed. There, obviously, is a lot of colorful language going on right now. And it didn’t help that one of the guys was completely inept at getting the piece of string around his snout. It keeps slipping off, which resulted in even more cussing. I’m looking at all this, imagining the caiman chewing its way out of the bag again and biting the back of my foot. So suddenly it’s very much in my interest for this caiman to get its snout closed. So I pull a Velcro tie off my backpack (good ol’ North Face) and hand it to the guys. The inept guy takes it and completely fails at putting it on the caiman’s snout. So I take it back and put it on the caiman myself. They then get him back in the rice bag.

We start moving again. I ask the guy how many snakes he has. He says he’s got about forty of all sizes in his bag. I’m considering how likely it is for a snake to chew through a rice bag. He says he gets them from the Pomeroon River from Amerindian people who catch them. And then he takes them to Georgetown, where he exports them. I decided not to question the legality of it all. And anyway, the guy was really nice. But as we’re talking, the boat slows down and stops, dead in the water. The boat driver thinks he’s out of gas. So suddenly I’m in a dead speed boat in the driving rain with forty snakes and an angry caiman? Is this the Guyanese version of “Life of Pi?”

Luckily the driver finds a second canister of gas and we finish our journey to Parika. The caiman stays in his bag and the snakes choose not to join the party. So it all ended well enough. I guess if I was new to Guyana, the fact that two guys with forty snakes and a caiman shared my boat would be story. But after fifteen months here, the caiman has to escape and I have to tie his snout closed for it to become worthy to re-tell. If I ever extended for a third year here, maybe I’d have to wrestle it off the boat to save a small baby? Probably…

The Surreal Life

2007-05-23T15:52:00.000-04:00

About a month ago I received a package from some of my friends back in San Francisco. It had a few good books in it and, strangely, a decapitated teddy bear. As my friend here said, isn’t that something a serial killer sends his next victim? Well, apparently that’s not the only time someone sends a cut up teddy bear. Non-serial killing friends from high school also do that. I then found a note with pictures at the bottom of the package. It turns out my friends were making fun of my puma experience. They sent pictures of them dicing up the teddy bear, apparently spoofing my pictures of cutting up the puma. Very clever. And then, to top it off, my friend wrote a letter mimicking my blog posting about it all. Oh, my friends are so witty. Just because I’m in Peace Corps does not mean I am immune to their mocking. You can take us out of high school, but you can’t take the high school out of us.

On to other things. I just had a friend come and visit for a week. That was a very interesting experience. Of course, it was great. I was very excited to get a visitor, someone new to experience this place. But you get a little apprehensive before someone visits you in Peace Corps. You want them to affirm all the hard work you are doing. You want them to recognize the challenges, both professionally and culturally, that you face every day. And above all, you want them to tell you that it is worth it, that you are doing good work, to keep it up. Well, you also want them to bring you stuff. I mean, let’s stop kidding ourselves. Keeping friends back home is only worth it if they a) are sufficiently in awe of your Peace Corps sacrifice and b) send you stuff. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Anyways, my friend came out here for a week. And she did not disappoint on any of those important points. She told me I was doing good work. She saw how hard the challenges were to get anything done. She saw how strange this place can be culturally. And she brought me candy. So four for four! Great visit!

I think my favorite thing she said about Guyana was this: “I’ve been all over the world and I’ve had some surreal experiences. But this, by far, will be the most surreal week of my life.” Now, she wasn’t trying to say this as a bad thing. She was talking not only about Guyana, but also seeing me here. You see, I’m very comfortable here. I may not have realized it, but having a friend come down made me realize how much I take for granted here as normal. Like cows, donkeys, goats, and sheep wandering the road. Like crazy mini-buses zooming down the road, risking the lives of everyone around them. Like how I say “good afternoon” to almost everyone passing me by. Like how I have little frogs living in my toilet tank. Like how I can slip into Creolese when talking with my neighbors. All these things I don’t even think about anymore. But she was very aware of it all and how different it is from America (and different from how she knows me). So I guess I can understand how this place would be surreal.

Despite the surreal aspects of this place, she had a good time. Or so she said. And I had a great time too. But it didn’t, strangely, make me want to quit Peace Corps and get back home. That was something I was worried about. On the contrary, it made me realize how comfortable I was with my life here. Yeah, I might be bored sometimes. Yeah, I might crave American food (or, more likely, Mexican, Italian, Thai, Chinese, etc.). Yeah, I might want American conveniences and luxuries, such as a washing machine (by the way, I will never complain about washing my clothes again in one of those things. They are possibly the greatest invention ever made!). But I can wait on those things. I signed up for two years, and I’m going to finish them. Not only that, I’m going to have a good time doing it. I’m going to get comfortable here and enjoy the ride. I’ll be back in America being a desk jockey jus’ now. Until then, I’m going to enjoy my hammock, the breeze, and a good book.

Food in Guyana

2007-05-23T15:46:00.000-04:00

The past fifteen months have seen me reading a lot of books – namely, sixty-one books so far. Number sixty-two is currently “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan. I don’t think I can recommend this book enough. It is a fascinating look into what we, as Americans, eat on a daily basis. He follows the full life, from agricultural origins to dinner plate, of four meals – a fast food meal, an organic meal from Whole Foods, a sustainable meal from local, “beyond organic” producers, and an essentially hunter-gatherer meal of his own devising. It is clearly written, rigorously researched, engaging, and utterly relevant to all of us. Or at least it should be relevant. All of us should be at least somewhat interested in the food we eat and how it gets there. And we shouldn’t refrain from pulling back the curtain for fear of what we will find – the same systems will be there whether we know about them or not. The best we can do is to educate ourselves and to seek out the best choice, whether that be fewer Big Macs, more organic Whole Foods vegetables, or only buying from local, sustainable farmer’s markets (or, maybe for the more adventurous of us, hunting our own game).

Reading this book has made me think about my own food down here in Guyana. In some strange ways, the food I eat and the ingredients I use are “better” than what is offered in America. I know, for instance, that my vegetables are coming from local producers. Hell, I’m usually buying straight from them. Or I’m getting them from my neighbor’s backyard garden. And I know that they are not using crazy synthetic pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Or at least not to the level of the agribusiness in America. I’ve seen the chickens in their chicken coops – it may not be perfect, but it’s a long way from the tiny cages that make the Frankenstein chickens used by Tyson Foods, McDonalds, and KFC. And the beef… well it may not be the best, but the cows are free range and grass feed. I know because I see them wandering the roadside, eating grass (among other things) and getting in the way of cars. What I mean to say is that almost all of my fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat are produced locally and mostly naturally. It’s a true luxury.

So then why do I crave processed foods so much? Why do we crave the waxy apple that is exactly the same as the one next to it? And why do we abhor the natural diversity in appearance that any small scale, all-natural farm is going to produce? Of course if we think about it we can recognize the diversity and benefits of these local producers. But so often we don’t think about it. When I was living just outside of Washington DC before I came to Peace Corps, we had a Saturday farmer’s market about two blocks from my apartment. I would walk by it every week, sometimes even walking through it. But I never bought anything from them. Why? It wasn’t because I didn’t support local growers or all-natural or organic products. It wasn’t because I simply didn’t eat vegetables or fruits. I think it more came down to an ingrained capitalist consumerism that we have all internalized. I would look at these organic tomatoes, each slightly different from the next, and almost unconsciously think “why should I pay $3 a pound for these? I can get nice, uniform-looking ones from Safeway for half the price.” How I feel ashamed now, thinking about how easily I walked past this local farmer’s market every week to, instead, drive to Safeway to buy some mass produced tomatoes from Cargil, ADM, or some other massive agribusiness. Or, if I was feeling guilty, go to Whole Foods and support the big organic producers, an industry that is becoming more and more indistinguishable from its larger, non-organic cousin.

I guess all I’m trying to say is that this fantastic book is making me realize that I’m lucky to be in Guyana, where my only choice when buying produce and meat is to look at local, all-natural producers. It denies the capitalist consumer in me to search for the better price for food at the expense of health, nutrition, and larger moral-political ethics. I strongly encourage everyone to read this book. Hopefully for you, it won’t take a two year trip to a developing country to realize that supporting big agribusiness is probably not the best path to take when trying to decide what to eat for dinner.

Mid-Point in Peace Corps

2007-04-26T09:29:00.001-04:00

Well, I’m officially halfway done with Peace Corps. One year at site, one year to go. I’ll be honest, that is a crazy statement. Sometimes it seems like yesterday that I was finishing college or was working in Washington DC. But no, I’ve been here for fourteen months, twelve of those in Affiance on the beautiful Essequibo Coast.

I’ve spent one year living among the rice paddies, enjoying the breeze coming off the strangely brown Caribbean Sea. One year living on the one road, riding my bike to work. One year talking to the mothers of Affiance, Columbia, and the other surrounding villages about the importance of fresh fruit, vegetables, and why wheat bread and flour is better than the white variety. One year talking to the pregnant moms about why they have to take iron and folic acid pills, even though they give them upset stomachs. One year making friends, going to weddings, funerals, and Hindu ceremonies. One year doing things I could never have imagined, like cutting up a puma, eating caiman, laba, iguana, tapir, snail, and lizard.

So it’s been a good year. I can’t say it was everything I expected. As much as I tried not to have expectations when I first showed up, I still had some ideas. I mean, I signed up for Peace Corps thinking I would end up in a mud hut in the middle of Africa, five miles from the nearest phone, five hour bus ride to the nearest Peace Corps volunteer, and not even close to America in any form. I can’t say if that is what I really wanted, but I know I was ready for it. Instead, Peace Corps said I should go to Guyana, South America. Alright… I don’t know anything about that place, but flexibility is the number one desirable character trait in Peace Corps volunteers.

So it turns out Peace Corps Guyana is not the mud hut in the middle of nowhere. This country of 750,000 is mostly spread out along the coast. And they live comfortably, relatively speaking. I live in a house with electricity, running water, a shower, an oven, microwave, TV, DVD player… All that means is basically I didn’t need to worry about portable solar panels (thanks anyways Martin) and a shortwave radio. I also live within ten minutes of four other Peace Corps volunteers, which was definitely unexpected. So sounds kinda easy, right?

Well, for reasons that you might not understand at all, it is not easy here. Yes, I’ve got creature comforts. Yes, I can eat American food (though it’s another question if I can afford it). Yes, I can watch Oprah on television every day. But in many ways, that’s what makes it hard here. It’s like having one foot in Guyana and one foot in America. Every way you turn, you’re faced with American culture. Oprah on television, Akon on the radio, 50 Cent t-shirts, people talking about America. Everyone has a relative in America, mostly in New York. Constantly you are brought into conversations about America. Strangely you often find yourself being told what life is like back in the States. And what you say is often disregarded, as if you don’t know. That, obviously, can be odd.

And so the things that give you solace in the short term can be the things that, in the long term, make it hard. Having cell phones, being close to other volunteers, having internet, watching American television, eating American food, being surrounded by American culture… You end up relying on these things to make it through, but they also constantly remind you that you are not in America. You are in a country obsessed with America, a country full of people trying to get to America, but you are not in America. And that can be really hard sometimes, especially when you didn’t expect that coming into Peace Corps.

But I don’t mean to make this sound like a pity party. Nobody said Peace Corps is easy. And I’m sure that if I were in that mud hut in the middle of nowhere, I’d be saying it was hard for a whole set of other reasons. And I’d be pining to see Oprah on television.

So on the whole, I’m doing well. I’m glad to be halfway done, but I’m not ready to leave yet. Which, obviously, is a good thing, considering the projects I’ve got going. So another 365 days? To quote our President, “Bring ‘em on.”

Carnival in Trinidad

2007-02-26T10:20:00.000-04:00

I just got back a few days ago from a five day trip to Port of Spain, Trinidad for the huge Carnival celebration they have there. Wow, what a good time for so many reasons. This was the perfect thing for me right now. I’ve been in Guyana for close to twelve months now and haven’t left the country or taken any vacations. So this was my first real non-work fun in a year, if you consider Peace Corps work. And what a good time it was!

So the Carnival in Trinidad is probably one of the best in the world, second only to the crazy one in Rio di Janeiro, Brazil. It’s two days of street parties, floats, costumes, soca music, and food. But the partying started during the weekend and continued through Ash Wednesday. People sign up with these bands, get dressed up in great costumes, and dance through the streets for two days. Others of us (like poor Peace Corps volunteers who can’t afford the $250 price for that) enjoy the parades from the street, though there is little difference between the spectators and the participants, except they are wearing a sequined bikini with feathers. And I left mine back home, damnit. So the dancers follow a huge eighteen wheeler stacked high with speakers blasting soca music (a Caribbean dance music that is awesome!) and a smaller truck that is giving them free alcohol (you think you can dance the streets in a flashy thong and feathers for ten hours without a little something to drink?). And there are seemingly hundreds of these trucks. I have no idea. All I know is that the parade route is long, and I didn’t see any bands twice the whole time.

So we partied on the side, dancing, drinking, and generally trying to spread too much mayhem. But that was only Monday and Tuesday. We had gotten there the previous Friday night. So what did we do? What was my reaction to my first outing from Guyana in a year? Well, I’m glad you asked.

It was surreal for me. I literally walked around the Trinidad airport with the biggest, goofiest grin. My friends (who had all been home before) made fun of me. I saw an escalator and started laughing. I took a drink from a water fountain just because I could. I got tears in my eyes when I saw a bank of pay phones. In the taxi, I just stared at the six lane highway, overpasses, stoplights, and non-crazy drivers. Then I started seeing stores I knew. There’s a Ruby Tuesday’s restaurant! There’s a Porsche dealership! That’s a ten-screen cineplex! Though everyone else was really happy to see these things, I was going the most bonkers by far.

We got to our hotel and the fun continued. A/C? check. Hot showers? check. American cable TV, with HBO? check! Ohmygod! We all freaked out at that. We watched Conan O’Brien, The Daily Show with John Stewart, The Colbert Report, etc… It was glorious.

And don’t even get me started about the food. In Guyana, it’s hard to find restaurants with much foreign food. It’s easier to try to make it yourself. So in Trinidad, we went crazy. Like, I ate at places I wouldn’t dream of in America. I’m ashamed to say we ate at T.G.I. Fridays on Saturday night (and it was great! I had a salad!). But it gets worse. We then tried to go back Sunday night… and Monday night. Yikes! But (luckily) it was closed those nights, which in some ways makes it even more pathetic. We tried to go to T.G.I. Fridays three times and only got through once? Sad. But I also ate at Blimpies (I had a real sub sandwich!) and Papa John’s pizza. And we found a gyros shop on Tuesday. So I had a real lamb gyros, which was amazing. Even in the airport coming back it didn’t stop. I had a bagel and cream cheese… and then another one because it tasted so good. And lets not even talk about the brie chesse on crackers with wine I had on the beach… I’m going to start crying as I think about it.

But we also ate Trini food. The big thing was bake and shark, which is basically a sandwich with fried shark in it. It was great. And we ate grilled chicken sandwiches at this same stand two days in a row because we became friends with the ladies running it. It was just a lot of fun.

And finally, we hit up the beach… twice. It was about a 45 minute drive from Port of Spain. But wow, it was beautiful! White sand, clear blue water, palm trees - it had everything. We were giddy when we got there, running into the water and laughing like little girls. You see, though Guyana is on the Caribbean Sea, its water is brown and the “beaches” are rocky, dirty, or non-existent. (By the way, this is probably one of the biggest impediments to its development – no built-in beach tourism.) So we lounged on the beach… I got tan… I body-surfed… it was fantastic.

But it wasn’t all just food and partying and amazing tropical beaches. I also thought a little about Trinidad in relation to Guyana. Ah… actually it was more like we all would say “damnit, I wish Guyana was like this.” But anyways, it actually was interesting because Trinidad is very developed. Someone was saying it will become an official first world country by 2010 or so. But Trinidad got its independence from Britain about the same time as Guyana did. So why the huge discrepancy in development? It seems the major difference is that Trinidad found oil first and then asked for independence. So they had a local resources already found to fund their development, especially when oil prices spiked in the 1970s. This is not to say they didn’t go through some rough patches. It sounds like foreign corporations were exploiting their oil until relatively recently. But now BP takes care of it, and Trinidad is getting a good cut from them. People told us that Trinidad looks a lot more modern even in the past five years or so.

Guyana, in contrast, has not gotten the same level of development. Though Guyana has lots of natural resources, the infrastructure is not there to utilize it. And when it got its independence, it didn’t have a “found” cash-cow. It’s still looking. And it doesn’t have the industry to utilize its own resources, such as bauxite and gold. So it relies on foreign companies who take most of the profits out of the country. Its fate has been sadly different from Trinidad’s.

So though I might feel bad for Guyana and obviously want it to pull itself up (if I didn’t, I wouldn’t still be here), it was pretty exciting to see tall buildings, clean streets, fancy cars, and basically all the those globalizations things I didn’t think I liked when I was in college.

So that was my trip to Carnival in Trinidad. It was great for me! Of course, when I came back I got the post-vacation blues a little. It was good to get away a little, so it was just a little hard to return to Guyana. I love it here, but it can be a hard place to be. I also returned and immediately got pink eye, which sucks. And then, to top it all off, I found out that my host family I live with had to throw away the puma head and claws because it was smelling too bad in the bucket. I completely understand and had told them that if it got too rank to throw it away while I was gone - I would understand. Nonetheless, Deo, my host mom, apparently feels completely awful about it because she knows how excited I was to have it all. I haven't gotten back to the Essequibo Coast yet because Peace Corps wants to keep me in Georgetown until they feel like the pink eye is going to clear up. So, Guyana is kinda treating me not too nicely as I've come back from Trinidad. But that's okay, it will all even out soon enough. I hope everyone is doing well!

WARNING! Puma in Peace Corps

2007-02-16T14:37:00.000-04:00

So before you read anymore or look at the pictures below, here is a disclaimer. If you are a PETA-carrying animal lover, you probably don't want to look any farther. I had no part in this puma's last moments on earth and in fact only found about him two hours after he passed away. If you subscribe to the theory that you shouldn't waste something, even if it is a previously wild animal, then we agree. But if you don't believe in "benefiting" from someone else's unfortunate deed, then you probably want to skip this posting. Or if you just don't like the idea of a dead puma.

So.... yesterday I go to work just like normal. I get there and my nurse, Debbie, takes me across the street to see something. And that something is dead puma. As in puma, mountain lion, cougar, or "tiger-cat" if you are Guyanese. It's probably about five feet long, maybe 80 pounds or so. It's a beautiful cat. Sadly, I had gotten shot in the back rice paddies earlier in the morning. A farmer had gone back to tend to his cows and found this puma around them. In the past few weeks, there have been some cows being killed, so he thought this puma had been doing it. He scared it up the only tree around there and then called for help. Eventually, another younger police boy came with a shotgun and shot him out of the tree, hitting him in the chest. They then dragged him out to village, on the main road, where they tied him to the fence. And then people started coming.

So I'm standing there, looking at this big cat. I feel really bad. It's obvious that he wasn't attacking the cows, because his belly is thin. Some people think he may of came out of the jungle to the rice paddies for water. I mean, he wasn't just hanging out there for no reason. Pumas like the thick jungle cover. So he was just unlucky to get caught when he came out. So people are kinda poking at it, checking out his teeth. As word spreads, more people come. The car drivers slow down and stop to take a look. My nurse, after getting confirmation from me that it is in fact a puma, proceeds to correct everyone who says it's a tiger. I ask the father what he is going to do with it.

"Well, we called RCA" - a local television station - "and we're waiting for them."

"And then what are you going to do with it?"

"Well, probably just throw it away. Probably bury it."

"Really?"

"Yeah." (He says this with a look of "well, what else would I do with it?")

So I start thinking. This is a beautiful animal. And how cool would it be to get a little piece of him. I mean, I feel bad that he is dead, especially for no reason. But it seems even worse to just throw him out. So I kinda start saying to Debbie, knowing she'll say something for me, about how I wouldn't mind having a claw or something. And of course - good old Debbie - she starts telling the old man who the Mark the white boy wants a claw. Now that I have an in, I start asking him. He says fine, though with a look of indifference mixed with "what type of crazy white boy is this?"

But as I'm standing there, it's clear no one else wants anything from this puma. So I start thinking bigger. Maybe I want a whole paw? Or two paws? Or maybe.... the head? So I ask the guy. And again, looking at me like I'm the weirdo of everyone here, he says sure. So I say I'll be back in the afternoon to collect it all.

So after a day of being worried that he sold the puma to someone or just forgot about me and threw it away, I get back in the later afternoon.... just in time to see them trying to hacksaw the fangs off. I can't really say much because it's not like I killed him, but I'm watching them spoil my perfect puma head! So I just sit back and hope they don't crack the skull or break the jaw bone too bad. (By the way, it's kinda crazy how quickly I was comfortable with this dead cat. I mean, I easily could have been standing back, hating everyone for being so happy around this dead puma. But instead, I wanted pieces off it, like I'm a big game hunter or something. Crazy.) Eventually, they finish extracting three fangs and breaking a forth. And then it's my turn.

So in front of a group of about fifteen Guyanese men, someone hands me a dull hacksaw. I can't back down now, though I wasn't completely ready to cut off this puma's head. I mean, usually you can find someone else to do your dirty work in Guyana. You want that chicken killed and plucked? The neighbor will do it. But here... I couldn't back away. So, hacksaw in hand, I go for the puma. I'll save you the details, except when my Peace Corps friend Phillip called me as I'm going at it.

"Hey Mark, what's going on?"

"Phillip, guess what I'm doing right now." (Trying to sound nonchalant.)

"Um, how am I supposed to know? I don't know. Eating?"

"Ha. Ah, no...... I'm cutting the head off of a puma."

"WHAT?!"

It was pretty cool. So after a few minutes, I get the head off. The whole time, Guyanese men were watching and giving complimentary "white boy is cutting the puma head" comments. Then I go for the paws. But though I handled the hacksaw well enough, I'm pretty bad at cutlasses, which are pretty much machetes. So I get another guy to chop the paws off with a cutlass. At this point, Phillip shows up, taking pictures and generally freaking out. (Funny side story: I kept telling people how my American friend was coming to see. So when Phillip, who is Asian-American, jumped out of the car, they were all like "He's Chinese! He's not American!" Racial dynamics in Guyana? Hilarious.) Phillip ends up deciding to take the tail and after some more pictures, we take off back to my house.

Luckily, my next door neighbor is a butcher. So we take our stuff over there. He's not home, but his eleven year old son is. So, in the Guyanese tradition of making small children do things you don't want to do, we get him to skin the skull. And wow, he was good. He took off all the skin in one piece. And then he cut off all the meat he could, including the tongue. It's kinda amazing to see how much muscle these cats have around their skull. But it makes sense, considering how strong their jaws are.

Anyways, he skins the skull and pulls out all the claws off the paws. I'm not going to lie - I wasn't too hungry after all this. But we took it all back to my place, to put in a bucket of salt water and bleach. I'm going to let it soak in that for about ten days, then put it on an ants nest for a week or so. After that, there shouldn't be any more flesh of anything on it. It should be a nice, clean skull. And I'm thinking of making a claw necklace a la Crocodile Dundee? We'll see. And Phillip is hopefully going to stuff the tail.

So pretty crazy, huh? I definitely feel bad for this puma. If I had my way, he's still be alive in the backdam. But if he's going to be killed, I might as well get something from him instead of the whole cat being wasted, right?

And now, here are some pictures. I think they are pretty self-explanatory.

My Life Has Meaning! Maybe...

2007-02-05T11:17:00.000-04:00

So in my quest to find secondary projects, Patty (another Peace Corps volunteer) and I have been teaching Life Skills at New Opportunity Corps. NOC, as it is known, is basically a juvenile detention center for kids ages 10 to 18. With around 130 kids, it teaches regular classes, but focuses more on vocational training for the older kids, like agriculture, wood-working, metal shop, electrical work, etc. There are a lot of opportunities for these kids, at least in theory. Of course, there are a lot of problems too.

So... a few weeks ago my PC boss came out to see NOC. But he also brought the US Ambassador, a bunch of US Embassy staff, and some USAID people. NOC rolled out the red carpet for them. I'll save you the details (though it was a good visit), but basically Peace Corps wants to put a volunteer there and collaborate with NOC on doing some agriculture projects. And that's where Patty and I step in.

We've met with some USAID people and some Guyanese agriculture organizations. And basically we want to start two projects at NOC. The first is to grow some small beds of new crops in Guyana - broccoli, cauliflower, squash, etc. These would be tests to see how well these would grow in Guyana. NOC could then sell them to supermarkets in Georgetown that cater to the foreign crowd (Guyanese people don't eat these things. I had to explain to some of my students what broccoli is). We also want to start some tilapia fish ponds to feed the kids and make a little money on the side. Both of these projects are strongly supported by PC, the US Embassy, USAID, and some Guyanese organizations. NOC doesn't have to invest much, except land (which they have) and manual labor (which they have). And the monies raised by this could be re-invested into future projects, such as computers or something (we're thinking about that stuff too - I have lots of good ideas for NOC).

So suddenly I feel like I have a real, honest-to-goodness Peace Corps project to work on. We're still at the beginning stages, but I'm feeling confident that this will work. And if its successful, then future projects will also be it the works.

Okay, so all this has been the result of the meeting at NOC. After that meeting, the whole group (about 15 people) came over to my house for lunch. My host mom cooked some awesome food (which is just normal to me now - hehe) that everyone liked. Plus, it was kinda cool to have the US Ambassador (real nice guy) come over and see my home and my family. And one of the Embassy guys offered us Cricket World Cup tickets (awesome!) gave us a standing invitation to come over to his place for his weekly dinner parties. I really like Guyana for this reason. It's a small country, so the Embassy people are real cool and like to be nice to us Peace Corps volunteers. The Ambassador lets us swim at his pool whenever we want. The head of the CDC down here invites us over for Peace Corps-only dinners. It's pretty awesome. They like to hear what life is like outside Georgetown. And we like their food and wine. It's a very symbiotic relationship.

So life is good enough down here. I'm feeling refreshed for the new year. I have some projects on the horizon. I've got traveling to do (Carnival in Trinidad!). And I'm still enjoying the hammocks and books. So life is alright...

Picture Time!

2007-01-08T09:34:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures for you all!

This one is of myself and my friend Paul during Christmas Eve. You can't really tell, but I'm making those fantastic, yellow mashed potatoes for Xmas. Paul is the only other guy in my group (which is now 13 total). And he's married, but I don't hold that against him. hehe.

This is me on my roof, taking a drink with Patty (who, obviously, is taking the picture). I have got to have the best roof in Peace Corps - I've got a great view and a nice breeze. It's a nice place to relax in the late afternoon as the sun goes down.

This is during a Christmas dinner at our Peace Corps boss' house. He has all the volunteers over (which is only around 45 or so) for a nice dinner with ham and turkey. He even had a Christmas tree! So on my right is Tessa and on my left is Lauren. Both of them are awesome. Have I mentioned how cool Peace Corps volunteers are?

So this is a plate of seven curry. Or, maybe I should say, it's a leaf of it. Seven curry is the dish given out during weddings and jandhis. It's rice with seven different curries on it, served on a lotus leaf, and eaten with your hands. It's actually really good, though it fills you up. And there is definitely a technique to eating it with your fingers. Guyanese people love to see us foreigners eat it with our fingers. You get a lot of respect for that. And I just think it's cool.

A Book Update

2007-01-08T09:33:00.000-04:00

So far, ten months into my time in Guyana, I’ve read 43 books. That’s around a book a week or so. I think I might be either leading the pack for my group, or at least in contention. I don’t know if I should feel proud of not?

I’ve read a wide range of books, fiction and non-fiction. I’ve gone from The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand to Patriot Games by Tom Clancy. I’ve read Fear and Loathing: On The ’72 Campaign Trail by Hunter S. Thompson, a book about the George McGovern presidential campaign, where he got trounced by Richard Nixon. Sometimes I feel a need to read a classic and read The Godfather by Mario Puzo. Then I want to read a modern classic and read The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth. And that’s not even counting all the New Yorker magazines I’ve been reading that my mom has sent from home. But I’m not as crazy as my friend Phillip here. He’s been reading every New Yorker magazine, starting in mid-2003. He’s somewhere in mid-2006 now, I think. Sometimes I get some of his old issues and read them. It’s kinda funny to read about John Kerry’s foreign policy ideas two years later. On the other hand, it’s not too funny to read the guarded optimism about Iraqi elections and cocky confidence from the White House, knowing it gets much, much worse in Iraq.

So it’s been a lot of reading in Peace Corps. This doesn’t surprise me at all. I mean, before I left I sent myself a box of thirteen books. The more surprising thing has been that I haven’t tackled many heavy hitters, like Dostoyevsky. I tried to start his The Brothers Karamazov, but I hit a wall ten pages in. Books here are like television for us Peace Corps volunteers – it’s an escape. And who would watch PBS documentaries all the time for escape? So I end up reading slightly less dense fair, like Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. Oh well. Life is too short to force yourself through a book you don’t want to read, right? Even if you are reading a book a week for two years...

Sick In Guyana

2007-01-08T09:30:00.000-04:00

Why do I not like being sick in Guyana? The operative words are “in Guyana.” Of course no one likes being sick at all. But being sick during Peace Corps adds an extra layer of fun. First off, I’m not even that sick in the first place. I even pretty much know at this point what I’ve got. I’ve had a low level flu and fever for the past seven days and counting. In fact, it’s only the lengthy duration that in any way truly concerns me. But even in the first few days, you start thinking some crazy thoughts, thoughts that you would only have during a stint in Peace Corps.

The first problem is that whenever you get sick here, you try to self-diagnose. And being in a tropical country (where, as we all know, all the weird diseases reside), you begin to think of some crazy, diseases. Do I have malaria? Dengue fever? Typhoid? Intestinal worms? Luckily, you have your trusty “Where There Is No Doctor.” So now you’re reading the symptoms of dengue fever and slowly convincing yourself you might have a very mild case. I may not have had a sudden high fever with chills, but I did feel slightly feverish pretty quickly. Not severe body aches, but my muscles are kinda sore. And I do feel a little ill, weak, or miserable, as the symptoms say. And today, a rash started, just as they say in the book. Reading the symptoms, maybe I have a mild form of dengue fever? Or maybe it was Brucellosis. I can see that you basically only get it from drinking fresh milk from infected cows or goats (something I’ve not been doing), but on the other hand, the symptoms sure sound like a more serious form of what I have…

As you can see, this could go on forever. Because you are in Guyana, where you sleep under a mosquito net and are constantly aware of the weird diseases here, your mind always turns to those things when you get sick. And believe me, you have enough time to obsess over these things. Even when healthy, Peace Corps volunteers have a lot of down time to mull any- and everything over. So imagine when you are sick and not getting out of the house? It’s definitely a recipe for disaster. It’s surprising how quickly you can convince yourself you have some rare disease that means you need to get medically evacuated to Panama for observation. In fact, because you’ve been holed up in your house, you kinda look forward to it (and become almost disappointed when the Peace Corps nurse tells you that you just have the common flu. boo).

Another reason that being sick in Guyana is not fun is that you are so far away from the comforts of home. Of course, this is a constant in our daily life here – “why don’t we just Google it to settle this? You know, use the free Wi-Fi that’s throughout Guyana? Oh, just kidding.” But when you are sick, suddenly you want chicken noodle soup like mom made it, a big blanket, and a couch, watching bad, mid-day television. Unable to get any of that, the sickness is that much worse. Of course people here are really nice and bring you things or send you home from work, showing a lot of concern as to your condition. But then suddenly you are being told to try this remedy or that remedy. Which sounds kinda cool, right? “Try this root tea our ancestors made. Eat this beet and then burn this incense.” Except that’s not what people are saying. People are saying “take some TheraFlu, then go to the hospital and get a bag of saline.” Here in Guyana, bags of saline from the hospital are the magic cure-all for every problem. Malaria? Saline bag will fix you right up. Stomach pains? Saline bag will cure it. Broken leg? Well, that’s nothing a bag of saline can’t help. I may not be a doctor, but I’m pretty sure that IV saline solution, as beneficial as it is to replenish fluids, is not quite as amazing of a cure all as it is sometimes held up to be. Of course, I’m not about to burst that bubble – oftentimes, saline is one of the few things the hospital has to give people. There is often a small variety of available medicines. So to many people here, they’ve seen someone go to the hospital sick, only get a saline bag, get better, and walk out of the hospital feeling well. It follows that the saline bag cured them, right? Why would I want to challenge that?

Anyways, you’re sick. You want the comforts of home and are instead being told to get a bag of saline. You’re reading your medical books and getting convinced you have typhus. And you just stare at the wall, waiting to get better. This is why I don’t like being sick in Guyana, even when it turns out that I just have the flu that is getting around. Stupid flu…

Christmas in Guyana

2007-01-03T10:12:00.000-04:00

As everyone told me here over the past few weeks, in Guyana the holidays are bright. I’ve been surprisingly busy this holiday season. I had a Christmas party at my health post for the young children of the community. We raised money, decorated the health post, got presents for the children, convinced Santa Claus to come from, ahem, California, and made food. We probably had over a 100 kids and moms come. It was a real success as far as I was concerned. My nurse thought so too, though she is strangely transfixed on how a few mothers took extra food or drinks. She always says how disappointed in their behavior. I think whatever but know it’s better to say nothing.

So I got to be Santa Claus down here, as you can see. (oh, the second picture is Santa with a few of my family members down here.) The suit actually looked pretty good. Everyone was really happy with it. I got the suit custom-made here by a really nice lady. And she didn’t even charge me when she found out it was for a party for the kids. So nice! But I can say this much – Santa was never meant to visit the tropics. I had to wear that suit for about three hours, most of the time sitting with my back in the sun and letting a parade of kids sit on my lap. So you can imagine that I got a little warm. And by a little warm, I mean I sweat through the thing and wanted to pass out from dehydration. But that’s okay, because I was there for the kids. And the kids liked me. Especially the 1 to 3 year olds, of whom about half would look at me and then burst into uncontrollable crying and screaming. Nothing gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling better than having crying kids on your lap, scared witless by your appearance. It was actually pretty funny (maybe until hour two or so, that is).

But really, it was a great time. The kids got their little presents, got their pictures taken on my lap, and everyone ate fried rice, chow mein, and chicken curry. You know, traditional Christmas food. Anyways, I think we’ll do it next year, except we might try to plan better and raise more money. This was the first time we’ve ever done this, so it was a total experiment. And I think with some better planning, we can cut out the crazy running around and last minute planning that happened this time.

So that was a few days before Christmas. Since only two people from my group went home for Christmas, the rest of us all spent Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Boxing Day (the 26th) in Bartica, a really cool town down the Essequibo River. We rented out a guesthouse that had five bedrooms, big balconies, a huge kitchen, and a pool. It was really nice. And we had Christmas with each other. We cooked what was probably one of the best Christmas meals ever on Christmas Eve. We had three turkeys for eleven people! I made some awesome mashed potatoes (mix potatoes, garlic, a tub of butter, a block of cream cheese, evaporated milk, salt and pepper to taste – and yes, they were yellow). We had stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, salad, dinner rolls, and everything else that I’m forgetting. Basically it was all American food, which is kinda an accomplishment here. And it was glorious. I ate til it hurt.

Christmas was mostly eating leftovers and lounging by the pool. Nothing says Christmas better than tanning in my swimsuit and a Santa hat. So it was real nice. None of us wanted to leave the next day. And no one truly missed their families, even Jill, who had never spent a Christmas not with her family.

Then I spent a week at work, wishing it was New Years. I’m so conditioned to the school schedule, when you get that month off for Christmas. So imagine for the first time having to work that week between Christmas and New Years. I was dying. Luckily it was a short week.

So New Year’s Eve, or Old Year’s Night as it is known here, was fun too. I stayed on the coast, going up to the main town on the coast for some big parties at the local clubs. Guyanese people have some interesting traditions on Old Year’s Night. Many like to be in church or mandir when midnight strikes. And then, around 12:30 they go to the bars and start drinking, partying until dawn or so. So when my friend and I got to the main club at 11:30, it was pretty empty. At midnight, I was on the dance floor with my friend and one other couple. And the DJ didn’t even tell us it was midnight. It was actually pretty funny. But people started coming later and the place got a little fuller. And then I started seeing people I knew. I think I got home around 3 or so. It was a good time, though I was surprised how few people came out. I had heard that Christmas Eve was huge here, with the road being shut down from the amount of people out. So maybe everyone spent their money then? And it did start raining really hard just after midnight, so that would have kept people away. So who knows? I had a good time.

Anyways, it’s kinda hard for me to imagine that it is 2007. I’ve spent ten months here in Guyana – I’ve got another sixteen months to go. And I get to spend the whole of 2007 here. Wow. It should be interesting. I hope I can get a little more done work-wise. We want to build an extension to our health post, which is one room and probably smaller than your living room. This is especially needed if we start counseling our pregnant mothers about getting HIV tests, which require confidentiality. And you can imagine how a one room place does not really offer confidentiality. So we’re going to work on this.

But generally, I’m happy here. I was talking to my fellow PCV Patty, who is probably my best friend here. We really rely on each other to stay sane and get things done here. We were both realizing that we no longer think about our time here in Guyana as optional. I mean, at the beginning there was a sense of how, if it got bad, we could go home. But now we are used to life here. And so we see the ups and downs as just normal. I don’t think about going home or even how I have a choice to be here or not. I think that this is my home for these two years. And why would you leave your home? Hopefully this is healthy. I think so.

World AIDS Day 'n Stuff

2006-12-06T10:39:00.000-04:00

Hey gang, sorry for the long wait between posts. What can I say? I'm busy doing nothing down here. So last Friday was World AIDS Day. The themes were "Accountability" for HIV workers and "Stop AIDS, Keep The Promise" for the general public. So on the coast, I helped out with Hope For All, the one and only HIV NGO out here. So Friday morning, Patty (my PCV friend who works at Hope For All) and I got up early to meet up for a HIV/AIDS march at 6am. Of course, it's pouring rain and Patty locks both her umbrella and keys in her house. Great way to start, right?

So as we trudge down towards the meeting place, we bet each other over how many people will show up. I'm the pessimistic one saying 5 (including us). She's the optimistic one saying 6. So imagine how surprised we were when around 30-40 people show up by 6:30 in rain. Off we go, marching and chanting HIV/AIDS slogans, waking people up and getting soaked in the downpour. It was pretty good.

The march ended at Hope For All, where we had coffee and scones (scones!!!) and did a candle lighting ceremony for people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. After a quick stop by my house to wash up and put on dry clothes, I met up with Hope For All in the carpark of the biggest town on the coast, Anna Regina. (A sidenote. "Regina" here is pronounced as if it rhymes with a part of the female anatomy. Shocking as that was when I first got here, now it sounds completely normal and I think I would embarrass myself if I tried to pronounce it the American way when I get back home.) A women's group had planned a culture show about HIV/AIDS, with dancing, singing, and speeches about HIV/AIDS. They had invited us to have a little space there, giving out condoms, brochures, and do HIV testing and counseling. So we set up, pinning HIV ribbons on people and giving out condoms. I didn't think many people would be tested here though. One of the main themes running through my time here is that people don't want other people seeing them getting involved with HIV things, especially getting tested. So would people want to get tested in the middle of the carpark in the biggest town on the coast? Though we put up sheets to mark off a testing area, it was not the most confidential place to do testing and counseling.

So I was surprised for a second time this day when we ran out testing kits within three hours of being there. Before the culture show had even started, we had tested about 22 people. We had to go send for more testing kits. By the end of the day, we had tested over 40 people in about 6 hours. Pretty good! We had also giving out over 2300 condoms. And the culture program was cool too.

So basically, it was a great day and pretty good success. It was also probably Patty's and my most exhausting day. Since it was Friday and we were in Anna Regina, we tried to go take a few beers with some friends (especially because they were having a deal - 3 Premiums Banks for $500!), but we too tired to stay out. I was in bed by 9, totally exhausted.

Other than World AIDS Day, life has been pretty normal out here. I've gotten totally obsessed with the show Grey's Anatomy. Patty has the first two seasons on DVD, so I'm watching the first season. First off, it makes me nostalgic for Seattle (and I didn't even technically live there!). But secondly, it's just a good show. And thirdly, the rumor mill on the show, where everyone knows everyone else's business, is very similar to Peace Corps here. I can totally relate to it. Us volunteers love talking about each other. God help you keep a secret from the volunteers. Everything comes out, sooner rather than later. So anyways, for all those reasons, I'm hooked. In a lot of ways, seasons of TV shows are the best down here. So I think I might try to get seasons of the Sopranos, Lost, 24, etc at some point. How? I don't know. They are lots of pirated DVDs available down here (4 for US$5!), so I think I can figure it out.

Anyways, that's enough for now. I hope all is well up there in North America. I'm enjoying this 90 degree December down here. How's the cold up there? HA!

The Most Productive Week in Peace Corps

2006-11-01T11:16:00.000-04:00

Late in my week-long trip on the Pomeroon River with a group of American doctors visiting Amerindian villages, I was sitting on a dock overlooking the river, talking with friends. As I sat in the sun, relaxing after a hard morning of patients and HIV education, a bird passed overhead…. and pooped. The poop just narrowly missed my head and instead hit my finger. It was near miss to be sure. Things could have been much worse, yet it didn’t faze me much and the afternoon went on without incident. Looking back, this seems an apt metaphor for the week. It was full of near catastrophes from the beginning, each threatening to de-rail our participation in the trip. Yet, in the end, everything worked out and we had a great time, with just one exception.

So two Sundays ago, my Peace Corps friends Patty and Phillip and I met up with a group of twelve Americans. They were mostly pediatric residents at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, with a few other doctors and nurses mixed in. They were a really nice bunch and very excited to get working in these Amerindian villages. The three of us Peace Corps volunteers, along with an HIV counselor/tester from an HIV/AIDS NGO on the Essequibo Coast, were really excited to accompany them (read: ride their coat-tails) because it offered a great opportunity to see many Amerindians in relatively remote areas. We knew they would come out to see the American doctors, so we were assured of large audiences to talk about HIV/AIDS, pass out condoms, and do HIV testing.

But things started out badly before we even met up. We got in contact with Karen, the head of American group, on Friday as we planned all the things we wanted to do – HIV talks, condom distribution, a baseline health questionnaire, and HIV testing. As we talked with Karen over the phone, it became apparent there had been a miscommunication, and she wasn’t aware that we wanted to go along with them. Crap. The solution was essentially to just show up and hopefully there would be room on the boat for us. Basically, Patty and I completely freaked out after this conversation. We had been working all day preparing for this trip, not to mention being very excited for it. Now we were unsure if we could even go. Patty had spent all day revising a health questionnaire, making a data sheet for it, and testing it on me. I had spent a few hours picking up a 50 pound box of 7200 condoms to bring out there. We were both about to cry if we didn’t get to go.

So fast-forward back to Sunday – we get on the boat. Or more accurately, we got on a second, smaller boat. The doctors were carrying all their medical supplies, so we needed a second boat anyways. Phew. So we first went to Wakapoa, a community of about 2000 Amerindians spread among three major islands surrounded by a savannah marsh, all down a creek that comes off the Pomeroon River. It is a completely gorgeous place. We spent two full days there, giving HIV talks, distributing condoms, and testing people. The doctors saw probably about a hundred people a day, including many school children.

This was essentially how the whole week was – they would see people, then send them to us in the back, where we would do one-on-one HIV education and see if they wanted an HIV test. Then our HIV counselor/tester would do her thing. It was a very efficient and effective process we developed. As I’ve talked about before, stigma and discrimination about HIV/AIDS is a big problem here. If we had gone ourselves and announced that we were doing HIV education and testing, people would not have come for fear of being seen and labeled HIV positive. But the doctors gave us a cover. People were sometimes told they were being sent to us for “health education.” But as soon as they got alone in the room with us and were told we were talking about HIV, people were very receptive. I didn’t have one person who wasn’t interested and wanted to walk out. I think that because it was kind of secretive, people were willing to listen – eager, even. We had very few people decline an offer to be tested for HIV. We tested people ranging from 74 year olds to 11 year olds, most of whom were just more curious than anything else. Overall, we tested over a hundred people and, somewhat surprisingly, got no positives. Statistically, this is kind of weird, considering the HIV rate is around 5% and estimated to be even higher in these Amerindian communities. However, there are a few reasons we got no positives. First, we tested a bunch of 11 to 15 year old school children. Obviously this is not a high risk group, though I definitely talked to more than one twelve year old who was having sex. Secondly, we weren’t able to test very many 18-35 year old men who work for months in mines in the interior. These are the highest risk group in Guyana in many ways. They leave their families for months at a time, going to remote places with lots of sex workers. They don’t like to wear condoms, or, as I found out talking to one guy, condoms can cost up to US$5 for one in this areas. We did test some of their wives, many of whom told me they don’t trust their husbands and have already gotten STD’s from them when they come back from the interior. These women would have been a kind of secondary sign of a bad HIV rate in the communities. So we weren’t able to test many from the high risk group, and we “padded” our numbers with low risk people. Hence, no positives.

This is not to say we didn’t get our fair share of people who easily could have been positive. One guy had had unprotected sex with twelve different girls… in the past three months! Obviously, he was a little scared. He tested HIV negative, though he could be in the Window Period (when you are actually HIV positive but don’t have enough anti-bodies in your blood for the test to result in a positive; this can last anywhere from three weeks to six months, depending on the person).

So besides the work, it was still a great time. There were constant questions about transportation, food, and lodging, but we survived it all. We Peace Corps people did have to skip one community because it was too expensive for us to get there and back, but otherwise we went everywhere the doctors went. In Wakapoa, we slept outside in hammocks with mosquito nets. It was nice to wake up to a great sunrise each morning. On the other hand, each night I woke up freezing around 2AM and had to wrap a damp towel around my legs as a blanket. So that wasn’t too nice. And I’m not mentioning the roosters that seemed to practice their vocal cords throughout the night, anticipating the sunrise. Or the first night, when a dog was making the most horrible sound in the world, a sound I described as if it were being taken advantage of by a monkey. But otherwise, no complaints.

When we were in Kabakaburi, we stayed by a Peace Corps volunteer, which meant beds! Unfortunately, the mosquitoes there were like the T-1000 in the Terminator movies – they somehow could go through our mosquito nets. So both nights, I woke up with a few hundred mosquitoes inside my net. Nothing is more annoying in the world than slowly descending into sleep, only to be rudely pulled back to reality by the high-pitched buzzing of a mosquito circling your ear. I wanted to kill each and every one of those little bastards.

Kabakaburi was beautiful but different from Wakapoa. It was a series of houses and compounds along the shore of the Pomeroon River. This was also how St. Monica and Karawab were set up. These were all beautiful places. In addition, they were much closer to the Peace Corps stereotype. Semi-remote villages, they didn’t have electricity running water. People drank rain water they caught in huge tanks. They bathed, did their laundry, and washed their dishes in the river. This was much closer to what I thought I was signing up for when I joined Peace Corps. This is not to say that I live an American life here without any challenges. I just don’t usually have to worry about electricity or running water. That’s all.

Anyways, we spent a total of six days on the Pomeroon River. It was fantastic. I felt incredibly useful the whole time. I felt like I finally did something in Peace Corps. Patty and I joked that this will have been the most productive week for us during our first year here in Peace Corps. And we’re probably right. I don’t know if that’s because we had such a great week or because we feel so useless sometimes at our sites as we still try to figure out what exactly we should do. I’ll let you know when I figure the answer out.

Make sure you check out the pictures right after this post. And I need to write again, because I didn't even talk about my HIV conference on Abstinence and Being Faithful. That was interesting, to say the least. I also had potentially the two best nights of my life in Guyana during that conference. I'll post about that stuff jus' now...

New Pictures!!!

2006-11-01T10:30:00.000-04:00

Well, here are some pictures from The Trip, as it is now known. The first is of me in Wakapoa, enjoying the sunset. My friend Phillip and I spent about half an hour along the creek, taking pictures of the sunset. It was trulty beautiful.

The second picture is of Patty and me in the front of the speedboat, traveling down to Karawab on the last day of the trip. Though we've been bathing in the river for a few days straight, I think we don't look too ugly right there.

I got more pictures, but the computer is not being nice to me. So I'll try to post them some other time.

Randomness

2006-10-16T13:33:00.000-04:00

So I'm a little sad over here, though I will admit it is mixed with anticipation of fun. First off, I am sad to report that one of my best friends from Peace Corps out here on the coast left last week. He still had about seven months left in PC and was the senior volunteer on the coast. He had been, in some ways, a sort of mentor to me, I guess. At least in all the fun things we do on the coast. Through him, I met a fair amount of interesting and sometimes influential people out here. But above all that, he was (and still is) a really good friend and someone I always enjoyed hanging out with. I will definitely miss him. I can't say that I really feel bad for him leaving. He is meeting up with his girlfriend and then traveling to Thailand, with no return ticket. So damn. I guess I'm sad and jealous.

But life is good too. Tomorrow I have yet another conference, this one on Abstinence and Being Faithful approaches to fighting HIV/AIDS. Though I am completely convinced that AB-only approaches don't work effectively, sometimes we are obligated to do AB-only talks or workshops, such as at schools or some religious institutions. So, despite my personal thoughts, this conference should be good. And anyways, we Peace Corps volunteers are always looking for an excuse (preferably paid by PC) to see each other. And when this conference is over, I will be accompanying six or so John Hopkins Doctors into remote Amerindian villages along the Pomeroon River for seven days. My friend Patty and I will be doing HIV outreach and education. And I'm trying to get around 7,000 condoms to distribute too. I have to pick those up in Georgetown this Friday, which should be funny as hell. That's about 40-50 boxes of condoms. This will be hilarious.

So life is good. But sometimes I don't feel like I give you guys a taste of what my life is like. So here are some random things that have happened to me or thoughts I've had.

- I constantly get asked at the health center I work at if I'm a doctor. Most often, after talking to someone for five minutes, they ask me if I'm a Cuban doctor. Um, was I speaking English to you or Spanish? To be fair, there are a lot of Cuban doctors in country. But still...

- Constant questions as to whether I'm married. When I say no, they are often offers of daughters, friends, or just knowing comments about how I could have any girl on the coast. I know, I know. It's pretty obvious when girls I'm friends with randomly tell me how they want to marry a white guy. Uh, yeah... that's not awkward.

- similarly, if any girls up in America want to get married, I know about 350,000 guys here who are very interested.

- Any time I pass a moderately full rum shop (basically an open air bar), I get calls of "hey white boy, take a drink with us!" And when I say that it's 1:30 in the afternoon on a Thursday and I have a meeting in an hour, they say "that's okay! We'll just drink for half an hour." And that actually sounds really enticing.

- Foods I've eaten that I have never or rarely eaten before: crocodile, iguana, snail, laba (basically a giant rat that lives in the bush - it's pretty good), tapir/bush cow, wild hog, salapenter (a big lizard), and eggs. Haha, Greg see that? I'm eating eggs now. Let's be proud of me.

- I like the drunk guys who can't understand me when they are completely smashed. They keep turning to each other and saying, with completely slurred words, "what language he speak?" And I'm thinking "you can't understand me? This is a joke."

- Speaking of, when people get really full of alcohol, they say they are high. If they keep drinking and get sick, then they are drunk. So Americans say drunk when Guyanese would say high. This is funny to me mostly because there is a hard liquor of about 120 proof that is called "High Wine." Imagine something in America called "Drunk Wine." I don't know if it would sell.

- At Indian weddings, the men tend to stay in the back and just drink the whole time. So by the time the ceremony is over, there is a group of high men, wanting to dance. But the women stay out of the way. So you end up with a group of ten or twenty men, all dancing with each other. And I definitely mean with each other. There is a lot of hand holding, hip-gyrations, and whatnot. The best part is that no one thinks it's weird at all. And if you asked around, most would probably express either neutral to not-gay-friendly opinions. Just hilarious.

- I've watched more The Price Is Right down here than every last one of you combined, I bet. And that is a really weird show to watch with Guyanese people. First off, the premise is crazy. People are just giddy about getting free stuff. But man, what a weird image of America to send out to the world. Yeah that's right, we just get living room sets and new cars randomly. Happens all the time. That's America!

- Most Guyanese go to New York City when they leave Guyana. So when I tell people I'm from California, I often get blank stares and then attempts to figure out where that is in New York City - near the Bronx or Queens? Oftentimes I just lie and say NYC to make it easy.

I guess these are just little snippets of life down here. I mean, they barely add up to one percent of my life. But they are little glimpses of life here. To me it's normal by now. So I even forget these little things the next day. But I'll try to remember these things more often.

A little note: please no one send me down any emails or anything about the Baseball playoffs or World Series. I think my friend down here is getting his brother to TiVo the games, burn them on DVD, and send them down. So we will spend a weekend watching baseball. I know, we're totally cool. But that makes me immensely excited. So don't ruin it. Thanks! I hope everyone else is doing well!

Happy (belated) Birthday To Me

2006-09-27T11:30:00.001-04:00

First off, thanks to all that sent me birthday emails or postings or whatever. Thanks so much. And to those who didn't, no worries. I plan on forgetting everyone's birthdays while I'm down here, so I can't really get angry if someone forgets mine, right?

So yes, I entered my mid-twenties last Wednesay, the 20th. Being 24 is okay, I guess. It's feels pretty much the same. This is especially true because one of my best Peace Corps friends here is a 30 year old guy who acts and feels 16. People sometimes think I'm older than him, especially since I have a beard. So people were surprised when I said I was "only" turning 24. Oh well.

My birthday was actually fun, though I didn't really do anything special. Peace Corps had a training workshop on the other side of Guyana for my group, so I ended up traveling all day with my friends. It was really nice to be surrounded by friends who I hadn't seen in two months. And the workshop went well too. So a good time all around.

Speaking of my group, we have been decimated by some invisible force picking off Peac Corps volunteers. We entered Guyana with 20, but now are staggering about after seven months with only 14. Since we have been sworn in as volunteers (end of April), we've lost at least one volunteer every month. AND, we've lost four of the six guys in the group. That's right. I'm one of two guys left. And the other guy - Paul - is married and in a place where I don't see him much. So... it's me and a bunch of girls. This is kinda funny in fact. During our workshop, all the girls would forget that Paul and I are there, so conversations end of turning towards typically girly stuff. And you should know that there is a lot comfort among Peace Corps volunteers, so these conversations often go towards bodily functions, diets, etc. It's a good thing I'm not fazed by these things. It was pretty funny. Whenever Paul and I would try to talk about baseball or something in the corner, the girls would make a big deal of how we were trying to "guys' talk." It was funny.

So my group is barely getting along. And of those that left, many of them left unexpectedly. So it seems that anyone in my group could be next. That's a little scary. So hopefully we don't lose anyone in October.

Anyways, that's the most interesting thing going on over here. Otherwise, life is good. I'm just working in the health post, talking to mothers about their children, and teaching "life skills" to a local school of juvenile delinquants. I'm also looking to start some sort of drama program in another local school, with the hope that they will do HIV-themed street skits next summer break. My friend Patty and I are slowly working on that. But even if work is still slow, my life is good. I've got a small but growing group of Guyanese friends. Next weekend is a friend's birthday, so we're going to have a huge BBQ at his bar.

Anyways, life is good. Oh yeah, on Sunday I went to an Amerindian village for Heritage Day. We ate laba (an animal from the bush), alligator (which is awesome), cassava bread, and drank pawarhi (which I'm probably spelling wrong). Pawarhi is an alcoholic drink made from grated cassava. It looks like dirty water with things floating in it, but it tastes pretty good. Anyways, it was all a cultural experience, right?

So I hope all is well in America. I have a friend doing Peace Corps in Thailand, and with the military coup, I was a little worried. But apparently she is just fine. Peace Corps says stay in your community, that's all. So that's good. Take care everyone!

The "Peaceful and Credible" Elections

2006-09-08T11:46:00.000-04:00

Well, I survived the elections. Which, I must say, was surprisingly easy. Since 1992, every election has been followed by violence, mostly in Georgetown, but also in other parts of Guyana. So why should this one be different? Well, it was. There was pretty much no violence at all. Everyone seemed to be sitting on edge, waiting for something to happen. But nothing did. There seems to be two main reasons. First off, the PPP/C ruling party won in a "landslide" (as they say) victory of 54%. The main opposition party, the PNC-R, took in about 30% I think. In the past, they would have then claimed fraud, not accepted the results, and protests and riots would have ensued. Except this time, the PNC-R accepted the results. So there was no political calls to boycott the results, thereby giving cover for mischief and rioting. Secondly, it seems the people of Guyana did not care this time. Of those eligible to vote, only about 64% turned out, an all time low. There are some questions as to whether that number was low because people have moved to America but are still on the voter rolls (and you must be in country to vote). But even that could not account for the drop in turnout. So I think people just didn't care. And people who don't care are not about to start burning the capital.

So the elections were safe. As the state television station keeps telling us, they were "peaceful and credible." So that's nice. And all our worrying about getting evacuated to America or wherever was unfounded. So life is back to normal here. I'll write more when I get a chance. I hope everyone is well!

Elections!

2006-08-26T13:14:00.000-04:00

Well, it's election season here in Guyana. Elections are slated for this Monday, August 28th. I'm excited, not just because I was a political science major and therefore incredibly nerdy for these types of things. But also because it's an exciting time in Guyana. Since the inception of free elections in 1992, voting has been quickly followed by varying degrees of violence, mostly in Georgetown. In the last elections in 2001, rioting in Georgetown lasted weeks. And it took 3 months to declare a winner. So obviously, Peace Corps is a little apprehensive about this time. I probably can't explain in full detail the precautions that Peace Corps is taking, but they have moved some volunteers around temporarily and scared us all about the prospect of consolidating in a special place and then catching planes home to America. I have visions of the Vietnam era photos of the Americans getting helicoptered out off the roof of the US embassy. Forgive me because I can't remember where that was - Saigon? Anyways, that'll be me, jus' now.

But these elections look interesting. But before I write some neutral, factual observations about the parties, let me just reiterate that these are my opinions, not Peace Corps' or the US government's. So if you have a problem, tell me and not Peace Corps. This is not official policy analysis from the Bush Administration.

So, the two main parties that have been around for a long time and that dominate the electoral landscape are the PPP/C and the PNC-R. The PPP/C has been in power since 1992. Before that, the PNC-R was in power for something like 30 years of so. Guyanese politics are pretty much split along racial lines here. The PPP/C enjoys the support of the Indo-Guyanese population (which is the majority ethnic group), while the PNC-R is supported by the Afro-Guyanese party. Of course, these are generalizations, as you would find supporters from all ethnic groups in each party, but largely these are their bases. This puts the PPP/C at a distinct advantage because the Indo-Guyanese population makes up close to, if not more than, half the population of Guyana. However, there have been questions about this because the last census was done in 2001. And a thought in Guyana is that Indo-Guyanese have been leaving Guyana in the past five years in larger numbers than Afro-Guyanese. So the population majority that the PPP/C enjoys might be more of an illusion. Nonetheless, they are the incumbent party, have more money, control the state-run television station, radio station, and newspaper. Not a bad position to be in for re-election, right?

The interesting thing about this election is the newly formed AFC party. Born out of disaffected PPP/C and PNC-R members, the AFC is a reform party trying to move out from racial politics. Since this is the first time there is a viable third party, there are many people who see this is a crucial election. I have talked to many people that are not happy with their own party and would never vote for the other major party. However, this turning into votes for the AFC is pretty big question. This is still a country run by the two main parties, both of which reward loyalty.

Anyways, it's very interesting. If people vote largely by race, the PPP/C should win a plurality, if not an outright majority. But the rise of the AFC muddles the equation. There is a distinct possibility that the AFC could take the lowest percentage of the three, but get much of the power as it acts like a broker and enters a coalition government with one or the other party. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait at least a few weeks, if not months, for the official results to come back. And in the meantime, I'm sure everyone will claim victory.

So I'm excited by it all. But it will also be nice when it is over. Peace Corps has been putting restrictions on us and generally making life stressful. I know they don't enjoy doing it, but they have to ensure our safety. Fair enough. But I think we'll all be glad when it's over.

HIV / AIDS in Guyana

2006-07-23T20:48:00.000-04:00

HIV / AIDS is a huge problem in Guyana. Though statistics can be unreliable here, the general guesses place the HIV infection rate in Guyana around 3% or so, placing it second behind Haiti in this hemisphere. That's in a country of about 750,000. So we are looking at about 23,000 people infected with HIV here. But with such a small population, and the quickness with which the virus can spread, this country is on the brink of a huge national disaster. The infection rate could easily jump in five years to a range known only in Africa.

But one problem with this statistic is that nobody really knows what the true rate is. There are many parts of Guyana where there are no numbers. And some of these places would seem to likely have high rates. Also, there are no regional numbers. For instance, the Essequibo Coast compiles their raw data and sends it into Georgetown, but never gets any analysis of it's own situation - we only hear the national rate. This, incidentally, is something my Peace Corps friend is working on. So we guess, using the national rate and being conservative, that there are around 2,000 HIV positive people here on the coast, out of a population of 70,000.

But there is another problem with the numbers. People don't want to get tested in Guyana. So without large numbers of people testing (or even representative numbers), it's hard to have anything more than an educated guess on the true infection rate here.

Regardless of what the rate is exactly, it is apparent that HIV is the elephant in the room here. And everyone knows it. There is an amazing amount of money pouring into this country to fight the disease. We are one of fifteen countries (and one of two outside of Africa) that are part of the US government's PEPFAR program. This is a federal program started by the Bush Administration to fight HIV / AIDS. For Guyana, they poured in about US$21 million last year, which is an amazing amount for such a small country. Basically, if you have an idea related to HIV, you can get money for it. Additionally, it allows for all medicine for HIV positive patients to be free here. So it's a good thing (though there are some drawbacks, which I don't have time to get into).

So why is the rate not dropping (and probably growing, though who knows?)? Well, this country suffers from a few unfortunate things that, coupled, produce a terrible environment to fight HIV. First, there is immense stigma and discrimination against people with HIV / AIDS here. Not only are people shunned who are positive, but so are people just suspected of being positive. And how is one suspected? Well, if it becomes known you got tested, then people assume you are positive. If you lose weight quickly, then people assume you are positive. If you even just go by one of the testing places, people assume you are positive. And you are never going to be able to do anything to change people's minds. Of course, some people won't care. But there are so many people that love to point and gossip about whoever. And word spreads quickly here. Everyone knows everyone; no use trying to keep a secret here. So what's the rational reaction to this? Don't get tested. People are loathe to even appear to get tested.

A second problem is both the fatalistic attitude towards HIV / AIDS and the misinformation. People don't know that they can get free treatment from the hospital, that there are support groups, that you become eligible for public assistance and micro-loans, etc. But people have at least heard of the disease. However, they have a lot of misconceptions about it. Some of the reactions I've heard after being asked if they want to be tested: "The stress of knowing I was positive would kill me so fast." "I would be so angry that I would go infect 10 people right away." And so on. It's so frustrating when you know it's a manageable, chronic disease. You don't need to die from it, especially when the treatment is free.

So that's why people don't know their status, even though there are testing places which are free. But why does the disease spread so much here? Again, two main factors tend combine to push the disease. First, men don't like to wear condoms. Either it doesn't feel good, you can't "draw energy from the girl," or it's not natural. For whatever reason, guys would rather not wear a condom. And women don't feel empowered enough, generally, to force a guy to wear one. And let's not even discuss abstinence. That's not happening here. So condoms are the best way to control new infections, but men won't wear them.

Secondly, men feel they have impunity to have multiple partners. It's ingrained in the culture almost that a man should have both his wife and a "sweet woman." It's directly related to his manliness, it seems. I've had many conversations with men who openly talk of how they cheat, like it's normal. And they are right here - it is normal. Many men live on the coast but work in the interior. So they will be gone for months at a time. During that time, many men cheat on their wives, often with commercial sex workers (speaking of, most bars have at least one girl who performs that duty here). So men are cheating. And like I said earlier, they won't wear condoms.

So what happens, as I'm sure you can imagine, is that a husband goes off for work, contracts HIV from a sex worker, and then brings it back and infects his wife. And then he might also infect another sweet woman he might have around his home. And a man who does know he is HIV positive, having contracted it from a sex worker or whoever, won't want to wear a condom with his wife, knowing she will suspect him of cheating. So instead he infects his wife, thinking this is better for the marriage (or at least him). It's very sad.

Anyways, it goes on and on. But as sad as this situation is, this isn't the first country in the world to face it. So I know we can make headway. And not everyone is like what I just talked about. I just talked to taxi driver who has been married for 12 years, never cheats, and has been tested. And same with his wife. Unfortunately, he is the exception to the rule. But if there are enough like him, especially among the youths, there is hope. But until then, I'm here, with a whole lot of international aid and other organizations, trying to turn the tide.

Happy 4th of July!

2006-07-03T08:54:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm winding up my 4th of July weekend in Georgetown. We went to the US Ambassador's house on Saturday, swimming in his pool and getting baked in the sun. Basically, it was reunion of my training class, GUY17. It was fantastic to see all of my friends who I have not seen for the past two months. Of course, talk centered around work and how useless we feel a lot of the time. People are working only 15 hours a week at a lot of places, just like me. Lots of us are hitting the same barriers to working effectively. Some people have worse situations than other, of course, but it was good to compare all of our experiences so far.

It also made me realize how much I like the Essequibo Coast, where I live. The coast has just one road that drives along the coastline, with all the towns on the main road. With the taxis or mini-buses, the conductors are nice and not too pushy. But wow, the contrast is amazing to Georgetown. In the capital, there are seemingly millions of people. The conductors are pushy, grabby, and often rude. The relative hustle and bustle (I mean, this is nothing compared to a US city) makes me feel like a country bumpkin. But I like it. I like the relative quietness and slow pace of the Essequibo Coast. I like the safety - I feel fine being out late at night, whereas I don't want to be anywhere but inside after dusk in Georgetown. I just really like the coast. That's one of the reasons this weekend has been good for me - it make me realize how lucky I am with my site placement. The freedom we have out there, coupled with the beauty of the coast and the friendliness of the people, has got to make the Essequibo Coast one of the best places in Guyana.

Anyways, it's been a good 4th of July weekend in Guyana. I think we might try to do a BBQ tomorrow for the proper holiday. And maybe we can get some explosive materials and try to make some fireworks? That sounds like a good secondary project.

Pictures!

2006-06-22T19:03:00.000-04:00

Finally, after much procrastination, I am posting a few pictures. Looking through the pictures I've already taken, I realized many of my pics were of friends at night. These, obviously, don't show the beauty of Guyana. So I tried to include a few good ones here, but the better solution is for me to take more pics. Nonetheless, here are few to whet your appetite. It'll probably be a few more months before I get around to posting pictures again, so don't hold your breath.

This first picture is of me in the Bourda Market in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. This picture was at the end of training. The market is beautiful with its rows of food stalls under the tarp and tin roof. The fruits are gorgeous. Always a fun time to walk through there, trying not to get pick-pocketed.

This is a picture of my home, of sorts. Yes, it looks mighty large, huh? Actually, you can't see my home here. I live in a much smaller part of the family compound behind the house. My family owns a smallish general store (appropriately known as the White Shop). The store is in the front, and they live above it. I have a room in the back in a seperate building. We share the same kitchen, and I go into their space to watch tv or whatever. Like now, when I watch three football matches a day. Does America even know that World Cup is on? I'm breathing World Cup football! Go West Indies (even though you are already out of it).

So these are some of my Peace Corps friends. Dave, on the left, is a physiotherapist at the local hospital. He's been here for a year. Jacq, in the middle, is a teacher at a local secondary school. She's been here for a about 10 months. And Dave, on the right, is just ending his two years, having taught computers at a local computer institute thingy. We're hanging out at Lake Mainstay for a community fundraiser. It was pretty beautiful. You can't tell, but the lake is black water. Which means it looks black - kinda creepy. Anyways, three of my PCV friends who live near me.

Finally, here is a picture of me. Again at Lake Mainstay for the fundraiser, I'm doing a very common Guyanese practice - lying in a hammock. I like this picture for a number of reasons. First, notice the sweet Teva tan on my feet. That's what happens when you never wear sandals your whole life, then exclusively one pair for three months straight on the equator. Nice, huh? Second, the cool hammock with American flags and motorcycles. Very weird hammock my buddy Dave bought. I totally covet it and wish he would leave it with me. Alas, he also recognizes the genius of it and is taking it home. Damnit. Anyways, lying in hammock is a very common thing for us over here. I'm still figuring out where to put mine at home, so for now I spend my hours that would be in a hammock instead on my bed. But believe me, I utilize everyone else's hammocks. They are so awesome.

Well, there are some pictures. I'll try to take more of the amazing coastline and beautiful environment. The rice fields are gorgeous, especially with the sun setting behind them.

Oh yeah, real quick. We've lost two more people from my group in the past few weeks. So now we are down from 20 to 17. Very sad. It hurts to see people go, and of course it makes you question what exactly you are doing here. We were a close group during training, so it's a friend leaving, someone you may never see again. Very sad.

Well, life is good enough down here, especially with World Cup football on. I'm spending 4th of July (well, actually Saturday the 1st) at the Ambassador's house, swimming in his pool and eating BBQ. Did I say eating? I meant buying. How crazy is that? They're making us buy our food at the pool party. I guess the capitalist message of America extends to the ex-pats and Peace Corps volunteers. Well, at least we are consistent with our capitalism, right?

Okay, I hope everyone is doing well. Cheers!

Tid Bits From South America

2006-05-27T21:05:00.000-04:00

Hi all, long time, no posting, eh? Since I've finished about a month at my site, I guess I can reflect back upon it. Let's see.... it's been largely good. First, let me talk about work. There is no way getting around the fact that work is slow. We have clinic days on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. For those times, we might see about five to ten people. For the other days, which are usually general out-patient, we tend to see zero to a handful of people. At this point, I'm not going back to work after lunch because there will almost certainly be no patients coming in the door. One of the problems is that the large regional hospital is only about a fifteen minute drive down the road. So if someone is sick, they are more likely to go down there - and endure the long lines - to see a doctor than to see the community health worker (not quite as trained as a nurse) who works in my health center. We get people coming in with coughs or maybe the flu, but not much else. And frankly, if they have something worse than that, we send them to the hospital. The usefulness of my health center - and most of the smaller health centers on the coast - is questionable. But whatever; it's not my place to question the viability of my work. So work at my primary site is slow, but I have things slowly developing. Twice a week I have meetings at the hospital to attend a workshop about HIV/AIDS, STI's, and counseling. I'm in the process of being trained to do HIV/AIDS test counseling, which will be great. It's something much needed here on the coast. Additionally, some of us are beginning to formulate outreach ideas. We are going to get the weekly markets and have a stand, giving out pamphlets and condoms as we play games to get people interested. We are also putting in a grant application to fund street performers who will do daily performances in different towns about HIV/AIDS. So we have some ideas that we are developing to push HIV/AIDS education. And of course I'm thinking about getting into the schools to do sexual health education. These kids are having sex at thirteen - I've seen a few girls at work who are newly married and pregnant at age fifteen. These kids need sex ed early here.

Home life is great here. My family is amazing. I eat the best of any volunteer that I know of. I eat better now than I did when I lived in Washington DC before I came out here (sorry Greg). My family has a general store and snackette. They encourage me to eat the food they sell. So I'm always allowed to have a free ice cream or some little snack they make fresh ever day, like cassava balls. It's pretty awesome. They make the best fruit juice, and I drink it for free all the time. I tell them every day that if they don't stop being so nice, I'm going to make them go bankrupt. They just laugh at me. Totally awesome.

And I've been getting into cricket. I understand it pretty well at this point - I even understand a bunch of the strategy. The West Indies team is not too bad - about 9th in the world. But they've been playing really well lately. The games start at about 10am and end around 6pm. It's pretty cool. The ending of the games is always the best part. It's gotten very exciting and came down to the last bowl (or pitch, for those of us versed in baseball lingo). Very exciting stuff. I would say that it is one of the few things that completely unites all of Guyana across ethnic lines, even during this election time. Not to say that the ethnic groups don't largely get along, especially outside of election time. But this seems to be the most surefire way.

I've been hanging with volunteers a fair amount. I won't go more than one or two days without seeing a volunteer. In fact, I usually see someone every day. That's both good and bad. It's good in that it keeps me sane as I try to settle into my new life. It can also be good because I've met a fair amount of really cool Guyanese folks through volunteers who have been here for a year or more. But on the bad side, it's hard to say that I'm integrating fully when I'm at the bar with seven other volunteers and no Guyanese people. So there are trade-offs. But it will probably change over time as I become more comfortable.

A little side-note. I now know what it's like to be a fantastically hot girl at a bar. Basically, when I go out, locals love to just buy my friends and me beers. We'll be out and my friend will see someone he kinda knows. Next thing we know, we've got a beer in our hands with a next round coming. And there is little sense that I need to buy a round. I'll even say I want to buy the next round, but I get told "no, no, no. You're our guest here." It's pretty nice. So that's why I now know what it's like to be a really hot girl in a bar - lots of free drinks (except without the flirting).

I do have one sad piece of news. My group, GUY17, lost it's first member. One volunteer from my group went home a few days ago. I don't want to talk about the circumstances because (a) I don't know the full circumstances and (b) it's not really my place to post about someone else's decision to leave or forced separation from the program. So I won't say much more, except that we will miss this volunteer and are sad to see it happen. But it would have been wishful thinking to imagine that we could go the full two years without losing someone. But nonetheless, it's sad.

Other than that, life is good. Peace Corps is nervous about the upcoming elections in August/September, as they should be. It's going to be a chaotic time. We won't be allowed to go into Georgetown, and PC will be moving all the volunteers in Georgetown out temporarily. There is a small but definite possibility that PC Guyana will get shut down temporarily or even forever, and I will be sent home. But it's a small possibility, so I don't think about it too much. At least not yet.

So that's about it from over here. I mean, I guess I could write about all those lives I've already saved and all those crazy nights I've had. But I don't want to embarrass you all by reminding you how boring your own lives are, right? haha. Just teasing. My friend Patty and I did outreach to a semi-remote village last week, and we walked around trying to give out condoms. We gave condoms to three different men. We felt like that was the best, most productive thing we've done so far. So maybe that tells you how slow things are right now as we figure our jobs out. It's a long process. But I can definitely see why PC told us that it takes about a year to figure it out and hit your stride. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

After One Week of Work

2006-05-07T13:14:00.000-04:00

Well, I've got one week of work under my belt now. It wasn't quite a full week, considering Monday and Friday were both holidays. God-bless Guyana and all their holidays. But I was in my one room health center for three days. It was pretty slow. On Tuesday we saw eight new moms and their kids in the morning and not a single person in the afternoon. Wednesday and Thursday were similar. So right now I'm realizing that I need to go out to find my audience if I'm going to make any sort of difference. I'm thinking about getting into the schools and doing health outreaches during the weekly markets in various towns. Anyways, a lot thinking and energy because I'm new here and not jaded yet. So I gotta take advantage of that crazy optimism, right?

But life is good here. The Essequibo Coast is beautiful. There are a few volunteers on the coast here with me, so we've been spending some time together as they show me the ropes and introduce me to some of their Guyanese friends. It's been a lot of fun, though tiring. It takes a lot of energy to meet and talk to people. But it's been a lot of fun. And I feel pretty comfortable already here. So it's nice. I think I'm in a good place for the next two years.

Anyways, need to go. I'm using a friend's computer and more people want to use it. Internet is even more expensive out here, so I'll be on this less than I was. But keep the emails and comments coming. I hope everyone is doing well. Cheers!

Peace Corps Volunteer

2006-04-27T10:43:00.000-04:00

You are no longer reading about a Peace Corps Trainee. I'm an officialy, full-fledged Peace Corps Volunteer! Whoo-hoo! Actually, I feel largely the same. It was kinda funny. We are at our ceremony, we are told to stand up and repeat and oath, and suddenly we are PCVs. It was kinda like, that's it? Oh well. I'm excited. Our whole group made it, which makes us just the second Peace Corps Guyana group to get through training intact. And now that I'm a PCV, it's a lot harder for them to kick me out. So now I'm in it for the long haul.

But I feel like Friday is a bigger day. We move out to our sites Friday morning. So today is spent packing and saying goodbye to all my friends in GUY17 (my PC health group). It's actually pretty sad to say goodbye. These people are amazing, and I feel like I've really bonded with many of them. Though some are going to be close enough to see fairly frequently if I would like, a few of my best friends are on the other side of Guyana. So I'll only be able to see them every few months, when we all have to come into Georgetown for something. So today is farewell day.

Anyways, life is good down here. I'm ready to start working at my site. I'm excited to finally be on my own, no longer living with a host family. And I'm happy to finally start my two years. I now get to start to save a little part of the world. Wish me luck!

This is Peace Corps?!

2006-04-13T18:12:00.000-04:00

So I just got back from spending almost a week at my site. First off, let me apologize. I said I was in Queenstown, but I mistaken. I'm actually in Affiance, a smaller town about one mile down the only road on the Essequibo Coast. So my apologies. I will be working in the Columbia Health Center, which is really the Affiance Health Center, but somehow is in Columbia, a town that begins seamlessly from Affiance without any warning. Confused yet? It really doesn't matter, because I will soon become the white doctor living and working in Affiance. So if you ever come and visit, that's how you can find me.

Yeah, I think I'm going to like this. I feel like I signed up for Posh Corps. My living situation is a little too nice, it seems. I am living with a family that owns a general store. So I live right behind it, in a free standing building right above our kitchen. I say "our" because apparently I am now family. Their home is my home. So anyways, I have my own bedroom and bathroom, which has a normal toilet, sink, and - get this - shower. And honest to god shower. It may not be the best shower, but wow. I was almost enjoying the bucket baths. Now I get a shower. And downstairs is a nicer kitchen than I've had since I moved out of my family's home in San Francisco. And my host mom makes really good food. So I don't know how much I'll be cooking for the next two years. We'll see.

So I'll have a lot more to say once I start working there. It's a small health center with not too much going on. So I expect to start some secondary projects, probably working with HIV/AIDS education. As we all probably don't know, Guyana has the second highest infection rate in the region, the first being Haiti. Though the official number is 3% to 5% infection rate, the real number could be a lot higher because testing is minimal and the stigma against being positive is immense. And even if the official number is right, it's just waiting to explode. So I guess I'm living in a tinderbox.

But before I get you all sad, let me tell you a little story from my time on the Essequibo Coast. Peace Corps is not the only international organization here. Among many others, the U.N. has a doctor program here. The U.N. doctor who has been placed at the main Essequibo Coast Regional Hospital is Dr. Nagesh, a HIV specialist from India. He's been here for the past 6 months, with 18 months to go. So Dr. Nagesh is amazingly nice and intelligent, as well as passionate about fighting HIV/AIDS. And he's friends with a few of the Peace Corps volunteers on the coast. So he invited a few of us over for dinner on Tuesday night. So we show up at his house. But I shouldn't say house - I should say mansion. Apparently the U.N. has very high security standards for it's doctor volunteers, so he was forced to live in a huge, two story, four bedroom mansion, all by himself. It has a perimeter fence, bars on all the windows, etc. Inside it is massive. And it's really funny, because he totally doesn't have enough furniture to fill it up. He's almost ashamed of it, but he had no choice. So we come over and he's making real Indian food, which was fantastic. But first we sit around, and he shows us an Indian magazine he just got from India. Apparently, there is a documentary about him fighting the rise of HIV/AIDS in India - and it's called "Dr. Nagesh." How ridiculous is that? He has a documentary NAMED after him. Not only that, but it got second prize in a French film festival. We're just sitting there, amazed that this wildly talented and brilliant doctor is here in Guyana, making us food. And he was telling me how he was worried I would be under-utilized at my site. Me under-utilized? How about you, Dr. Nagesh? Jeez. So then we have dinner, and he puts on music. The first song? Nas - "NY State of Mind." A gritty, early 90's rap song about New York. I had to put down my fork and start laughing. I mean, this is not quite what I thought Peace Corps is all about. Here I am, drinking the best rum in the world (did I mention we're drinking Guyanese rum, which is world famous), eating Indian food prepared by a famous Indian doctor working with the U.N., sitting in a mansion, listening to Nas. It was a little much for me. This is not the "mud huts on the African Savannah" I imagined when I signed up for Peace Corps. Not that I was complaining.

Anyways, that's life down here. From what I can ascertain, it sounds like Prez Bush broke some laws. Impeachment, anybody? Though that's not Peace Corps talking - that's Mark "crazy liberal from San Francisco" Hejinian talking. So anyways, feel free to let me know how that turns out. Cheers!

Site Placement

2006-04-06T16:48:00.000-04:00

After a one day delay in finding out our sites for the next two years, we were told today where we will be spending the next two years of our lives. As I've said earlier, this is pretty crazy. But anyways, to refresh people's memory, I was mostly concerned with working with a NGO. I had also done my volunteer visit on the Essequibo Coast and loved it there. So.... drumroll please..... I was placed with a small community health center in Queenstown on the Essequibo Coast!!! I'm pretty darn excited. My initial reaction was disappointment that I was not placed with a NGO. However, I am on the Essequibo Coast, which was beautiful and fun. Plus, the volunteers that are already there, along with the ones from own group who are going to be there, are amazing. So I can't really complain.

And the more I've thought about it, this will be good for me. I've had lots of experience working in offices of some sort or another. Though working in a NGO would be more comfortable for me, nobody said Peace Corps was about comfort. And the ability to interact with people and deal directly with their health care will be both challenging and rewarding. So I'm very excited.

So let me explain a little about community health centers. Basically, they are the first level of preventive health care in Guyana. All communities have their own health center. They will typically be staffed with some number of nurses, medex, and other staff. There is a lot pre- and post-natal work done at these clinics. So I will have lots of opportunities to talk with new mothers about their care of their new children. On top of that, they represent a great captive audience. As I get more comfortable and discover the major health issues that need to be addressed in my community, I can do health presentations and talks with them as they wait. Anyways, there is little structure but lots of potential for me. I'm excited to get started!

By the way, if you are trying to figure out where the Essequibo Coast is, basically the Essequibo River is the biggest river that runs through the middle of Guyana to the Atlantic Ocean. I'll be on the northwestern coast of it. So just Google it.

A Money Lesson and More!!!

2006-04-04T16:22:00.000-04:00

Okay, because the most common response to my postings is "$200 an hour for internet?!", I am going to give you guys a little money lesson. Mostly to confuse Americans, Guyana uses the same money symbol ($) as the US. But the conversion is basically Guyanese $200 is equal to US $1. So if I say something costs $200, you can imagine that it is costing only $1 in America (if the price were the same). Then, of course, you say "buck up Mark and spend more money on the internet!" Ah, but it's not like I was making that amazing $12 an hour while I was in DC. Oh no. Right now, Peace Corps gives me $500 a day to pay for transportation, any snacks I want, any beer or rum I might ingest, and any other incidentals. That's only US$2.50. So not that much. And when I get to my site, they only give the Guyanese equivalent of about US$200 a month to pay for all my bills, food, transportation, etc (except rent, which they pay separately). So as you can imagine, I cannot quite live the high life here.

Anyways, enough with the monetary lesson. More importantly, I find out my site tomorrow!!! I'm very excited. I realized that this is kinda like when I applied to college. You put yourself out there, show some sort of preference for one thing over another, and then sit back and let someone else make a decision that will directly impact the next few years of your life and change you forever. So I'm just sitting here, waiting for my thick envelope. I'm pretty anxious, though I could be worse. I guess my whole go-with-the-flow attitude kicks in during these times. That's always good.

Anyways, thanks Peter for telling me the Felix Hernandez will be starting every game for the Mariniers. That's a key piece of information I didn't see on ESPN.com. Sorry Greg that UCLA lost. Except not really, because I don't care.

Speaking of Greg, let me give him a shout out. He's doing "design your own Peace Corps" in Brazil. Basically, he is helping a poor community outside Rio build and maintain a much-needed community center. It will have English classes, computer classes, dance classes, capoeira, and other after-school classes for the children of the community. He is doing the fundraising all by himself. He already has gotten money from some community organizations in the states (Rotary Foundation, etc) but could use more. Everyone should go to his website, which is http://www.novaolinda.org/ It explains it much better, with pictures and everything. It is a great cause, and I personally vouch that he will not take the money and spend it on prostitutes in Brazil. I watched him slave over his grant proposals while we were in Washington DC. So if nothing else, check out his site and pass it on to a friend (or rich, money-giving friend, ideally). As his website says, he only needs $33,712 for the next two years!!! That's nothing. Don't buy that car and help a whole community.

Peace Corps Guyana Just Got Real

2006-04-02T11:51:00.000-04:00

I just got back from my volunteer visit, which is the best idea Peace Corps has ever come up with. Basically, I've been in and just outside Georgetown for the past four weeks for training. But they keep asking you about where you want to be placed for your two years. But what do I know about Guyana? I haven't seen anything. It would be like living in New York City for four weeks and then having to decide where in the USA you want to live - Boston, random town in North Dakota, rural village in Alabama, or mountain town in Colorado? Being in New York tells you nothing about anywhere else. It's the same way with Georgetown. So that's part of the reason why they send us trainees on the volunteer visit - to see where the volunteers actually live and get an idea of what life might be like for the next two years. As far as I can tell, life is going to be sweet.

I went, with four other guys, to a bunch of volunteers about three hours away (at least when you take a mini-bus, then a speedboat, and then a taxi). It was across the largest river in Guyana, on the Essequibo Coast. I had a blast. The volunteers are sane, which is always good to see. Their places were really nice. Some even had ovens! Holy molley! One guy had mosquito-proofed his whole apartment, so he didn't need to sleep under a mosquito net. That seemed almost too luxurious for Peace Corps. But anyways, it was almost a tease to see these volunteers living by themselves, when we're still stuck with our host families.

But it was an amazing time. The Guyana outside of Georgetown is gorgeous. I would love to be placed there. And speaking of placement, I find out my site this Thursday afternoon. So I'm pretty excited. I talked about wanting to be in Georgetown, but now, after my volunteer visit, I would like to be on Essequibo Coast. But I'm flexible. The only thing I really want is to be placed with a NGO. Basically, most volunteers are placed in community health centers, where they do presentations and generally help. It sounds like it can be really slow and boring sometimes, especially for the first year. But there are a few sites where you work in a NGO. These organizations are mostly working with HIV/AIDS education, outreach, and prevention. From what we have heard and know, I think it would be ten times better for me. So I've been pushing PC to place me with a NGO. The problem is that most of the NGO's are located in Georgetown, which is the big, bad, scary capital of Guyana. I'm a city kid, so I know I could handle it. In fact, part of me would like to be in Georgetown to get that big city experience. But my volunteer visit was awesome, and the Essequibo Coast was amazing. So I also think that I might rather be out on the coast. I'm torn. I guess I want to work for a NGO on the coast. But (un)luckily, it's not really up to me. So we all have a second meeting with the PC staff about where we want to be placed this week. And then on Thursday they tell us. So it's basically sit back and enjoy the ride time for me.

Anyways, that's what is going on over here. I didn't know that March Madness had started until it was already the Elite Eight. So that sucks for all your Zags fans out there. They need to stop choking. And Greg, how come UCLA is all of a sudden good? I'm sure you told me about how they were good earlier, but I wasn't paying attention. Anyways, go UCLA I guess. And speaking of sports, baseball must be starting soon. Anyone should feel free to send me emails about the Giants, Red Sox, A's, Mariners, or any other team. I'd like to know anything about it all. Trent, who does Peter Gammons say is going to win it all? I need to know!!! If you guys don't tell me soon, I'm going to have to become a hardcore cricket fan. I'm already pretty good. I dominate when we play ourselves. And I can hold my own against the Guyanese PC staff. I hit a few 6-runners (which is like a homerun) and bunch of 4-runners (which is like a ground-rule double) last time we played. I think I'm going to come back to the States and join the US national team for cricket. Screw law school.

A Little Story

2006-03-29T14:43:00.000-04:00

Here's a little bedtime story for everyone. This actually happened almost three weeks ago - it was my third night with my host family. Like most Guyanese families, my host family has a dog (in fact, three of them). Now, dogs in Guyana are not like dogs in America. They are treated in way to make them hateful of all humans outside of their family. I would argue that they also hate their family but are just biding their time to strike. Anyways, the point is, dogs are not nice here in Guyana.

So my family has three dogs - a female adult and two puppies. The adult is Doberman-Rottweiler mix. What a combo. Basically, the dogs are kept in a little box that can't be more than a cubic yard. They just lounge around there, stewing in their rage against all things human. And then my family lets them roam under the house at night, barking at everyone person that comes within 100 feet of the front gate.

So needless to say, these dogs didn't like me at first. The puppies are easy to deal with, but the female adult dog is a tad on the ferocious side. So I was telling my host mom how I need to be friends with the dog, or else she might eat me if she gets the chance. And she's telling my how the last Peace Corps volunteer became friends with her. So on the third night, I come back kinda late (like 9PM). Of course, the dogs are out, barking their heads off at me. So I ring the doorbell to get them to let me in. Joel, my ten year old host brother, comes down and grabs the dog before opening the gate. At this point, I make my mistake. Joel says that I should try to meet the dog. So, stupidly, I think that sounds like a good idea. It's not like this dog has barking like crazy for the past 10 minutes at me. I'm sure now she will like me. ANYWAYS, I agree and bend down with my hand out in a non-threatening way. Joel is holding the dog and pulling her closer to me, despite her obvious attempts to get away from and/or eat me. Suddenly, she barks and lunges at me. I jump back, pulling away as fast as I can. Though she misses my hand, she does bite my left knee. I may or may not have yelled out a few swear words as she then runs away, barking. Joel grabs me and kicks at the dog as we go into the house.

So, my gosh-darn (these were not the words I originally used) guard dog bit me. It wasn't too deep, but I'm still having to change the bandages on it twice a day now, which is almost three weeks after the bite. It's going to be a sweet scar. I had to take a weeks worth of antibiotics and get some more rabies shots. But I survived it.

So that's my more impressive medical story so far. I have a few pictures, so I'll throw one up of my bite when I can figure that out. I also have pictures of my index finger after the first night here. I slept under a mosquito net, but apparently my finger was pressed against the net. So I woke up to about 22 bites on my finger. It looked awesome. I'll try to post a picture of that as well. But mostly, I've been doing fine medically. Not even an upset stomach or anything! That's a little better than some people in the group. So I feel lucky. My one friend, who shall go nameless (cough, Nick, cough), has had an ear infection, horrible sunburns on his legs, diarrhea, PMS, gout, malaria, dengue fever, and a worm. Maybe not the last five, but definitely the first three. So I could be doing a lot worse. And I will probably start doing worse in about a week. That's how Peace Corps karma works. So wish me good health.

Let's Talk about Guyana

2006-03-24T17:33:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess I might as well write a random blog entry. I've been here for about 21 days now. I would be lying if I said it has felt like three weeks. It seems like I've known my fellow volunteers for years. And I feel so much more comfortable in Guyana than I did a mere 20 days ago. But Peace Corps has also crammed an amazing amount of training and education into our time here. So my sense of the length of time we've been here is completely thrown off. And it will continue to be thrown off. For example, we are constantly told that we will largely do no independent projects for the first year at our site. We will just go to work, do what we're told, and go home. It will take us a year before we actually start doing any sort of project - meaning it will be a year before we do the things that people think Peace Corps volunteers do. And we just nod our heads when we hear this, taking it completely at face value. But how crazy is that? Who, in America, would absolutely accept that they will be largely useless for the first year of a two year job? Half their job? It's totally nuts.

Anyways, life is good down here. I'm trying to learn creolese, which really is its own language. Basically, it is English with lots of slang and improper grammar. But in fact, when spoken by strangers quickly (which is normal), it is completely inaudible. It just sounds like sing-songy goobely-gook. It's definitely been a challenge. I have a little 5 year old sister in my host family's house. When I first got there, I probably understood about 10% of what she said to me. Now, I understand about 60%-70%. It's pretty funny actually. But I'm learning it. By the end of my time, I'll be speaking creolese in America. Or at least that's what the volunteers tell us.

Another random thing. The public transportation isn't really public. There are no buses like you would think. There are mini-buses. But they are privately owned and not really regulated at all. They are just vans that have a driver and a conducter, who brings people on and takes their money. But these mini-buses are not normal. They are painted crazy colors and have slogans on them. And they are named. Our favorite bus is Suprise. But we could also take Amari, Aaliyah, Fellina Bosss, Triple P, or some other ones. We've seen Bling-Bling, Tease Me, English, Cash Money, Jay-Z, and pretty much any other random name. They like name themselves after rappers. And they have slogans on the side like "Hate the Game, Not the Player." As you can imagine, they don't drive like your grandma. They pile up to 20 people in a van (with people sitting four to a row and then people on their laps - no, there are not seatbelts) and they go speeding down the roads, swerving into and out of traffic and around cows, horses, bicycles, and whatever else gets in their way. Today, our bus drove on the wrong side of the median for about a block to get around traffic. Awesome. I feel completely safe. But this is the only way around. It's either this, taxi, have your own car, or walk. So... mini-bus it is. But don't worry, no Peace Corps volunteer has died yet in a crash.

There's obviously a whole lot more going on. I could talk about the health care system. There is free health care that focuses on preventive care. But the resources are scarce and the education of the communities is poor. But hey, that's why I'm not doing Peace Corps in France, right? They need me here. One of the biggest problems in all aspects of Guyana is the Brain Drain. Basically, 80% of all educated Guyanese people leave the country. They go to America, Canada, and England. You can't really blame them for leaving. BUT it cripples this country. There are no competent professionals to fill the jobs here. There is a dearth of nurses and doctors in the health field. But this extends to all industries and professional fields in Guyana. It seems to be the largest stumbling block for Guyana. How do you keep people from leaving? Hopefully, I will have a better idea about all this in a few year.

Anyways, please feel free to send me emails. I get caught up in my life down here and don't check my email. But please know that I read every one I get and love you guys for it. And I'm trying to get better at responding. But when it costs $200 an hour for internet? It's hard. hehe.

Let's Talk About Food

2006-03-13T20:15:00.000-04:00

Well, life is still amazing down here. But I can't really talk about everything, so I'll just focus on food. Without a doubt, the most important thing to know is that Guyanese people love food. You cannot decline food if offered - it's practically like spitting in their face. So if someone offers you food, it doesn't matter that you are deathly ill or just ate or whatever, you must accept at least a little. Now this isn't usually a bad thing. But the second thing that I've learned is that Guyanese food is predicated on the idea that our body is not made up of 80% water. No, we are actually 80% oil. That's the only explanation I have for the amount of oil I have consumed in the past week. Sweet lord! This bread that my mom makes is called roti. It's very good, but I'm pretty sure it's actually oil in bread form. I eat two pieces and want to go die. I think I'm a walking, talking oil slick.

But the food is still good. My mom makes chow mein down here. But I swear that it is better than any chow mein I've had in America. And she made the best non-oil bread ever yesterday. So the food is definitely good. And I'm trying to eat lots of fruit. My mom, for some odd reason, doesn't eat enough of it, so it's slightly hard to come by for me right now. But when I get my own place, I will live on an all fruit diet. I've had this weird fruit called Mommy (spelling?) fruit, which is awesome. I couldn't even begin to describe it. Just take my word for it, it's good.

Anyways, that's just the beginning of the food story down here. I've only been here a week, so I'm still figuring it all out. But I'm pretty happy about it all, though I think my blood will be replaced with oil by the time I get back. oh well. I'll write more later. My $200 only goes so far...

Welcome to Guyana

2006-03-08T19:07:00.000-04:00

Wow, Guyana is cool. Well, it's actually really hot and humid. But oh man, what an interesting place. But I guess I can talk about what I've been up to for the past week. Last Tuesday I flew out to Miami, where Staging was. I'll spare you the details, but basically we spent the whole two days in a conference room learning about stuff that I've already forgotten. But I do remember liking it at the time. It was more about meeting the other volunteers (or Trainees - we're not official Volunteers until we get sworn in in eight weeks). At night we would take taxis to cool parts of Miami. Peace Corps gave us $173 for two and a half days! Crazy! I didn't know it was hard to spend money. Needless to say, I pocketed a few twenties of that before we left. ANYWAYS, we got a mid afternoon flight on Friday and got into Guyana around 8PM (for anyone wondering, Guyana is one hour ahead of East Coast time).

Our first two night were in a hotel we were not allowed to leave just outside of Georgetown. But we were okay with our sequestered state because the past three days had been used to convince us that Georgetown is the most dangerous place on earth this side of Abu Ghraib. They really tried to scare the shit out of us. And it worked. But we still had fun in the hotel. Peace Corps volunteers who have been here for a year or two kept coming by to check out the fresh meat. They were really nice and would tell us all the secrets the staff weren't allowed to say. It was cool. It was also a relief to see that the Volunteers had survived and loved it. There were jealous of us that we were just starting.

So after two days of that, we met our host families on Sunday. I'm not really sure how much I can say on my blog about my family yet for security reasons (like, where we live, etc). I say this because I'm pretty sure a PC Guyana volunteer got kicked out a year ago for posting sensitive info on his blog. Anyways, I don't want to get kicked out yet. So when I figure this out, I'll let people know. But nonetheless, I can say a few things. My mom is really nice. She has three of the cutest little kids I've ever seen (my nieces and nephews excluded). Joel is 10 and is a great little brother. When we're alone, he asks me about girls and stuff. And he keeps trying to trick me into saying a swear word - sorry Joel, not going to happen. Zoe is my little sister. She turns 5 on Saturday. By the second night she was already telling me that she loves me. Very cute. She likes to just hold my hand against her face. Almost makes me want to have kids.... nah, not yet. Anyways, and then there is little one year old Mariah. She had latched onto me like a little parasite. I think that she calls me Daddy sometimes. Basically, she runs up to me all the time and just puts herself between my legs, with her face between my knees. And then she just stands like this. For long periods of time. Like, until I push her away. So cute, my heart hearts. I haven't met my host dad yet because he works in the interior. But I talked to him on the phone, and he seemed very nice. So I'm happy with my family.

I'm sure you guys are wondering about my living conditions. Well, the houses are actually pretty nice. I'm not living in a mud hut or anything. It's a wooden house on stilts. We have electricity all the time (US voltage, plugs, and everything!), TV, a bath with a sorta shower, and a normal kitchen. It's a pretty normal house. It rivals what I lived in in Washington DC. We even have a normal flushing toilet! This Peace Corps thing is getting too easy.

There is a lot more I could write, but I've probably already spent $200, so I should stop. I still need to talk about everyone else here (my group is AWESOME!), the country itself, how nice the people are, how good the food is, what training is like, and how the mosquitos love me. It's great. Anyways, enough for now.

Second Attempt At My Last Post From The USA

2006-03-03T00:39:00.000-04:00

ARGH! So I just spent the last twenty minutes writting the most witty, insightful, soul-bearing post ever, and the stupid computer here in Miami loses it before I can save it. So sorry, but you get this mini update instead. Miami is cool (from what little I've seen), the staging went great, the group is awesome, we fly out tomorrow, and I'm both excited and anxious. Sorry for the brevity of the post, but I'm tired and angry at this computer. So I'm taking it out on my reader. Nonetheless, wish me luck as I venture out into the unknown. Cheers!

The Newest Plans

2006-02-15T01:25:00.000-04:00

Since people seem to constantly ask me when exactly I am finally leaving the country, I guess I might as well actually take advantage of this blog and actually disseminate pertinent information. I mean, this is why I have this thing, right? So my new plane reservations are on Tuesday Feb 28th. I have an afternoon flight to Miami, where I get to sit through lectures on how not to incite "international incidents," get shot up with drugs like I was kicking it in the Tenderloin (random SF reference - sorry), and generally have a surreal last three days in an industrialized country. Then I hop onto a flight to Georgetown, Guyana on Friday with 19 of my new favorite people in the world.

And I know that you are just dying to know what I'm doing with myself right now. Well.............. yeah. That's about it. I'm very much up with the latest about how Dick Cheney, the Vice President of the United States of America, shot a 78 year old man in the face with a shotgun. (I just like writing that whole sentence out. Am I sociopath if I smile every time I think about it?) I know what's going on with the Olympics before NBC shows it to me on about a ten hour tape delay. I guess all this is to say that I'm doing much with myself right now. But I guess that's been the story all along. So no news here. And thanks to all who put up with me during my clandestine second trip to Seattle. I apologize to anyone I didn't see in my few days there. I didn't have a car, so my movement was limited. Excuses, excuses. You'd think with all my time sitting around I would come up with some more exciting, adventurous lies as to why I didn't see people. But remember, I'm uncommonly lazy.

Hold Your Horses!

2006-01-24T17:26:00.000-04:00

Peace Corps called me today to inform me that my planned departure in six days is no more. Because of current and future rain and flooding in Guyana, they are delaying my group's departure for one month. So now I leave on February 28th for Miami; then March 3rd from Miami to Guyana. I can't say that I am mad, angry, or frustrated. I am more just slightly shocked. But most of all, I need to figure out what I am going to do with myself for the next month. I had been in San Francisco for two weeks, twiddling my thumbs and watching the paint peel. That worked when I only had two weeks before I left. But now, I don't think I can continue that for another four or five weeks.

So what is Mark to do with his new-found vacation? First of all, I think I might go snowboarding. I briefly thought about the Swiss Alps, but then I remembered that Peace Corps has my passport. (And by the way, I like to imagine that money is no object, so bear with me.) So not only can I not board the Alps, but I can't even get to Whistler (stupid America-Canada borders with their stupid passport requirements). So now I'm stuck in America, which is B-O-R-I-N-G. I mean, come on. It's only one of the larger countries in the world with lots of geographical, environmental, and climate diversity, not to mention where almost all my friend are. Who cares?

My best guess is that I will be in Tahoe snowboarding (or maybe Colorado or Utah - I've never been either of those places), the Northwest again for Farewell Tour 2006 Part II, and maybe down south to LA. Though I should note that I make no promises to be anywhere and see anyone. I'm just speculating as I try to comprehend my new situation. On the other hand, if people want to promise me gifts, sleeping places (I like couches and futons), or fun adventures, that will surely increase the odds you get to see Mark before he leaves (again).

In closing, I now have much more time to fret over my clothes decisions. Yipee!

It gets more real...

2006-01-17T02:40:00.000-04:00

About a week ago I made my plane reservations for Peace Corps. So now I am leaving San Francisco on Monday, January 30th on a non-stop flight to Miami. Orientation begins on Tuesday at 2PM. This goes on for about two and half days. As far as I can tell, we sit in big rooms, listen to lectures, fill out paperwork, get shots of vaccines and whatnot, and generally question our decision to move to a third world country in South America. It sounds like fun! Then on February 2nd, we fly to Georgetown, Guyana (through Barbados). And the mistake of a lifetime begins.

So I'm getting a little anxious. I have things to do, but I could probably get them done in about three days. However, I have two weeks. The few friends that I have still in San Francisco suck because they have jobs. So I basically sit and stare at the walls of room. Which reminds me of the stupid little things I need to get done before I leave, such as dismantling my bedroom. I dread this for a few reasons, though I also want to do it. My room is a timewarp to high school. I have newspaper clippings of Michael Jordan, Mark McGuire, and other great sports accomplishments of the MID TO LATE 1990s!!! Crazy. On top of that, I've mixed in a few posters of ladies in bikinis, including one of Pamela Anderson. Pamela?! What was I thinking? I mean, I know what I was thinking, but still... It's slightly depressing everytime I go in there. But it's going to take so much effort and I am uncommonly lazy about things like this. So I'm battling that.

But basically, I get to sit and let my nerves eat me up. I'm truly excited, but I can do nothing to make it start any faster. So I must sit in anticipation of the unknown. And as I sit, I begin to question my decisions. Of course, my decisions have all pertained to what I've bought to bring down. So I look at my shoes and try to decide if they work or if I need to return them and get a new pair. And I think if I have enough business casual. And then, of course, I question what the hell business casual means in Guyana. I hardly have a sense of what it means in the US. And then I pull my hair out because these are such petty things to think about. I really just want to start this thing! Let's get to Guyana and begin my life-changing experience, okay?!

Anyways, that's what's going on here. I sign my living will on Friday. You know who my beneficiaries are? My children. So... if you anyone is or knows any of my children, let me know. Because if I don't have any, which is the impression I'm under, then my nieces and nephews are the beneficiaries. But there's still time for me to change that. And no, I don't mean that I could have a baby. So if anyone wants something of mine, like my kick-ass grey North Face fleece that I seem to wear about four times a week, claim it now. I know Peter, Tippy, and the Captain are going to fight over my OutKast CDs.

Peace Corps Farewell Tour 2005-2006

2006-01-17T02:27:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who put up with me in Seattle and the surrounding areas in the first two weeks of the new year. It was a grand ol' time. And I'm sorry to everyone I didn't get to talk to enough or properly say good bye. The Peace Corps Farewell Tour 2005-2006 was a sucess nonetheless. Thanks everyone!

Books

2005-12-03T21:21:00.000-04:00

So as I plan for my time in Guyana, I tend to focus on one thing I will need. I then spend a few days obsessing about it - researching on the internet, asking friends, analyzing my options, then eventually not doing anything. After focusing on shirts, I then spent last weekend focusing on frame packs. I visited two different outdoor stores, found what I wanted on sale, almost bought it online, and then chickened out when during the online check-out they wanted my credit card number. So I do not have a frame pack yet. My new rationalization is that the post Xmas sales will result in a shiny new backpack for a good price. Hopefully.

Anyways, my new obsession is which books I am going to bring down there. Basically, books are very expensive in Guyana (so says Peace Corps). So I need to bring down a bunch. But PC also has a library of books from volunteers. People bring down a bunch, read them, then throw them into the library for other volunteers. So it should be fairly good - at least the obvious classics. But who knows? I can't count on it having a specific book I might want. So I'm bringing a bunch. I've been asking my brother mostly, and he gave me some suggestions. I'm thinking lengthy easy reads - The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the Godfather Trilogy, Heart of Darkness, On the Road, and bunch more. But I know I still need more. Some Dostoevsky, maybe? I'm thinking so. But what are some other good books I should bring? So I'm sending out the question to you all. If you've gotten this far in this posting, drop me an email or something. I'd like to hear some suggestions. It's always interesting to get book advice from other people. Some of the best books I've ever read have been suggestions from my friends.

Little Things

2005-11-26T15:18:00.000-04:00

So faced with such a huge event as moving to a new country, on a new continent, not knowing where exactly I'll live, not knowing the conditions I will live in (i.e. electricity, water?), not knowing anything substantial about what I'll be doing for two years, but knowing that I'm underqualified for whatever it will be, what do I focus on? Well, today I spent about an hour online searching for polo shirts to wear down there (I guess I need to look nice when I do health education). But not any normal polo shirts. I wanted ones that are a cotton/polyester blend that are breathable and fast drying. Wow. My roommate makes fun of me for focusing on these things. Like yesterday, I spent about an hour researching shortwave radios online. I found what I wanted for cheapish, but I still didn't buy it because I'm still researching (why? I cannot say). Why am I focusing on these little things?

Well, the only answer I have for myself (because it really is more of a rhetorical question) is that these are the only things I can control right now. Like I said earlier, I know so little about what I'm getting myself into, I guess I just try to micro-manage those things that I can control. So instead of trying to figure out who's going to Guyana with me, or where I might be placed, or what exactly I will be doing, I focus on making sure that my shirts are UV protected, odor resistant, and will wick my sweat. Is this kinda like when kids in families where the parents fight all the time end up engaging in self-mutilation because it gives them control over at least one aspect of their life? Maybe a little. Except without the cutting.

Just for the record, I now own four cotton/polyester shirts, with two more on the way. But I have taste. I don't buy the bright or shiny ones.

And by the way, I realize how ridiculous this is. I guess that's my point. Such a big thing I'm about to do, and I obsess about my shirts.

The Inaguaral Post

2005-11-25T11:40:00.000-04:00

Alright, this is the inagural post on my new blog. I won't say much except what it going to happen soon. I'm leaving for Guyana (that's in South America for those not hip to all the former British colonies) at the end of January. I'm passing through Miami, where I will have three days of staging. Then off to Georgetown, Guyana for three months. Then someone will decided to send me to somewhere - no one will know until the end of training, when they've supposedly sized me up and decided the best place for me. And then I'm doing damage South American style until the end of May, 2008! Get excited!